Tea or Coffee? Or Both?

[bobk]

I mostly drink ice water, but I do like some herb teas (chamomile/mint blends are my favorite), and I like coffee FLAVOR in things (think frappuchino or coffee-flavored ice cream, or a tiny bit of coffee in hot chocolate), but coffee itself is way too bitter. When I need caffeine, I go for penguin mints or caffeinated pop (coke, barq's).

This is me as well, almost exactly. I hadn't heard of Penguin mints before so I looked them up online. Are they available retail outside the Seattle area?

[Curegirl]

BobK: http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Caffei.../dp/B000GZ17BU

[Cinderella]

For my cup of drip I like a medium or dark roast freshly ground with half and half and sugar. I recently switched to non-dairy powdered creamer for less calories and it does the trick.

I also like the french press coffee but find it messier to clean up. Still there is something distinctly different in the taste that makes it more flavorful, rich and smooth.

I either have coffee upon waking, or a small cup freshly brewed and served after a dinner and dessert to visit with and perk me up before the drive home. I limit my intake to these hours and not more than 12 - 16 oz. Otherwise my whole schedule is messed up and I can't sleep. Back in college I would drink coffee to pull all nighters, to wake up, to basically have a pulse.

I also like coffees with syrups like the pumpkin spice lattes, and coconut milk or syrup, or caramel macchiato, or a german chocolate coffee with coconut, chocolate and caramel. However, with coffees being $5 a pop these days I don't get to have the pleasure of sucking down these sweet mixed brews as much.

For teas I'll usually have a non-caffeinated herbal tea such as lemon, chamomile, peppermint, orange, bedtime tea, mint tea. For caffeinated I go with a Lipton black tea either hot or cold. I grew up in Texas and our family lived off of sun pitchers of sweet tea so I still make a batch sometimes. I also like Earl Grey and Oolong but don't buy them often. We usually get a variety pack. I always use sugar and sometimes milk.

I remember once I was on a kick where I had green tea with milk and sugar but I haven't had green tea in a long time. I also went on a kick where I made coffee and stored it in jars to have iced tea at home with rice milk or almond milk and sugar. We also have a latte machine with a heated milk frother that we don't use much because we can't afford to buy the syrups to sweeten our coffees with and make them fancy. That and dh keeps breaking all our glasses by accident so I started recycling thicker glass jars that held condiments until we could afford him breaking all our dishes. LOL!

[MAPPLEBUM]

Today was the first in years i opted for black tea over coffee!!!! Ive been drinking less and less feeling like i dont need coffee that much so today it was just natural to heat up a pot of water. this is quite different from the last time i quit and failed because i was so dependent.

Im not against coffee but ive always liked to know its within my power to quit.

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[LadyFoot]

I've always loved coffee, but working at a coffee shop (NOT Starbucks!) for a while has turned DH and I both into snobs. We usually do at least 2 French presses a day (I get lazy with the washing and mostly rinse between uses, just washing it every few days). I'm also a big fan of some good, strong British black tea. I take both my coffee and tea with almond milk (since I'm lactose intolerant). Yum!

It's a bit late for coffee now, but after reading this thread, I think I might need some decaf.

[corn poffi]

Have any French press tips? I love my French press, but I don't think I'm using it to its full potential. (Aka it tastes better when somebody who isn't me makes it)

[Thirteen]

Tea or Coffee? Or Both?

Have any French press tips? I love my French press, but I don't think I'm using it to its full potential. (Aka it tastes better when somebody who isn't me makes it)

Are you starting with cold water, then bringing it to a high, rolling boil? Is it filtered?
What grind setting are the grounds (e.g. Are they ground, intended for a drip coffee machine, or a French press)?
Are you measuring your grounds correctly - grounds-to-water ratio = 2 tbsp per 6oz water. ?
Are you letting the coffee/water steep for 3 minutes before pushing the plunger down?


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[Meenah]

Coffee, several cups a day the lazy way via the Keurig!

[corn poffi]

I got the water thing down, and grind my own beans at home. I think that's where I mess up. How finely should I grind them? I just have a cheap-o Krups grinder and I think I'm always either over- or under-grinding.

I've also been letting it steep for 5 minutes instead of 3 because I found that it wasn't strong enough after three...probably because my grinds are wrong!

[diggitydot]

I've always loved coffee, but working at a coffee shop (NOT Starbucks!) for a while has turned DH and I both into snobs.

You're speaking my language. TOTAL coffee snobs, here.

When we lived in the Midwest, I thought people had lost their damn minds when they swore to us that Dunkin' Donuts had the best coffee in town. Yeah, no -- not the best coffee in town. Gag.

[LadyFoot]

You're speaking my language. TOTAL coffee snobs, here.

When we lived in the Midwest, I thought people had lost their damn minds when they swore to us that Dunkin' Donuts had the best coffee in town. Yeah, no -- not the best coffee in town. Gag.

Agreed! Yuck! I'll take Starbucks if it's my only option, but I get orange juice if I'm dragged to Dunkin' Donuts. Gross. Also, most of them don't a non-dairy milk that I can use to mask the nasty coffee, which makes me even less of a fan.

[diggitydot]

Tea or Coffee? Or Both?

We live in an area where local coffee roasters are pretty common and the good coffee places are where the baristas know how to properly pull a shot, not just the places with free wifi.

DH's nurse and her husband used to have a roasting company. They still have all the equipment and import their beans to roast themselves. They just started roasting again and shared the wealth with us.

Man, I love this area.

[LadyFoot]

Are you starting with cold water, then bringing it to a high, rolling boil? Is it filtered?
What grind setting are the grounds (e.g. Are they ground, intended for a drip coffee machine, or a French press)?
Are you measuring your grounds correctly - grounds-to-water ratio = 2 tbsp per 6oz water. ?
Are you letting the coffee/water steep for 3 minutes before pushing the plunger down?


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Ditto to this. You'll have to experiment a bit to find your personal preference.

I have a Cuisinart Burr grinder that I'm a huge fan of. You need a pretty coarse, consistent grind for a good French press (similar in size to something like pre-cooked couscous--the small stuff, not the Israeli kind).

I've always found the 2Tbsp to 6oz water to be a bit much for me. I use 5 rounded Tbsp per 8-cup French press (but that's 8 coffee cups, which are 4 oz, because coffee pot measurements makes no sense), which I think comes out to something like 1.5 Tbsp per 6 oz. Then I heat filtered water in a kettle on the stove, pour it over the coffee so that it mixes well, and let it steep for 4 minutes before straining.

Also, the kind of coffee you use makes a big difference. The closer you can get to freshly-roasted the better. From the grocery store, Caribou and Equal Exchange are my two favorites that I can find consistently. The best are from the local coffee shops that roast them themselves.

[Sheherezade]

Grind is surprisingly important. We went to a hand grinder in our latest wave of coffee snobbery and the bitterness has vanished. Who would have thought?

[Sheherezade]

Burr grinders are better and you need a coarser grind for French press.