COFFEE!!

[dai bread]

Black coffee tears up my stomach, too. Now, if I have coffee at all, I have it with cream and a teaspoon of sugar. Milk will do instead of cream, but cream does a better job of pacifying my stomach.

My taste in tea has been conditioned by years of associating with Chinese. Weak, by British standards (I don't know about American), and brewed from almost anything derived from Camelia Sinensis.

[Catmando]

Black coffee tears up my stomach, too. Now, if I have coffee at all, I have it with cream and a teaspoon of sugar. Milk will do instead of cream, but cream does a better job of pacifying my stomach.

I'll substitute milk for cream, but only when necessary. Cream is so much yummier!

[Trumpetmaster]

TM runs on Coffee....

and thus runs to the bathroom every 15 minutes.

That's what happens when you get older....

[Schmeelkie]

I am of the generation that disproved the 'coffee's in our genes' theory on my dad's side of the family. Grandma used to put on one of those huge metal pots (40 cups or something) for family gatherings. Sometimes just filling it halfway if it was just my family coming over. Then my generation produced one coffee drinker out of 6 grandkids. My brother doesn't even drink tea (unless it's 'sweet tea' - Southern iced tea from his stints in Mississippi and South Carolina for the air force) - just hot cocoa. Parents had switched to decaf, but now have full caf in the morning and dial it down to having decaf after dinner. But they probably have at least 4 cups a day.

I'm a tea drinker - 'tea, earl grey, hot' was almost a nickname in college. Now I'm a huge Chai fan - got a cup cooling on the desk now (usually have iced tea at lunch but it's chilly in the office and I'm watching it snow... ). The version at Starbucks is OK, but I'll take the yummier and considerably cheaper version from Dunkin Doughnuts anyday. There's a local coffee roaster that has a couple of locations in the medical center here - sometimes get Chai from them. I generally have some either at lunch or late afternoon to through my drive home. Or I'll have a Coke... If I haven't had my caffeine by about 4-5pm, I'm getting a headache - all this for nowhere near the equivalent of caffeine in coffee once a day!

My husband's the coffee drinker - one cup in the morning and one in mid-afternoon - skim milk and 3 sweet&lows. When we're out he'll get lattes and has said he likes McDonalds coffee better than Starbucks... Generally gets French Roast, but will sometimes get flavors and grind. Grinding used to scare the heck out of Pumpkin so he stopped for a while...

[Schmeelkie]

heck one set of grandparents met and romanced over coffee after church (yes - they were Lutherans)...

[Nicole Marie]

I'm with Selma - only tea for me too. Coffee makes me way too hyper. Tea is just enough of the jones I need to get me through the day. But only Earl Grey. It costs a bit more but that is all I'll drink.

[piqaboo]

Coffee. First thing in the morning, preferably before I open my eyes.
Sugared, with milk. The sugar quantity seems to be slowly increasing. Hmmmm. Drank it black for a while in college. Never liked it that way. Lots of milk. 3 cups. That usually does for the day, but on opera or choir nights, I need to reload with another large cup sometime between 2 & 5 pm.

Starbucks burns their beans, and I think their product tastes nasty. African beans are usually too mild for my preference. South/Central American beans are very nice. Trader Joe's used to have a Mayan Blend that I really liked. I've done the French Roast thing, the espresso thing, the home made latte thing, cappucino, cafe con leche, cafe cubano, einer grosser braun, etc.
All of them do the job and give pleasure.

[Shapley]

I like the Hawaiian beans. Can't afford 100% Kona, but some of the other blends are pretty good.

Lion Coffee used to offer Hawaiian Coffee beans in a 5 lb. bag. Our local Sam's club now carries Hawaiian coffee, but not Lion brand, intermittently. They sometimes have the 10% Kona, but I've not noticed a significant difference in the taste, at least not enough to justify the cost. I guess my palate isn't sensitive enough.

V/R
Shapley

[piqaboo]

Yum, Kona!
I dont taste the effect of Kona in a blend til its ~50%. So I'd rather save and occasionally splurge on 100% (~$20/lb at trader joes - not lion brand).

Trader Joes has Kauai beans sometimes. They are nice too.
Not the same creamy taste as Kona.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Today's pot of coffee was a nice mix - I used half hazelnut cream and half chocolate velvet when I put in the grounds. This comes out great - think coffee with Nutella. Yum.

Pot is now empty, and I am now functional.

[dai bread]

Fiji produces a nice type of bean. I don't know what sort it is; presumably an Arabica from its flavour, but I had some the other night when at the home of someone who had recently been there. Very nice it was, too.

[treebeau]

A friend shared a tip.
When making drip coffee, sprinkle some ground cinnamon on the coffee grounds first. Smells and tastes good.

Regards,
Tim "it's the cinna...mon !" B.

[Catmando]

A friend shared a tip.
When making drip coffee, sprinkle some ground cinnamon on the coffee grounds first. Smells and tastes good.

Regards,
Tim "it's the cinna...mon !" B.

Yes, I've tried that before. Not too much though.

[Catmando]

I've heard that putting a pinch of salt in your coffee grounds before you brew helps reduce the bitterness.

Well, a pinch is too much.

[Shapley]

I've sprinkled a very small amount of cocoa powder on my coffee grounds when brewing and found that enjoyable. I do that sometimes in the winter to make a sort of mocha-cocoa.

[Catmando]

I've sprinkled a very small amount of cocoa powder on my coffee grounds when brewing and found that enjoyable. I do that sometimes in the winter to make a sort of mocha-cocoa.

Shap, can you make me a "salty-cinna-mocha-cocoa"?


(Need steaming coffee cup emoticon)

[Shapley]

Comin' right up!

[treebeau]

Dang! I recently threw away some cocoa powder thinking I would NEVER have a use for it. That would have been good.

Regards,
Tim B.

[Catmando]

Comin' right up!

Awesome, thank you! My coffee cup right now is actually blue, how did you know?

[Shapley]

My coffee cup right now is actually blue, how did you know?

Telepathy, how else?

Oh, by the way, you've got a stain on your shirt.