Coffee is an essential part of my life. I begin every morning with a cup at home, and it fuels me throughout the day.

Some might even say I’m addicted. Others might say I’m a coffee snob.

This review will be one out of four, so let’s set some … ground… rules for the coffee.

At each coffee joint I will try a regular coffee and a mocha latte. I will also review the space and anything else that catches my eye. I'll start with Starbucks because it's a known quantity.

Finally, I won't provide a number rating for any coffee place. Everyone has their own tastes, and it's not a competition.

The coffee itself is arguably the baseline for everything made at the shop, and I like to drink my coffee black. The mocha is a risk-free choice for me because it’s one of the few fancy drinks I enjoy, and there’s a story behind it.

When I was a kid, my father returned from business in Seattle with news of an upstart coffee company called Starbucks. I can still remember our first visit. The hot café mocha was the first coffee drink I ever tried.

To this day the same sugar, milk and coffee draws me back to the Rhatigan Student Center (RSC) Starbucks at least once a week. It almost seems to me as if the mocha has become sweeter over the years, too. Maybe too sweet.

The classic Pike Place Roast brew is too strong for my taste, but if I’m in a bind and want a plain coffee, I like to order the Veranda Blend light roast. The staff makes it fresh on a pour-over coffee maker, and although it takes a few minutes to brew, the wait is worth it. It has a milder, nutty flavor that reminds me of roasted almonds.

The RSC Starbucks is in the middle of campus, and it is an exceptional combination of friends, meetings and study. For that reason, it can be exceptionally busy, too. Usually, if you’re thinking of grabbing a latte five minutes before class, think again.

That being said, on the day I visited, I had barely paid for my mocha when I heard my name at the end of the counter.

The best part of that particular trip was meeting three new Shockers at Orientation. We all talked far longer than we meant to and returned late to where we needed to be. On the way out, I shook hands with an old friend who I had not seen in over a year.

I’d argue that the RSC Starbucks is the heart of campus, but you’re free to disagree.

* This article is based on the opinion of one student and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the university.