sarahmichigan | Godlessness and coffee

I love the smell of coffee.

I generally hate the taste. I've only had one cup of coffee that was something I'd willingly finish.

I'm a tea fanatic instead. At coffee shops, I order French sodas, or "cremes" or tea (but it has to be good tea).

I've cut caffeine out completely for months at a time, but I find that, given my mild ADD, I function better in the corporate world with a moderate amount of caffeine in my system.

HATE coffee! Hate the smell of it! Hate how people smell when they drink it! Hate having to make it for my bosses! Hate the taste of it! UGH!

After my anxiety issues last year, I decided to completely get off caffeine. That's where I am now. I don't drink ANY caffeine, and I feel great! I can instantly go to sleep and no more heart palpitations!

I think that coffee shops are highly overrated too.

I hate office coffee. I drink it from time to time, but it's nasty. It doesn't matter where you work and it doesn't matter what type of coffee they purchase, it's nasty.

Hmmm...on my own at a Denny's or something, I typically drink a cup of coffee with 1 cream, 2 sugars.

I also like coffee with hot chocolate, cream and sugar.

At Dunkin Donuts I typically end up drinking their iced Carmel Latte. It's yummo! Which brings me to the fact that I love iced coffees.

I haven't totally found "my coffee drink" at places like Starbucks. Although I am fond of a good raspberry mocha something.

I have cut down on caffeine over the years. Mostly in the form of soda. I used to drink TONS!! Now I mostly have soda on the weekends at my parents. Minus the part where 2 half 2-liters were left here and I finished them hoping it'd keep me awake. (No such luck) I can't drink caffeine late at night or I won't sleep. And soda, particularly Coke, had started making me feel crappy when I was drinking it, so I cut it out.

I've gone through phases where I've made coffee at home, but I don't these days. It's been awhile since I had a phase like that. 3 shots of espresso at 11 o'clock at night, will make me shake. :)

And I guess those are my thoughts on coffee. :)

You already know most of my coffee habits. :)

But I love coffee. I drink it black most of the time. I even drink my decaf black, that's how hard-core I am.

I do cut back on caffeine, with good results. If I'm drinking too much, my shoulders get knotted up much more easily, I'm more anxious, my heartbeat feels more irregular, and other icky stuff. I currently mix my beans half and half.

I make my coffee in a very low-tech way. I have a cone filter that I fill with freshly ground beans, and set on top of the pot, and I pour just-boiled water through, a bit at a time. I'm a snob, and I think it tastes much better this way than if the water is heated by a coffee-pot's heating element, and I also think having the pot sitting on a heating plate is a bad thing.

And my favorite "froofy" drink is Starbucks' carmel macchiato, but with an extra espresso shot, and without the vanilla shot. They have some fancy-ass term for this drink which I can never remember. Oh - and this is one of the few coffee drinks that's really good with soy milk, too, in my opinion.

But in general, I'm not a Starbucks fan - their coffee tends to taste burnt to me.

"So, in the meantime, do you like coffee? Why or why not?"
"Did you used to dislike coffee but acquired a taste for it?"

I used to not like coffee. But I wanted to get the caffeine without the sugar, so I started drinking it (rather than my normal Mt. Dew or Coca Cola fix).

"Have you tried to cut down on caffeine, and how successful were you?"

I'm now cut back to 1 cup in the morning, but find if I drink mildly caffeinated tea in the afternoon I can concentrate better.

"How do you like it? Black? With cream or sugar?"
I love coffee black, but it has to be good coffee. I can't really tolerate Maxwell House or similar.

"Do you like it prepared a certain way, say on the stove in and old-fashioned percolator, or in a french press? What makes this method superior?"

I grind my own beans and just make it in a standard coffee maker. Haven't researched or tried any other methods as I find the coffee prepared this way quite good.

"What do you think about flavored coffees?"
I don't.

"Do you have a favorite "froofy" drink when you go out to a coffee shop?"
I so rarely go to coffee shops that I don't have a one.

"Which coffee shops make the best coffee and which are over-rated?"
Well, I can say that I don't like Starbucks. Regardless of what coffee I order it's so strong and acidic it burns holes in my stomach.

I didn't grow up with coffee and I still don't like it very much plain. But I do like caffeine, quite a bit (it's my one real vice, and that's okay with me). I prefer drinking tea (with caffeine, please!) but it's not as easily available in an office environment, especially when I'm too lazy to bring in my own tea bags. And I definitely need a hot beverage in the mornings to get me going, so I developed a taste for coffee. But the more flavored coffee with the more flavored creamers and stuff I can get to go with it, the better.

My current office has the best coffee set up I've ever seen in an office - a single cup brewer with a half a dozen different varieties of grounds you can put in it (each individually sealed). So far, I'm not ambitious enough to make coffee at home - I'd need more counter space for a machine and I'd be the only one to use it regularly. Plus, I already have all my favorite varieties of tea at home, so that's what I usually drink there. But I will drink coffee at coffee shops as often as tea (it's so hard to find non-herbal teas most places anymore!), and again, the froofier flavored stuff, the better. Especially if it has caramel or raspberry or chocolate or french vanilla.

My favorite coffee shops are the little hole in the wall independent places, but I've learned to appreciate the chains. In my office complex, we have one Coffee Beanery, one Au Bon Pain, and two Starbucks. You can't get much more chain oriented than that without throwing in a Caribou, I think.

To answer your questions:

[D]o you like coffee? Why or why not?

--Yes, especially a good dark roast.

How do you like it? Black? With cream or sugar?

--Usually I have it black, but I'll put cream/sugar in coffee to disguise a bad cup if I'm needing a caffeine jolt.

Do you like it prepared a certain way, say on the stove in and old-fashioned percolator, or in a french press? What makes this method superior?

--Pretty much the only preference I have is for freshly-ground coffee. It makes for a richer flavor.

Do you have a favorite "froofy" drink when you go out to a coffee shop?

--Anything with toffee or caramel. I'm fond of ~~Carrypoo~~ Caribou's "Caramel High Rise" as a double boost of sugar and caffeine.

Which coffee shops make the best coffee and which are over-rated?

--Most brand-name coffeshops, e.g. ~~Whorebucks~~ Starbucks, are overrated, and I only drink their froofy drinks unless I really truly want Just Plain Coffee™.

Have you tried to cut down on caffeine, and how successful were you?

--I'm forced to on a regular basis, by two things: chronic acid reflux and canker sores, both of which can be made worse by excess coffee.

Did you used to dislike coffee but acquired a taste for it?

--Nope, I've always liked coffee. As a little kid, my grandma would let me drink half-coffee/half-milk with breakfast. I learned to drink the stuff straight at 16, when I was an exchange student in New Zealand. It was my weekday breakfast. :-)

What do you think about flavored coffees?

--Pass. No real objection, other than that 90% of the time, I think they're no better than plain ol' coffee. I prefer to get my artificial-flavor chemicals through other routes... ;-)

Not really. The taste just doesn't appeal, and tea is almost always available as an alternative.
If I do drink it (and I will, just not often), with cream, possibly sugar.
No.
I love steamers (hot milk with flavor).
Gone Wired, in Lansing, has the best menu I've experienced. Other than that, I've enjoyed Caribou coffee. I think both Starbucks and Espresso Royale are over-hyped.
I have, and I have been remarkably successful. I buy caffeine-free sodas now, and generally prefer tea that is naturally decaf.
No.
I don't like flavored coffees.

I've got a "Why I'm an atheist" post percolating
Percolating is supposed to be a really bad way to make coffee, isn't it? Studying Sumerian and Bablyonian mythology is a good way to put you off of Judaism and its descendants, as it becomes obvious how much of the old testament was plagarised from it.

So, in the meantime, do you like coffee?
Sort-of.

How do you like it?
With chocolate. Vanilla or hazelnut *might* suffice, but I still prefer them along with chocolate. Without one of those three, it just tastes like dirt.

Do you have a favorite "froofy" drink when you go out to a coffee shop?
There is (or was) a coffee shop in Kalamazoo whose name I can't remember that had a drink called "Overboard on Chocolate". The double-espresso version consisted of two parts espresso, two parts cream and one part Hershey syrup. That was really good.

The Caramel Mocha at the Border's coffee shop is really good, and of course, Frappucinos.

Have you tried to cut down on caffeine
No, as I've never had any ill effects from it.

Did you used to dislike coffee but acquired a taste for it?
I discovered that chocolate erases what I don't like about it.

What do you think about flavored coffees?
Sure, why not? When I'm working late alone in the office, I make a pot of coffee with about a tablespoon of cinnamon mixed in the the grounds. The only problem I have with flavored coffee is that more often than not means Irish Cream, which isn't any good.

Tell me your thoughts on java
I think that checked exceptions were an interesting idea that didn't work out, and they should be replaced. Other than that, I like the language alright, but a lot of J2EE just seems unecessarily baroque. Or did you mean coffee?

I like it black as night and strong, made either in a cafetiere or a stovetop espresso machine (possibly with added boiled water to make an americano, or possibly straight). I also like to grind my own beans; I used to use a small food grinder but bought an actual coffee mill a couple of weeks ago. Actually, one of my small weekend rituals is going downstairs and making coffee in the mornings; weekdays I just wait til I get in to work and use the office coffee machine. (Coding shops nearly always have free coffee, I've noticed, it's a bad sign if they don't.)

I like the clean taste of an americano, but I also like the strength and body you get with a cafetiere, without any taste of it having stewed as you might with a percolator.

Trader Joe's, incidentally, has a rather nice 'darker than dark super extra dark roast' I can't wait to try.

I cut down on caffeine to the extent of not drinking it in the afternoons; I still get through a good 2/3rds of a pot a day at work, though.

The smell of American coffee gives me nausea. How much I can tolerate coffee shops is based on the other odors in the air, but most of them have enough other smells to make the coffee smell a dull static. Diners, on the other hand, can overwhelm me. I have to hold my breath around the coffee section in Trader Joe's, which is really annoying since they moved it so close to the fruit.

I like the smell of real coffee, i.e., the thick black stuff they serve in Europe by the thimbleful that Starbuck's tries (somewhat successfully) to emulate.

I don't consume caffeine in any form other than chocolate, where the molecules are complex enough that the caffeine doesn't bother me.

So, in the meantime, do you like coffee? Why or why not? No, I don't like the taste.
How do you like it? Black? With cream or sugar? I like it not at all--but when I used to drink it freshman year, I mixed it so it was half coffee, half chocolate milk!
Do you like it prepared a certain way, say on the stove in and old-fashioned percolator, or in a french press? What makes this method superior? No.
Do you have a favorite "froofy" drink when you go out to a coffee shop? Yep--chai! (Made with soymilk, since I'm lactose-intolerant.)
Which coffee shops make the best coffee and which are over-rated? I suspect they're all over-rated.
Have you tried to cut down on caffeine, and how successful were you? Yes. I wanted to make sure that caffeine would actually have an effect on me when I wanted it to. I've been fairly successful at that.
Did you used to dislike coffee but acquired a taste for it? No, I never got around to acquiring the taste.
What do you think about flavored coffees? It's marginally less icky-tasting than actual coffee.

Tell me your thoughts on java, please! I don't know much Java yet, but so far I like it. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much is liking Java, and how much is liking Eclipse, the editor I've been using. Eclipse does some pretty nifty stuff.

Coffee is okay. I dont like making it myself most of the time, but i'll have it if I am working late, or if someone else buys it for me.

I like "mistos" or "Cafe au lait" which is half coffee and half milk. cheaper than a latte, but about the same taste, and always with a flavor shot in it. I used to dislike starbucks, because their coffee was always bitter, but now its okay.

I hate coffee. Credit (or blame) probably goes to my grandfather. I remember asking him for a piece of candy and he gave me one. Expecting to taste a hard candy root beer, I gagged on a damned piece of coffee candy! Blech!

I even hate the smell of it. Although, it may be the cheap American crap.

As for caffeine, I haven't had any intentionally since August 2002 (except for what's in chocolate).

One of the things that bugs me about offices is how you can get all the coffee you want, but if you don't drink that, you're stuck with water, except for those few places that also offer tea. But, even that isn't necessarily caffeine free.

Instead of coffee, I'd take hot chocolate. But, that gets expensive and isn't always an option.

I've got a "Why I'm an atheist" post percolating...

I'll be curious to see that. As a scientific spiritualist (that's not a real term, just a stab at describing what i mean in a few words), i'm always curious to hear folks' reasons why they actively don't believe in God (assuming that's what you mean by atheist -- many people use that word to mean different variants of agnosticism or "passive" atheism).

So, in the meantime, do you like coffee?

Yes. I never drank coffee regularly until a few years ago, but now i do daily. I used to just have it now and again.

I originally took it with cream and sugar, but managed to get off the sugar. The catch is, now it has to be real ½&½... can't do that powder or fake stuff.

I usually prefer fresh-ground beans, but don't much have preferences between drip vs press vs cup-filter. I try to stay flexible, though, and can handle my work coffee (not horrible, but not great), and occasionally even "slum it" with diner coffee, etc. There are one or two brands that i occasionally run into that i can't drink -- they taste "sour" for some reason.

I occasionally like a frappucino or French soda at a bar, but not as a substitute for coffee. That's its own thing.

I try to limit myself to one (large and strong) cup per day, usually in the morning. I'll occasionally go for a second if i really need it, but i try to maintain the baseline of one cup a day. I don't want to become someone who measures their coffee consumption in "pots". I know people like that.

I never disliked coffee. Since i've been drinking it regularly, i've definitely acquired a taste for stronger coffee, but i've always liked it. I've even reached a point where, on rare occasion, i'll have decaf just cuz i feel like coffee but don't want it for its "medicinal" purposes. I don't really like it black, though, even now, and some would say that makes me a poser. :)

Flavored coffees are okay, i suppose. I don't seek them out, but can usually handle them if they're not too dramatic or pre-sweetened. I can handle sweetened coffee, but don't prefer it.

Are you going to compile these results into some statistics or something? :)

I used to love coffee, but now i rarely drink it. More often, I've been getting chai.....

So, in the meantime, do you like coffee? Why or why not?

I really like good coffee, and am enough of a coffee whore to tolerate most mediocre to bad coffee. When I was a kid, I LOVED the smell in the house, and used to taste it every so often, figuring it smelled so good it HAD to taste good. But it wasn't until I got coffee heaped with flavorings from a sweetheart in college (she was all about the General Foods International Coffees) that I could bear it; it gradually grew to a like/love.

How do you like it? Black? With cream or sugar?

Good coffee, black. Bad coffee, with cream, creamer, flavored creamer, whatever. Not usually sugar (except what's in the flavored creamer).

After reading Consumer Reports' blind taste-tests on coffee, I stopped buying the fanciest special blends, and bought some of their #1 recommended 8 o'clock coffee; I tend to be a big fan of the 8 O'clock French Roast, unground, and grind it myself in the morning.

Do you like it prepared a certain way, say on the stove in and old-fashioned percolator, or in a french press? What makes this method superior?

I learned off Good Eats, so it's carafe, filter (permanent gold) inside cone. Ground 7 scoops of it, pour the water through about 15 seconds off the boil. I've found it to be more flavorful. I think french press is a resonably close second; my honey makes it that way sometimes.

At first, I just did that on weekends for my honey; then I realized how much I was spending at Espresso Royale in the morning on the way to work and went to 7 days a week at home.

And if I "need" a second dose, I will drink the work crap, laden with fake creamer.

Do you have a favorite "froofy" drink when you go out to a coffee shop?

Probably a mocha.

Which coffee shops make the best coffee and which are over-rated?

I have kinda a thing for Dunkin' Donuts coffee ... though usually with something I should not be eating ... also Tim Horton's fires up my Canadian blood. I used to have a thing for the old Cava Java in Ann Arbor too.

Have you tried to cut down on caffeine, and how successful were you?

Yep, moved to Ann Arbor, started working in Randall Lab on Central Campus ... maybe 100 yards or less from Cava Java. Bought a big huge one of their mugs first day there (I'm guessing 24-36 oz., definitely WAY more than 16), and if I needed a few minutes of walk and think, I'd go refill it ... maybe four times a day. One day I had a busy day at work, didn't make it there, and thought I had the 'flu. Falling asleep by 6pm, achey, pounding headache. I had a talk on the phone with a friend who correctly diagnosed me.

I did cut back to one mug a day then, though on and off random amounts of caffeinated cola.

Did you used to dislike coffee but acquired a taste for it?

See above.

What do you think about flavored coffees?

I enjoy them -- I usually have some 8 O'Clock Hazelnut at home to make.

I like coffee, but I'm probably way overly picky about it. I used to dislike it (as a child), but I think that is mostly because I had only been exposed to swill coffee. After a year or so of drinking froufrou Starbucks drinks, I got sent to Italy for work. Thus began the avalanche. I picked up coffee in my early 30s. I had to cut back on caffeine from Mountain Dew several times during high school and college, but I've never had to cut back on caffeine from coffee.

I like regular coffee black just fine (but I'll warn you that coffeegeeks think most coffee makers make crap coffee - I'm mostly talking about press pot coffee), but I prefer a good cappuccino. I used to sugar it, but generally don't anymore. A lower-quality cappuccino is only so-so. I only know of one reliable place to get a good one, and one slightly less reliable but still presumably decent. It's the Ugly Mug on Cross Street... other than that I'd just as soon have my own french press coffee that I make at home. I get roast-dated beans from Whole Foods, grind with a burr grinder right before I brew, and use the french press instructions from Sweet Maria's.

Nonetheless, I _am_ known to grab a pumpkin spice latte at Charbucks (*$) when it's in season. They are, however, overrated. I can't say enough good about the Ugly Mug Cafe though. I've only tried one other coffee shop in town... I just don't bother if it's not convenient to get the good stuff.

Flavored coffees? I presume you mean "flavoured beans" to which I say BAH! You're much better off making some good quality coffee and spiking it with some flavoured syrup.

For a while I was making coffee every morning and taking it to work in a thermos, but I gave up on that. These days I'll make a couple of large batches, throw in 20% by volume soy milk, throw it in the refrigerator, and have a glass in the morning before leaving for work. Right now I happen to be out, though. Gah.

I had a plan to get a fairly high-end grinder and espresso machine, but that plan has fizzled to the point that I'm unlikely to do it at all.

Both my company's offices in Japan, and I hear the one in Germany (I haven't been there yet), have fully automatic espresso/cappuccino/whatever machines. It's not great, not nearly the Ugly Mug, but as far as office coffee goes, it's nirvana. Overall it probably hurts my jet lag performance when I'm there, though. Heh.

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