The coffee and tea appreciation thread

[1freedude]

I'll join the club in the morning. I have always wanted to talk coffee with you guys. The well initiated will find my coffee post in a very popular thread. First one to find it, wins!

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I have a keurig and i might drink 3 cups a day/

 

[FreedomEclipse]

At the moment. Only got a 3 cup mokapot and 1kg of:

I didnt have a whole lot of space to pack for my travels

I also have some:

and some:



which was originally in my private stash but might now be destined for a friend of a friend that lives out here. Western food is just obscenely expensive here.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Instant coffee is disgusting and for plebeians.

Only way to make coffee is jungle style (or called cowboy style).

Stir it a little, wait for a boil, pour into funnel strainer over a mug.

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Never bothered mastering cowboy coffee; whenever I've tried it it's turned out awful. Admittedly not a coffee person myself, but when my ex switched from soda to coffee for her morning caffeination, I got on board because it didn't make sense to make coffee for one person. I don't believe in Keurigs, and getting a coffee maker for as little coffee as we made didn't seem to make sense, so I expermented a bit and found pour-over to be the most favorable method. Still need to take it with considerable doses of sugar and cream (not half-and-half or milk).

I'm all about the tea, specifically Earl Grey. It's Capt. Picard's fault. (Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.) Got a bug in me ear at a Perkins one time to try tea. Chose EG cuz if it's good enough for Jean-Luc, it's good enough for me, dammit. First cup was pretty bleh. But a packet of sugar (perhaps two; don't remember anymore) in the second turned it into something divine. I've tried just about everyone's Earl that I can find, but still think Bigelow does it best. HOWEVER:

My morning cuppa is a double Earl Greyer Vanilla from Republic of Tea. Make it with ~.5L water and ~8g sugar. Their straight Earl Greyer is pretty weaksauce, but the Vanilla is delicious. I had to stop keeping it at work because I'd end up drinking way too many, like six a day. Outside of my Earls, I flit between styles of blacks. Occasionally a green will come through my kitchen, and I try to keep some herbals around in case I'm looking for something non-caffeinated. My preference is for fruity blends, but there's never been anything that's managed to solidify itself as the go-to.

Western food is just obscenely expensive here.

Mind defining Western food?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Mind defining Western food?

European food? English/American food?

My friend here is from yorkshire. He's living in Hong kong. Any food that isnt Asian/oriental in origin is going to come with a real hefty price tag. Even sweets like haribo

 

[dragontamer5788]

If you are in the states then you know.

If I'm grabbing coffee for an Airplane (or other trip) so I'm getting Fast Food, its:

#1. McDonalds
#2. Dunken Donuts
#3. 7-11

All have decent coffee IMO. Nothing as good as I make it myself, but consistently good quality across many different (and unfamiliar) areas across the country.

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If I have time to sit down and search for an actual coffee place, a typical coffee bar should be good (which seems to have sprung up in all cities I've ever visted). You might need to practice your Spanish... but its not that hard to say "Yo Quiero Cafe con Leche", and hand them your credit card

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As far as my home coffee: I drink it with Burr Grind medium -> Simple Pour Over. Alternatively, I also do coarse-grind -> 24-hours Cold Brew. Just your standard 15:1 ratio water to coffee. Or ~2 Tablespoons coffee per 8oz water. Nothing fancy from my side.

 

[gurusmi]

On Jan 09th i got my new Coffee machine. Before i used a Senseo and filled it up with Milk (3,5% fat). Now i press the button Latte Macchiato. The new machine is a Siemens IQ.500 Integral. My cups are thermo insulated (dopple walled) cups (450ml) made of glass. Handmade in germany. Nevertheless those cups are too wide for my new machine. So i will change them to a smaller pod. In difference to my old Senseo it is annoying sometimes that each morning the new machine cries for some maintenance. Additionally i own a french press and a milk frother (WMF). The last one is able to generate hot drinkable chocolate also. One has to place an additional part in the middle, put in some bars of choccolate and press the appropriate program. With that one can drink a chocolate macchiato instead of one with milk. That taqstes real great (with swiss chocolate) but it also is a kind of "Hello wake up" drink.

I'm one of the elder Computer scientists (studied with german diploma). I need my nicotine and my caffeine dose every single day.

 

[Frick]

Just gonna say there are a whole bunch of perverts here and I'm not saying who they are.

As for me yeah I drink coffee but I have never understood how coffee is supposed to energize people. Coffee right before bed can be really nice and relaxing. I have never understood how people can get addicted to it either.

Instant coffee is disgusting and for plebeians.

Only way to make coffee is jungle style (or called cowboy style).

Stir it a little, wait for a boil, pour into funnel strainer over a mug.

Damned americans can't even boil water without calling it cowboy-something but then you use a strainer like some kind of fancy-pants indoors person.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Just gonna say there are a whole bunch of perverts here and I'm not saying who they are.

I take extreme offense to this.

 

[gurusmi]

As for me yeah I drink coffee but I have never understood how coffee is supposed to energize people. Coffee right before bed can be really nice and relaxing. I have never understood how people can get addicted to it either.

New studies shows that coffee only vitalize if one drinks less than 4 (normal) cups of coffee. Coffee also is psychoactive and so a drug. But one doesn't get addicted by it. Once i had a guest at my site. I made him a coffee like i drink. He was awaken al night long running around and being real nervous. I drank my last one straight before getting to bed and slept pretty well. Also the way of cooking coffee depends the need of additional water. If one gets a german boiled water he should drink additional water. If drinking a latte macchiato he don't need to.

 

[AusWolf]

Just gonna say there are a whole bunch of perverts here and I'm not saying who they are.

As for me yeah I drink coffee but I have never understood how coffee is supposed to energize people. Coffee right before bed can be really nice and relaxing. I have never understood how people can get addicted to it either.

I need that nice, relaxing feeling to start my day. True, it doesn't do much to my energy level, but that familiar feeling, that familiar taste sets my brain right, it lets me survive.

Damned americans can't even boil water without calling it cowboy-something but then you use a strainer like some kind of fancy-pants indoors person.

It's a funny name indeed, but I'd rather have that stuff than Americano, which is basically coloured water.

I take extreme offense to this.

Why, what's wrong with being a pervert?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Why, what's wrong with being a pervert?

I was being sarcastic

 

[AusWolf]

Why can't I find this stuff in the UK? It's what got me through university.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

Coffee are burnt beans. They are charred. I cannot imagine that drinking a brew from charred beans can be healthy. But I must admit that this dangerous cancerous brew can sometimes taste good.

 

[AusWolf]

Coffee are burnt beans. They are charred. I cannot imagine that drinking a brew from charred beans can be healthy. But I must admit that this dangerous cancerous brew can sometimes taste good.

As long as life has a survival rate of 0%, I might as well spend the little time I've got on this planet with something I enjoy, right?

 

[BoggledBeagle]

spend the little time I've got on this planet

You can prolong this time by drinking and eating tea. When you have a good quality loose leaf tea, you should eat it too. Many people forget this.

 

[AusWolf]

You can prolong this time by drinking and eating tea. When you have a good quality loose leaf tea, you should eat it too. Many people forget this.

I don't want to prolong it. I want to enjoy it. But each to their own. (not that I don't like tea, though)

Eating tea is interesting. I never heard it was possible. Is it any good?

 

[Vayra86]

I'm a coffee snob, but I don't mind drinking instant as long as nobody tries to argue that it's as good as freshly ground and brewed coffee beans; For a start, there's barely any caffeine in instant coffee which mostly defeats the purpose of wanting a coffee, and nobody can argue that it tastes or smells as good.

I tend to French-press, or Aeropress my coffee and 99% of my coffee budget has gone on quality grinders and good quality beans over the years. My most recent purchase was a MiiCoffee DF64 grinder in 2023 because I'm too lazy to use the manual ceramic burr grinder most of the time, and I tend to buy small batches of single-origin beans and keep them in the fridge - currently working through a few different bags from Exe Coffee Roasters - Personal preference is a macchiato/cortado - i.e. a black coffee with a dash of cold milk. I do own a DeLonghi espresso machine and a coffee siphon but the cheapo plastic Aeropress beats those in both taste and convenience.

My favourite beans are Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee but that's too expensive to really daily-drive, so the fallback "bulk" coffee when I've exhausted my gift or small-batch coffee is Ueshima Kenyan which is easily twice the price of the beans you find in the supermarkets here, but still basically nothing compared to Jamaican beans, or getting your coffee made for you on the high street.

https://www.ueshimacoffeecompany.com/collections/coffee-beans/products/coffee-beans-kenya

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https://www.aeropress.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/aeropress-coffee-maker

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All hail this plastic tube from the guy who makes chewable frisbees.

I'm about to get around to this, just grind beans yourself. Its apparently pretty cost effective vs Nespresso cups (we use some B brand of them... but still).

I've gotten used to espressos and generally tank a double one every morning before anything else, and then generally another couple.... Not sure if it helps at this point, I think not. Glass of water tends to do more at this point... so yeah. Somewhere this year we're gonna switch to a good coffee machine.

Coffee, tea, beer and water is what my engine runs on these days... I'm totally past the lemonades. Just on rare occasions, at very random times do I still grab a coke or something. I'm also a no sugar/milk coffee guy. Give it to me pitch black, and heavy AF.

This thread gave me an urge to chug a whole bottle of ice tea, but I have no ice tea left and it's almost 10 PM

Make tea. Put in fridge. Wait. Perhaps add some lemon or peach when you take it out.

 

[xtreemchaos]

instant for me, first 2 coffee's of the day with sugar and a fat one then without for the rest with intermingled fat one's for the pain.

 

[1freedude]

This is one of the best commercial beans I have had.

I usu get my beans in bulk from local roaster, 5 lbs for $58 after tax. It has been an Ethiopian Sidamo for about a year now, light roast of course. Super smokin good deal. In a shop, it would be $30 a pound.

First gring of the day goes into glass jar to cold brew. Second goes into pan for morning joe.

The black thing under the pot is an induction plate. Water is hot right when beans are ground.

And the powered strainer. I learned about the Aeropress in 2012 while on a trip to Florence, Oregon. Barista used one to make my joe. My technique has changed, but Aeropress is the constant.

I used to harvest my water from a natural spring, but that dried up.

instant for me, first 2 coffee's of the day with sugar and a fat one then without for the rest with intermingled fat one's for the pain.

The pain has been blunted

 

[neurotix]

Wow! So many posts already!

 

[80-watt Hamster]

European food? English/American food?

My friend here is from yorkshire. He's living in Hong kong. Any food that isnt Asian/oriental in origin is going to come with a real hefty price tag. Even sweets like haribo

Ok. Your profile has your location as UK, so I was curious what Western was w.r.t. to London.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Ok. Your profile has your location as UK, so I was curious what Western was w.r.t. to London.

He is currently in HK.

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I had some Earl Grey tea yesterday. Not bad, but I think I prefer black tea.

I like sweet tea (iced) too, but I don't care for the Lipton brand it is usually made from.

 

[Macro Device]

Earl Grey tea

That's my favourite, especially when zonking hungry. The utter peckishness makes this flavour hit really hard.

Funny as hell, my mum hates Earl Grey. She also hates German music and a lot of other things I love for what it's worth.

 

[Onasi]

I am too lazy to brew coffee myself, so if I get any it’s from a coffee place near work. They do good stuff, my preference is a big cappuccino with ground peanuts in it and a shot of chocolate syrup.

At home, I just drink tea. Nothing fancy (again - lazy), just whatever decent teabags I can buy. Currently it’s black with hibiscus and “northern berries” flavorings, whatever that means. I drink so much tea (like 6 mugs a day) that there’s no point in being a snob about it.