Caffeination: Australia's coffee culture

so...the traditional "Bottoms Up" doesn't apply?

Good evening/morning? RY .....do you ever sleep? The answer to that is only if you are going Down Under? 
 
My colleagues think Starbucks is the worst coffee they have ever had...
 
 
My late posting yesterday seems relevant today, especially since it might have missed most: 
Aussie humour is self deprecating and usual offensive terms are used affectionately..A "bastard" is reserved for the reeeeally good friend, a "cook" is your wife, and "bloody" and "bloody hell" are used without prejudice.
 
This video is very funny..its got all the australian icons including Cane Toads (check out the blue singlet he is wearing -thats called a "wife beater"), road kill etc....listen to the Aussie slang and the accent; dont miss the toad farting at the beginning!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTd1Zb8PXgw
 
 
Tourism Australia officially launched an advert titled "Where the bloody hell are you?" which was banned, I understand, in the UK. Immediately, someone created this.....
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4FqwQkWQo4
 
And here's ther original banned version...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn0lwGk4u9o ;
  
 
 

Peet's. I want my Peet's!

SPRING FRAGRANCE:
Thanks for the invite. Great ad.

Spring Fragrance, I won't drink Starbucks.

I love my quad venti no foam skim latte from Starbucks. I treat myself to one on my way back to Ocean City for work in D. C.

That's "from work".
Like tonight. Maybe that's why I'm still awake at 3:26 am edt.

Hmmmmm- the BBC are refusing me access to the main link on today's topic because the site it is posted on is not funded by UK BBC Lisence payers. Good old Auntie.
Hooray, it's the weekend, Sunday monings, I treat myself to breakfast in bed - bacon, fried tomato & eggs, toast & Irish Coffee. Roll on tomorrow.
Starbucks? Pooh!!!! You can buy a whole bag of roast beans to grind at home for the same price.
Spring Fragrance~ I saw that ad on TV - it ran for quite a while before it was banned. The cane toad video is great - the lawnmower bit especially, as I have a pond & certain times of the year, dozens of baby frogs & toads are frantically hopping in front of the mincing machine. It puts me into a bit of a dilemma.
Mostly, I'm a lazy old bag & drink double-strong instant coffee, "proper" coffee is a treat.
I was told that water spirals down the plughole in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere, so presumably, drink & food ingested goes down differently .... do people who commute between gravity zones suffer digestive disturbances?
 
 

Many years ago, an acquaintance in England, Ray, advised us to always seek good value for money.

We take his advice. We stay out of Starbucks.

And the cup of coffee that always hits the spot with us is the one we get for free. And the added value we get with it is the friendship and warm conversation that comes from the one that offered it to us.

good saturday morning all ! everyone enjoy your cup of coffee wherever you have it. 

Korthal...wow...you do finish work late!
Good morning all....lotlot.....oh yes, coffee at a friend's place comes with a free glow :)
Hazel...which way does the water go down when you unplug the sink? Mine goes clockwise which is correct, the way tornadoes spin south of the equator.. Yours should spin anti clockwise, which is supposed to be how tornadoes spin, unless wind direction mucks it up. I remember the sink test wasnt that clear in Singapore, maybe its too near the equator. My guess is that stuff goes down our guts not really spinning but we'll have to ask KSS to confirm that <<LOL>>

cuukoo1, appreciate the photographs you have posted. i could enjoy a cup of coffee alongside each scene, especially those tagged "calm" and "fog."

Thank you for sharing them.

I shall go there often to view them.

When I was in the Navy, I took my turn as night clerk in boot camp headquarters -- the midnight to 0600 shift.

The duty officer told me he was going to grab a few hours’ sleep. Ordered me to have a “strong” pot of coffee ready when he woke.

Having come from a household that did not drink coffee, I did not have the slightest idea how to make a proper pot of coffee, strong or otherwise.

So I improvised. Used the ol’ noggin’, as we used to say.

Remembering that my strict orders were to make the coffee “strong,” I used about a cup of coffee grounds per cup of water.

Remembering that my orders were to have the coffee ready when the duty officer woke, I turned on the burner under the pot early.

The coffee boiled a while. Figured that would help make it strong.

Sure enough, the duty officer was up and at ‘em at 0600 sharp.

I poured him a cup of coffee.

He took a big gulp.

He lost his breath.

He coughed.

He choked.

He spit.

He turned ashen.

I’m sure it burned all the way down.

“Damned,” he finally was able to exclaim.

“Strongest coffee I ever drank!”

He said nothing else, turned, walked into his office and slammed the door.

I had night clerk duty at boot camp headquarters a few times after that.

But never again was I ordered to make coffee.

Korthal -- Ocean City needs another Starbucks -- hard to get to the one that's there now and I do love my Starbucks. <also why I'm often awake>

Good morning cuukoo1!

There is no better way

 to kick start the day

than a goat milk latte'.

Mmmmm    or rather, bbbaaaaaaa

 
 
 
 
Andy, Korthal...the is a 'Bucks' in salisbury, if you are on your way to O C from points West/North.
 
 
When traveling, We look for Starbucks for their clean restrooms, healthy tasty food and of course a pick-me-up.

"Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation."  It has been said that decaf is like kissing your sister. Wired is my favorite nearest neighborhood coffee house. 'nuff said regarding caffeine distribution. but I am, partial to The Frothy Monkey when I go into Nashvegas. I learn about new music and fashion trends from the Belmont and Vandy students while I read the best paper anywhere, the ever hip Nashville Scene. However, the best cup is from Chez Tommy for there the price is right and me and the missus always get the two best seats on the front porch complete with cat entertainment and dancing birds. Today for instance. Anyway not a week goes by that I don't sing a littile Men at Work. But I will leave the Vegemite sandwich to the locals. G'day. 

SpringFragrance~ Yep, I checked, it's anti-clockwise.
Does anybody remember Camp Coffee that came in a bottle & contained chicory essence?

Soring  Fragrance,  Helen:    There's  a  good  argument  to  be  made  that  Starbuck's  is  where  elitists  overpay  for  unremarkable  coffee,   so  that  they  may  see  and  be  seen,  meet  &  mingle  with  the  yuppie  upwardly  mobile  white  collar  contingent.   The  location  that  I  pass  on  my  way  to  work  in  the  city  looks  like  a  used car  lot  of  a  Porsche  or  Mercedes  dealeership.   The  customers  all  are  impeccably  dressed  in  tailored  suits,   and  even  their  jeans  are  dry  cleaned.    The  ultimate  perch  seems  to  be  outside,   at  one  of  the  small  tables  with  umbrellas,  where   you  pretend  to  work  on  your  laptop,  while  simultaneously  checking  out  everyone  else  with  your  peripheral  vision.   By  the  way,   Boston  Stoker  (popular  in  Dayton)  is  owned  by  Starbuck's.
 
On  the  other  hand,  and  in  the  interest  of  fairness,  the  CEO  of  Starbuck's  was  brought   out  of  retirement  to  reinvigorate  profitability  and  rework  the  company  image.  When  Katrina  struck  New  Orleans,  he  ordered  thousands  of  employees  to  head  to  that  city,  where  they  put  on  old  clothes,  and  went  into  stricken  neighborhoods,  cleaning  up  the  horrible  mess.   THAT  was  impressive...... I  like  any  leader  who  is  able  to  think  out  of  the  box,  albeit  belatedly,  and  do  the  right  thing,  if  only  for  selfish  reasons.

Nothing quick starts the day like a double expresso from the local coffee shop next to the office.

CUUKOO....... Now it's a good morning because you have wished us all one. Right back at you dear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
BERT.......... That's the weirdest pronouncement ever! I have never seen people preen at a Starbuck's........ they are there to get coffee and although I rarely drink coffee I stop w/ my husband when we are travelling so he can get a coffee. I also always see people of all different economic backgrounds in there. I say whatever floats your boat and go where they make stuff that you enjoy. What you describe sounds like the Giorgio Armani boutique on newberry St. in Boston.......... it is so pretentious that it becomes awesome, free street theatre.
 
JANE......... I've heard of Peets...... where is it made? Always searching for new and thrilling coffee experiences for the hubster.

Miss Blue -  Thanks for the heads up --  Everything seems to be in Salisbury, including one of our granddaughters in college and good restaurants.....but yes, we continue to on to OC :)

Bert -- you need to get to my neighborhood Starbucks -- not a suit in sight

http://www.ultimate-coffees-info.com/starbucks-coffee-history.html
and , I have read the Starbucks story, just out of curiousity, on an air flite, not a bad read.

LOTLOT............wonderful story! I could totally see how someone w/ no coffee making experience would do exactly what you did!

Anyone else experience "coffee hat"  that feeling of a tightening around the head, like a new knit cap?

RY...........I get its cousin.... "Tea hat".............

RY that's so funny. I've never heard that feeling so aptly described. I get it when I'm tense over a long period of time, like the sore jaw muscle that's been tensed too long and needs the "fake yawning maneuver" to unkink it. I do get it after having a long discussion with someone at one those delightful greasy spoon diners where they're prompt about refilling that bottomless coffee cup....

Partially OT~ My sister sent me a photograph of an old photo of my Mom at 16 yesterday that she'd uncovered while going through her papers. I've been working on restoring it. Just uploaded it here. Mom had told me several stories about the inventiveness of her mother in trying to make substitues for coffee in postwar Germany. Most people couldn't afford even cheap imitations of "Postum".

Hi bebe!!!!! ❤
I'm picturing you in a large picture hat with curled ostritch plumes and a bit of netting in the front (And RY in a black knitted watch cap, quite the contrast). :)

There is always some sort of drink in my hand -- coffee, wine, even water or the aforementioned Grey Goose -- it's a simple philosophy actually -- drink coffee until your hand shakes and then wine/vodka until it stops.

Good afternoon JAX....... you beat me to it!!!!!!!!!!!!! My hat sounds so much more chic than RY's Ha! What exactly is postum? I've heard it a thousand times, but have no clue. I would give anything to have a local greasy spoon diner................. I'm dreaming of hash browns..............I'mgoing to check out your photo.........
 
MISS BLUE........... speaking of goat's milk......... the best fudge I have ever eaten was made by a friend from goat's milk.................it had the most velvet of textures.........

ANDY........your last post........ quite funny & a great philosophy........... Cheers!

bebe Postum was a roated grain beverage that was used as a coffee substitue post WWII. It's didn't have caffeine (I don't think) but it was hot and depending how strong you made it provided somewhat of a substitute. I've heard it said that it was the less expensive but daily parts of life that were the hardest to do without (more than food quantity or quality, the comfort of that cup of tea or coffee).

You could swap hats with RY, but wait till I run and get my camera....

We have 2 particular diners that I frequent. If you go very early you can listen to the lobstermen discussing their work, which I could do for hours. (But I can't go with my son-in-law unless he promises to behave because he can mimic their dialects perfectly and it's not fun snorting hot coffee out your nose).They serve their "home fries" on the side of everything (think more of English "chips" than shredded hashbrowns but grill-fried "with or without onions").

Goat milk is big in our area thank goodness. I've always loved goat cheese, but had never drunk the milk until I moved here. I was amazed at how good unexpectedly "normal" (although more delicious) tasting it was compared to cow's milk. I tried to bring home a baby pygmy milk goat when a friend's flock had all twin (and a set of triplets) kids and a mother rejected one, but my husband sensibly said no. *sigh* bebe your heart would have melted!

Oh, and to continue OT: You've probably seen this but it's worth repeating! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwghabw4N80&feature=related

as I look at the picture that accompanies this article, there at the top, it looks as if I can read the future in the bottom of that cup...yes, yes I can....this cup will soon be in the dish washer

{{laughing}} RY your talents never cease to amze and delight me!

amze, amaze, a word something like that.....

In the scorching heat of the summer, we would leave our urban dwelling and head for the summoning mountains.

No sooner had we hit the road than we would -- in the mind’s eye – begin to feel the refreshing mountain showers, the cool temperatures, the relaxing settings. For we knew them well, having been there so many times before.

Eventually the hot highways would morph into the narrowing, circuitous mountain roads and the real mountainous moments would again be with us and we would be restored, renewed, reinvigorated.

Complete, engulfing happiness was ours when we would see the familiar log bridge that would take us across the cold, rushing, inviting mountain river and to the guest ranch with its two dozen or so rustic cabins that had been our summer vacation home for year after year after year. And would be again just now.

Hurry, hurry, hurry across the log bridge. Heaven was on the other side.

Home at last, we would think, and immediately begin to wish -- as we did each year – that we would never have to leave, though we knew with certainty that we would have to. And oh, so soon. So very, very soon.

The owners would welcome us, as they always did, and instantly we would have our belongings inside our chosen cabin and would immediately begin making a mental schedule of what we would do and where and when. There were trails to be hiked, rivers to be splashed about in, rocks to be hunted, photographs to be made, cookouts to be arranged and on and on.

And we would know with certainty that, in due time, the owners would knock on our cabin door and offer to take us exploring in their old beat up but always reliable pickup famously known as the Pink ‘n’ Grey Bird. Maybe fishing. Maybe up to their mountaintop ranch. Maybe to some breathtaking vista. Maybe . . .

Sure enough, the knock would come on the cabin door.

How about a midnight ride up to the mountaintop ranch for a breakfast cookout, where we could watch the stars play and delight and entertain? And fill us with wonder.

The owners surely knew they could depend upon our answer -- a quick, enthusiastic, collective “Yes!”

It would be cold in the night air so bundle up. And bring something comfortable to sit on, for the Pink ‘n’ Grey Bird, although seemingly guaranteeing it would get us there and back, could be a rough ride as we sat in the truck bed bounding and bouncing along those switchback dirt roads -- paths, really – to and from the mountaintop ranch. No matter, the Pink ‘n’ Grey Bird always delivered us to rich reward.

But bring nothing else, except for an enormous appetite. The owners would take care of all other needs.

Soon we would be there, carefully choosing a sloping spot among the aspen and the pine, a place where we could watch the stars come out to play, to endlessly twinkle, zoom and dip and zip. And delight.

We gathered wood and built a large fire and fried bacon and scrambled eggs and made toast in big iron skillets.

And we brewed coffee in a couple of old porcelain pots and the smell of it wafted about and made our setting at once complete and reassuring and serene.

And as we ate our after-midnight breakfast and sipped our hot coffee we listened to the owners tell the wondrous, enthralling tales of the mountains, some true, some made up from the whole cloth from deep within the imagination but the latter still stories we somehow wanted to believe.

And so that night was ours.

To this day those star-watching, breakfast-eating, story-telling, coffee sipping moments there about that enormous mountaintop camp fire are deeply etched into the 20-20 vision of memory -- there to repeatedly be called up and enjoyed and lived and relived and cherished.

And always will be.

lotlot~ What a lovely story.

lotlot- I love your reflections and the smell of a campfire cooking bacon and brewing coffee came out of my monitor. Like the African storytellers have always held- Everything is true if you remove yourself from the limitations of time and space for everything that can be imagined has happened to someone, somewhere, sometime.  Thoughts are mesengers and in greek, angelos mean messengers so to me, thoughts are angels and they seem to enjoy creating campfire memories. I am being audited and between poring over receipts, your posting was refreshing.  

I've been a coffee drinker since my late teens and tremble at the thought of not being able to start and finish my day with a hot mug of it within easy reach. I really enjoy (or rather what many folks would say... have a very strong addiction to) a good cuppa joe. 

Throughout my career, coffee was one of my very best allies........ even the horrible stuff that was made available at the plant. This was especially when involved in the way to frequent marathon meetings that had become part and parcel of our culture. It helped keep me awake, helped me to better concentrate and keep track of all the multiple discussions that often took place, and most importantly... by simply lifting my cup and taking a longer-than-usual drink; brought me some valuable time when asked a question to weigh the options of my answer.

Some refer to coffee as ‘the think drink'... I always thought of it as ‘the cause for pause drink'. I should definitely ensure I have some within reach before I post..... but even that hasn't stopped me from occasionally ‘shooting from the hip'.

My favorite time to really savor coffee is often after a very satisfying dinner and always whilst reading a good (in my opinion at least) novel.

At home I often make espresso drinks. I've got a pretty basic machine that can deliver a pretty good double shot as well as good foam. My dream machine for some future lifetime is one of those big honking very ornate copper and brass Italian machines that would take up about half of my kitchen.

My favorite place outside of my back yard to savor a book and cup of joe is my local Starbucks. I started frequenting Starbuck back in the late ‘80s when I first discovered one in "Old Town" Chicago....... I think it was about a block away from a store called ‘The Bizarre Bizarre' which was pretty...... well you know.

My Starbucks has evolved into a truly ‘home town coffee house' with the added benefit that the drinks are for the most part predictably, consistently, excellent. I guess I like it because it is at once a social gathering place for all walks of life while at the same time I can usually find a nook and bury myself in a book with ease.

I also enjoy going there because more often than not, they have my drinks freshly made and waiting for me at the counter just the way I like ‘em ........(a grande-non fat-bone dry cappuccino with an extra shot and a dopio espresso con panna with extra panna to start me off)...... just ‘cos they see me drive into the lot. They have requested that I give them two weeks notice in writing if I ever think about changing my order ‘cos they always give them to me free if I do order something different.

The regulars that frequent our place are from all walks of life, young and old, students and professors, techies, professionals, farmers and retired guys like me. They are always polite and aware of their surroundings so that conversations are not too loud, language is kept in check when children are present and on those occasions when somebody comes in and is talking on their cell phone as if they had to shout because it was long-distant..... one of us... well mostly me.... will politely ask them to take it down a notch or two.

The barristas are polite, helpful and very friendly. They know their regular customers by name and will usually know what book I am reading, ask me for updates and tell me what book they are currently into. For such a large corporation, they sure deliver a somewhat semi-intimate experience. I've found this to be the case in most of their shops that I have visited.

But for me it still boils down to whether of not it passes the ‘stink test'..... do they have great coffee? And I really do like Starbucks' coffee. Other coffees that I often but are, as janej78 mentioned, Peets .... which can be found at Fresh Market stores and ‘Dancing Goats' by Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters which is available on-line.

Well yet again I have over posted and should have provided a ‘rest stop' halfway through... especially if you have been drinking coffee. I simply just really, really like my coffee. Even the worst cup of coffee is better than none... but that's just me....

And then there is chocolate biscotti ..... omg... there is a heaven on earth and its name is coffee & biscotti......

Catch ya on the flip side ..... peace out.... I smell something wonderful brewing in the kitchen..

oh lotlot.... what a wonderful place and time you took us to.  Thank you so much for sharing that with us.  Can we go there with you again?.... please

Two good reads, from lotlot and PeterLake.  Thank you, both, for such delightful commentary and reverie.  This is Time Well Spent:  a cuppa (Hills Brothers and half and half and 1/2 tsp of sugar) and words the way you two string them together. Thanks again, gentlemen.

Today I drink my coffee hot, black, and highly caffeinated. When I was a lad, my mom would do her blend of cream and sugar and pour into the saucer beneath my cup and blow on it to cool it for me. Years later I heard someone use the phrase "saucered and blowed" to mean something was copacetic and then it occured to me that it was like mom wanted that coffee to be for me. I use it from time to time to keep that memory alive. 

I am humbled in your presence, you two raconteurs...and I lift my cup in gesture.

 hey, there is a ring spot on my desk,here...anybody know a cure?

PARK4 - Thank you for your generous comments. HUj

Tommy Typical - Boy did that bring back a flash of memory .... My Mom did the same thing with her coffee .... pour a little in the saucer and blow on it for the first sip. She would let me prepare her cup with milk and sugar... but never sample it ‘cos she said if you drank too much coffee at an early age that it would stunt your growth. She was a giant in my eye at an even 5', even though I think she was stretching her 4'11''s just a wee bit..... so I believed her.

RY- Make another one. A matching set. As Woody Allen says they usually travel in pairs.

Ry, http://www.ehow.com/how_4449695_remove-coffee-cup-rings.html

toothpaste,eli.  That's what I've heard and read.  I confess, I read this in Martha Stewart, a long time ago.  But I never tried it because Martha Stewart also had me refinishing the top of an old table as "a good thing" and that table is now an eyesore that sits in our basement under the boxes of Christmas tree ornaments.  Anyhow, Martha said to rub toothpaste on the ring and it will come out.  I'm wondering if this  isn't another one of Martha's bad jokes on us regular folks, so be careful...or learn to love it.  And make another one, like TT said. That's the best idea:  just consider it natural aging and distressing.  Your history, as it were..........

PeterLake:  I remember well the "stunt your growth" thing about coffee.  And how my Swedish grandmother ignored it, said little children in Sweden drank coffee as soon as they were off mother's milk, and so I was a coffee drinker at age 2.  It was called "coffee milk" (with a Swedish accent, which added to the warmth and anticipation and pleasure of drinking it) -- in a "real" coffee cup on a saucer, went whole milk, some half and half or cream, sugar, and a bit of coffee.  As birthdays passed, at the old ages of 3,4, and 5 -- there'd be less milk and more coffee, until at age 6, I had an actual cup of coffee in front of me before leaving for school each morning.  So I've been caffeine buzzed in the a.m. ever since first grade, I guess.  And I'm pretty sure it didn't stunt my growth...(tho how would you know?)...so now it's coffee-milk for the grandkids, very very very little coffee.  They were born buzzed. ;)

RY - my Mom had a recipe for ring removal ..... I have my doubts about it but it involved rubbing it with wet cigarette ashes .... This advise comes with absolutely no guarantee
 

That's right, PL. Cigarette ashes.  I remember that one, too, but I was usually trying to undo the damage caused by our runaway cigarettes, so I never tried using them to fix something.  

Cigarette ash & raw linseed oil. I had my Dads roll-top desk, which I have since passed on to my son. It has a black ring mark from a Gestetner ink cartridge (remember them?) & I never did find a way of removing it. The desk is a nice piece of furniture, but built in the days of quarto size paper, so everything A4 doesn't fit.
Coffee - I was staying with a friend, who made breakfast with what appeared to be & tasted like coffee. We went out for a walk & a look round the local very pretty town where Doctor Doolittle was filmed. Charming walk back along the river to her place, but I was feeling really grouchy, coffeeeee, I thought, I need coffeeee - pulled out the pack from the 'fridge. She had managed to source de-caff ground coffee. Alarmed by my anguished howls, she scurried off to borrow some decent caffiene laden product from a neighbour. Oh, BLISS! I need my coffee kick-start.

Nobody has mentioned the coffee trade. I'm not sufficiently well-informed, but tea & coffee are commodity items traded on the fat cat market & the people who make the money out of it are not the people who toil to produce it. I try to buy Fair Trade, but I think that's probably tokenist.

decaf....... abomination!!!  It's like giving a vampire a cup of holy water!  At the very least it is a cruel joke against nature......

Andy--re your 11:56....great philosphy....I like it and am thinking of adopting it!

My first coffee was at a coffee house in East Lansing in the late 1950's.  The place was definitely "Bohemian" - a place where the "Beat Generation" could hang out.  They occasionally sold Picasso lithographs, had poetry readings, and once in a while in itinerant folk singer would show up.  They had regular coffee, but I went for the espresso.  I don't remember what kind of machine it was, but it was not the slick sort of things they have now.  The espresso always had a twist of lemon peel on the saucer for those who wanted it.  I quickly got used to the stuff, and loved it.  I never cared for cream, milk or sugar in my coffee.  "Of I want a glass of milk, I'll get it."  Good espresso, however, sets a high standard for coffee. 
I do find that I sleep better now that I have switched to tea, but I'll have a cup of coffee once in a while.  We have some very good Middle Eastern Restaurants in the Arlington, Virginia area, and that is my favorite.  A cup of what they call "American coffee" is fine.  My experience with espresso meant, by the way, that I could easily drink any of the Middle Eastern coffees - the so-called "Turkish coffee" that is one-third mud at the bottom of the cup. 
I drank coffee in the Army (1966-1970) because it was free.  An old sergeant told me tat in the tropics a hot drink would quench the thirst and hydrate better than an ice cold one because the body fights to warm a cold one.  The coffee seemed to work when I was in Vietnam.  Phu Bai was lucky because it had been an old French army outpost and the basics of a water purification plant were still there.  Hence, we had lots of drinking water; even our showers were pure water.  Lots of chlorine, though, more than you'd find in a swimming pool.  Enough that it flavored the coffee with a chlorine taste, though.  You got used to it quickly.  In fact, when I got home in October 1969, I was sitting in the living room of my mother's house having a cup of her coffee and couldn't figure out why it tasted so odd.  I started laughing like crazy and had to explain that it was because I realized the oddity was the lack of chlorine flavor.  I told her I thought I could get used to it.  And I did. 
So, here's to coffee, and here's to tea.  Here's to the joy of a cuppa whatever you choose whenever you choose.

Having espresso with a slice of White chocolate raspberry cheesecake. I love this planet and a village that would rather eat and drink and think rather than wage war.

Peter Lake~ Absoulutely! My day was sabotaged by a caffieneless start.
I second Carol's appreciation of Andy's 11.56. with the proviso that remembering to eat also helps.

hazel leese, bebe, Tommy Typical, Peter Lake, PARK4, RoadYacht, et al:

Thank you for your kind words.

And thank you for being there to read mine.

Hazel Leese-****absolutely must "nosh" sometime during the day and while changing beverages

Villagers, you don't have to type in hazel leese, everybody calls me haze. I always knew when ex number 1 was cross 'cos he'd suddenly call me Hazzzel. When my son was little, he didn't refer to me as "mum" or "mom" - he called me "My Haze". Having a Z in your name & living in Wales is interesting, as the Welsh alphabet does not have a Z. They say it like Hasssel. I like it.

haze, I like that name.

haze. Has a certain charm to it.

and you can just call me lot for short.

Lynn830~ You are stoical! Chlorine flavoured water is vile! I am blessed with soft water coming out of my tap (faucet) from a Welsh mountain lake. When I first moved here, I put the usual ammount of washing powder into the old electic washing machine & went upstairs to fetch the first load (whites) by the time I returned, the kitchen was knee-deep in foam.
The quality of the water is as crucial to a good cup of coffee as it is to a good pint of beer & especially to a good dram of Whisky.

Just to make the name thing worse, there is a well known poem that goes "When I am old, I will wear purple" but when I was young, I was known as Purple Haze. Seems I've straddled the generation gap! Turned midnight here, big moon, bats flying, duvet beckons. Have a good time.

If you haven't tried the cold brew Toddy system you really should.....you make a coffee syrup of 1 lb. coffee grounds and water  that steeps for about twelve hrs.  Then you let that flow into a glass carafe and from then on you have a very convenient and tasty brew (sans a lot of the acids) .  To about 1/4cup of essence/syrup you add appr. 3/4 cup boiling water.  The result is a fresh tasty cup each time and no waste!  You can adjust the strength to your personal preferences and it works for iced coffee as well as that must have piping hot first thing in the morning cup.  I think there are other cold brew systems, but I'm familiar with Toddy and really swear by it.  Plus.....you don't have that unnerving sound of grinding beans fresh first thing each day and then pouring most of that pot down the drain.  Have rarely used anything like Folgers, Maxwell House, etc. (despite all their commercials)  preferring to grind my own........ but this system has it all beat, hands down!  No daily mess or fuss!!

Tommy -- what a great line; Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation
 
bebe and Carol -- thank you; it works for me :)

Anything chocolate with coffee!  Adding in raspberries is simply heading to sublimity.  Would that we all lived in smaller places with a coffee house where we could gather.  That's what I love about some parts of Europe -- a sidewalk cafe that serves good coffee and good tea and good pastries and chocolate.
Maybe that's what some of the folks who think only of war are missing -- a place to sit with each other and share coffee or tea and something sweet.  And then just lean back and contemplate the beauty of the world passing by.
We are going to Gibraltar in October -- our first time there.  My wife will attend a conference, leaving me on my own during the day.  One thing I want is a place that serves superb tea and great pastries, maybe a really nice sandwich.  Preferably in a spot where people watching is good, and the management is not in a hurry to have me leave.  That's the problem in the States, they are always "turning over" the tables.  The exception is the little ethnic restaurants where they do as they did back home, live like human beings. 
I'll do my exploring, and we will have a good time.

Hazel - And crucial to a good cup of tea.  Or any successful cooking.  But you get used to what you need to get used to.  I've not had a cup of coffee quite that made since - some 41 years ago next month.  As I told my mother, "I can get used to it," and I did.  We filter our water here because we are in a major metropolitan area (Washington, DC) and the water tastes some of chlorine.  And when traveling and staying in a hotel I usually buy a gallon of spring water, since I make my own cuppa in the morning.  I've become quite the tea fancier, both the "Assam" teas that are common in the US and Europe, and go well for some folks with milk and sugar, and the Chinese teas.  Went to China last year (my daughter was over there for 6 months studying, and I went to visit).  Amazing variety of teas.  Dozens.  Some we never see in the West.
And coffee can go to far also.  My mother was addicted, drank 24-32 cups a day.  Combined with her cigarettes (6 packs a day at least), it did her in.  Kidney cancer that spread rapidly.  No way to go.
I sleep better since off coffee, though I also do not drink tea after about 4 or 5 PM.  But I do like that first cup in the morning...

CAROL......... the Toddy system sounds so cool....... I am going to check it out. Thanks!

The first cup of coffee that I remember cost a dime at Park's Cafe and came in that classic diner ware with a green stripe just under the lip.
I was there with a friend, Terry, whose mother had died even younger than ours. She had the prettiest skin of anyone one I had ever seen but you really didn't want to stay there for a meal.
Her death had thrust him forward into adulthood and he was interested in making a deal with me for something that he had almost all of and I had what he didn't.
If he had shut up long enough for me to say: "It's yours, go ahead and sell the set," I would have but he couldn't so we worked out some kind of deal.
They needed the dough. Three doors from the dentist, you could not have got together a complete set of teeth using all four kids.
He wouldn't accept money but we would meet at Park's and I would tell him what somebody had to get rid of and he would sell it and keep the cash.
Their home was so awful the cat moved out and it was not a particularly distinguished cat.
Everybody loved them but they didn't want to know it.
 

Since seeing part of a documentary about how, in an Australian watershed, large brown trout were considered trash fish, it has been a dream to get on down there and help them reduce that population... a sort of public service gesture.
It won't be soon. We are so town-bound that twice this summer, I have been obliged to transfer passage on the midnight-to-Michigan ferry to another who went over and rowed, drank and ate with my friends.
Now, I have more friends who know each other.

Starbuck's: I patronize them but refuse to learn their language. I present the black Starbucks container from which I have been drinking coffee for years: "black coffee, no room."
The funny thing is that the price is almost never the same twice but always worth it.

It is odd that our "8 cup" coffee maker is filled to the max with a one liter bottle.

I am in love with a dark Italian (dopio espresso con panna) and on Sunday we will savour, the art of doing nothing.

HAs anyone here ever had that many dollar$ kind of coffee? The one that is filtered by some feline? Seems the "cat eats the beans" but the undigested beans are...er...sourced...and then made into this rare coffee specialty...seems to me it isn't all that popular, even with the folk that burn 65dollar cigars, and drink 50 dollar a shot brandy...wonder why?

On the issue of the Coriolis Effect mentioned above: the effect is certainly observed as regards weather patterns and during the ocean-towing of large items. However, experimental reproduction on a small scale is very difficult. I am aware of published data in which one takes a large bucket or bath tub, fills it, allows the water to settle, and then removes the drain plug in a reproducible way. Whether this is done north or south of the equator, the Coriolis-predicted direction of spin occurs only about 55% of the time.

SF's question about whether there is a spin direction in the GI tract is pretty funny because on ultra-late-night American TV, there are dozens of infomercials for quackery health items, commonly including colon cleanse products. The products work by pyrotechnics-----you take a few capsules filled with herb blends which absorb water to become several times their dry volume. The resulting bowel movement is massive, fetid, colorful, and makes the unwary think, Wow, just look at all that gunk I have been carrying around for years!

A new one of these commercials has a cartoon of the colon after the pill is taken, and actually does indeed show feces spinning in a Coriolis manner at the sigmoid colon.

I Love Coffee, I Love Tea ... I Love The Java Jive and It Loves Me ....
 
Coffee and Tea, and It Loves Me ...
 
A Cup   A Cup   A Cup   A Cup    A Cup .......YEAH !!!

Starbucks does not now and has never had exquisite coffee, though they took at least one good step to quality improvement, which is grinding every hour, and discarding ground material on hand not yet used.

I really felt Starbucks has been vulnerable as a retail investment, and a few years ago bought shares of Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, whose product I like.This investment has returned well over a thousand percent in the relatively short time I have held it.

The principal thing that ruins home-made coffee is overheated water. A tremendous component of coffee taste has to do with the PO2 of the water used. I keep gallon jugs of distilled water in the refrigerator to raise the PO2 (gas solubility in fluid rises with falling temperature). I put this in a self-deactivating Krups kettle which stops the heat the moment that the water hits 100 degress celsius. I don't keep the coffee in a heated system but rather just decanted into thermos. If one were to keep in on a hot plate, the PO2 goes to nil very quickly, and so does taste.

The other issue with coffee making has to do with the number of so-called theoretical plates in the extraction. This is a concept that requires charts and drawings to explain but has to with duration of contact with the coffee grounds of a quantum of water. You want as few theoretical plates as possible, because bitterness chases the good stuff so quickly during the extraction.

Which of course, reminds me of a story.....   Guy walks into a bar. Not shabbily dressed, but not Armani,either.   Sits down at the bar, asks the barman "You have that rare Napolean Brandy here?"The barmen answers "Yes sir!" thinking, Oh my, this will be a good tip if he can buy Napolean Brandy...   "Well, I would like six shots, right here, in front of me"    Boy oh Boy , thinks the bartender, this guy will make my night!  and he says "Coming right up Sir!" and grabs the best crystal,wipes it ,holds it to the light, and with a flourish saved for just such occasions, pours a perfect shot of the rare,extremely 'top shelf' brandy ...placing it in front of the Gentleman.   The guy says "five more, just like this, please" and, as the barman begins to gather the rest of the glasses, the Gentleman grabs the shot and downs it like a spot of water to a thirsty man..."Hold on sir" says the barman..."This brandy is rare, and should be savored,inhale the fragrence, swirl it, appreciate it" as he pours another two of the shots and puts them in front of the man..."If  YOU had what I have, youl'd drink like this,too" and downs both of the shots, freshly poured....Oh my , thinks the barman, as he pours another and places it in fron t of the man, this poor fellow, he must ave either just had great news, or really bad news....I'll bet he tips well,for the  company.. And, the guy grabs another and slugs it back..."sir" says the barman, "you really would enjoy it more if you savored it, just a bit.."   "Youl'd drink like this if you had what I have,too" he says again...and by now, the barman's curiousity has gotten the better of him, and he breaks code, and asks "just what is it you have Sir?"      the guy says      "Seven Dollars...."

I just wanted to add that, lest there be doubts out there about coffee and health, coffee has far more health benefits than it does liabilities. There is absolutely no relationship between coffee and cancer. There were once attempts at blaming breast and pancreatic cancer on it. Colossal studies of large populations of heavy coffee drinkers disclose no predilection for neoplasia at all.

The only caveat for the above is heat injury to the oropharynx from rapid consumption leading to chronic injury and tumors. But here the effect is not coffee-specific, but applies to any hot drink.

Coffee seems roundly to promote liver health, though that's a lengthy discussion.

RY, Jack Nicholson had a hilarious scene in "The Bucket List" with Kopi Luwak.  I'll take the $65 cigar...if anyone is asking ...

KSS........ thanks for your 10:30 post..........seriously..........maybe there are some things you DON'T need to share........

Good To See You Miss Penn .......

Any Eyester latesters:

"The Ruling Class" with Peter O'Toole comes on TCM tonight at 11 pm central time (ie, in about 45 minutes). It's rare for it to be on TV, and it skewers just about every belief system. O'Toole plays a grossly utterly schizophrenic man who takes himself to be Jesus Christ.

Bebe: Pro Patria et Deo, always.

The film "Cane Toads" seems to have a perpetual cult status on college campuses. They're the ones, aren't they, whose skin excretes a gummy residue that is hallucinogenic when smoked?

Hi Bebe How are you? I've been a little behind in keeping up with everyone on the Eye, but I saw that you said hi the other day and I didn't get back to you....I started drinking Peet's in 1968 in Berkeley. That was the first store. Pete once had a partner who later started Starbucks. Peet's stayed relatively small in comparison. I think they roast their beans one more time than Starbucks. You can order from Pete's if you can't find it locally.
 
http://www.peets.com/stores/store_locator.asp
 
PL, I only drink decaf now. Peet's is the only decaf, that I've ever had, that actually has any flavor and I make it strong.... 2 big heaping tablespoons per cup.  You're right about most decaf though, and I wouldn't bother with it either....I don't just want colored water.
 
Hi Jax,  Good to see you here. Funny school message....here's the other side of it.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj1bJ2xd_As
 
lotlot, PL...wonderful story telling as usual.
 
Park4, A good friend of mine was given coffee in a bottle as a baby and he now drinks coffee all day long. When I switched from real coffee to decaf, I went through withdrawal and suffered massive headaches for several days. I suggest to anyone wanting to wean themselves from coffee...do it gradually.
 
RY, I heard that mayonaise was the answer to removing rings from furniture. You might try googling.

OOOOH, Jane...googling with mayonaise  now that is kinky

I knew, knew, knew, that you'd catch that!

KSS ~
You are right on re: thermal coffee pots and carafes. They are the best bet... at least if the brew was good to begin with.
One of those late-night system flush guys, the oily one with the pencil mustache, is so incredible looking and sounding that it is a marvel that he was chosen for such an "important" mission.
I had meant to say recently that your assertion: "I believe in ghosts," is the third such this year from persons I trust and admire. This must be the time to go on record before it becomes obvious to everybody. I couldn't say it in the plural.

STONEY........... I have seen pencil mustache boy & if he is supposed to be the poster boy for how good cleansing is............ well that is simply amazing because he looks as if he lives in his mom's basement & eats only cheetohs & cheap bologna............he so creeps me out...............
 
JANE.......... thanks for the Peet's info. I had no idea his former partner is the Starbuck's guy. I wonder if they are still friends? I always enjoy your posts!