Forums » Smalltalk » How do you like your coffee?

@lyingsmile - the cup of coffee on the right in your photo is likely an espresso, it's a lot stronger than normal coffee and so you only get a small amount. It's more for coffee connoisseurs than anything else (though it's my personal favourite type of coffee too!). As someone from England (in Europe) most other coffees here are considerably bigger, more like the cup on the left

I do know that the espresso and drip coffee are different and that's likely the main difference. But here in Portugal (also Europe) everyone seems to drink espresso and don't recognize drip coffee as being coffee.

Roast also determines bitterness. I drink only German brands coffee because they're very mild due to a lighter roast. Dutch roasts are very bitter to me and I don't like them much. The darker the roast, the more bitter the end result will be; this is especially true for lower quality brands. Too fine of a grind and too much grounds also causes bitterness.

Drip coffee is widely recognized as being the 'true form' of coffee in the Benelux and Germany area to my knowledge. The cup of the left is the typical cup of coffee you can find here. Espresso is a special cup of coffee on its own and different from a regular cup - you won't get that if you order a coffee. While the Senseo instant-cup machines and its kind are popular (my parents have a big machine that freshly grinds coffee beans per serving and then forces the water through the grounds) a good cup of coffee can be either.

Edit: Also, the coffee grounds in cups thing come in different roasts. Switching brands or roasts can help you find the one you like, though I suppose it depends on your living situation and income on whether or not it's worth it.

Maybe it's just a South Europe (Portugal/Spain) thing then. I don't know.

I like mine with flavored creamer. My sweet tooth demands it. French vanilla is usually the go-to one.

Roast wise I like dark or medium.

I like more cream, less sugar (the opposite of how my grandpa likes his). I can understand that not everyone would like the taste of coffee, but I personally do. (Except coffee ice cream/frozen yogurt/gelato. If I'm added coffee to it myself, it's fine, but however it is companies flavor it is weirdly gross.) Flat out best cup of coffee I ever had, though, was a tiny cup at some rich guy's house in Puerto Rico. (And the best orange I've ever had was bought from a roadside vendor also in PR!) It was just... so amazingly flavorful, creamy, and perfect.

I've been broadening my horizons on tea, but I usually stick to fruity herbal teas without any cream or sugar added. Not a big fan is strong tea taste. I also drink a lot of bubble tea, but that's because I presently work at a bubble tea shop. And frankly, it's delicious. Just... not sure how much it still counts as tea with all the other stuff added in.

Aside from the US apparently being known around the world for having crazy-big portion sizes, I think caffeine dependence is also a bigger issue in the US. Heck, it's almost a badge of pride in the area where I live, and a woman I was talking with recently was surprised when she found out that I've managed to avoid caffeine addiction. (She was talking about the headache and such that comes, true physical symptoms of addiction, and was relating it as something I'd totally understand until I told her that, no, I didn't get that. Even though my parents got me started drinking coffee when I was, I dunno, 11 or 12?)

Vanilla Boscotti w/ Coconut creamer. %20 coffee, %80 creamer.

I am probably one of those rare types that actually get sleepier when I drink coffee (doesn't stop me from drinking it every so often when it's offered to me). Tea doesn't do the same, so I love the hellhounds out of some good black pekoe or herbal tea.

When I do drink it, I like lots of cream and sugar in my coffee. However, I prefer just sugar or honey in my tea. Except when it comes to a nice, fresh smelling peach tea. I find it sweet enough without the sugar and/or honey. *is a huge tea lover*

But on a side note, does anyone prefer their tea hot or iced? I prefer it iced with black pekoe tea (because I was raised on it being served like that in the South), but like any other teas hot.

I like a little coffee in my cream and sugar.
..Which is why I can't drink it right now. I'm doing the wellness thing super hard right now.

Today's lunch:


..I miss coffee.

I personally don't drink coffee, but the rest of my family are coffee drinking fiends. I'm just a little weary of caffeine addiction - most likely an unfounded phobia, but hey .

Some of the gentleman I take care of at work (I'm a nurse aide, assisting the developmentally disabled) drink straight black coffee three times a day, at least three or four cups a sitting. They're coffee drinking machines, man.

When it comes to tea, I prefer black tea that is unsweetened. Unless I'm down south where everyone makes the best sweet tea ever. Haha, but when it comes to coffee it has to be strong as all get out and blacker than my soul. (Death wish coffee, on rich brew in my ninja coffee bar ftw.)

This! I only like a little sugar, but I pretty much make that point moot with both creamer and chocolate of some sort - yet not such much the delightful bitterness of the coffee is entirely covered up. I'm awful around places that serve you half a cup of delicious flavored foam like Starbucks or Dutch Bros.

I should probably drink more tea...

I like my coffee like I like people... I don't.

LOL

But it sure smells nice~

Take some of my genes. I can drink coffee straight up for 3 weeks in a row and quit cold turkey for a month. I purely drink it for the flavor, I don't really seem to get addicted to it. (I do notice that it takes me a couple of days to not feel tired when I quit, but I don't get anything extreme, like headaches or other bodily symptoms. I just need two-three days to adjust to no coffee and I'm golden.)

You're lucky.
The company I worked for last had me there at 6am in the morning, so it was coffee and/or energy drinks. When I had a few days before payday where it wasn't feasible economically, I felt like hell. Headaches, cramps, sluggishness. I decided to go cold turkey.

Now I can have a coffee once in a while and be alright, but I'm never going to be reliant on it again.

I'm a Coffee fiend in that I regularly use a teaspoon and a half of coffee powder for a regular sized coffee mug because I can't stand weak coffee. I used to have it with milk, but I stopped because I thought I had a milk allergy (I only found out last year that I wasn't after four years- first coffee with milk I had after it tasted like Piss because I wasn't used to it), but after a while I've become used to drinking it without milk or sugar. I can't have more than two cups a day or I will get heart palpitations. I am tempted to ask for a regular sized cup filled entirely with Espresso Coffee shots, but I haven't had the guts to ask for one at any of the local Coffee Shops. However in the meantime I make do with Double Espressos.

I'm ambivalent to Tea, but lately I've found a bag of tea leaves that I quite like- Green Tea with dried Hibiscus and Rosehip pieces from a company I found at the last Comic-Con I went to, and it's quite good for digestion, but I can't stand fruitier teas like strawberry tea, though I will sometimes drink Peppermint if I don't like the other choices available in shops.

Black and bitter like my soul-- Okay not really. I usually just do milk and/or flavored creamer nowadays. A pinch of salt if it's too bitter, and no sugar unless I'm somewhere that doesn't have salt available. Although much to my own surprise I found out I can also drink it black just fine. Also, I friggin' love tea, I have a hoard of like 13 boxes right now and have been drinking it like a fiend lately. My favorites right now are http://shop.celestialseasonings.com/img/product/cel-100727.png and http://cdn.luckyvitamin.com/images/Product/medium/58573.jpg?s=False which is weird because they both have vanilla and I usually cannot STAND vanilla!