Drinking habits coffee, tea, or what?

[Darlica]

A spawn of the "Topic: Signs of getting old... meh." thread.


Swedes are as I said very serious about their coffee. The Finnish people consumes the highest quantity coffee per capita/year. Runner up is Sweden with a consumption of 10 kilograms per person/year... Norway and Denmark takes places 3 and 4.

Dark to Medium roasted Arabica beans grown in Brazil it what traditionally sells the most in Sweden, but most shops carries Kenyan, Indonesian, and Colombian coffee and uncountable blends as well...

We drink considerably less tea about 3-5 hectograms person (depends on source of statistics) and bagged teas is most common form. But as I said before Loose tea isn't really difficult to come by here.

Most of the time I drink tea, preferable black teas. I like smoky teas like Lapsang or caravan but  that kind of tea is a mood thing for me. Most of the time I end up with something like Assam, PG tips strong or English breakfast...

Personally I like my coffee freshly brewed, strong and with milk (my stomach doesn't tolerate that I take my coffee black even if I like it that way )

So what are your drinking habits?

 

[Sibling DavidH]

We have a coffee filter machine by the bed; we won't get up until we've had two large mugs each.  Then downstairs we use a cafetière.  Sometimes we have a cup of tea in the afternoon.  Wendy drinks Earl Grey and I have tea.   She takes everything black.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Coming from a place where people can drink five or six small (but strong) cups a day I tried my best not to catch the habit, therefore I only drink a cup of espresso (Colombian Supremo, of course) in the afternoon if I feel the need of a kick. No milk (the mix really doesn't suit me) and no bitter [ie, Brazilian/Cuban] coffee.

To the horror of our British friends I rarely drink hot tea, but frequently drink iced tea...

[Swatopluk]

That's an abomination not just for Brits. One could as well drink hot beer (not that I like any beer).

[Griffin NoName]

Was told to give up drinks with caffeine due to Tachycardia; apparently it raises the heart rate. But I allow myself one cup of nescafe with caffeine when I wake up, then if I have any more later on, I have decaffeinated. I only drink tea a few times a year, and then I like bog standard "english" breakfast tea.

[pieces o nine]

My mom has always drunk coffee; I grew up with the wonderful aroma wafting around any fun project (or chores!). I like shopping for coffees for gifts - such heady aromas! However, I have never learned to tolerate appreciate the taste. I drink a lot of tea and prefer black, with some herbals. I know that green is healthier but have not acquired a tolerance appreciation for it yet, either.

Always on hand: Cherry Almond; Orange Pekoe; Lady Grey & Prince of Wales (Twinings); English Breakfast; Oolong; Darjeeling.  Herbals: Lemon Ginger (Stash); Egyptian Licorice & Mayan Cocoa Spice (Yogi). I received Cardamon Cinnamon & Cinnamon Plum (Republic of Tea) for Holiday: delicious but an expensive brand!
Earl Grey Double(!) Bergamot (Stash) is for indulgence. 

H (exchange student) was bemused by my tea cabinet; he had only ever seen Lipton bagged tea and was suspicious of my other choices. I finally bought a box Lipton's for him; I think he drank it once. It was just comforting to him to have it. 

The remaining spots in the cabinet are for random flavors and samples. I think Darlica and Blue are correct that my Russian Caravan is too old -- I don't actually remember purchasing it! I liked the aroma, but the fact that it's still lurking at the back tells me that I *never* liked the taste. Time to set it free and replace it with something better!

It's cold, snowing, and the wind is supposed to be gusting up to 50 mph today. We started off with a nice mug of Earl Grey, but have moved on to hot chocolate -- another topic in its own right...



Moufette always favored iced tea.

[Griffin NoName]

Green can be improved with a spoonful of honey*. My daughter-in-law always brings me fresh green tea from Japan, except not since she moved to Australia (en famille).


a spoonful of honey makes the medicine go down.

[The Meromorph]

Oh wow,

I drink  4 - 10 10oz. mugs of good coffee each day (Sumatra, Colombian, Antiguan, Guatemalan for preference) (Tanzanian Peaberry, light roasted, if and when I can get it) all light or mediun roasted. It's hard to get good coffee these days, so I have several blends I find acceptable) All brewed in a 'SENSEO' type machine.

I also drink 3 -5 mugs of English tea (PG Tips, or Typhoo or sometimes Tetley) Which i mostly import from England.

Also 2 - 5 litre bottles of 'enhanced water' Vitamin Water Zero, SOBE Lifewater, or ICE which is carbonated, Or similar quantities of San Pellegrino mineral water.

Plus the odd glass of Milk, OJ, or Grapefruit Juice.

I'll often have 2 or 3 different drinks simultaneously with a meal. This always cause comment. 

[pieces o nine]

Wow! You are one hydrated Toadfish!   

Which Sobe do you prefer?

[The Meromorph]

I think the strawberry/dragonfruit one. I'm actually on an ICE kick at the moment, their new peach/nectarine is wonderful.

[Opsa]

Oh yeah, I like those SoBe drinks, too, but only have them if we're out for lunch at a deli. Nice vitamin boost!

In the morning I have two mugs of coffee with milk and one small glass of fruit juice.

With lunch I usually have hot herbal tea in the winter. In the summer I'll have water or juice or soda.

With dinner I usually start with a big glass of water. After that I will sometimes have some wine, usually red. Every once in a while a very dark beer, but not often as it tends to send me to dreamland.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I had been making my own coffee, using a rather excellent "4 cup" machine I got somewhere or other-- it has a lovely gold-mesh filter, so I don't remove any of the more subtle oils (as happens with paper filtering).

I had gradually been increasing the strength, such that I enjoyed my 12 cups of Joe in one 16 ounce serving.  

Today, in a hurry to get out the door, I elected to go commercial.  The local Quick Trips do seem to take care of their equipment and always create fresh batches based on time, not consumption-- so I elected to buy a cuppa theirs instead of taking the time to make it myself.

Wow.  It tasted like... coffee-flavored water.     I drank it anyway, but I did miss the robust flavor of my homebrew.  

-------------

In other news?  I created a lovely concoction last night on a whim:  I had some lovely Raspberry Zinger decaf tea (Celestial Seasonings--a "hippy" brand that prides itself in organic ingredients) and as I reached for a packet, I remembered I had just purchased some chocolate syrup, and then I thought, "why not?".

Why not indeed?

I set the pot on to boil, then emptied two bags of their contents into my french coffee press, and added about a tablespoon or so of chocolate syrup.    The water boiling, I carefully filled up the carafe & put on the lid, giving a slow pump and pull to thoroughly mix everything.  And set it to steeping.

After 15 minutes or so, I poured everything into my cup-- it was a lovely shade of brownish, somewhat opaque from the coco powder (in the choco-syrup).   And took a sip.

.... aaaah.... heaven.  Tasted exactly like <insert premium brand-name> Raspberry Chocolate Squares, only not quite a sweet.   Heaven in a cup!

I can recommend this to anyone who likes either choco or raspberries--preferably both.  

mmmmmmm.

[pieces o nine]

Sounds great, Bob!   
I think chocolate and raspberries have a natural afinity, much like blueberries and cream.

[Aggie]

I've severely cut back my caffeine intake, so I've dropped coffee for the most part.  My usual preference is a very dark roast, freshly ground and brewed in a single-cup drip filter.  One of my favourite brands (Kicking Horse) does a dark roast called Kick Ass that I like, and now has come out with a mix of that and decaffeinated coffee that they're calling Half Ass.  I might pick up a pound of that to try. Their decaf is via the Swiss water process and pretty decent on its own (also a dark roast).  I'll sometimes pick up some dC and mix it myself, so Half Ass coffee might be better than none without needing to purchase two bags. I drink coffee black or sometimes with a little cream if it's particularly bad.  I have found that I'm really not a fan of any light or medium roast coffees, which seem to heady and acidic for me most of the time.  The darker roasts are more bitter, but smoother.

I've been drinking mostly loose-leaf Bee Brand Ceylon black tea these days; green tea does not appeal like it once did. I've found that the best brewing method I've come up with so far is to use a Vietnamese coffee filter (metal cylinder with perforated bottom that sits on top of the cup). It seems to retain the water just long enough to create a flavourful tea without extracting too much bitterness.  I don't mind bitter tea though, so I tend to keep using the leaves for two or three more cups until it's too weak to bother.

I occasionally switch it up and drink yerba mate when I want a caffeinated beverage.  I particularly like roasted mate, which is easy to make (smokes up the house a bit, though). I've also been known to drink unsweetend black cocoa (cocoa powder in hot water) for a mildly stimulating coffee substitute.

For non-caffeinated hot drinks, peppermint tea is a staple that I drink nearly daily at the moment.  I've also been having a cup of chamomile before bed to relax. I just picked up a box of Solomon's seal root tea, which has a nutty flavour and is richer than most herbal teas.

[Opsa]

Hmmm, I wonder if you could make peppermint/chocolate tea as per Bob's raspberry/chocolate method.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I'm a fan of Kick-ass coffee-- I have a pound of the beans in my freezer, even now.  I grind up a very small batch now and again (also kept frozen).

I've decided to cut back on afternoon coffee-- I was up too late yesterday, and I checked:  my post was about 3pm (my time) and I was up until after 1am.  Not good.

But I did clean out the kitchen sink...



Maybe that's not such a bad thing after all. 

---------------------

Today?  I'm back to hot tea, in this case a lovely loose-leaf I bought at Whole Foods by the ounce, called "Pomegranate Green".   I think I put a wee too much in the brewer, though. 

But I do tend to go for excessive flavor, when drinking it hot (as now).

For iced teas, the herbals and subtle flavors of the nicer teas are lost by being cold, so I typically fall back to simple Lipton's or Cain's bagged teas (which I will now tear open to brew). 

I'm frugal, not cheap.

[Aggie]

I'm a fan of Kick-ass coffee-- I have a pound of the beans in my freezer, even now.  I grind up a very small batch now and again (also kept frozen).

Huh, I didn't know it was an export product. It's a semi-local brand, from BC.