Tea or Coffee?

[space_jeff]

I am a teatotaler both figuratively and literally as I don't drink alcohol or coffee but love me some tea. Nothing fancy; English Breakfast, Earl Grey or Tetleys.

When the weather starts to cool (hopefully soon!) I can drink two or three cups a day. And by cups, I mean a small thermos that I use as my tea mug

[MurphCID]

On a cool day, or even a less cool day, a nice mug of tea in the quiet time really hits the spot.

[Opposite_Keith]

i just water in the morning but if id pick one it would most likely be tea because my family has a lot in my house.

[MurphCID]

I have been enjoying a cup (or three) of Rishi Tea's Pu'er Classic loose leaves brewed in the French press.

[MurphCID]

Anyone have any good suggestions on green tea brewed from the leaves that I can order?

[MurphCID]

A buddy just got a very high end espresso machine, and has been telling me tales of how good the coffee is from this device. He is making Americanos from the espresso right now. He is looking for good beans to use, he does not want bitter, he wants smooth and flavorful. Any ideas? He also wants fresh, really fresh beans.

[rossdv8]

E D I T: The following is 'my take' on coffee using a machine (I have something like a dozen of the things).

The best beans are not always the freshest. it depends how much coffee you drink.
A kilometre of beanies makes about 50 cups of coffee. So if he drinks one coffee a day, he will have enough for one coffee a day for himself, and one for a friend for about 3 weeks.

I try to get my beans about ten days after roasting. Most roasteries print either the 'Roasted On' or the Packed On' date on their packs.
Supermarkets on the other hand usually have a 'Best Before' date (sometimes Use By) that is rouighly 12 months form the roast date.
If your friend lives in a city where he has a favourite coffee shop / cafe, get him to see if they sell 1kg packs of coffee. And get him to check for the 'Roasted On' or 'Packed On' date. They are often within a day of each other anyway.
Also it is worth finding out when they get their deliveries. Some cafes go through a delivery every day, others a couple a week. In a small town, it may be less often.

Coffee beans tend to be at their nices about 14 to 21 days after roasting. Leading up to 14 days they are still releasing a lot of carbon dioxide. After 14 days they start losing a fair bit of flavour via carbon dioxide being released.

I like to get my beans on a Thursday before lunch, because I know that is a big delivery before their busy weekend, so if I check the packaging I can grab a bag that is about 10 days form roast. I use 1kg every 2 or 3 weeks, with my cup a day, plus one on Sundays for my ex-wife, and the occasional coffee for me and the odd mates who drop in specifically for a coffee. (Not all of my mates are odd. Some are weird),
That means after a few days my coffee is in that nice mellow 14 days from roasting window.

Flavour.
A lot of coffee drinkers don;t realise that cafes and coffee shops generally work to a 'recipe'.

All my shots of coffee are 21 grams of coffee, and the amount in the cup after 27 seconds is as close as possible to 32 ml.

That is because I have an ex who used to dump about a tablespoon of sugar in her coffee, and because I also hate 'bitter' coffee. I like to be able to drink espresso and have it leave my mouth coated with a slightly syrupy feel that lasts for ages. I suppose a wine drinker, or someone who really 'enjoys' a 'Tennessee sipping whiskey' or a really good Scotch or Port will understand what i mean.
Or someone who knows what really nice 'Green tea' SHOULD taste like will understand what I mean.

So even for friends who drink a 'long black' they can get a coffee that can be savoured, not just swallowed.

So once your friend gets his fresh beans sorted, he might like to start sipping espressos, starting with something like a 1:2 recipe, then a 1:1.5 and so on.
And maybe shots starting with 18 grams of ground coffee, then 19g and 20g until he gets the taste he really enjoys.

The 'rule' with coffee, is pretty much the same as the rule for tea. Work out what 'YOU' really enjoy. Inflict THAT on your guests. If they enjoy it, they will visit you for coffee. If they don't, hand them a kettle and a tin of instant . .

BTW, I'm NOT an expert. I just enjoy coffee as a hobby.

[MurphCID]

E D I T: The following is 'my take' on coffee using a machine (I have something like a dozen of the things).

The best beans are not always the freshest. it depends how much coffee you drink.
A kilometre of beanies makes about 50 cups of coffee. So if he drinks one coffee a day, he will have enough for one coffee a day for himself, and one for a friend for about 3 weeks.

I try to get my beans about ten days after roasting. Most roasteries print either the 'Roasted On' or the Packed On' date on their packs.
Supermarkets on the other hand usually have a 'Best Before' date (sometimes Use By) that is rouighly 12 months form the roast date.
If your friend lives in a city where he has a favourite coffee shop / cafe, get him to see if they sell 1kg packs of coffee. And get him to check for the 'Roasted On' or 'Packed On' date. They are often within a day of each other anyway.
Also it is worth finding out when they get their deliveries. Some cafes go through a delivery every day, others a couple a week. In a small town, it may be less often.

Coffee beans tend to be at their nices about 14 to 21 days after roasting. Leading up to 14 days they are still releasing a lot of carbon dioxide. After 14 days they start losing a fair bit of flavour via carbon dioxide being released.

I like to get my beans on a Thursday before lunch, because I know that is a big delivery before their busy weekend, so if I check the packaging I can grab a bag that is about 10 days form roast. I use 1kg every 2 or 3 weeks, with my cup a day, plus one on Sundays for my ex-wife, and the occasional coffee for me and the odd mates who drop in specifically for a coffee. (Not all of my mates are odd. Some are weird),
That means after a few days my coffee is in that nice mellow 14 days from roasting window.

Flavour.
A lot of coffee drinkers don;t realise that cafes and coffee shops generally work to a 'recipe'.

All my shots of coffee are 21 grams of coffee, and the amount in the cup after 27 seconds is as close as possible to 32 ml.

That is because I have an ex who used to dump about a tablespoon of sugar in her coffee, and because I also hate 'bitter' coffee. I like to be able to drink espresso and have it leave my mouth coated with a slightly syrupy feel that lasts for ages. I suppose a wine drinker, or someone who really 'enjoys' a 'Tennessee sipping whiskey' or a really good Scotch or Port will understand what i mean.
Or someone who knows what really nice 'Green tea' SHOULD taste like will understand what I mean.

So even for friends who drink a 'long black' they can get a coffee that can be savoured, not just swallowed.

So once your friend gets his fresh beans sorted, he might like to start sipping espressos, starting with something like a 1:2 recipe, then a 1:1.5 and so on.
And maybe shots starting with 18 grams of ground coffee, then 19g and 20g until he gets the taste he really enjoys.

The 'rule' with coffee, is pretty much the same as the rule for tea. Work out what 'YOU' really enjoy. Inflict THAT on your guests. If they enjoy it, they will visit you for coffee. If they don't, hand them a kettle and a tin of instant . .

BTW, I'm NOT an expert. I just enjoy coffee as a hobby.

I am so impressed, I am passing this on to him. He is a 4-5 cup a day man.

[rossdv8]

That's 10 days to go through 1kg of beans. 3kg of beans a month.
Too much for us poor pensioners . .

[MurphCID]

That's 10 days to go through 1kg of beans. 3kg of beans a month.
Too much for us poor pensioners . .

He is also retired from the US Navy, and he really loves his coffee.

[Pierre]

:BEER:

it's that time of the year . . time to change the beverage . .

[MurphCID]

:BEER:

it's that time of the year . . time to change the beverage . .

You can have mine. Not a beer drinker at all.

[MurphCID]

Salt in the coffee to make it sweet. Anyone tried this? I have a buddy who swears by it.

[rossdv8]

It is an old trick. I think It doesn't so much make the coffee sweet, as fools the taste buds.

Your buddy can add a small pinch of salt to the coffee grounds in his portafilter, and stir it through with a toothpick before he tamps and pulls his shot - or he can stir a little through his coffee after he has brewed it. It can make the coffee taste 'brighter'. How it actually tastes depends on the amount (the 'sometimes less is more' thing) and a person's taste buds (obviously).

E D I T

I just realised an 'analogy' (for people like me who are anal enough to care) might be that people have a taste for 'salted caramel' these days, which, like a pinch of salt in coffee - might have been considered weird to those not in the know

[MurphCID]

It is an old trick. I think It doesn't so much make the coffee sweet, as fools the taste buds.

Your buddy can add a small pinch of salt to the coffee grounds in his portafilter, and stir it through with a toothpick before he tamps and pulls his shot - or he can stir a little through his coffee after he has brewed it. It can make the coffee taste 'brighter'. How it actually tastes depends on the amount (the 'sometimes less is more' thing) and a person's taste buds (obviously).

E D I T

I just realised an 'analogy' (for people like me who are anal enough to care) might be that people have a taste for 'salted caramel' these days, which, like a pinch of salt in coffee - might have been considered weird to those not in the know

Good point, I have not tried it, but he swears by the pinch of salt in the coffee grounds before brewing. He learned that in the Navy.

[rossdv8]

I know you drink tea, but should you decide to try the salted coffee thing - make sure it's a pretty small pinch of salt to start with. A 'tiny amount' of salt can change the entire flavour balance of a meal, and caramel - so coffee probably risks a similar fate.
Which is why some chefs and high end cooks go spare if you start pouring salt and pepper over the meal they slaved over for hours just to get the taste 'as it should be'.
Been there - Been roasted!

[MurphCID]

I know you drink tea, but should you decide to try the salted coffee thing - make sure it's a pretty small pinch of salt to start with. A 'tiny amount' of salt can change the entire flavour balance of a meal, and caramel - so coffee probably risks a similar fate.
Which is why some chefs and high end cooks go spare if you start pouring salt and pepper over the meal they slaved over for hours just to get the taste 'as it should be'.
Been there - Been roasted!

True, a smaller pinch is better to start off with. Right now I am enjoying my nightly mug of green tea.

[MurphCID]

Just realized that all the lattes at the coffee shops is adding pounds, so I am switching to plain old black tea. I like the flavor, and it has caffeine as well.

[rossdv8]

if you enjoy ONE milk coffee a day, and if you are used to getting your cafe latte (a 'latte' is technically 'a glass of milk' ).
What most cafes seem to serve up asl a 'latte' is simply a cup, glass, or worse still (for our expanding waistlines) a mug or mug-sized take-away cup of hot milk with a shot of coffee and a small amount of foam on top.

You could see if they will make you a more 'traditional' cappuccino, which is 'theoretically at least', 1 shot of espresso, the same amount of milk as the espresso, and about the same of foam. If it is done in a glass, you should see the foam is about 1/3 of the total volume of the glass.
Sort of 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.
A single espresso shot technically uses about 7 grams of coffee. Not sure what that is in ounces, but in civilised countries, we stick to grams.
A double espresso should therefore be about 14 grams, but here in Oz, we're not very good at maths, so somehow a double shot seems to be about 20g to 22.5g.

So a cappuccino 'should' technically be about 20 grams of coffee, about 20 milliliters of steamed milk, and topped off with froth (that floats to the surface of the steamed milk) making the foam end up at about 1/2 of whatever depth that espresso /milk mix makes as it settles out in the glass or cup. Generally liberally sprinkled with chocolate.

Depending on your barista, he might mix the choccy into the crema foam that formed on the double espresso shot before pouring the milk - giving you a sort of 'latte art' but in chocolaty foam.

So you get a milk coffee drink where you only get the kilojou - (umm, civilised country taking hold there again - sorry) - you only get the calories contained in the 20ml of milk and a little in the foam volume.

Or you could see if they do what we in civilised countries call a 'piccolo latte'. Basically a 20 gram espresso shot with just a dash of steamed milk.

Not trying to get you away from either black tea or green tea

Just some thoughts and suggestions for those times when you don't feel like black coffee, or plain espresso - but do feel like an espresso flavour tempered by just a small amount of milk that might not go straight to the waist . .


E D I T
I should comment that the 'Civilised Country' thing is a tongue in cheek joke thing about:
Metric vs Imperial measurements
Driving on the wrong side of the road
Civilsed vs Civilized
etc..

It's not intentionally rude - just a different sense of humour (vs humor).

[MurphCID]

if you enjoy ONE milk coffee a day, and if you are used to getting your cafe latte (a 'latte' is technically 'a glass of milk' ).
What most cafes seem to serve up asl a 'latte' is simply a cup, glass, or worse still (for our expanding waistlines) a mug or mug-sized take-away cup of hot milk with a shot of coffee and a small amount of foam on top.
...

HA! LOL! I am sticking with unsweet black or green tea these days.