Coffee is just fantastic. Great smell, great taste, great ritual, great caffeine... just a brilliant beverage.
i can dig it, baby - the day just doesn't start right without my java! or cappucinos in the summer with some billie holiday in the background......or stiff turkish coffees after a six course middle eastern meal on pillows coffee is sublime
i definitely enjoy my espresso, but black coffee is great too, especially out of a coffee press. i tend to prefer coffees from ethiopia, yemen, and kenya above all others...but there are some good indonesian, brazilian, and guatemalan coffees, too. i've had some good kona, but most of the stuff you get isn't that great. not had the pleasure of having 100% high quality blue mountain, but i've heard its pretty good. myself, i still love ethiopian and yemeni coffees above all others i've had. the problem with coffee is that its not just the quality of the beans, its the quality of the roast, too. it doesnt really matter so much how dark the beans are, its more how they GOT that dark. roasting has two components: heat and time. you can get one batch just as dark or light as another with less time by roasting at a higher temperature. but they won't taste the same. i typically enjoy fairly dark roasts, but not so dark as a french roast. still, while i love rich tasting coffees, too much caffeine can sometimes affect me poorly. i'll feel frazzled or distracted too easily, and sometimes kind of jittery. i've lately grown incredibly fond of a combination of green tea and coca with some sugar and ginger. gives a nicer stimulation than coffee, though slightly less strong. no jitters, enhanced mental clarity, and a bit more of a mood lift than with coffee. dont get me wrong, a little coffee is a terriffic thing, but lately it's made me feel unwell at times, and i found myself drinking too much of it. i started drinking coca, and mildly caffeinated green tea. they're both very good for the body, and so is ginger. it may not have the same rich and complex flavors as i get in my coffee, but it is still refreshing and tasty. i highly recommend it if you can get it....its true that coca leaf is what they extract cocaine from, but it takes a LOT of leaves to make just a single gram of coke....a teabag's worth is far less, and ingesting it orally makes it far different from doing cocaine. in fact, while it could possibly trigger a positive for cocaine on a drug test, its nothing at all like doing coke. its much more subdued, and a cup of coca tea is actually slightly less stimulating than the same amount of coffee. but its just a nicer feeling, and better for the body. the touch of caffeine from the green tea makes it just a bit more stimulating, and also adds its own health benefits. neither green tea nor coca tea are anywhere close to as addictive as coffee. at first when i got it, i drank coca every day simply because it is pleasant, and almost never drank coffee. now i usually have one or the other at least one time during any given day, but sometimes nothing at all. i've really been feeling better since i've not been drinking several cups of coffee a day. i've gone several days since the last time i had coca tea or coffee or even just tea. i'm essentially broken of my caffeine dependance, but i still will drink it on occasion and do enjoy small amounts.
Gotta have my fix... Love trying new coffees. Like everything else in life, one must be willing to try new things. Ready for spring and summer, so I can make my java chocolate shake. My two loves in one place. LOL
Coffee and SoCo is awesome... Especially Tim Horton's coffee (gotta love being Canadian) Coffee otherwise gives me the wierd urge to shit, and makes me really tired after the caffiene buzz wears off.
well most stimulants have similar effects to varying degrees (especially if you are not used to them or if you use them first thing in the morning) i found this most true with amphetamines, still true with caffeine, and slightly less consistant but still true with nicotine. coca is least strong in promoting a bowel movement, and i find far less of a "crash" than with caffeine or amphetamines...of course refined cocaine has as significant of side effects as any other stimulant. i live in ohio, and we have tim hortons here even though apparently most of the US does not. i've not tried anything from tim hortons except the donuts, and have heard that even the company openly admits that there is some unknown quality control problem and that nothing served in the US stores (from the coffee to the food) measures up to its canadian counterpart. the donuts are tasty, but i get my coffee from other places. i don't know about mixing alcohol in it, though. apparently baileys or kahlua is good in coffee, but i prefer my coffee black. i could see why those liqueurs would be good, though, if you like sweet coffee.
Coffee! I love coffee and I love trying different types. I love eating chocolate with coffee. It is such a great match. You will often times find me stuffing my face with chocolate for breakfast whilst sipping on a mug of hot java.
chocolates pair well with many coffees, but sometimes it isnt the best. in fact there are some coffees that pair better with citrus fruits, berries, spices (especially cinnamon), even cheeses. the subtler coffees of latin america often pair wonderfully with chocolates, as do many blended coffees, particularly when roasted dark. guatemalan coffees pair particularly well with chocolate, in my opinion. african and arabian coffees are often more fruity, some with winelike qualities (such as many of the beans from yemen) and some with citrus or herbal flavors (such as many beans from kenya, ethiopia, among others) many southeast asian coffees are earthier and more robust, and can often pair wonderfully with flavorful cheeses.... there are all kinds of great coffee pairings, just like there are all kinds of great things to pair with different wines, beers, cigars, or other induglances. chocolate is great, but don't miss out on the great flavors available if you're a little more adventurous i'd also suggest eating high quality dark chocolates with your coffee so as not to destroy the flavors with too much dairy and sugar
i love my coffee! the place i work roasts mainly free trade, organics from all over the globe. i prefer a medium roast myself, just black. french press is my preferred method.
