A morning ritual ends, and I am bereft.


R.I.P.

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For quite a while I have started every morning by stirring a rounded teaspoon of this lovely stuff into my cup of coffee.

Keeping it on hand has required a certain degree of foresight and cunning, especially since I am a frugal soul. I could buy it for quite a price from the natural foods store, or I could get it much more reasonably at a Hannaford supermarket. The two Hannaford stores in our area are many miles from my home, however, and they have only carried the product from early fall through spring. As soon as it was time to expand the shelf space devoted to iced tea mixes, the Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix disappeared from the shelves. I would pick up an extra can or two if I could in March, and hope my supply would hold out until September. Sometimes I resorted to buying a case of four from Amazon, if I didn’t make it to the store before the change of beverage season. This year I ran out, and spent the summer without my morning hit of chocolate.

A few cans materialized on the shelves several weeks ago, and I bought one. When I was back in the store a couple of weeks ago, though, there were no precious golden cans on the shelf. But - but - but - they were there last month! I left the store with a troubled mind.

Amazon was the tip-off that something was seriously wrong. My usual vendor of a case of four no longer carried the product, and another vendor was asking $70. I went to the primary source for information, the Ghirardelli website, and found the fateful word Discontinued.

They are still selling individual packets of the stuff, but I’m not going down that road. I’ve already used up the one can I found this fall, so no more chocolate in my morning coffee.

I’ll be okay. I’ve almost convinced myself that the coffee didn’t taste as delicious as I remember while I worked my way through that last can.

Comments

  1. Judy ToporcerOctober 17, 2013 at 9:17 PM

    I'm sorry. : ( Our little morning habits give us comfort and start the day in a familiar, pleasant way. Maybe there is another chocolate company with a similar product?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eleanor GangOctober 17, 2013 at 9:21 PM

    Often it is the little things in life that make it worthwhile, like morning coffee rituals. I hate that faceless corporations have the power to take these things away from us just because a product we have come to love no longer makes them a profit. :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Two Cables and a FrappOctober 17, 2013 at 10:34 PM

    Oh how heart breaking. Why do companies do this to us ? I'm sorry to hear it and hopefully You will find another gourmet chocolate cocoa comparable to Your Ghirardelli. Well, even I know that might not happen. There has to be a gourmet chocolate company second to Yours. I hope so.

    ReplyDelete

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