The coffee thread

[calvino]

I used to buy Equal Exchange Organic Mind, Body and Soul beans in Boston but can't find it here in the sticks. So I do Peet's or Starbuck's beans.

I brew it and drink it black.

 

 

I meant to write Equal Exchange (instead of Fair Trade) - you can get it on-line, though I realize that it is not really useful when you need it in a pinch.

[lamradio]

French press every morning. I add a big shot of milk. I usually wait until the coffee has cooled down a bit, then I gulp down a big mug.

 

I don't think I've ever had that.. Sounds like a lot of work for a cup of coffee (boiling the water etc).. I used to make latte's every day with my espresso machine, but it was too much work and now it's collecting dust..

[calvino]

The French press is not that hard, perhaps an extra step of boiling the water and pouring in the carafe. I think the coffee taste better from the press. Alton Brown writes that you should put a pinch of Kosher salt to help eliminate the bitterness of the coffee, I have never tried it (I like the bitterness), but my friend states it works very well.

[bobfrombob]

At home it's normally the Three Sisters blend of Kicking Horse.

Three Sisters is what I drink

 

No love around here for the French Press? It's pretty much the only way I brew my drink these days.

French Press is how I prepare it. A Bodum actually. Love it.

[calvino]

 

French Press is how I prepare it. A Bodum actually. Love it.

 

My setup is a Bodum press and electric kettle and a Solis grinder. I think the electric kettle is key, boils the water in about a minute or so.

[Moss]

The French press is not that hard, perhaps an extra step of boiling the water and pouring in the carafe. I think the coffee taste better from the press. Alton Brown writes that you should put a pinch of Kosher salt to help eliminate the bitterness of the coffee, I have never tried it (I like the bitterness), but my friend states it works very well.

 

 

Thanks, I needed a way to add more salt to my diet.

[Lammycat]

I am a fan of the frnch press. Can't get the g/f to switch over to it, even on weekends. She's a slave to the machine drip with the timer on it.

[Guest Speed Racer]

We have a drip with a timer, but we don't use the timer on the weekends, and right now we only brew on T and Th mornings to accomodate the lady's schedule and since I can't effectively commute with coffee on the bike and our office coffee is so good.

 

I like french press, but I drink enough coffee that it gives me mad shakes.

[Moss]

ever try to quit coffee? cold turkey? it's not good.

 

Yep, serious headaches ensue.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I used to have debilitating headaches during track meets, and it took me a year or two to figure out why: I never had a chance to grab coffee before a 10 hour meet. Since cross country meets are only about 2 1/2 hours, I never noticed the effects of withdrawal - only during track meets.

[u2roolz]

I am not a coffee drinker. I have tried it hot and iced. I don't care for it and I don't need the caffeine to be productive.

If you need to wake up in the morning, you should seriously consider looking at a light for a minute. It wakes you the F up.

It really does the job of clearing out the cobwebs. The problem is that folks can't sell that shit.

 

Anyways, I have also cut out caffeinated sodas. I will only drink Caffeine Free Coca-Cola.

[Sir Stewart]

If you need to wake up in the morning, you should seriously consider staring at a light for a minute. It wakes you the F up.

 

That sounds like a terrible idea. Do you really do that?

[u2roolz]

That sounds like a terrible idea. Do you really do that?

 

Yes. I think it has to do with the pupils after being in a state of sleep for more than 8 hours or so. It seriously works for me.

I look into a light and I'm ready to go.

 

Or it could be from not drinking coffee everyday and then getting into a state of trying to drink it every time I feel that I need a kick.

[ih8music]

I've never tried it, but staring at a light like that when I wake up seems like it would just make me really, really angry for some reason.

[Ghost of Electricity]

I am not a coffee drinker.

 

you should seriously consider staring at a light for a minute.

 

You, sir, need help.

 

I suggest a small cup of turkish cofee, in which the grounds have been boiled with cardamon. You are free to add sugar and milk or cream as you like.

[u2roolz]

You, sir, need help.

 

I'm not the one who is drinking coffee. If you quoted my 2nd sentence, you would have read where I said it is probably not the light that works for me, but not drinking coffee at all. Meaning when I wake up I am not instantly jumping out of bed and into a Dunkin Donuts' drive thru window.

 

Do you really think that coffee helps people in the morning to be productive? Or is that all based in the mind? If some of it is indeed based in the mind, then I see no difference between drinking it and starting into a light to wake up. If it is based in the mind, then when people do not drink their morning cup of coffee and complain of being tired what is really at work? Does the body want it and the mind need it? Or vice versa?

 

I have ran into more than my fair share of coffee drinkers and they are almost always the same. They need it first thing in the morning. They walk into work clutching a giant cup of coffee. Then they need one or two more before the day is over because they feel fatigued. As a non coffee drinker, I have to wonder are people that hooked? There are lots of different foods and beverages to be eaten and drank in the morning to keep you going, other than coffee. We have a lot of people dependent on coffee for an independent leaning society.

 

Even now on ABC's Nightly News Diane Sawyer asked George Stephanopolous if he had his caffeine ready to pull an all nighter. I don't know. I can stay up all night without caffeine and not feel tired at all. Is it because I don't have caffeine during the day?

 

Hey, people can drink whatever they want. I just hope that they realize the harmful side effects. I realize that anything that we eat can have harmful side effects, but it seems like coffee has the body covered from head to toe.

 

Some of them include: constriction of blood vessels leading to high blood pressure and your heart pumping faster. Irritation of stomach lining causing digestive problems and increase in stomach acid. Caffeine is a carcinogen which is linked to causing cancer. Coffee can upset blood sugar levels for diabetics. Coffee isn't good for people who are apt to having their blood clot. Coffee is a diuretic which causes more urination and also can lead to osteoporosis due to loss of calcium (Calcium in the urine can also lead to kidney stones). Caffeine has been linked to worsening anxiety and sleeping disorders. Coffee and most caffeinated drinks cause dehydration. Coffee beans is one of the most pesticide sprayed crops. Migraine headaches. Fertility problems in both men and women. Caffeinated coffee increases intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma.

 

I guess my real problem lies with people who feel that they need coffee to make it through the work day. I don't really mind people drinking coffee in other situations because it seems to stem out of getting pleasure from drinking it and enjoying a good cup of it. I just don't want to see anyone being hurt.

 

Lastly, when I first tried coffee I didn't like the aftertaste at all. It seemed to be stuck to your tongue and teeth.

[Moss]

If you need to wake up in the morning, you should seriously consider staring at a light for a minute. It wakes you the F up.

 

 

 

I'm sure a kick in the nuts would wake me right up as well but I'll settle for Coffee.

[PopTodd]

Do you really think that coffee helps people in the morning to be productive? Or is that all based in the mind? If some of it is indeed based in the mind, then I see no difference between drinking it and starting into a light to wake up. If it is based in the mind, then when people do not drink their morning cup of coffee and complain of being tired what is really at work? Does the body want it and the mind need it? Or vice versa?

As a long-time decaf drinker (having switched over out of medical necessity -- I have MS), I can tell you with certainty, that it is just as much the ritual as the caffeine. That, and the comfort of the warmth and aroma. It's like when baseball players spit 3 times and grabs their crotch in a certain way before going up for an at-bat. That you may call superstition, but it is ritual, as well. That, in and of itself, does help many of us focus, methinks.

But, of course, now I am getting into the psychology of coffee drinking, in general, and I haven't even had my morning decaf! Time to make the coffee.

[cryptique]

I dislike the taste of coffee, and avoid it entirely, even as an ingredient in other things (mocha ice cream? gross). I keep my caffeine intake to an absolute minimum.

 

But, whatever gets you through the day, right? My near-total abstinence from caffeine means that when I do get a jolt of the stuff, it works.

 

I'm the lone dissenter in a family of coffee addicts. My father kept getting more and more serious about his coffee over the years, and that process culminated in him finally setting up his own roasting operation in his basement. He disappears downstairs periodically to re-up the stash. I don't know exactly what kind of beans he buys, but I think he gets them shipped from some internet source. Dude is fucking crazy ... but everyone who visits LOVES the coffee (except me, of course).

[Guest Speed Racer]

I can tell you with certainty, that it is just as much the ritual as the caffeine. That, and the comfort of the warmth and aroma.

 

This. I love the taste of coffee - if I was told I'd drop dead if I had more than Xmg of caffeine per day, I'd still probably drink two pots of decaf. I have always, always loved the taste of coffee. That I "need" it now is more about a physical dependency on caffeine as anything else.

 

I usually don't have my first cup of coffee until after I've showered and bike to work, both of which do plenty to wake me up. I drink it because I like it.

 

Also, u2roolz, I think the scientific community has generally settled on the fact that caffiene - a stimulant - does actually stimulate people. Of course, there is the law of diminishing returns:

 

[Guest Speed Racer]

Coffee is a diuretic which causes more urination and also can lead to osteoporosis due to loss of calcium (Calcium in the urine can also lead to kidney stones)...Coffee and most caffeinated drinks cause dehydration.

 

I know off the top of my head that both of these are simply myths. How many more did you list that are false, I wonder?

 

I guess my real problem lies with people who feel that they need coffee to make it through the work day. I don't really mind people drinking coffee in other situations because it seems to stem out of getting pleasure from drinking it and enjoying a good cup of it. I just don't want to see anyone being hurt.

 

So, are you better than people who drink coffee because you don't need coffee, or because you don't need caffiene? You do realize how ridiculously self-righteous this quoted paragraph sounds, don't you?

[bobfrombob]

I'm sure a kick in the nuts would wake me right up as well but I'll settle for Coffee.

Seconded

[Winston Legthigh]

I don't think I've ever had that.. Sounds like a lot of work for a cup of coffee (boiling the water etc).. I used to make latte's every day with my espresso machine, but it was too much work and now it's collecting dust..

It's more work than having a machine, for sure, but French press has a much stronger (and better) taste to me. Definitely worth the extra effort.

 

Fill the kettle, turn the stove on, grind the beans, wait for kettle to barely start whistling, warm the Bodum with some of the water, toss the warming water, add the ground coffee, add the water, put the lid on the Bodum, wait 4 minutes, stir, press down, voila!

[calvino]

Fill the kettle, turn the stove on, grind the beans, wait for kettle to barely start whistling, warm the Bodum with some of the water, toss the warming water, add the ground coffee, add the water, put the lid on the Bodum, wait 4 minutes, stir, press down, voila!

 

I never did that step before.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Oh yes. Primes the beans - the discernable change in flavor improvement is much greater than the difference between mp3 and lossless.