1. Coffee brewed from beans roasted on my back porch. So far I've had great results with a hot air popcorn popper and Costa Rican and Ethiopian green beans from Lola Savannah in Houston.

2. Energy drinks like Monster and Rockstar. These are made from mostly carbonated sugar water and citric acid and Marketing, I know.

3. My favorite beers are from Real Ale Brewing in Blanco, Texas, Anchor Brewing in San Francisco, and Guinness in Dublin.

4. My favorite wines are from Becker Vineyards in Fredericksburg, Texas (especially the Iconoclast Cabernet and the Vigonier), and Rubicon Estate in California (especially the Coppola Rosso and Bianco).

5. Somehow I acquired a taste for sparkling water. I'll drink just about any kind so I usually choose the cheapest I can find that is bottled in glass... Gerolsteiner, San Pellegrino, Apollinaris. I've stopped buying Perrier since I read an article about how arrogant and demanding the union workers in the bottling plant behave.

6. Coca-cola. The most successful cross-cultural missionaries in the worldly sense... and guess what, it tastes great.