Coffee

[Allan53]

I like coffee, but I tend to drink it for one reason: It kills my appetite. I'm a student, and while I'm doing ok for myself now (read $AU400/week after tax ) for a long time I was living on very little, so I couldn't afford to eat as often as most. Coffee, per cup, is fairly cheap, so I'd have one in the morning, which would get me through to lunch. If I could afford it, I'd eat then, if not, more coffee. I usually had dinner, if only to keep my parents off my back (I had just moved out, you know how parents are).

Course, now I'm used to it, which means I am saving like a mo-fo. Still, it supports my book and gaming habits, I guess

 

[Traiden]

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1415

He makes excellent points about caffeine and only validates my desire to never drink coffee or the likes of red bull, and run on constant energy obtained from the carbohydrates in good old meat and veggies.

 

[LordOmnit]

Well, since someone around here is smart enough to know why coffee will act like anti-energy, would you happen to also know why caffeine might not effect someone at all? I've had a pretty big cup of coffee, a caffeinated soft drink, and as much as double espresso and not felt a thing, it seems like caffeine doesn't effect me. Any insights as to why?

 

[LordOmnit]

I don't seem to recall saying it would wake one up or anything but if making you feel not tired (for any reason) is not waking you up, "then a grilled-cheese sandwich is haute-cuisine." In that respect sleeping and waking up only temporarily wakes you up, only to drop you back down to tired-ness within fourteen to sixteen hours on average.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I'm very fortunate to have a brother who has to travel to Europe a lot and who doesn't mind bringing me back Swiss and Italian coffee beans; dark roasted, but not as dark as French. I grind them myself, a week's worth at a time, in order to keep 'em fresh... and even use a French press. I even take some ground coffee in a sandwich bag to work, and use little tea-bag like filters to make my own at work instead of swilling from the dreaded Bunn-o-matic.

Guess I'm a bit fussy with coffee. Then again, I'm quite happy with Tim Horton's coffee at half (or less) the price of Starbucks... so maybe not.

But I do like my coffee.

-- Steve

 

[Joe]

People like riffing on Starbucks, but I honestly don't get it. I mean, yeah, you can walk out of there paying $4 for a super mega orange mocha frappucino, but I paid $1.90 for a caffe americano yesterday. Can you get a better price at a place that takes care of its workers?

 

[Kogepan]

Tea. I'm all about tea. Caffeine sends me over the edge, so coffee would probably kill me. I drink green, white, and red teas, and occasionally will drink black if I'm really dragging. But then I usually become so wired, I'm completely non-productive because I can't sit still or concentrate.

I've noticed if I drink any sort of caffeine after 6:00 pm, I can kiss sleeping at night good-bye.

 

[Andraste]

I <3 coffee. My favorite accessory is my coffee cup.

 

[MrCIA]

Personally I'm a social drinker. It is very rare for me to have a cup of coffee on my own. Of course when I am sitting at a café with friends I can down a dussin or so cups a day. I will not be able to sleep that night. There will be a lot of gaming on the other hand.

 

[ErinHoffman]

Joe, what's interesting about Starbucks is that you can usually trick them into giving you fancier drinks at lower prices by figuring out what goes into them and just asking for those flavor shots to be added at $.25/piece. So in a strange way the more expensive drinks are a kind of creativity tax. I became embarassingly fond of their cinnamon dolce lattes when they came out a few years ago, and after they were discontinued managed to reverse engineer the same stuff out of flavor shots (2x cinnamon + 1 vanilla + 1 caramel).

I agree re the way they treat their workers, though. They're one of the few big companies that manages to keep itself on the ethical side of the red line. I'm willing to pay premium prices for a guarantee of a cup of coffee I'll enjoy (not always the case with smaller places) and to pay for some part time worker's health care. They also put a huge amount of money into charities, including local events. I once got two giant tubs of their coffee (the ones with the spigots that they use for events), plus accouterments (half & half, sugar, stir sticks, cups, napkins) gratis this way for a university event years ago, just for the asking -- each Starbucks has a monthly charity budget for this kind of thing.

I'm primarily a tea drinker, but break out the coffee on special occasions -- it has an almost unsettlingly positive effect on wiping out the doldrums.

 

[cLoNe_cf]

cLoNe's Homebrew:

Requires:
1 Tall shot glass,
Instant coffee,
Ground Coffee,
Decanter

Instructions:

1) Use the ground coffee in the decanter and brew yourself some nice fresh coffee... Yum Yum.
2) Fill the shot glass 1/3 of instant coffee.
3) Fill the shot glass to 2/3 with sugar.
4) Fill the remainder of the shot glass with the freshly brewed coffee.
5) Stir.
6) Allow to cool to a temperature you concider comfortable to drink and knock it back in one hit.

This recipe has saved me on many occassions when it comes to deadline time... But i wouldn't recommend it to anyone with a weak heart...

 

[Rent]

Coffee is great, gives you a excuse to have a poo in school :> Whoops

 

[Anton P. Nym]

People like riffing on Starbucks, but I honestly don't get it.

I do have a grievance against Starbucks, probably unfair, in that it knocked my old favourite coffee shop chain (The Second Cup) on its back-leg. And Starbucks can be weirdly inconsistant; I've had excellent coffee from them and I've had horrible coffee from them too, depending upon location. (Some particularly dreadful stuff at a Hyatt, in fact. Burnt *and* watery.)

I'm also a bit miffed that their wi-fi isn't free 'round here, giving me one less reason to choose them over the cheaper and more consistent Timmy's.

-- Steve

 

[ErinHoffman]

If they had Tim Horton's in the US, I would likely abandon any Starbucks loyalty, too.

 

[John Funk]

At the moment after pulling an all nighter, two final papers due with a final exam and final presentation all in one day I am very thankful for caffiene.

 

[Easykill]

Coffee does nothing for me/ Once as an experiment i drank as much of it as I could but nothing happened really, I was no less tired and it didnt give me more energy.

On a side note, since Wendys bought out Tim Hortons, its crossed the border but there arent too many locations yet. Ive spent a long time trying to figure out how to stop the spread but theres no way. Tim Hortons is no longer exclusive to Canada, and I no longer buy food from Wendys because of it.

 

[Hey Joe]

I like coffee but have only started drinking it again recently after the horrors of working in a coffee place. So....many...yuppies.

 

[Lara Crigger]

Ever since I discovered chicory coffee, regular coffee just doesn't do it for me anymore. We have to special order it, because these nancies in New York think Tim Horton's "water with notes of brown food coloring" is the height of flavor. Bah. I say that if my spoon doesn't stand straight up in my cup - or, better yet, stir itself - the joe's just not strong enough.