This subject comes around every so often and now it's time again! :)

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So how do you prefer your coffee and or tea?

Personally I enjoy coffee a lot of different ways:
-When I'm using instant coffee I put the coffee, milk and sugar in first, stir them up well and then add the hot water. It's a better result that way I find.- the coffee powder and sugar disolve nicely into the milk. It's a better mix than adding the milk later.
-I like a nice cappaccino when I go to a cafe because I love all that froth and chocolate powder… Except when I breathe it in and cough into my coffee… -_-
-At home when I want a nice coffee flavoured coffee, I use those packs you buy. Nescafe seems to be the best. I love the way that forths up and seems to lower the speed of sound in the cup (probably by decressing the density through the frothing) so that when you tap the bottom off the cup with the spoon it makes a deeper sound :)

For tea I generally like it not too weak and not too strong. I like to use tea bags because you can control the tea strength pretty easily. I put the teabag in first, with the sugar, then the water. I take out the teabag and then put in the milk.

-there's this thing where people say you should put the milk in first to stop it being “scalded”. They are either morons or playing a prank…
Unless they mean pot tea, in which case it's really irrelevent- just something you do for show. -The milk won't get “scalded”, or even if it did, being in the cup first wouldn't prevent it from doing so.
If you put the milk in first with teabag tea you just condem yourself to weak tea since the milk will prevent the tea from infusing into the water as well. With pot tea it doesn't matter since the tea is already infused.

I love tea…the plain stuff is good, but I also like flavoured teas. Higgins & Burke makes really good flavoured ones. Peppermint tea is awesome.
I always drink tea with honey.

Honey is nice. It gives a good flavour of it's own. You don't want it to be overwhelming though…

Our of all the tea flavours there are… I like the simple anglisised ones. All those hinese varieties tast a little too “plant-like” to me. A little too raw.
Except for gunpowder tea. That's cool. Especially when you have the full leaves all compacted in little balls. They expend in your cup in such a lovely way. Normally I don'tt like tea leaves in my cup, they're gritty and yuck, but nice big, full leaves are another story.

Not sure if microwaving water and putting a Lipton tea bag in a coffee cup counts as tea. But I sure do love that stuff. It really gets me energized, and it's healthy too!

I looked up all the health benefits of drinking tea.
It apparently fights off certain cancer cells.
(Without sugar) it helps strengthen teeth.
And it's a natural antioxidant.
And plus, it's delicious!

As for coffee, I like mine with a little bit of creamer. I hate instant coffee, much prefer the stuff by the pot.

I'm more of a tea man myself, but I used to drink a lot of coffee.

So technically, I drink both.
And I love both.
But I like tea better…

I drink about 3 pots of coffee a day: Black, and closely resembling motor oil. The only thing I will ever add to my coffee is whiskey. I mean, why mess with a good thing, right? If I've got money to blow, I like whole bean dark roasts- usually a French Roast blend, or an Ethiopian coffee. Mostly I drink too much of it (About 3 or 4 lbs/ week) to get anything but the cheap stuff, though.

I don't drink tea. Even if I make a super-strong pot of black tea, it just always tastes watered-down to me. It's a whole different experience than coffee, I guess.

A good dark roast that's got double the grounds in the coffee maker is how I start. Then I add in a bit of sea salt like my uncle taught me. Navy coffee is good stuff. On occasion I'll add some cream and whiskey, but never cream alone. That just makes it taste like some crappy coffee-flavoured cocoa.

As for tea, I tend to drink macha, which is the Japanese green tea, with the leaves at the bottom of the cup. I prefer the slightly bitter and more earthy taste it has compared to the cheap stuff you get here.

lba
A good dark roast that's got double the grounds in the coffee maker is how I start. Then I add in a bit of sea salt like my uncle taught me. Navy coffee is good stuff. On occasion I'll add some cream and whiskey, but never cream alone. That just makes it taste like some crappy coffee-flavoured cocoa.

As for tea, I tend to drink macha, which is the Japanese green tea, with the leaves at the bottom of the cup. I prefer the slightly bitter and more earthy taste it has compared to the cheap stuff you get here.

What does the salt do? I've never heard that one!

It kind of makes the flavour a bit bolder and brings out a little more earthiness and spice to it. Some folks think it helps the caffiene kick in a little quicker and harder too. But it has to be sea salt and it takes a bit of learning to get the right amount. That's why I've had the same coffee pot forever. You end up ruining a good few pots of coffee before you can figure out the right amount for your particular sized coffee pot.

Awesome. I'm gonna try that. :)

It doesn't take much. I use about two decent sized pinches for a 4 cup pot. But if you like more you can add more or less to taste.

I like my coffee outside of my mouth!
I only drank it at my last job because it was free… and the job was boring. It's tolerable after about 4 spoons of creamer and 5 spoons of sugar…

I prefer my tea with fruit in it. Fruit tea is awesome. Other tea is bland.

Hyena H_ll
What does the salt do? I've never heard that one!

Makes it taste like crap.
lba's insane. I doubt he even HAS an uncle. lol!

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Just joking with ya lba ;)

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In the office there's only instant. And that's currently a jar of Nescafe Gold. It's horrible… It tastes like the beef soup flavouring you get with cheap noodles. But I drink it to keep me alert… Milk softens that vile stuff. When there's no milk I drink black tea instead.

Having that coffee black only makes it marginally worse, but the diuretic qualities are increased ten fold!!!!

ozoneocean
Makes it taste like crap.
lba's insane. I doubt he even HAS an uncle. lol!

Actually, nowadays it's more of an aunt. ;)

Having that coffee black only makes it marginally worse, but the diuretic qualities are increased ten fold!!!!

That's the other reason I like the salt. It doesn't change the flavour as much as cream, and it makes a heck of a difference in how much it messes with your system.

I don't like tea at all. I've tried to like it and I just don't.

I try not to drink coffee, but I end up having about a cup a day in the winter. I don't like adding milk or creamer to it, I just put in some splenda to take the edge off the bitterness. Occasionally I'll put in a bit of Bailey's (caramel) if I splurged at the grocery store but that's pretty rare.

I only seem to like Columbian roasts. I don't really know enough about coffee to understand why. I have a little 1-cup french press I use. Instant coffee is horrible and I won't drink it.

On very special occasions in the past I've gotten fancy flavored coffee from Starbucks…. but I'm not sure you can really call it coffee if it tastes more like pumpkin spice than anything else, is jam-packed with sugar, and cost $4. Mmmm, pumpkin spice…

I hate coffee ;D I only drink tea(mint tea).I dont really like any other flavors, I drink mint tea since I was a leeeetle boy ;D

Usually, I buy the generic store brand Columbian, which tastes just as good as most of the labels that are a buck or two more.
I put a little milk in the bottom of my mug and drink. Occasionally we'll get star bucks on sale and grind it before brewing. It's worth it just to have the house smelling like a cafe.

I used to have an espresso machine. That was awesome because I could get my morning jolt in a small dose and not spend all morning having to pee; I'm that practical.

When we go camping, I bring the french press. I feel it brews inferior coffee but it's all right.

Personally, I think Dunkin Donuts has magical beans and I drink their java black.

I like black, green, and mint tea. I serve it plain. I don't know who Earl Grey was but he's never done anything for me.

A decade ago the wife and I were into coffee in a big way. We would buy expensive whole beans from the grocery store and then put them into a home coffee grinder. The freshly ground coffee would make the entire kitchen area smell wonderful. Anyway, next we would pour the ground beans into a filter, put that into a coffee brewer and after the coffee was brewed and poured into a cup, would add either sugar or milk or both to taste. The coffee would taste fantastic and the coffee making ritual itself was satisfying.

Then we looked at some studies, assessed our general level of health and decided to make the switch over to tea. Mind you we drank a great deal of very strong tasting coffee, using the most potent roasted beans we could get our hands on in the store, and yet when we switched over to tea drinking we did so without a backward look, and haven't touched a drop of coffee for the last ten years.

So . . . for tea. We purchase it by the pound in loose form from Harney and Sons and generally switch off between English Breakfast, Assam, Vanilla. Darjeeling, and something called Elyse's Blend, which is simply honey infused black tea.

Enjoying tea making ritual – because rituals can be fun and satisfying – we use a hand carved wooden Chinese tea scoop to transfer quite a bit of loose tea to a wire mesh tea ball. Meanwhile we have water coming to the boil in an electric tea kettle. After pre-warming the tea mug the tea ball is placed inside and boiling hot water is poured over the black tea or black tea blend. Let it steep for a couple of minutes or shake the submerged tea ball with a spoon. Remove the ball and empty the used tea grounds into the trash.

We use dehydrated cactus honey for a sweetener and follow up with either half-and-half or lemon juice. Ta-da!

The weird thing is that neither of us have missed drinking coffee and although one does not feel a caffeine jolt we are just as alert from drinking tea as we were after drinking coffee. Weird.

Oh, and about boiling hot water; that's only for black tea and black tea blends. For green teas one is supposed to use hot water that has not yet reached the boiling point, but I forget why. We do drink other types of tea aside from the ones mentioned, but those are what we are primarily drinking now.

The half-and-half is used because being ‘heavier’ than milk one can use less of it and because it contains significantly more fat in it that does milk alone it resists curdling. Ahem! Even half-and-half, however, will tend to curdle in any fruit mix tea, such as spiced plum tea. I think it is the natural acid in fruit that curdles milk.

All of the above has now utterly exhausted my knowledge of coffee and tea making and their usage thereof. I'm not sure if I ended up knowing less than I thought or possessing more knowledge on the subjects than I had realized!

:spin:

Hahaha, this is a great thread! Everyone has their own very individual tastes and practices and ways of making their drinks :)
It's a joy to read!

Has anyone ever drunk tea (or coffee) with fully curdled, off, bits-floating-in-it (or even mostly solid), stinky milk, just because they couldn't be stuffed throwing it away and making another?

I have, a few times… Usually because I didn't realise the milk was bad until I poured it in the cup and I had limited tea bags (pr coffee) and couldn't be bothered walking to the shop for more, so throwing any away would be a waste of the few I had.

Anyway, it's not that bad really.
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I have to say; I'm VERY picky, priggish, and prudish when it comes to what I eat, but when it comes to drinks I'll try anything (except bodily fluids… and no, I don't count milk in that so :P), much to my body's frequent consternation. lol!

ozoneocean
Has anyone ever drunk tea (or coffee) with fully curdled, off, bits-floating-in-it (or even mostly solid), stinky milk, just because they couldn't be stuffed throwing it away and making another?

I have, a few times… Usually because I didn't realise the milk was bad until I poured it in the cup and I had limited tea bags (pr coffee) and couldn't be bothered walking to the shop for more, so throwing any away would be a waste of the few I had.

Yes. But not because the milk was bad. My dad got this really crappy raspberry tea for me because at that time our local grocery store didn't carry good ol' Higgins & Burke, and either my dad or me put some milk in it, and it curdled. This tea smelled like a Fruit 2 Go, so it was probably all fruit-juicy.
I tried to drink it but couldn't after seeing the lumps. I threw it away after a few sips. The tea was crappy even without the lumps, though.

I like tea better. Earl grey is the best! But I hate the coffee or tea from fast-food places. It's always stale, and I can always taste the walls of the cup around it. Bleagh! Tea in a glass is the only thing that works for me, because if it's in a mug then I can taste the porcelain or whatever mugs or made of now. Again, Bleagh! Tea, overall, is very good. Except for ‘orange pekoe’ because every time I drink that I faint. O_o

Hey, Does anyone else hate those ‘cold’ green-tea drinks that are everywhere now?
I think they're kind of gross. Ugh. >_<

I discovered the hard way that even half-and-half will curdle in at least some fruit teas by trying it and drinking the result anyway. It wasn't bad. It's just that curdled milk in tea LOOKS nasty.

My wife absolutely will not, however, drink tea if the milk has curdled.

I prefer tea more casually, but I'll rely on coffee in the morning to get me moving for the day. Preferably, cold green tea or hazelnut coffee with some milk. No sugar of any sort gets near these drinks.

CharleyHorse
Oh, and about boiling hot water; that's only for black tea and black tea blends. For green teas one is supposed to use hot water that has not yet reached the boiling point, but I forget why.

Because it scalds the tea leaves and you wind up with burnt tea that tastes like dried yard leaves. Green tea is a much more delicate leaf from what I've overheard at my mom's shop.

I love tea. So much so, that I doubt I'd ever be able to go a day without it. I usually drink it plain and I like it strong, but there are times when I add condensed milk. I'm not that fond of flavored tea, though. Just plain sugar is all it needs.
I grew up drinking tea as a family custom. Every week we have at least one day where we don't eat dinner but have tea and well…it's pretty much like having a big breakfast.

Coffee, on the other hand, is great with cream, but it really does nothing to keep me awake. ): Sometimes it feels like it just makes me sleepier. I do enjoy drinking it though.

I love both coffee and tea but how depends on my mood…

…with a meal in the summer or eating out I enjoy Iced Tea with a slice of lime with sugar or sweetner. This is regular black tea of course. Liptons fine.

…during the winter or a cold night I enjoy a warm cup Earl Gray. not scalding hot but more than room temp. No cream but 2 spoons of sugar. Not to fond of other teas because I am more of a coffee person.

…I drink coffee everyday. We usually buy whole bean coffee. We currently bought some free-trade Ugandan coffee and its okay. I really enjoy Starbucks whole bean and brew it at home. Have gone to a coffee tasting and it was interesting the striking differences between varied coffees.

as to what I put in I put in 2 sugars and cream/creamer.
And I do enjoyed flavored coffees and creamers.
Coffeemate has this one creamer which a Pumkin Spice around the holidays.
num-nums!!!

Oh man. I wish creamer could be shipped, I'd ask someone to send me some of that coffeemate stuff.


This thread just reminded me to try and find a big glass pitcher so I can make sun tea this year. It's the only iced tea I will drink (and the only kind available to me in England, where iced tea is some kind of sin against god and nature)

Honestly coffee is like art to me, a straight cup is like a plain canvas. I put a Tbsp of sweetened cocoa in mine and a dash of whole milk once its in the cup. I also like to experiment with different flavors. There's a Starbucks in the cafeteria downstairs and a full coffee rig in the breakroom so I got plenty of “labspace” and materials to work with.

Tea is my home pursuit. Teabags when I must otherwise I use leaves and/or berries from my own garden. I try something new every year but the catnip and echinacea are my standbys. A dash of ginger is nice though expensive and I can't get it or certain other plants to grow in my little 3x7 plot of dirt no matter what nutrients, fertilizer, mulch or new dirt I use. I'd make my own honey too buuuuut I don't think the apartment manager will let me keep a beeehive.

I have a cup of 1/2-Caff Folger's every morning, with milk & sugar. If I'm in the splurging mood, I like to get a tall pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.

Tea-wise, I usually go for Twinings Indian Spiced Chai Tea, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. When I'm at work, I have a mug of Lipton's tea with two packets of Equal, because that's the only thing they offer….

I prefer bad coffee.

Drasnus
I prefer bad coffee.

Better than no Coffee At all.
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I like Green Tea when I'm sick and Coffee when I'm being social or studying.