It was National Coffee Day on September 29th, and I couldn't let such a day go by without penning an ode to the most important presence in my life: coffee. I am a huge coffee fan with no specific coffee order. If it has coffee in it, I will drink it. As a result, I have tried many different coffee drinks from many, many different places and unsurprisingly have strong opinions on all of them. Let me be your coffee guide.

(Disclaimer: I have not had access to some of the more elaborate, well-reputed coffees, like ones from Columbia, but I have heard they are excellent. I am speaking more to the average American consumer and what is available to them.)

For Black Coffee...

Starbucks is a great place to go for espresso drinks and other various coffee paraphernalia, and I am a proud Gold Card Rewards member, but their black coffee cannot be left completely black. It's simply too burnt. I love Pike Place, personally, but I cannot drink it by itself; I normally ask for two shots of caramel or two Splenda packets to take the burnt edge off. Once it's mildly doctored with something sweet, though, you're good to go, and the same holds for many other black coffees. Some are more acidic than others, and sometimes specific brews have different tastes. If you can find a brew that was made with something in it to doctor the flavor, I would suggest trying it. I had an excellent black coffee one day at a small coffee shop that used a specialty brew. Mama's Boy, a restaurant in Athens, serves a special Jittery Joe's blend that tastes good black but had a slightly fruity aftertaste that was not my favorite. I prefer a darker, more bitter coffee, though. If you want a good, rich black coffee, hit up McDonald's. They have an excellent blend.

(Fun fact: the darker a roast, the less caffeine it has in it.)

For Espresso Drinks...

Jittery Joe's, basically the Starbucks of Athens, has good coffee, but it's far too expensive, in my opinion. They have lattes very true to their espresso origin, but I am a broke college student and refuse to spend that much money on flavored coffee unless I am getting Starbucks-level sugar. Scooter's has incredibly good coffee with really smooth flavor; think Starbucks-level syrup with McDonald's-level lack of burnt flavor. I highly recommend their candy bar lattes if you're looking for something sweeter, but a latte with simple hazelnut syrup is excellent if you want a more subtle flavor. I will get a hazelnut latte anywhere, though, because they're almost always a good blend of coffee taste with a small amount of sweetness. From Starbucks, I recommend the Caramel Macchiato or French Vanilla Latte (shoutout to Kelly Dippolito for that one). Both are heavy on the syrup, but both are worth the calories. My favorite, however, is the Salted Caramel Mocha; it came out a week or so ago with the PSL and contains every flavor I love in this world. The chocolate's dominance, a hint of espresso, and the caramel's sweetness combine perfectly.

For Iced Coffee...

Dunkin' Donuts all the way, no questions asked. I have yet to try a plain coffee or espresso drink from there, but their iced coffee is superb. A large iced coffee from there only costs $2.79, and adding hazelnut flavor and/or cream makes it amazing. Dunkin' Donuts has this amazing coffee flavor that I haven't been able to find anywhere else, especially with iced coffee. You can get a pretty good iced Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks, but I wouldn't suggest getting plain iced coffee from there unless you're ready for some serious burnt flavor. In general, iced espresso drinks are fairly good, but I'm not the biggest fan of iced coffee.

For Frappuccinos...

My first-ever coffee drink was a caramel frappuccino at a summer camp, so frappuccinos have a special place in my heart. If you don't like bitter flavor or a coffee aftertaste, frappuccinos are definitely for you, since they taste like pure sugar sometimes. Starbucks has a series of good-tasting crème frappuccinos for those of you who do not like coffee but want something cold to order. Overall, Starbucks' frappuccinos aren't bad, but I've found their quality to depend heavily upon which location you go to and which barista makes your order. The caramel and java chip ones are almost always good. My favorite frappuccino, however, comes from McDonald's. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: McDonald's has better coffee than Starbucks because it tastes less burnt. One of the appeals of Starbucks' frappuccinos is that you can't taste the coffee, but frappés from McDonald's have a smooth flavor and incredibly distinctive coffee taste at the end, which is what I want out of a drink. I am a McDonald's caramel frappé loyalist.

For Keurig Lovers...

Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks' Pike Place are my go-to Keurig blends. I can drink them black or mix them with some sugar (sometimes milk and chocolate syrup, if I really want an attempt at a mocha) and they taste good. Costco sells a generic coffee blend that is palatable but occasionally has a very odd aftertaste. I would suggest interspersing more expensive coffees with your generic K-cups, just to remind yourself of what really good coffee tastes like.

For Decaf Coffee...

If you drink decaf earlier than nine p.m., I honestly don't know what to tell you. I avoid decaf like the plague. Try Starbucks, I guess? Or maybe just drink normal coffee...like the rest of us...