The Sugar Packet Dilemma

I love coffee, but only after significant doctoring. That is, I add quite a bit of sugar and cream. For me, the draw of the taste of coffee is the combination of bitter and sweet. I’m not a big fan of plain old bitter foods, and I can’t understand why anyone would be. However, I prefer darker, more bitter brews over light brews because I also don’t drink coffee just to enjoy something sweet. The bitter flavor has to be there to accent the sweet. Choosing a dark roast ensures that this flavor endures no matter what is added. Thus, my favorite coffee beverage is nice dark French roast with lots of sugar and cream, which leads to a sweet beverage with a bitter finish.

When I make coffee for myself at home, adding sugar is easy; I have a big spoon and a big sugar bowl. When I order coffee at a store, I run into what I have dubbed the “Sugar Packet Dilemma”. The Dilemma is caused by my desire to add a lot of sugar to my coffee but being forced to do so from inconveniently small packets. To solve the Dilemma, I have been researching the best number of sugar packets to open at once. If too few are chosen, then I can spend several minutes adding sugar to my coffee, which is inefficient. As I increase the number of packets being opened at once, the chances increase of a poor opening rip, that being a rip which opens some packets too close to where the sugar lies while opening some too close to the top. This is also inefficient: sugar is wasted and multiple attempts must be made to open partially or poorly opened packets. The hypothesis I tested over the last few weeks is that there exists an ideal number of packets, such that all packets open easily yet as few additions of sugar to my coffee are made as possible.

After extensive research on the subject, I discovered that the number is five. I can easily open five packets of sugar and dump the sugar into my coffee without spilling much sugar and without errant tears in the packets. Opening five packets at once also allows me to add ten packets of sugar to a large coffee in only two moves. While fewer packets may suffice for a smaller cup or a lighter brew, ten is the minimum for a dark roast.

Just in case you wanted to know.