Friday, August 21, 2009

I'll take mine to go, thanks.

With the turn that has been taken on a few of the blogs recently, I figured Why not talk about coffee for tonights block party post?

So do you like the dark roast, medium roast or light roast?

Premium blend, breakfast blend or french roast? Hazelnut, french vanilla, mocha, or just plain old coffee?

Creamer or black? Flavored, low fat, no fat or plain?

Sugar or none?

Decaff? Does anyone actually drink that?

What is the best coffee you have ever had?

The worst?

And what do you do with all those empty cans?

51 comments:

HLS said...

Tea for me, but my husband roasts his own coffee. He has this little roaster thing-amabobber-jigger that roasts it right up like what you could get in a cafe.

His favorite is Jamacian Blue Mountain. He just roasted up a Hawaiian Kauai. We found it in NYC at this funky little coffee shop that had a million open bins with beans in them. They had roasted, but for people like my husband, the unroasted is available.

It's a crowd-pleaser and an easy extra when you have guests over for dinner, so I fully support his roasting habit. :-)

GoLightly said...

Oh, you huge mean person.
5 more days until one year since I drank a coffee.

Tim Horton's shares plummeted, I'm sure.

The nice TH ladies are still laughing about how I used to drink it.
Extra large, 4 cream, one sugar..

Oh, the good old days..
De-caff. Pah. Why waste your time?

I have improved the chocolate market, considerably.

Don't stay up too late!

EveryoneThinksThey'reGoodDrivers said...

My favorite coffee comes out of a french press. I like coffee that I can chew.

I like flavored coffees for the smell, no sugar with cream please.

Scandinavian egg coffee is to die for, but I haven't made it myself. Thinking of this, I'll put it on the list of things to try.

GL why in the hell did you quit drinking coffee? Why would you pain yourself so?

Dena said...

Vanilla Starbucks Frappuccino. I really only drink the iced coffees.

JohnieRotten said...

We just bought a keurig single brew coffee maker. Excellent coffee especially the dark roasts.

Drivers

We also have the French press and love to make the Costa Rican or Yukon Blends in that.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Good strong hot coffee, cream ,or black , no sugar and none of the sweet icky frappalatte stuff. Best coffee ever ,reg coffee ,every morning , I steal a little before the pot is finished brewing . Fancy , Rome airport cappuccino,(still no sugar ,just espresso and steamed milk)
Decaff ? that crap is toxic to me ! Diesel only for this girl.
At home I use Nabob.
Shh , I am canadian and I don't actually like tim hortons coffee(don't tell k?)

Dena said...

What is that Puerto Rican coffee thing that looks like two little teapots welded together by their bottoms?
One side makes the exspresso and the other side steams the milk.
It is really good but kind of a PITA to make.

EveryoneThinksThey'reGoodDrivers said...

Oh and I hate coffee flavored water that can be found at many a gas station across this great country.

FV - I was just in Canada and stopped at a TH a couple months ago, I won't tell and I'll join you.

I found a recipe for Egg Coffee: "Boil four cups of water. While the water is heating, take a separate container and mix one egg (the entire egg—shell and all), one cup of coffee grounds, and one-half cup of water. Essentially you will have a paste like mixture that looks much like potting soil.

Once the water is boiling in the pot…add this entire mixture of coffee and egg into the boiling water. Let it boil for an additional two minutes then remove the pot from the heat. Finally, take one cup of COLD water and throw into the coffee pot. The cold water will settle the coffee grounds to the bottom of the pot, if everything was done correctly. If there are still some grounds floating…then skim them off carefully before serving."

Sherry Sikstrom said...

My other favorite coffee is early morning in the mountains ,camp coffee over an open fire. fresh air and fresh coffee ..unbeatable!

flying fig said...

My favorite - Kona coffee from Hawaii... mmmmmm.
My usual daily fix... a venti latte - occasionally with just a hint of vanilla.

Hey - I live in the Seattle area - what did you expect? ;-)

CharlesCityCat said...

Coffee, I love coffee.

Fern:

I don't care for Starbuck's, gasp! It has a strange after taste to me.

I like mine black, no sugar, no cream, no nothing, and I like it hot.

For everyday, I use Eight O'Clock brand French Roast that I grind every morning.

The only flavored coffee that I like is Hazelnut. The kind where it is part of the bean, not where you pour in the flavor.

Here is my very favorite coffee recipe that I serve during the holidays, this is really difficult, so read carefully:

Brew your favorite regular coffee, pour into your mug of choice and splash in some Irish Mist. YUMMMY!

joanna said...

I haven't have had coffee for over 12 years, but when I did, I loved french roast with milk and sugar. I drink a coffe substitute now, Roma, with milk and sugar.

I'm with GL. Big supporter of the chocolate industry.

hls- I only drink herbal tea, but my husband and I were on a date the other night and came across a store called Teavana. Wow. What an assortment of teas. Stuff from all over the world, like African Rooibos. They have a website, Teavana.com. Check it out.

Anonymous said...

At home, I just blend regular and decaf of whatever is on sale at Target. Black.

I had to drink mostly decaf this morning as I have a riding lesson at 9:00 (which, if I am ever to go faster than a walk, also requires an ativan). My fall last year really did a number on me! I'm riding with a new instructor today as my regular instructor is out of town, so maybe she has some magic she can work to make me more relaxed!

After my lesson, I will probably stop at Starbucks for an iced expresso truffle mocha (YUM!). For a cheaper option with way less calories, I love their doublshot on ice (it still has milk and is sweet, but has way fewer calories).

GoLightly said...

Of course, Timmy's tastes bad initially. It's the addictive substance they put in it.. Once you get past that, it's excellent.
;)

It's like drinking and smoking and the other stupid things people do to their bodies. Once you get past the intelligent body response of "EwwwYuck", you're hooked.
Dang. Just checked my calendar.
It's been a year since I drank coffeeeeeeeeee.

14th, ya know why..

Crazy3dayer said...

Dark Roast:some cream. Best: "Cowboy Coffee" from the USDA inspector when I worked the 2am shift at the plant. Ahhhh HEAVEN
Worst:My moms..she normally drinks tea..it's a mess when she opens the coffee.

Cans: Growing up had a "bacon grease" can for cooking. My mom used all the small ones for baking. Used them for nails, model airplanes parts, GI Joe parts.

Hey there were 7 kids!! Never took them to the barn b/c they were "metal"

horspoor said...

Dark roast...black, and more please. I don't get my coffee in cans. I wish I did. I love coffee cans.

Karen V said...

When I make coffee at home, I use Starbucks Verona (Dark Roast). 12 cup coffe maker. Water to the 10 cup line. 8 scoops of grounds. (I like for it to walk to the cup by itself!) 2 scoops sugar, French Vanilla Creamer (CoffeeMate only)

If I buy it, my choice is Starbuck, Iced venti, quad (4 shots espresso), 2 pump mocha, 2 pump vanilla, 4 pump toffeenut, breve (half n half), no whip. It's thick and rich and fattening and for special occasions only. Otherwise, I'd resemble a Weeble.

Worst coffee - IHOP. No amount of sugar or cream could make that swill drinkable!

BuckdOff said...

Keurig...Paul Newman's Own, Special Blend..or Maxwell House instant, with half& half, and one half packet of Stevia..2 cups minimum to be awake and face the day. One day a week, I have a Honey Dew iced Mocha Madness light...And, if I'm working seaside, I buy a Dunkin Donuts small iced Caramel, light, and sit near the seawall. Right now, Surf's Up, because of Hurricane Bill...so no seawall for a couple of days.

BuckdOff said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
weone said...

My favorite coffee is the kind some one else has ready for me when I wake up in the morning.

But other than that I just got back from Alaska and their coffe , I think it was Heritage was very good .

cattypex said...

OMG GL.... I get an XL w/ 4 creams and 2 sugars!

But I prefer either a straight Kona (aaaaaahhhhhhh... too bad my dad doesn't fly to Hawaii all the time anymore), or a rich smooooth roast like Starbuck's Pike Place (the only Starbucks coffee that isn't burnt to hell), or even this one that Gevalia does.

There's a local coffeehouse that has a very smoooooooth Columbian.

Other than that, it's gotta be strong, and atl least 1/4 milk, with a little sugar.

I loves my French Press. I finally got a Lexan one, quart size, because I kept breaking the glass ones.

Also I love tea (yeah baby, I swing both ways), usually a nice long-leaf Assam or Irish Breakfast or Yorkshire Gold, or PG Tips if I have to buy it here in town. Tea must be strong, too, with milk & sugar. Preferably loose, all floatin' around in the pot, and I strain it into the cup. I got the cutest little gizmo that looks like a ladybug that goes around the spout to soak up drips.

I'm a big fan of Turbinado, Demerara, or the beige organic sugar. It has FLAVOR, not just sweetness.

Oh.... I start my day with a 20 oz. travel mug of tea, and then progress to a quart of coffee (which is actually 1/4 milk).

cattypex said...

I also love me some carmel macchiato goodness from Starbucks. THeir carmel tasts like something a grownup should have.....

TH coffee isn't nearly as good as Dunkin Donuts, but we only have TH here in town and it's very convenient to work.

Actually we have a little coffee bar on campus that makes good stuff, but I see that the company is owned by Tyson, which doesn't sit well with me.

horspoor said...

I like tea too. My favorite is still Constant Comment. Also love Earl Grey, mmmmm bergemot. If it is really cold and rainy I put cinnamon, nutmeg, and milk in it. Tastes like Christmas.

Like Thai Iced tea. And Chai tea, favorite chai is Oregon Chai.

OH....and Ibarra hot chocolate. yummy.

farzana said...

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf vanilla Caffe Latte low-fat. However, I will basically drink anything with caffeine, and I have downed some pretty vile stuff, which is why I use a little milk and a spoon and a half of sugar if available.

cattypex said...

MMMmmmm My mom got me hooked on tea with Constant Comment!

Stands to reason that I love Chai, too....

An Indian student worker introduced me to Masala tea, which is tea & masala spices brewed together, with sugar and milk.

It's got KICK, and makes me feel all exotic.

Amused said...

I hate coffee, but love the fact that it does wake me up.
Jamaican Blue Mountain was good, but I have to admit that I put in so much sugar and creamer that I can't taste the coffee!
Many times it has been discussed at work whether it is the caffeine that keeps me up and going, or the sugar high. No one is exactly certain.
I usually buy the fresh ground 8 O'clock coffee, because it is cheaper than the others out there--i.e., Starbucks. I was quite surprised to read a coffee review in Consumer Reports that stated that coffee was even better than Starbucks!
I have to say, I don't think that I will ever be able to bring myself to try that coffee made from the poop of a civet cat. I know others swear by it, and I know that all harmful bacteria would be destroyed by the heat during its making, but..the idea of drinking something that came out of the butt of something else (i.e., fecal material) simply does not appeal to me.

CharlesCityCat said...

Amused:

I like the 8 O'Clock brand too, much better to me than Starbucks.

Okay, I know I am gonna regret this but please explain about that coffee you talked about. I have never heard of anything like that.

cattypex said...

I have... and while I've had some bad coffee in my life, at least no one had to dig it out of turds....

I can NOT stomach artificial creamer. Even the fat-free half & half crap is icky.

I made t he mistake in College of trying to make Mac & cheese with Coffee Mate.

89¢ down the drain....

horspoor said...

wuhhh....Cattypex. The thought of mac and cheese is bad enough, but with Coffee Mate it sounds like some Frat house dare.

We did run out of mix for our rum and whiskey when I was very young. We used strawberry jello. Who knew we were so ahead of our time. Jello shots in 1980. lol

CharlesCityCat said...

HP:

You should have patented the idea, you would be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

One time, when I lived down at the Beach with my best friend Sheri, we ran out of tonic, had plenty of gin but no tonic and no money to go buy more. We did have Gatorade, this is a mix that I do not recommend, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

horspoor said...

I had a friend that drank gin and Tab. Gaak. I'm not a gin fan to begin with...but mixed with Tab it was noxious. Luisa was very figure concious. lol

phaedra96 said...

When I can find a coffeehouse--cappuccino straight. No sugar. No flavor. Love tea, I have to use two teabags cause I want to tastethe tea. No milk(YUCK!) Earl Grey with sugar and lemon. At home, Folgers strong and straight. Every once in awhile, I grind but......I am too lazy or impatient or whatever. Sigh. Absolutely no gas station cappuccino.

Amused said...

CCC:
You had me laughing at your request to describe that coffee against your better judgement. It's called Civet Coffee, or Kopi Luwak.
It is a highly prized coffee berry that is eaten whole by civet cats and passes through their system undigested, and defecated.
Here is a brief description from Wiki--I only found out about it from watching a documentary on it!
"Civets consume the red coffee cherries, when available, containing the fruit and seed, and they tend to pick the ripest and sweetest fruit. Thus there is a natural selection for the ripest coffee beans. The inner bean of the berry is not digested, but a unique combination of enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee's flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste. The beans are defecated, still covered in some inner layers of the berry. The beans are washed, and given only a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavors that develop through the process. Light roasting is considered particularly desirable in coffees that do not exhibit bitterness, and the most pronounced characteristic of Kopi Luwak is a marked reduction in bitterness.
In early days, the beans would be collected in the wild from a "latrine," or a specific place where the civet would defecate as a means to mark its territory, and these latrines would be a predictable place for local gatherers to find the beans. More commonly today, civet farms allow civets to roam within defined boundaries, and the feces produced are then processed and the coffee beans offered for sale."
They are offered for sale, all right--the price for these beans usually range from 400-600.00 a pound!
In some places they sell it by the cup, and the price runs from 50.00 a cup to 99.00.
That's even more of an incentive not to try that coffee!

cattypex said...

Also learned in college:

No matter how desperate you are, no matter how late at night, no matter how many drunks are clamoring, do NOT make tequila sunrises with Tang. Just DON'T.

Civet (they're related to weasels, right, and not cats?) poop coffee makes me think of that scene in Austin Powers with Fat Bastard's poo...

JohnieRotten said...

I do not know about that cat poop coffee.

The way I see it, if I want a cup of crappy coffee, why would I pay $99.00 for it when I can get crappy coffee for .50cents when I get a refill at Circle K.

We also like the Duncan Doughnuts dark roast coffee. It is pretty damn good.

WildCaballo said...

I am totally going to pretend that Civet Coffee doesn't exist..La,la, la...TMI...

I like Community Coffee out of Louisiana. The medium roast. I also love their sun tea.

WildCaballo said...

Cattypex

*shudder*

using Tang, that is just all kinds of WRONG!

lol

Cut-N-Jump said...

Before the keurig, Kroger brand or DD, no 'low fat' additives, but regular Coffeemate, cinamon flavored or there was one we bought during the holidays. Maybe gingerbread? It was good though. Yes a bit of sugar.

Otherwise, Baileys or St Brendenns Irish cream, Bushmills, Jamesons Irish whiskey and sometimes Amaretto Di Sorono.

The only thing I like from Starbucks is their pumpkin spiced latte. The rest, well they can keep it.

Tea in the summer months. Iced of course. It's too damn hot outside to drink hot things.

HP- I'll see your jello shots and raise you Kool-Aid and vodka slushees. Rainbow of flavors and colors to make seeing it again quite interesting.

CP- the only thing I have heard Tang is useful for is cleaning the toilet. Maybe that's what you were ultimately trying to accomplish? In a roundabout way?

Anonymous said...

flying fig - Kona is my all-time fave too!! Mmmmmmmm

For the rest of the time (aka when I can't find/afford the Kona), I like a basic medium roast. Cream or milk, no sugar. Don't really like the flavored coffees so much but will drink them.. (hey, any port in a storm! As long as they aren't decaf..)

And for special occasions, a cup of steaming black coffee with a splash of Patron Silver and Kahlua makes the day start out just right!

BuckdOff said...

Tea..Constant Comment regular or Bigelow Vanilla Chai..with some Stevia, of course.. It has a lovely fragrance too.

cattypex said...

Bailey's. MMMmmm.

Irish cream & club soda on the rocks is pretty awesome. But 'nother lesson learned in college? Don't try it with Sprite.

Tang.... anyone remember Grape Tang? In the glass jar?

Bushmills & Jameson, yum! Though nowadays I have to mix with something sweet. *sigh*

I do not like hazelnut coffee.

Natalie Keller Reinert said...

I brew up whatever is seasonal at Starbucks. . . right now, it is Gazebo blend. The best time of the year is split between Anniversary Blend and Christmas Blend. I heart them both equally!!

Black. Maybe half and half if it is real.

At work I drink a Kona blend with some half-and-half. I am very fortunate in that Kona blend, most people have to make do with Nescafe. . . mwahaha!!

For CCC - I should add that I have mixed Kool-Aid and whiskey with pleasing results.

For caramel macchiatto drinkers - I dare you to ask for the nutritional facts on that. Sorry, I used to work at Starbucks. You don't want to know what's in that caramel ;)
unionsquarestables

cattypex said...

oh noes... now I have to look it up...

fortunately I only get one every two weeks or so

Anonymous said...

I've heard a lot about that Jamaican Blue Mountain. Hopefully it is cheaper than Kona! ? ?

Anonymous said...

Hot chocolate for me!

First time poster here. I just started reading about a week ago. Your blog is very entertaining. I like it!

~Melissa

The Second Waffle

amarygma said...

Raspberry mocha. Yum.

JstPam said...

I am an old fashioned use coffee cans to measure the grain girl!

I have two cans that are over 11 years old,they have the grooves that divide the can into four.

I will kill anyboody who touches my cans, my boss tried to take one a few weeks ago. After a little talk, it was back in the barn!

As for coffee, I don't drink it, can't stand the taste, but I love how it smells.

I don't know how I always end up being the coffee maker at various jobs (and horse shows), but I brew it on the strong is better theory. You can always water down strong coffee, you can't do anything to weak coffee!

horspoor said...

JstPam, I like to drink coffee but I do love the smell. When I was a little kid there used to be a coffee shop on Polk St. in San Fran. I used to love to walk in there. It had creaky wood floors, and wood and glass cases filled with coffee stretching to the ceiling. I think it was called Breeds Coffees. It was a narrow store with high ceilings and the counter at the back in an old Victorian building. I'm going to have to see if it is still there the next time I'm in the city.

Padraigin_WA said...

I like 'a shot in the dark'. A 20 oz. cup of a rich Indonesian roast, pref. Sumatra, with an added shot of espresso. With room for cream. No sugar.
Favorite local roasters; Caffe Vita and Stumptown. $tarbucks is overrated.

horspoor said...

Gotta pick up my kid and go to the store, get celery and onions. Making soup.

Natalie Keller Reinert said...

41 - no, it isn't, really. Jamaican Blue Mountain is as "rare" as Kona... small islands, producing small amounts.

Try blending Kona with a smooth Starbucks blend like Verona, that might extend it a little and keep the rich flavor.

Or maybe Gold Coast? Quite a bold flavor, I think it's African for the most part, but it might make a nice mix.

I like to experiment.

unionsquarestables
bloggin up the tbs