Tikkabik

... to drink bad coffee. That's what Corey says, and I believe him.

Of course, that all depends on how you define bad coffee.

For the major of my life, I have awakened each day to at least one cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. It is a veritable institution in the northeast, seemingly more ubiquitous than the Catholic church or ATMs.

I have tried many other kinds of coffee, including countless kinds of gourmet coffee. Flavored coffee. The kind of coffee you buy by the metric ton at BJ's. Starbucks. The Coffee Connection. Peet's.

I always come back to Dunkin' Donuts. I buy it by the pound and make it by the pot, and my day just isn't right unless I get me some.

For years I had a "regular." The definition of "regular" varies from region to region, but here in Mass. -- proud home of Dunkin' Donuts -- a "regular" is defined as "lightened by cream and sweetened with at least two, if not more, heaping tablespoons of granulated sugar."

This is a very, very easy way to get hooked on coffee when you're a teenager. And if you're lucky, the sugar remains a bit undissolved on the bottom, a coffee-flavored apertif.

I've been diabetic for several years, so my "regular" turned into a "milk, no sugar." Which is how I make it at home.

Now, some people think Dunkin' Donuts is absolute swill (Corey does). They're probably right. I completely recognize that it's not the most sophisticated coffee out there -- you can spend a lot more, and if you have a more discriminating palate than I, you probably notice the difference. I don't.

But I know a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee when I taste it. It sounds odd, but it tastes like home.