Monday Coffee Klatch: Odd Combinations

I don't remember what made me try salted coffee the first time, but it quickly became one of my favorites.

Salted coffee sounds weird, right? Ew!

Now, don't go dumping a bunch of Morton's into your coffee grounds. That's not it at all. The coffee doesn't taste salty. The salt is in the salted cream.

Less "Ew!" and more "Oooh!"

And not just a little cream, either. A nice, unapologetic dollop of it, floating on top of coffee that's already been lightly sweetened with condensed milk.

My favorite salted coffee back in Hoi An tasted almost like salted caramel. A sweet and creamy treat for the tongue. Definitely more of a once-in-a-while cup o' joe.

At the nice places, there's a bit more production to it. Coffee on the bottom, creamy layer on top, smoothed out and finished with a dusting of cocoa. 

It's pretty. It's indulgent. It's utterly unlike what the name brings to mind.

...Because at no point does it taste like "salt + coffee."

Which got me thinking about other combinations that shouldn't work, but somehow, for me, they do.

Like Stephen King and Terry Pratchett.

In the past year I've fallen into a pattern of alternating between them. Have you read either one?

King, of course, is known for horror. Pratchett is, well... fantasy, absurdity, social commentary, and a view of humanity through a cracked lens. They couldn't seem more different.

And yet, I've discovered two things they have very much in common:

They both have a VAST catalog.

And, once I'm reading one of theirs, the story just carries me along.

Since The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton, I've gone King > Pratchett > King: 

Revival, The Light Fantastic, and now The Sun Dog. 

When I'm out with my Kindle and finish a book, it's easiest to pop into a familiar style. I guess that's what I like in my go-to authors: that confidence that there are plenty more good books where that came from.

So, who's your go-to author? Or do you bounce around like me? (I do have others, too.)

I'd love to know whose book you pick up as "comfort food" for the brain. I'm always looking for my next book.