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How do you have your coffee?

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18:23 / 03.03.05

*Ignore Ibis: she is clearly delusional from poisoning herself with poor quality coffee. Poor thing, it's affected her mind.

This from someone who's just confessed to drinking something called "half-decaf."

18:54 / 03.03.05

Vile. Couldn't live without it.

It’s true. I often think to myself, as I’m waiting for the cup to cool down, it’s a jolly good thing I enjoy coffee. Because I don’t actually think I’m physically capable of quitting it. I mean, I love it, but possibly only in the ‘country music heroine’ sense of the word.

How do I take my coffee? Out of my little stove-top percolator. Over a pathetic flame and in a filthy garret, if possible. Yer actual bohemian style, basically. Which makes milk and sugar the instruments of the bourgeoisie. ie, bourgeoisie have to bring their own when they visit.

18:56 / 03.03.05

Better to dring half-strength coffee than full strength Folgers. Or Farmer's Brothers. Or what-have-you.

19:11 / 03.03.05

Folgers? FOLGERS! Is that what you take me for? Good God man, buy some Green Mountain and then get back to me.

20:03 / 03.03.05

I never read any of your posts.

That's why you're so thick.

20:15 / 03.03.05

Out of my little stove-top percolator

Me also. My percolator is an expresso one, is yours? It's also a two person one because I have a really lovely big white cup with a saucer which demands to be filled to the brim.

And then milk (or cream if I'm feeling extravagant) and brown sugar. Of course.

20:46 / 03.03.05

Well, it said ‘espresso’ on the box, but I’ve been subjected to a lecture about how real espresso simply has to come out of a ginormous noisy machine, and I haven’t dared to call it espresso since. Not out loud, anyway. It’s stealth espresso.

ooh, but mine’s a two-cup model, too. They’re clearly the best kind. Two cups worth, and both for me, but I use a big bowl rather than a cup because they look altogether nicer. Handles are rubbish.

So, how many sugars, Olula?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

20:52 / 03.03.05

Hi! I'm Mordant's cafetière. Mordant needs me to make her regular morning half-pint of evil-strength, bastard-flavour espresso. Without me, Mordant would try to eat your brains!

Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:04 / 03.03.05

Okay, there's usually some milk in there. But only to stop my face from turning inside out.

23:12 / 03.03.05

Black as midnight on a moonless night.

23:24 / 03.03.05

how many sugars, Olula?

Only one little spoon please, Bed.

23:50 / 03.03.05

I like my coffee like I like my women.

Bitter.

00:42 / 04.03.05

No sugar in coffee or tea! No cream either--or half&half! Bad bad bad bad!

Just a little milk--not skim!--whole or two percent.

(I admit to liking a latte, however...with a sprinkle of cinnamon, with my mate at work down the hall from my office...but NO SUGAR, OK???!!!)

lonely as a cloud...

07:31 / 04.03.05

Stove-top espresso pots rock. I love mine, though I don't use it as much as I used to. I sometimes warm up milk with a sprinkle of cinnamon in it in the microwave, while the coffee's brewing, then throw the lot in together. Mmmmm.
My first taste of coffee was from a perculator - an ancient metal jug thing my parents received as a wedding present. When it finally packed in, it was too old to repair, and perculators were out of fashion at the time, so it was replace by a drip-filter machine. Which was foul. I still only drink instant when I'm at my parents' place, and abhor drip-filter machines.

ONLY NICE THINGS

07:58 / 04.03.05

The restaurant in the basement of my office has closed down, complete with coffee percs, and I'm realising as a result just how much I need coffee to get me through the days, which is a bad thing but tied in to both physiology and psychology (and not much sleep, of course). Yesterday I had about three horrid instant coffees and didn't enjoy the experience at all, balanced out with green tea. Today I'm starting strong - three americanos so far. I'm clocking off at two, so that might be enough to see me through.

In - drip-fed filter with my new machine. Was pondering low-pressure, but at the time you couldn't get fairtrade. Black, no sugar.

Out - Americano or filter, usually. I'm not a snob about coffee - I just need it. Will need to filter it (hoho) out of my life as my digestive system collapses, but there we go.

09:03 / 04.03.05

Cloud you must be my long-lost sibling. I too grew up with one of those old percolators. My mum only ever got it out (fnar fnar) when they had guests over for dinner (a few times a year), so not only was it a special thing in itself, but she would also buy cream for these occasions. Percolated coffee with cream and sugar - mmmm.

And when I make my stove-top thingy I also warm up the milk in the microwave. I have to since I use a lot of milk and otherwise the whole thing would be cold.

Sitting in my parent's basement is my cool little stainless steel one cup stove-top thing that comes with its own shiny stainless steel cup that fits just one shot and the little tube curves out of the pot and into the cup which sits on a little stand. Soon I shall reclaim it after 4 years. Yum.

So ... where do you all stand with regards to iced coffee? I love it in summer. I make it at home all the time. Basically just use a little hot water to dissolve the coffee (and sugar) then an ice cube or two and the rest cold milk (soy for me obviously). Stir and enjoy. Mmmm.

lonely as a cloud...

09:16 / 04.03.05

Loomis - at last, I've found you!
With regards iced coffee, I enjoy it as an alternative to having an ice cream while wandering through town on a warm day. Gloria Jeans' do some very nice iced confections (believe it or not, THERE IS NO STARBUCKS IN DUBLIN), and they're pretty much the only place in Dublin to serve anything fancy like that. I don't think I'd be patient enough to try something like that at home.

lonely as a cloud...

09:21 / 04.03.05

Just like to clarify, about the iced coffee - for the last 5 or so years, the flats I've lived in haven't had a decent freezer - just a wee icebox in the top of a small fridge, so I haven't had access to ice.

09:29 / 04.03.05

No Starbucks in Ireland? Is there some correlation with snakes?
Iced coffee ... I don't think I can ever go there as I associate it with that horrible feeling when you pick up your tea/coffee cup and take a mouthful - and it's gone cold. Gruesome.

lonely as a cloud...

09:41 / 04.03.05

Apparently, they're going to open a Starbucks here soon - probably on Grafton St in Dublin, where Bewleys' (one of Ireland's most famous old cafés) used to be. My brother can't wait, he fell in love with Starbucks while he was in college in Edinburgh. But mind you, he goes for quantity over quality. Big mugs of drip-filter stuff. Bleurgh.
I don't mind gone cold coffee myself, but cold tea is pretty mingin'.

10:12 / 04.03.05

Don't mind Ariadne - she has issues because I always brew the tea for so long that it's nice and strong and also at perfect drinking temperature. But her asbestos mouth needs tea to be extremely hot. If the handle hasn't melted off the mug then it's not hot enough.

And I know what you mean about those shitty internal freezers. We have one like that and it's a polar expedition to get ice out of it. As it freezes over more and more, the little door is pushed open further. Soon it will get in the way of closing the fridge door.

Tryphena Absent

10:15 / 04.03.05

I would wish for no Starbucks in London but every Christmas they do this drink called Peppermint Bliss which is pepperminty hot chocolate with cream and chocolate flakes on the top and it's so good and yummy and I love it and no one else ever does it and it would make me sad not to ever have one again.

10:25 / 04.03.05

Cloud - If your brother misses Starbucks, he could always take a jaunt up to Norn Iron. Here we now have four in Belfast alone, all opened within a four week period. Do I like Starbucks? Heck no. Been there twice. First to nick one of those beer-stein size grande mugs that is now the salvation of my mornings, the other time to get an eggnog latte at Christmas.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a retailer where I can get one of those stove-top percolators without breaking the bank? Online or physical, I don't care, I just refuse to pay over £30.

lonely as a cloud...

10:35 / 04.03.05

Nina - peppermint bliss sounds nice. How does it relate to Christmas, though...?

Tryphena Absent

10:37 / 04.03.05

It's just a seasonal product, October to December.

lonely as a cloud...

11:01 / 04.03.05

Grey Area - you should be able to pick one up in any department store. I got mine in Roches Stores in Dublin for about a tenner - that was just a single cup/two espresso cup pot. Have a look here; I have the Moka Express pot, which has served me well. Most decent kitchen equipment stores should do Bialetti pots too, but prices vary depending on the shop - the Moka Express, €10 in Roches was about €30 in Stock, which is a much "posher" shop.

12:29 / 04.03.05

alas, you appear to be my coffee soulmate.

By the way, Jub & all concerned, in the US we don't "have" our coffee, we "take" it. So fork it over.

12:44 / 04.03.05

By the way, Jub & all concerned, in the US we don't "have" our coffee, we "take" it. So fork it over.

If you need a fork for your coffee, I think you're leaving it on the burner too long.

Since I no longer have a barista girlfriend to look after me, I just drink the crap they make here at work. Cream, 1 or 2 sugars (depending on if I'm eating something sweet with it and actually want to be able to taste it), sometimes spices - cinnamon, usually, maybe a little clove.

When I need to commute on foot during the Winter I sometimes make a very warming blend of coffee with a couple scoops of hot chocolate and some Jamaican curry powder. It tastes a lot better than it sounds, and allows one to laugh at sleet and hail. I save it for those days when my mustache ices over before I'm off the front porch.

~L

12:47 / 04.03.05

L, the chocolate-curry thing sounds lovely. I occasionally put cinnamon or the like in with the grounds when I make a pot for guests at home, but that's.. ooh. want.

14:58 / 04.03.05

By the way, Jub & all concerned, in the US we don't "have" our coffee, we "take" it. So fork it over.

Ibis, this is one of my bugbears. When I hear brash Americans loudly announce in shops and restaurants "I'll take the..." - it hurts my ears. As does "Can I get a...".

My Neros guy, remembers practically everyone's order and manages to deliver the coffee faster than the person on the till can take payment. He's cool.

Tryphena Absent

15:02 / 04.03.05

For Ju-u-ub's found a guardian angel, on high, with nothing to do (but make coffee).

15:09 / 04.03.05

Love forever true.

You go Nina/Frankie.

15:24 / 04.03.05

At my new job (from where I am typing this) there's a Starbucks directly below, which serves, well, pretty average Starbucks coffee. There's a Caffe Nero opposite which isn't too bad, has wifi and lets you smoke inside. But there are also various sort of Mediterranean/North African-looking cafes up and down the street which I've yet to try out and which look promising. Trouble is, they may not do their best coffee to take away.

I nearly wrote "to go" there. Oh dear.

Not all Starbuckses serve bad coffee, by the way. The one near me in the States was actually pretty good, due to the fact that the staff had been there a while and knew what they were doing. (When I say "a while", I mean that I recognised people consistently over a one year period.)

Not as good as the place down the street from it though...

15:41 / 04.03.05

Ibis, this is one of my bugbears. When I hear brash Americans loudly announce in shops and restaurants "I'll take the..." - it hurts my ears. As does "Can I get a...".

Well, when we're serving coffee to a guest, we ask, "How do you take your coffee/tea?" To which the proper response is, "I take it with milk, no sugar, thank you."

Honestly, I guess I see your point, but it's quite unfair to characterize us & our native terminology as brash out of hand.

I mean, God, look at the Spanish, cravenly equating "want" and "love" in their greedy "te quiero"s.

17:27 / 04.03.05

I take my coffee with whole milk and 3 sugars, but my favorite indulgence is a single mocha, with whipped cream and cinnamon on top. Preferably savored at Little City in the quiet of late morning, with fresh flowers on the tables and a new artist's work on the walls. Heaven.

That, or whole espresso beans covered in dark chocolate. They's expensive, but damn tasty.

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