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Author Topic: Food: What's your favorite coffee or tea?  (Read 2389 times)

TheGreenWizard

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What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« on: August 14, 2018, 11:46:52 am »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.

For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.

For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.
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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2018, 12:54:22 pm »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.

For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.

For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.

I spent six years in the Navy and never touched a cup of coffee. Thirty years later I've gotten to the point where I'll have an occasional cup now and then (mostly because Amtrak doesn't have tea in the sleepers!), especially at church (where they don't have tea either). When I do drink coffee, I use cream and sugar...fair amounts of each. I don't have enough of a "taste" to discriminate between blends of coffee, although I know I don't like the burned taste of Starbucks. I don't own a coffee pot, but I do have a few Folger's "coffee bags" in the pantry for emergencies. My mother coming over for a visit qualifies as an emergency.

However, I am a bit of a tea hound! On top of my refrigerator right now is about two pounds of tea. Loose tea includes Bigelow's "Constant Comment" and, from Twinings, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, and Jasmine Green. For bagged tea I have more of the "Constant Comment" and also Bigelow's Spiced Chai and Green Tea; from Twinings I have the Apple Spiced Chai and Ultra Spice Chai (I'm a big fan of Chai!) as well as Raspberry Pomegranate Green Tea, English Breakfast, and their Black Tea Variety Pack (English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey & Lady Grey). Oh, and yes, I have a box of old-fashioned plain-Jane Lipton's!

Loose tea I brew in a Service Ideas tea ball which makes about two large mugs. I heat my water in a Sunbeam "Hot Shot", for the green teas I attemperate the hot water by adding a single ice cube for a mug or two ice cubes to the tea ball before adding my bagged or loose tea. After being introduced to one while having afternoon tea with my mother at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, BC in September 2016, I requested and received a "Perfect Tea Timer" as a gift for Christmas 2016. However, I frequently find something else to do while the sands are running and so often end up with very strong tea. I don't mind that so much; I actually prefer it strong, but the green teas pick up a bitter taste if left to steep longer than three minutes.

I prefer my hot black teas with generous amounts of milk and either sugar or honey (a deacon at church keeps bees and so I do have a good source of fresh local honey). I shared a table at a Reagan Day Dinner a few years back with a pleasant lady who had immigrated and naturalized from India and who was the only other one at our table who requested tea; we talked and she absolutely insisted that the proper way to serve tea was "milk in first". So, that's generally what I do now when I brew loose black tea...but it doesn't work so well when you use tea bags! For hot green teas I still use sweetener (never artificial, though) but not milk. I will often add a splash of lemon juice, especially if the green tea is not otherwise flavored.

I don't often drink iced tea unless I'm dining out or with my parents, but while I like my hot tea sweet I think iced tea...including hot tea which has gone lukewarm...tastes weird and unpleasant with sweetener. So I prefer my iced tea unsweetened. Go figure. (Actually, if I'm taking my caffeine cold I prefer Coca-Cola....)



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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2018, 01:54:06 pm »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.

For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.

For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.
I am not and never have been a coffee drinker. I can’t understand why something that smells so good fresh ground, tastes so bad brewed.

Tea, on the other hand, I am very picky about. Strong, dark, and never lipton or red rose. I prefer a 50/50 blend (by weight) of assam and ceylon teas. Choice teas markets this as Celtic Breakfast. But they don’t sell it loose, and I don’t like the taste of teabags. So I buy my teas by the pound from Mountain Rose Herbs and mix it myself. I brew in a strainer that sits atop my cup - I believe that you get more and better flavor with loosely floating leaves. And NEVER milk or sugar.


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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2018, 02:26:15 pm »
For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.

Twining's is usually best for brand, but sometimes you can find good tea of no particular brand in Asian markets.  I will not touch Lipton or Bigelow---might as well drink plain hot water.   My favorite varieties are Oolong and Lapsang Souchong, but Darjeeling is good for dipping gingersnaps or snickerdoodles in as a winter comfort snack.  I like it all brewed about two or three times as long as most people  recommend, and occasionally enjoy adding a shot of blackberry brandy to it.  Otherwise I don't care for additives in my tea.

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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2018, 07:34:21 pm »
never lipton or red rose.

Aw come on, Red Rose is my favorite! OK, maybe I just don't have a refined palate or whatever, I can't tell the difference between Irish Breakfast and English Breakfast. Not a huge fan of Earl Grey, most brands have a weird mushroomy aftertaste to me. Lady Grey is nice once in a while though. I drink it plain or with just a dash of sugar.

I also usually drink Rooibos in the morning, when I want something warming but don't want to mess up my body clock with caffeine. Also various herbal infusions including lemon-ginger and fennel, my favorite in that area is tea made from fresh lemon balm. 

Recently I got my hands on some Labrador Tea, which I've been curious about for a long time, and it turned out to be quite nice. It's a very 'dry' flavor, sort of like green tea, and almost tastes like peppercorns.

As for Lapsang Souchong, for drinking I find it unpleasant, but it works well as part of a stock for vegetable soup.

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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2018, 07:55:18 pm »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.


For coffee: right now, straight black coffee (Starbuck's Breakfast Blend) over ice.

For tea: sun-brewed Earl Grey & green tea blend. Straight, also over ice.
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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #6 on: August 15, 2018, 11:34:40 am »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.

For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.

For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.

For tea, I prefer an occasional English Breakfast Tea and Twinings has been the best I've tried that comes out of a box. There is a really good place to buy loose leaf tea that we have here local. It's a combo cigar/coffee shop and their Irish Breakfast loose leaf is amazing. I always drink my tea plain.

Coffee, on the other hand...I love my coffee. I can't do Folgers/Maxwell House/etc. The cheapest I've found that I like the taste of is Cafe Bustelo. There is a local place here called Black Dog Coffee that roasts their own and their Dark Roast is my absolute favorite. I also like Starbuck's Pike Place Roast, but that stuff is quite pricey compared to the other two. I drink bulletproof (coffee with butter, blended) for breakfast, but the rest of the day I will drink it black or with Half and Half in it. Never with sugar. I never acquired the taste for it. I will have an iced latte with sweetener every once in a while, but I don't really consider that coffee. It's more like ordering a smoothie with some caffeine in it.
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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2018, 11:44:20 am »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.

My most common form of caffeine intake is diet Coke, just to be clear about things.

Quote
For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.

I go through doing batches of cold brew coffee on the weekends, mixed about half and half with milk, with a layer of whipped cream, which is just about as much sugar as I want. My usual beans are the Trader Joe's preground vanilla coffee. When I am feeling extra attentive, I put a teaspoon or so of ground cardamom in when it's brewing.

Quote
For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.

Very weirdly (my parents are English and grew-up-in-the-UK), I am not a big tea drinker, especially black tea. I do some green-with-flavours (my easy solution are the David's Tea blends: mostly cherry or other red berry type flavours) but I am working on getting regular tisane drinking back into my life.

On the tisane front: I really love Tea Source's Red Berries, though they changed their recipe slightly a few years ago, and I liked the previous one more. However, it is fabulous iced as well as warm, and also has lots of things that are good for a body in it.

But I'll drink a range of things (basically most things except chamomile, to which I'm moderately allergic) and a couple of others I avoid in more than tiny doses because they play badly with specific meds.
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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2018, 10:17:12 pm »
For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.

My favorite tea is one that I discovered while I was living in Peru. Unfortunately, but understanably, it's not something I can get in the USA. It's coca tea.

Making tea from coca yeilds a mild, slightly bitter brew that's great on a cold day in the Andes. It isn't actually narcotic, because producing cocaine requires chemical processing, as well as large quantities of coca leaves, and making tea involves little more than dropping three or four dried leaves in hot water. It's totally safe, and totally legal in Peru, where coca leaf candy and soda are also available.

No sugar or spices added. I prefer the tea by itself, served warm.
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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2018, 03:50:12 pm »
For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.
My favorite coffee is frape. it's very popular in Greece. a bit of nescafe, a bit of sugar, water, a little milk, shaken and ready! I also like all types of espresso coffee.  :)

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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2018, 09:33:26 am »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.

For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.

For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.

I'll pick up a coffee if I am in a particularly bad mood and only then. So my ideal coffee just has to be coffee, I'm not picky about brands or flavors. I usually only add a few sugars, milk is a weird thing to add to a drink, at least to me. Bonus points if there is Pumpkin Spice flavoring to it at all. Yummm

With my tea, I have varied tastes and preferences. Usually you can catch me drinking David's Teas Green Passionfruit (water just hot enough to steam, steeped for 4 minutes) either warm or over ice. Its my fallback fave. Other teas in my pantry include:
  • David's Teas- Buddah's Blend (its a white tea so it is bitter if you over steep it, water hot enough to steam, steeped less than 2 minutes, added honey)
  • David's Teas- Stormy Night (boiling water, no added anything to mess with the chocolate flavour)
  • David's Teas- Cold 911 (boiling water, steeped extra long usually in a teapot with a stray in the spout on my desk next to the tissues, the steam off it helps clear congestion)
  • A blend from a local business in the area (I cut the package recently and the name is lost to me now)- Strawberry Shortcake (a highly caffeinated black tea blend for early mornings/when I have company-I figure if they have the caffeine jitters they will leave sooner- steeped in the pot and sugar added)

Mind you that isn't the whole collection, but it is what I've been drinking most of lately.

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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2018, 10:19:39 am »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea. But let's make it interesting.

For Coffee there are a lot of different locations, roasts, brands, flavors, preparation methods, etc. Tell us what your ideal coffee-based beverage is.

At home I have filter coffee, whatever the parents buy. They're both on the picky side, so it's usually pretty good stuff. Over the last few years they've stuck with the Macchu Picchu blend from CafeDirect. I always add demerara sugar and a good glug of milk (almond during fasts; Bailey's for special occasions).

Out and about, it's flavoured lattes (caramel or hazelnut) from Costa 90% of the time. Right now I can't get enough of their Bonfire Spiced range - pumpkin spice, but better.

For Tea likewise, there are a lot of different mixtures, brewing methods, and brands. And of course, there's the whole what do you add to it question as well. Tell us what your ideal tea-based beverage is.

My standard is plain green tea, lightly brewed, nothing added, or white tea (Clipper Organic) similarly treated. I'm not keen on black tea, the only exception being chai latte, but only one particular independent cafe in town makes it the way I really like it.

When it comes to non-tea herbal brews, however, I go crazy, literally. I always have way more of them around than I can actually drink consistently. Right now the cupboard (yes, I went and checked) is stocked with:

- Twinings Nettle & Blackberry
- Twinings Raspberry Leaf
- Twinings Lemon & Ginger
- Sainsbury's Echinacea & Hibiscus
- Sainsbury's Rise & Shine (green tea, grapefruit, ginseng, ginger)
- Whittard's Morning Reviver (orange, lemongrass, hibiscus)
- Whittard's Dreamtime (camomile, lavender, lime flower)
- Twinings Defence (blackcurrant, echinacea, ginger)
- Twinings Superblends Defence (green tea, citrus, ginger, echinacea)
- Twinings Superblends Energise (green tea, mandarin, apple, guarana)
- Taylor's of Harrogate Rose Lemonade
- Taylor's of Harrogate Sour Cherry
- Yogi Tea Rose

The pattern (focus on energy levels and the immune system) is pretty obvious.
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Re: What's your favorite coffee or tea?
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2018, 06:49:25 pm »
We have a wine thread - figured we should do one about coffee and tea.

I'm pretty un-fussy, I'll drink most things.  'Proper' coffee is always preferable to instant wherever possible (and instant tea is only for absolute emergencies!)

Also, fruit tea always smells better than it actually tastes, to me, so I'd rather have something I can put a splash of milk in, like a breakfast tea.

My favorite coffee is frape.

Oh yes, this is probably my favourite summer time coffee for sure - very yummy.

And the occasional liqueur coffee, especially after a restaurant meal.
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