How do you take your coffee?

Discussion in 'Member Casual Chat' started by Oldyoungin, Jul 13, 2022.

  1. James California

    James California Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    ~ A tea bag in a glass water bottle resting overnight in the refrigerator. Nice ... :aww:
     
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  2. Le Chef

    Le Chef Banned at members request Donor

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    And to be clear, "sweet tea" is a lot sweeter than iced tea with just a spoonful of sugar. I grew up drinking iced tea like that, and the first time a restaurant served me "sweet tea," again, not the same thing, it about cracked my teeth.
     
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  3. Le Chef

    Le Chef Banned at members request Donor

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    I can't. I drink too much tea.
     
  4. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    My "upbringing" was similar to that. When I was young, I worked in a steel mill. Most of us bought coffee from the coffee machines in the break rooms. It was instant coffee. I didn't really like it, but a lot of the other guys would buy it for me. I think they liked to see me make faces. The coffee I had at home was just grocery store coffee. Stale and flat.

    When I bought my first roaster, it changed everything. Big learning curve--but I'm a nerd and have been roasting ever since. I like dark roasts up to a point. If it gets that charred flavor, I usually throw it out. Kind of funny that it's so popular in coffee shops. Light roasts have more flavors, but they can be a bit sour if they're too light.
     
  5. Le Chef

    Le Chef Banned at members request Donor

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    Sun tea sounds good on its face, but ...

    The biggest issue with sun tea is bacteria. Warm, damp spots, like a jar filled with water and tea leaves and placed in the sun, can be a breeding ground for unhealthy bacteria – especially if sugar is added to the sun tea while it is steeping
     
  6. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    I had heard about the bacteria. I wasn't real big on making tea that way.
     
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  7. crank

    crank Well-Known Member

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    It's just the wrong ingredient for a cold beverage. Much too astringent, and a delicate flavour rendered even more delicate in not being heated.

    Iced coffee makes sense, because it has a much more robust flavour, which holds up despite not being heated.
     
  8. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

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    LOL! So you don't like it. That doesn't set some kind of standard!
     
  9. undertheice

    undertheice Well-Known Member

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    first off - never, never, never brew your tea with sugar. sweeteners should only be added after brewing and preferably to taste. second - if your jug is left in the sun, then the sunlight will help to minimize any danger of harmful bacteria growth. uv radiation kills bacteria. finally - you run more of a risk of contamination by leaving your glass of tea open to the elements as you're drinking it than any dangers posed by a properly cleaned sun tea jug. consider what's lurking in the average coffee machine :disbelief:
     
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  10. daisydotell

    daisydotell Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I roasted my own coffee for awhile. I would try different coffees but always went back to the South American coffees especially the Colombian coffee. I haven't roasted coffee since before the pandemic. I miss it. Maybe one day I will start back. I started out roasting with a popcorn popper before I bought a coffee roaster. The medium roast was the favorite.
     
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  11. daisydotell

    daisydotell Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Hot tea with milk and sugar is great.
     
  12. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    Another roaster!
    I roast with a Gene Cafe. It's one of the simplest to use, but it does take practice and I've learned to keep notes. It seems to me that since the problems with Covid and the supply chain, the coffee quality has gone down hill. There are also the conflicts in some of those countries that essentially shut down certain regions.

    I tried the Columbian, but never got much out of it. Yes, it was fresh, but didn't have the flavoring I'm so snobby about. I have some Ethiopian coming tomorrow. Supposed to be quite fruity.
     
  13. crank

    crank Well-Known Member

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    Apparently no one in this country (or the UK, or India, or Asia) likes it either.
     
  14. daisydotell

    daisydotell Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    How do you like your Gene Cafe? My roaster is a Fresh Roast and it is very easy to use.
    I was always on the search for a good Santos. Never found one that had the taste I wanted.
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2022
  15. Chrizton

    Chrizton Well-Known Member

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    I have seen damn yankees gag when they take their first sip of our fine southern beverage LOL. If you order "tea", it's coming sweet. The waitresses don't ask. You have to go out of your way to make sure if you want it unsweetened. I don't order either TBH. I will do the hot tea at Asian restaurants sometimes. Whether they are doing green or black doesn't matter because it always comes so hot it burns your taste buds right off your tongue. When forced to accompany someone into a coffee shop, I will occasionally order hot tea of whatever blend sounds least disgusting since I don't do coffee. I do keep black tea at home, but only drink it infrequently in cold months with a little honey.
     
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  16. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    The best thing about the Gene Cafe is that you only have to set the time and temp, then wait until you think the color is right. You can raise and lower those as you feel is needed, but in my experience, it's best to simply keep an eye on it. The biggest issue with it is that the cooling process is slow. That means the beans continue roasting after you hit the stop button. I've burned a lot of roasts. Thankfully, I have a friend who loves those oily coals and uses them for espresso.

    I've heard much about the popcorn poppers, but never had any coffee from one. I do have an old iRoast 2. It's easy to use, but setting all the roast stages gets annoying. I started taking notes back then and realized that I could buy the same beans several times a year and get wildly different flavors from them. That's why I bought the Gene Cafe. Of course, I had the same results. I didn't know anything about the growing regions, types of plants, and how altitude and weather have such a huge influence.

    If this roaster goes bad, I've been thinking seriously about an Aillio Bullet.
     
  17. submarinepainter

    submarinepainter Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Iced Black coffee or tea
     
  18. daisydotell

    daisydotell Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Can you take the coffee out of the roaster after it is roasted and cool it down?

    Years ago I bought a pound of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and it was absolutely the very best coffee it tasted like coffee smells..it was great but the price not so much. The coffe was already roasted that was years before I tried roasting.
     
  19. Thingamabob

    Thingamabob Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Drink decaf tea instead.
     
  20. joyce martino

    joyce martino Well-Known Member

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    1 cup quality coffee a day, morning. With stevia and coconut creamer. I buy Organics brand from our market
    or Seattle's Best. Add a dash of baking soda to cut the acid. Enjoy my 1 cup.
     
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  21. Collateral Damage

    Collateral Damage Well-Known Member

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    Preferably in a cup, but an intravenous hook up is necessary sometimes.

    Creamer to cool it down just a tetch since I barely wait for it to stop dripping....
     
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  22. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    I made a cooling basket a while back. The only problem is that the cooling cycle not only cools the beans, it cools the circuits inside. The Blue Mountain can be incredible. Had some Kona a while back too. It was good. I just got my order of Guatemala Huehuetenango and Ethiopian Misty Valley Yirgacheffe. Roasted a bit of each. The aroma from the Ethiopian is really good. Maybe I'll try some in the morning.
     
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  23. daisydotell

    daisydotell Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Kinda thinking about trying roasting again. My husband told me he misses me roasting our coffee. I checked on one of the suppliers which was a favorite but they are closed till December. They always had a good supply of unique coffees. The pandemic destroyed so many things a person takes for granted.
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2022
  24. Collateral Damage

    Collateral Damage Well-Known Member

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    Back in the day, ice tea mix (with lemon & sugar), made hot and strong, with a tiny tipple of Southern Comfort. Really good on a winter's day while playing a rousing game of Scrabble. :)
     
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  25. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    I hope you do get back into it. I have three main suppliers, but things did nosedive around Covid time.

    It's a hobby for this old guy. My quest to find the perfect cup of coffee--kind of like Zarathustra's quest...
    “But even your best love is only an enraptured simile and a painful ardour. It is a torch to light you to loftier paths.
    Still, I'm sure perfection is out there.

    Edit--The coffee from yesterday has too much of that dark taste. Sigh...
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2022
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