No one should have to live without great coffee just because we're still slogging through a major recession.

If you buy coffee in bulk and look for great discounts and free shipping, you can make your own fantastic coffee without paying $4 to $6 a cup for it.

If it makes you feel better, you can always buy one of those Mermaid logo mugs to tote it around in, and no one will be the wiser.

Hell, you could be carrying Koolaide around in that thing!

It's your business and nobody else's.

I've used Amazon's grocery and gourmet food section before with good results. It can work out well if you 1) buy only things you know you actually like, and 2) watch for "Super Saver Shipping" next to the price of the item you are buying.

"Super Saver Shipping" means that on that specific item, shipping is free within the continental United States. When you're buying in bulk, free shipping is a big deal.

I mean, you don't even get that deal driving to Sam's Club--You have to pay for your gas and your Sam's Club membership when you buy at Sam's Club.

Plus, Sam's Club is evil and weird. Don't buy at Sam's Club!

I bought a case of 'Go-Go Rice' bowls at Amazon, and they were damn good. And cheap too.

Ate 'em for about a month before they ran out.

(Those bulk boxes do have bottoms in them. It's not all wine and roses you know.)

I love lattes, but at the Mermaid place they cost more than I really should even spend on lunch.

You don't have to have an espresso machine however to make a fairly good approximation of a latte at home.

Here's what I do:

1. Heat a cup of whole milk with a little cream on top of the stove until just before it scalds. ('Scalding' is when the milk gets that little skin on top, yuck. So basically, you want it real hot but not so hot it grows a skin.)
2. Brew a cup of very strong flavored or Columbian coffee.
3. Pour half a cup of the coffee in a lidded cup and pour the hot milk/cream mixture on top.
4. Shake well.
5. Pour into your 'to go' cup and go.

What you end up with is really just 'cafe au lait', but it's pretty good and close enough for jazz--at least until you save enough pennies for that espresso maker.

(BTW You can buy those at Amazon too.)

Add some flavored Italian syrup if you like that sort of thing (I don't!) and leave your house five bucks richer than you'd be if you drove through anyplace on the way to work.

If you don't actually like flavored Italian syrups (I don't!), you can always buy half a dozen bottles and just keep them prominently displayed on your counter to make yourself look continental when guests come over.

Keep them lined up right underneath that Absinthe poster in the fake barnwood frame you just picked up a Kohls.

That'll be right purdy even if it don't taste good.

I've been getting so many emails from fellow hubbers who say, "Honestly Pam, you should write commercial hubs too," that I've decided to cave in and give it a shot while I'm in between freelance gigs. Seriously, it's getting ugly out there work-wise. (Getting?)

I'm going to try hawking stuff for a week or two and see how it goes.

But only stuff I really like myself. Seriously. (Not counting the syrups.)

Those of you are used to me writing about real life (well, coffee is real life, but you know what I mean), please feel free to skip these. I'll still write 'normal' hubs too, I'm just expanding my repertoire (a.k.a. 'selling out': the internet version of Disco).

If it works out I promise to come back and write a hub about it so you can sell out too!