Coffee and Tea Appreciation Thread IV

[Jeff]

Morning coffee, yum. The French Vanilla from Dunkin Donuts that is. I may have made the mix a bit on the strong side, but that's okay. They recommend two teaspoons of ground for 6 ounces water. It may ytake a few days to get it exactly right.

[Jeff]

I ground up the rest of my Swiss Chocolate Almond over the weekend. I'm going to make some here at work right now.

[MikeLastort2]

I like coffee-flavored coffee.

[Jeff]

Better than coffee flavored ice cream? I never developed a taste for it.

[sj_quakes_fan]

Originally posted by Knave

I find the whole coffee driveup thing disturbing. I was driving north from LA on I-5 last week and so I stopped at the new Starbucks near Grapevine (hey, I know, Starbucks - but there's no other decent coffee for 30 miles in any direction). Well they've got a driveup and I don't like it one bit. I, of course, went in to get my (mediocre) double espresso. I just can't contribute to the fast-food-ification of coffee houses.



In Oregon and Washington, these drive up coffee places are everywhere. There's one not far from my sis' house called Brewed Awakenings. They make pretty good coffee. The thing is, with all the rain, it's just easier to drive up for coffee. You don't have to get out of your warm car, into the cold rain. Now here in CA, I'll get out to get my coffee, thank you.

It's good to know that Starbucks is open. Last time I went through there, I saw the sign, pulled off the road, and the dang thing wasn't open yet!!!! Now I know it's open for all my road trips to LA next season. :D

[sj_quakes_fan]

Jeff, you would be proud of me again.

My sis and I were standing on 23rd in Portland right in front of Starbucks on one corner and Coffee People on the other. She asked which one I wanted. I went with Coffee People! It was a cute little place. I liked the atmosphere. But their mochas tasted like Starbucks. Powdery! Yuck! They're a chain up there. But at least it was better than going with Starbucks. Didn't have Starbucks once while I was there. And the Starbucks are everywhere!

[sj_quakes_fan]

Originally posted by Jeff
Better than coffee flavored ice cream? I never developed a taste for it.

I love coffee flavored ice cream!! Love it. 'Specially the Starbucks one with the toffee in it! Nummies!!

[MikeLastort2]

Originally posted by Jeff
Better than coffee flavored ice cream? I never developed a taste for it.

What I mean is that I just like coffee that has no flavors added to it. Like vanilla fudge whipple twirl, or Swiss almond mocha yadda yadda yadda.

Give me plain old espresso or coffee and I'm good to go. No sugar, no cream. Hot black coffee-flavored coffee, thank you very much.

The only exception I'll usually make is putting a squeeze of a lemon rind into my espresso (preferably Illy freshly ground).

[Jeff]

I'd probably like straight, black coffee, but since I started with Dunkin Donuts cream and sugar, I never developed a taste for the straight stuff.

I usually leave the sugar out of my coffee, as I don't find that it adds much to the taste, if at all. Flavored coffee I dig, but one shot of the flavoring per 16 oz. Two at the absolute most.

[Knave]

On Coffee Flavored Coffee

I only drink coffee flavored coffee. No flavorings. No cream. No sugar. No nothing. Real coffee. Straight espresso or french press.

And I eat the grounds too. I'm hardcore! ;)

Coffee on Road Trips between LA and The SF Bay Area

Yes, the Grapevine Starbucks is now open. Take the Laval exit. That's the one just to the North of the usual Grapevine exit. It's right near the massive new Ikea distribution center.

The Peet's in Dublin is now open too. If you're coming into the Bay Area on 580 then it's a good place to stop. Take the Tassajara exit and head north. It's in a center on the left (west side) of the road.

[Jeff]

I'm biased towards the flavor for another reason. The gingerbread coffee I rant about being the best coffee ever.

In all seriousness, I don't put much cream into mine each morning, just a little. Too much cream makes it taste too creamy and milky.

[Jeff]

I'm going to grind the beans soon for the first cup of coffee in 2003!

Before you think I'm a total loser for posting at this hour on NYE, I'm real low on funds. The coffee's for a 5 am skiing wakeup call!

[elainemichelle]

I love my coffee.:)

[MikeLastort2]

Originally posted by Jeff
Too much cream makes it taste too creamy. . .

Imagine that.

;)

[Jeff]

Dilemma of the week/weekend:

I was given, by someone who hates them even more than I do,


An 8 ounce bag of Holiday Blend by.......


Starbucks.

I took it since it was free, and not even Starbucks do I want to see thrown away. I need a way to use it. Grind them beans and share it at the office, even if a co worker gave it to me? Give it to someone (preferred)? Suck it up and bear it for two weeks, since I didn't pay a dime for it? I dunno. Please share your thoughts.

[Knave]

Originally posted by Jeff
I need a way to use it. Grind them beans and share it at the office, even if a co worker gave it to me? Give it to someone (preferred)? Suck it up and bear it for two weeks, since I didn't pay a dime for it? I dunno. Please share your thoughts.
Grind the beans. Rebag them so it looks like they came from somewhere other than Starbucks. Bring them into the office. Your co-workers, including the one who gave it to you, will never know.

[monster]

I NEED cream. Well, not need, but prefer. And I really like the Vanilla Nut flavored creamer. I have to get some liquid flavor as well just for a change.

[sj_quakes_fan]

Originally posted by Knave
Grind the beans. Rebag them so it looks like they came from somewhere other than Starbucks. Bring them into the office. Your co-workers, including the one who gave it to you, will never know.

HAHA!! Sneaky! But a great idea!

[sj_quakes_fan]

Well, I forgot to cancel the Kona for my recent Green Mountain shipment.

$35 on coffee beans! :eek:

Oh well, I'll just freeze it and make sure I cancel it for the next order. Kona is expensive, so I don't drink it that often. I'm gonna probably have enough in two bags to last two years. But it won't be any good two years from now. I'll just have to drink more of it! :D

Other than that, there are no exciting coffee stories in my life. I really, really want to get an espresso machine so I can make my own mochas and lattes at home. I'd much prefer to do that. Then I could experiment with recipes and whatnot. And no doubt save some money. I have to stop going to the coffee shop so much. It's an expensive habit that's cutting in to my road trip/Germany '06 fund!

By the way, Knave, I've been meaning to say: How the heck do you eat the grounds? Just plain grounds or something? That's truly hardcore coffee consumption!

[Jeff]

Kona is good coffee. GMCR is great coffee. But Kona from Millstone is only $7-8 bucks.

My GMCR order shipped yesterday.