Coffee Love page 3

[Saoirse]

Charles Poliquin raves about the health benefits of coffee. Lots of antioxydants with no health problems.

I remember an interesting read on T-Nation about nutrigenomics (nutrition + genes). One of the hypothesis about coffee was that some people have a gene that helps them degrade cafeine (the stuff that brings health problems) pretty quickly, which means they get the benefits of the antioxydants without too many ill effects of cafeine. A win situation overall. Those who can't degrade cafeine efficiently see the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. That theory would explain why studies about coffee and health never seem to agree.

It makes sense to me. If I drink coffee in the morning or eat too much dark chocolate, I have a hard time sleeping that night and I crash the next day. The wife, however, can drink a cup and go straight to sleep like a sloth.

I couldn't tolerate the dose of caffeine before giving up grains. i have no clue what direct impact that had on me, but i would become very jittery and miserable on simply one weak cup of drip coffee. now i can have double shots of espresso with no problems (as long as i drink the coffee before 3ish in the afternoon). i'm even fine with a cup of green tea right before bed.

i'll check out what charles poliquin has to say.

Oh, as for tea I am even less picky. I like green tea, white tea, black tea, chai tea, herbal tea.

Saorise, for the Chinese tea that was nutty and slightly green, it might be barley tea. My Korean friend always gave that to me and it was exactly as you describe it!

I love your name BTW, I wanted to name my last child that if we had a girl. We ended up naming him Colm

I wanted to name my daughter Cecilia, but my husband wouldn't go for it so we ended up with a very common name. Colm is interesting; how do you pronounce it?

[Saoirse]

I'm so cheap with coffee, I'm actually a big fan of ... don't laugh ... Dunkin Donuts Hazelnut but I buy it and make it myself... so that's like, you know, more legit?

I don't care, I like it. I don't really like strong coffees like the type you get at starbucks, so I guess I'm far from a coffee connoisseur. My family gets either regular Dunkin Donuts medium blend or the hazelnut stuff.

Oh man, does this mean I run on Dunkin? I'm going to start drawing a spear on the little dude on their logo.

haha. i have to buy folger's for my husband on a regular basis. i'm honestly not much of a connoisseur either, basically because i've had a lack of exposure (so i guess that would make me a wannabe).

I love the African coffees. A nice medium roast Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in a French press is a beautiful thing. I usually get them overnighted from supply companies to keep the freshness. There is a coffee shop at home that makes a MochaEspresso. It's basically a dark chocolate mocha without the milk. Triple Espresso on a dollop of chocolate. Phenomenal.

I have to drink Maxwell House at work, but buy Mello Joy when i get a chance. The Coffee and Chicory New Orleans blends are really good every once in a while. I swing over to Cafe Du Monde when I get a chance in NOLA.

maybe some time i'll treat myself to some other varities of coffee. what i buy right now comes from this company, though one of the local coffee shops carries a wide variety of other roasts and beans.

[Saoirse]

Firstly, Thank you for starting a coffee love thread! There was too much hate from a certain speedy feline going around.

oops, i probably should not have looked back at that other thread.

[zoebird]

i hate to tell Folgers drinkers this, but it's technically not coffee. LOL that being said, it is coffee beans, crushed to smithereens and in no way does it impart flavor on it's own. instead the "flavor crystals" (which are designed and made in labs in NJ) are added to the product to give it "coffee flavor." the brown stuff just imparts. . .well, brown coloring. So, *not coffee.*

now, as for tea, i'm a big fan. we mostly drink green (has to be a mild green), red (rooibois), and early grey. my preference is for lady grey, but you do what you can. the local tea shop (similar to teavana in the US) has many different kinds of tea, including a nice smooth NZ breakfast, which is a simple black tea that has some Irish Breakfast similarities. There are, in fact, many tea growers in NZ apparently, because there are actually a number of teas made here, and probably the most famous is Zealoong, which of course is a form of oolong or white tea, grown in New Zealand. this is currently also being exported, and most other NZ tea that is grown here is kept in the country. so, that's been fun to explore.

i also have medicinal teas of various sorts. in the states, i used Traditional Medicinals, which are of good quality. The ones i used were Eaters Digest, which is a stomach calming (not stimulating) tea based in mint and peppermint, their chamomile-based stress reduction tea, and their pregnancy tea while pregnant. i used weleda nursing tea when i needed stronger milk supply. i occasionally will use Susun Weeds book to create my own blends, but it's not my favorite activity and i'm finding it hard to get some ingredients here.

Now, i do make my own "traditional medicinal" style tea since i cannot buy the tea here, whihc i use to settle my stomach when i'm stressed. I use chamomile on occasion, but redbush is the easiest non-stimulating tea for me to use, and i prefer the flavor really.

i like my teas relatively weak, and without anything added.

and i drink a lot of it. i mostly drink tea and water. and not much else, honestly.

i will occasionally make chai latte. i have my own chai recipe (and no, i don't share it, so don't ask-- just do an internet search and make your own!). i steep it for a long time in 1/4 the amount of water one would normally use, or, i steep it directly into the hot milk. Sometimes, i add honey, but usually not.

[Saoirse]

i hate to tell Folgers drinkers this, but it's technically not coffee. LOL that being said, it is coffee beans, crushed to smithereens and in no way does it impart flavor on it's own. instead the "flavor crystals" (which are designed and made in labs in NJ) are added to the product to give it "coffee flavor." the brown stuff just imparts. . .well, brown coloring. So, *not coffee.*

now, as for tea, i'm a big fan. we mostly drink green (has to be a mild green), red (rooibois), and early grey. my preference is for lady grey, but you do what you can. the local tea shop (similar to teavana in the US) has many different kinds of tea, including a nice smooth NZ breakfast, which is a simple black tea that has some Irish Breakfast similarities. There are, in fact, many tea growers in NZ apparently, because there are actually a number of teas made here, and probably the most famous is Zealoong, which of course is a form of oolong or white tea, grown in New Zealand. this is currently also being exported, and most other NZ tea that is grown here is kept in the country. so, that's been fun to explore.

i also have medicinal teas of various sorts. in the states, i used Traditional Medicinals, which are of good quality. The ones i used were Eaters Digest, which is a stomach calming (not stimulating) tea based in mint and peppermint, their chamomile-based stress reduction tea, and their pregnancy tea while pregnant. i used weleda nursing tea when i needed stronger milk supply. i occasionally will use Susun Weeds book to create my own blends, but it's not my favorite activity and i'm finding it hard to get some ingredients here.

Now, i do make my own "traditional medicinal" style tea since i cannot buy the tea here, whihc i use to settle my stomach when i'm stressed. I use chamomile on occasion, but redbush is the easiest non-stimulating tea for me to use, and i prefer the flavor really.

i like my teas relatively weak, and without anything added.

and i drink a lot of it. i mostly drink tea and water. and not much else, honestly.

i will occasionally make chai latte. i have my own chai recipe (and no, i don't share it, so don't ask-- just do an internet search and make your own!). i steep it for a long time in 1/4 the amount of water one would normally use, or, i steep it directly into the hot milk. Sometimes, i add honey, but usually not.

oh, i love chai latte (i make my own as well). and roobois is quite yummy as well. right now i'm waiting for a new herbal favorite: lemon ginger (it's a blend from frontier natural coop). do you have any proof of what you say about folger's? i'd like to share it with my husband, maybe he'll be convinced to switch to something fairtrade. it doesn't bother me that he likes crappy coffee as much as it bothers me that he consumes so much that isn't fairtrade.

[zoebird]

fast food nation, food additives, man-made food additives, flavor enhancers, and so on. good google search should kick up some documents.

folgers doesn't have an ingredient list on the site, but you should be able to spot stabilizers, additives, and flavor enhancers on their labels.

[zoebird]

also, folgers makes a thin coffee, so adding more water to his prepared coffee (of any regular kind) can usually make the same flavor. i would start with expresso, and then add water to it until it's the right flavor for him.

[TonyJones]

Flat white made with raw milk! Used to be a barista at an Indy coffee shop where I learnt the art of coffee

Flat white is, essentially, a cappuccino but instead of being 1/3 espresso, micro foam and hot milk respectively, it's. 1/3 espresso to 2/3 micro foam. Really silky smooth and filling, oddly! Has its roots in Australia.

Beans wise, anything fair trade. We used our own blend, but I can't remember it unfortunately.

Always wanted to try civet cat coffee. Even though it's made out of undigested beans in wild cat droppings it's meant to be really nice.

[TonyJones]

Also, here's a small tip for you americano drinkers:

Add boiling water to the cup and then drop your espresso in. Adding boiled water to espresso burns the oils giving you a bitter tasting cup. By swapping the method around the cup will take the edge off of the water enough to keep the oil unburnt.

[elorajade]

I adore coffee. I buy whatever I can get from Costco that is fair trade and organic. Otherwise if I have to buy the locally roasted stuff its over 12$ per pound, and we go through about a pound per week. I've read that if you're not drinking organic, then you're drinking a cup of pesticides really. Seeing as I cannot give it up, I suck it up and buy non-pesticide coated stuff. Prior to the switch we liked Maxwell House.

I also have discovered tea, Roobios or Redbush (same same from what I've read) is my current favorite. I've been experimenting with various loose leaf teas, it seems to be a growing trend right now, so tea houses are popping up everywhere.

If I want a hot chocolate at night, I drink a Bengal Spice (by celestial seasonings) its really comforting.