Coffee

When I was a student pilot I was behind a guy at the FBO counter, waiting my turn to sign out an airplane.

Turns out he was a student, too, and a doctor. His phone rang, from the one side of the coversation I could hear, it was a patient complaining about hand or wrist pain from surgery the day before or earlier that day.

"... the pain is because of xxx, it will subside in yyy hours."

"... the headaches? Drink three cups of extra strong coffee...Yes I'm serious...You are a coffee drinker, aren't you?...And you were told to not drink coffee before surgery, weren't you?...Drink some ccoffee, you are having caffeine withdrawals."

For my last surgery, outpatient at 1300, they told me not to eat or drink anything. So to prevent these headaches, I tapered off my coffee the three days before the event. No trouble. Had my next cup the first day I was able to operate the coffee makee at home.
 
For my last surgery, outpatient at 1300, they told me not to eat or drink anything. So to prevent these headaches, I tapered off my coffee the three days before the event. No trouble. Had my next cup the first day I was able to operate the coffee makee at home.

After my gall bladder surgery, I had my brother smuggle a cup to me in post-op as soon as the anesthesia started to wear off. If the nursing staff noticed, they didn't seem to care very much.

Rich
 
She put it in the category of a small aspirin.

Sometimes it's even a substitute for aspirin.

One time I slept funny and woke up with a mild headache. Couldn't find any aspirin but coffee was readily available at work. Not sure if it caused my blood vessels to constrict/dilate or if the heat loosened something up or if it was placebo effect, but the headache was gone in short order. It definitely was not a withdrawal symptom because I'm not a regular coffee drinker.
 
Sometimes it's even a substitute for aspirin.

One time I slept funny and woke up with a mild headache. Couldn't find any aspirin but coffee was readily available at work. Not sure if it caused my blood vessels to constrict/dilate or if the heat loosened something up or if it was placebo effect, but the headache was gone in short order. It definitely was not a withdrawal symptom because I'm not a regular coffee drinker.
There's something to it. Caffeine is an ingredient in many over-the-counter pain medications (aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen).

Changing the subject, I wasn't a fan of Starbucks coffee until last October in Washington State. A sales person and I needed to access WiFi between customer visits, and so stopped at a Starbucks. If I use facilities, I try to buy something, so I bought a Pike Place Blend (cheapest thing on the wall, I didn't want a fancy drink with all the stuff in it). It was actually good, IMO. I think my mistake was buying the "exotic" blends- Sumatran or whatever those were when I visited.
 
Ragging on Starbucks and extolling the virtues of your $900 coffee grinder is a social ritual in the coffee-snob community. That is 'what you do' if you are the kind of person who uses coffee to elevate themself above the peasants. It's no different from Vodka snobbery and many other herd behaviors.
 
Ragging on Starbucks and extolling the virtues of your $900 coffee grinder is a social ritual in the coffee-snob community. That is 'what you do' if you are the kind of person who uses coffee to elevate themself above the peasants. It's no different from Vodka snobbery and many other herd behaviors.

Imrag in starbucks because it's overpriced, bad coffee. But Folgers at home in the Mr. Coffee is pretty tasty, and far, far, far from snobby or expensive.
 
Imrag in starbucks because it's overpriced, bad coffee. But Folgers at home in the Mr. Coffee is pretty tasty, and far, far, far from snobby or expensive.
....but Mr Coffee could, of late, be construed as sexist. :rolleyes:
 
Ragging on Starbucks and extolling the virtues of your $900 coffee grinder is a social ritual in the coffee-snob community. That is 'what you do' if you are the kind of person who uses coffee to elevate themself above the peasants. It's no different from Vodka snobbery and many other herd behaviors.

Well that’s an odd response lol
 
I would give up booze before I would give up coffee. I grind it fresh and use a french press at home, but I'm not terribly picky. A free cup at an FBO is just fine with me. I only put half and half in it, no sugar.
 
A bag of roasted beans, a hammer and a French press from the dollar store will work. No snobbery there...
 
I'm sitting in our basement family room, about to start addressing the second batch of Christmas cards, and sipping a cup of 8 O'clock coffee with a little drip of eggnog in it. Tastes just fine.
 
I'm sitting in our basement family room, about to start addressing the second batch of Christmas cards, and sipping a cup of 8 O'clock coffee with a little drip of eggnog in it. Tastes just fine.
Eight O'Clock in the red bag was my daily driver back in 1988-89. Folgers whole bean was great, before they ruined it with foo foo flavors and tripled the price...
 
i can't believe anyone gets in a line up & wait drive in deal at a coffee shop, particularly in rush hour traffic
 
Has anyone here had that slow drip 5-24 hour coffee that is supposedly a super strong coffee??
 
...Oh, and Starbucks is overpriced garbage. No amount of Latte/mocha/frappa/pumpkin spice can make it better. Lipstick on a pig. [gagging sound...]

I cannot stand flavored coffee of any sort!

Back in the day, I used to go to a buffet style cafeteria. You could always count on decent prime rib, lobster, or fried chicken. And, the coffee was the best. It tasted just like it smelled.

The first time I tasted Starbucks coffee, I couldn't finish it. It was too bitter. I still think its too bitter. But, I guess I've gotten used to it. Other coffee not only tastes bitter, but it usually tastes burned as well. The coffee I make at home is best. But, it still doesn't taste as good as the coffee from that old cafeteria.
 
My coffee epiphany occurred when I had some amazing coffee on a cruise ship. Norwegian crew and Filipino staff. I asked them where they got the coffee and I was told it was a trade secret. It probably came straight from Columbia.
 
My coffee epiphany occurred when I had some amazing coffee on a cruise ship. Norwegian crew and Filipino staff. I asked them where they got the coffee and I was told it was a trade secret. It probably came straight from Columbia.
Probably Sanka
 
Has anyone here had that slow drip 5-24 hour coffee that is supposedly a super strong coffee??
My wife does that in the summer. She brews it on the counter for about 12-24 hrs, then refrigerates it. Pour 3-4 oz over ice, then top off with milk. Makes for a great coffee flavored wake up juice.
 
My wife does that in the summer. She brews it on the counter for about 12-24 hrs, then refrigerates it. Pour 3-4 oz over ice, then top off with milk. Makes for a great coffee flavored wake up juice.
So by brewing it, slowly dripping water over the grounds or just like summer tea. Soaking grounds and water for a period of time then filter it?
 
So by brewing it, slowly dripping water over the grounds or just like summer tea. Soaking grounds and water for a period of time then filter it?
It soaks, like sun tea, but at room temp. Then flows through a filter. I can find the water:coffee ratio, but that might be a while.
 
I visited a coffee plantation where they ground and brewed various roasts in front of you. Then we were supposed to sample. I tried not to wince as I was drinking the finished product, and I was very tempted to ask for cream and sugar.
Like a few others here, I have never been a coffee drinker. Tried it when I was 11 or 12 and said YUK! - why would anyone want to drink that? So 60+ years later,
I almost never touch the stuff. A couple of years ago I visited a coffee plantation in Hawaii, and as a concession to my coffee-loving family, agreed to try some.
It was heavily flavored (don't remember what), and I did manage to drink a small cup. But I'd say that it did nothing for me, and I see no reason to pursue the matter.

OTOH I love tea, and drink multiple cups a day. Tea has caffeine too - just not as much. It is my daily eye-opener.

Dave
 
herb teas are often caffeine free
 
herb teas are often caffeine free

Herbal "teas" aren't tea . . . . Caffeine comes from the camelia sinensis plant, whose leaves are used to make tea. Herbal drinks don't have tea leaves or coffee beans, thus no caffeine . . .

--Coffee drinker every morning, iced tea the rest of the day, right up to bedtime.
 
Ragging on Starbucks and extolling the virtues of your $900 coffee grinder is a social ritual in the coffee-snob community. That is 'what you do' if you are the kind of person who uses coffee to elevate themself above the peasants. It's no different from Vodka snobbery and many other herd behaviors.

I might be interested in a $900.00 coffee grinder if it came with a lifetime warranty, overnight replacement, and a replacement policy that didn't rival planning the first manned mission to Mars in complexity.

It also would have to have at least two grinds: one for drip and one for espresso. I don't need 40 different grinds or infinitely-variable grinds. I need two that actually work. Most commercial machines only have one. That's the main reason I don't just buy a commercial machine and be done with it. A secondary reason is because I'm not wholly convinced that the commercial machines are any better than the consumer ones in terms of durability.

My observation has been that all coffee grinders up to the ~ $300.00 price point will fail shortly after the warranty expires (if they even last that long); so the only things that matter are how well they work out of the box and how nice they look on the counter. I've had el-cheapo ones and high-end ones, and they all fail. The longest I've ever gotten out of one was 15 months.

Among the many failed grinders I have in my collection are two identical Cuisinart grinders. One of them has inconsistent grind size, possibly due to bad burrs, and was itself a second- or maybe third-iteration replacement from Bed, Bath and Beyond. The other Cuisinart was purchased elsewhere, failed after five months (bad motor), and is still under warranty. I'm debating whether to return the one with the failed motor under the warranty, or cannibalize it to fix the one with the presumably bad burrs and keep the resulting cannibal machine as a spare for when the Krups grinder that is currently in service inevitably fails.

I could also return the one with the inconsistent grind to Bed, Bath, and Beyond; but seriously, how many times is it reasonable to expect them to replace the same purchase? They didn't make the thing, after all.

Cannibalizing would certainly be the least-expensive option. I'd have to pay the shipping both ways to use the Cuisinart warranty, and I'd have to drive a hundred miles to replace the one I bought from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. That the $50.00 Krups grinder that presently is in service will eventually fail is practically a given, so having the Cuisinart cannibal as a spare would be a nice backup and might be the most sensible option.

As for the Krups, it actually does a very nice job of grinding, but it reportedly has a high failure rate. I bought it as an emergency replacement for the Cuisinart with the bad motor. But it actually produces a surprisingly nice grind. It also has a two-year manufacturer warranty and an additional Square Trade warranty that I only bought because the nitwit cashier at Wally World told me it was a walk-in replacement sort of warranty. (It isn't.) I kept the warranty anyway because it was only $4.00 and because Square Trade often refunds small-ticket purchases rather than repairing or replacing them.

Transplanting the burrs (and the gears, if practical) from the newer Cuisinart with the failed motor into the older Cuisinart with the inconsistent grind would be easy and would provide a serviceable backup for when the Krups inevitably fails. It also would prevent me from having to use my tertiary backup: a <gasp> blade grinder </gasp> that one of my nieces bought for me.

But I do long for a grinder that was truly built to last, and I would pay handsomely for one if I believed that such a unicorn actually existed.

In short, like coffee itself, the quality of coffee grinders has little to do with the price -- at least up to the ~ $300.00 price point. They all fail.

Rich
 
Tall Triple Vanilla Latte With Coconut Milk Add Whip!
That is the good one at Starbucks. As stated nobody drinks the harsh nasty coffee there. LOL!
 
I might be interested in a $900.00 coffee grinder if it came with a lifetime warranty, overnight replacement, and a replacement policy that didn't rival planning the first manned mission to Mars in complexity.

It also would have to have at least two grinds: one for drip and one for espresso. I don't need 40 different grinds or infinitely-variable grinds. I need two that actually work. Most commercial machines only have one. That's the main reason I don't just buy a commercial machine and be done with it. A secondary reason is because I'm not wholly convinced that the commercial machines are any better than the consumer ones in terms of durability.

My observation has been that all coffee grinders up to the ~ $300.00 price point will fail shortly after the warranty expires (if they even last that long); so the only things that matter are how well they work out of the box and how nice they look on the counter. I've had el-cheapo ones and high-end ones, and they all fail. The longest I've ever gotten out of one was 15 months.

Among the many failed grinders I have in my collection are two identical Cuisinart grinders. One of them has inconsistent grind size, possibly due to bad burrs, and was itself a second- or maybe third-iteration replacement from Bed, Bath and Beyond. The other Cuisinart was purchased elsewhere, failed after five months (bad motor), and is still under warranty. I'm debating whether to return the one with the failed motor under the warranty, or cannibalize it to fix the one with the presumably bad burrs and keep the resulting cannibal machine as a spare for when the Krups grinder that is currently in service inevitably fails.

I could also return the one with the inconsistent grind to Bed, Bath, and Beyond; but seriously, how many times is it reasonable to expect them to replace the same purchase? They didn't make the thing, after all.

Cannibalizing would certainly be the least-expensive option. I'd have to pay the shipping both ways to use the Cuisinart warranty, and I'd have to drive a hundred miles to replace the one I bought from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. That the $50.00 Krups grinder that presently is in service will eventually fail is practically a given, so having the Cuisinart cannibal as a spare would be a nice backup and might be the most sensible option.

As for the Krups, it actually does a very nice job of grinding, but it reportedly has a high failure rate. I bought it as an emergency replacement for the Cuisinart with the bad motor. But it actually produces a surprisingly nice grind. It also has a two-year manufacturer warranty and an additional Square Trade warranty that I only bought because the nitwit cashier at Wally World told me it was a walk-in replacement sort of warranty. (It isn't.) I kept the warranty anyway because it was only $4.00 and because Square Trade often refunds small-ticket purchases rather than repairing or replacing them.

Transplanting the burrs (and the gears, if practical) from the newer Cuisinart with the failed motor into the older Cuisinart with the inconsistent grind would be easy and would provide a serviceable backup for when the Krups inevitably fails. It also would prevent me from having to use my tertiary backup: a <gasp> blade grinder </gasp> that one of my nieces bought for me.

But I do long for a grinder that was truly built to last, and I would pay handsomely for one if I believed that such a unicorn actually existed.

In short, like coffee itself, the quality of coffee grinders has little to do with the price -- at least up to the ~ $300.00 price point. They all fail.

Rich

I hear lots of good things about Baratza.
 
1/15/2019 will be one full year without a sip of coffee.
 
I don't need anything special, almost any medium roast is good for me. For one reason or another people trash Starbucks, which I think is very, very good, although I almost never go there.

I picked a french press from our company Christmas catalog this year. I've used it a couple of times but I doubt it ever gets used again. Wait for the water to heat up, then wait while the coffee brews - it's just more work than I want to put into a cup of coffee. It would be fine if I was trying to kill time. But I normally grab a quick Kcup before heading out the door.
 
Try 100% pure Kona and get whole bean. It's expensive..like $30 to $40 a pound but man o man it is great. Only draw back is for some reason Kona gives me the jitters.
$28 from Suzanne (www.coffeeofkona.com) plus you have to pay shipping. I buy green beans from her in units of 18 pounds (that's the sweet spot for the fixed rate box she puts them into). I roast it up a half pound at a time.

As for coffee making apparatus, at home I have a Jura automatic that grinds the beans and makes coffee. At Oshkosh (or for testing things), I use an Aeropress. This is a little $30 gizmo made by the guy who made the Aerobee ring toy. It makes up to 4 shots of espresso at a time, purely manually. Easy to use and clean up (unlike my former REI stainless steel french press).
 
McDonalds is excellent coffee. A close second to Dunkin'.
I'm not sure I would put it in the excellent category, but I much prefer it to Starbucks or most of the other high end coffee shops. The Starbucks coffee is too bitter for my tastes. I always drink coffee black. If you have to put something else in it to take away the bitter taste I would rather drink something else. Besides, I don't need to add any extra calories.
 
Sometimes it's even a substitute for aspirin.

One time I slept funny and woke up with a mild headache. Couldn't find any aspirin but coffee was readily available at work. Not sure if it caused my blood vessels to constrict/dilate or if the heat loosened something up or if it was placebo effect, but the headache was gone in short order. It definitely was not a withdrawal symptom because I'm not a regular coffee drinker.

I get mild migraines that don't seem to respond to the ordinary drugs, so when I feel one coming on I'll grab a coffee, Diet Pepsi, whatever and it seems to take the edge off.

Gotta say, Jack in the Box makes a pretty decent cup of Joe.
 
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