Most people take their coffee with some form of cream and sugar, whether it’s a thick drizzle of caramel sauce swirled around a plastic Starbucks cup or two ounces of perfect micro-foam to top a cortado. I, on the other hand, have been skipping these accompaniments recently and reaching for the sparkling water instead.

Turning twenty-one is no longer what it used to be. Ever since the pandemic hit, what was once a glorious occasion to celebrate legal drinking has become a sour reminder of this drawn-out health crisis.

Crappy vodka? Little plastic cups? Sticky frat floors? Your bed spinning 12 hours later?