Pero vs Postum

I miss Postum. I really do. Pero just isn’t as good. I don’t know how many of you, my lovely readers, know what Pero or Postum are. They are two kinds of hot beverages with different tastes that are both naturally caffeine free. "Mormon coffee" if you will. I am a Latter Day Saint aka Mormon, and as a part of my religion I don’t drink coffee or tea. For me personally it goes for sodas too, I won’t drink the caffeinated ones. I was taught not to drink caffeinated sodas growing up even though it is not exactly against the LDS religion to drink sodas with caffeine in them. When I was 16 I went to a Halloween party and feeling a bit rebellious, threw all caution to the wind and indulged in Pepsi and Dr. Pepper. When I got home that night I went to bed, only to wake up a short time later to vomit. Lesson learned. When I was a kid, I would see my dad drinking Postum. I tried it once. I thought it tasted nasty and had a funny name. When I was in highschool, probably around the same time I experimented with caffeine I decided to give Postum another try. I would drink it with a teaspoon or two of sugar and a dollop of canned milk. I became used to it and even liked it and grew to love it. After a while I started cutting out the milk, then the sugar and was drinking it plain. About a year ago they stopped making Postum for some unknown awful reason.

While I was living with her, my grandma always had both Pero and Postum in her house. I tried her Pero once. I thought it tasted nasty and had a weird name that means "but" in Spanish. It really is nasty, so I stuck with Postum, but now Postum ceases to exist and I miss it, especially in winter. In attempts to adjust to no Postum I began drinking Pero. It is best if you make it with milk and chocolate syrup... and leave the Pero out. But really, I’ve been able to tolerate it with a ton of creamer and a packet of Splenda. Today I drank it plain with no Splenda or creamer. It was tolerable. If Pero and Postum were pet dogs, Postum would be the beloved pet who would be allowed to stay inside, while Pero would be shunned and left to sleep out in the rain. Then Postum would die. There would be tears. In attempts to replace the hole that Postum left, Pero would be allowed inside only he smells funny, but you don’t want to kick him back out because in a weird way even though he smells funny it’s almost like Postum is back again. Then after awhile, you can’t smell the stink anymore, however you still miss Postum and wouldn’t hesitate to throw Pero back out in the rain if Postum ever miraculously came back to life. Ugh, I wish Postum would come back to life.