How Do You Like Your Coffee

There are coffee lovers and coffee avoiders. There are Coffee connoisseurs and people who drink a little too much. The consensus is that Coffee is good for you in moderation and not so good in excess. If you are like me, you fit somewhere in the middle. So let’s not feel guilty! There are tea and coffee drinkers, and many of us enjoy both.

If you love Coffee, it is not just about the caffeine. It is about the TASTE!

We love certain flavors: sweet, salty, spicy, and bitter. Coffee has an undernote of acidic bitterness. Add cream, which softens the tongue’s bitterness but still satisfies the body’s desire for something bitter. Add sugar or sweetener and perhaps some spice or flavor; you have three of our favorite tastes. Coffee goes well with almost everything: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts.

Having Coffee is a social experience! You get together for Coffee!

These days, there are coffee shops and cafes around almost every corner. People meet to socialize over a coffee. They meet to do business at a coffee shop. Coffee almost always attends meetings at the board table. The first thing you will probably be asked at a business meeting is, “Can I get you a coffee?” When you visit someone’s home, it is the same, “Can I get you a coffee or tea?”

The social aspect of enjoying Coffee and a snack or dessert is intrinsic to many cultures.

• We love a traditional American cup of Coffee almost anytime, whether using the brewed, drip, or French Press. Sometimes with a shot of Espresso!
• Or convenient single-serve pods like Keurig – K Cups that come in traditional classic coffee blends or all flavors.

• When we wake up, we time our morning wake-up coffee to be ready in the coffee maker!
• We indulge in an Espresso to give that extra buzz, taste, and Magnesium
• An Americano seems tres chic!
• The unique aroma and mystique of Turkish Coffee carry us to faraway places.
• Viennese Coffee is such an elegant treat with dessert
• Ice Coffee is the ultimate summer treat.
• The Latte and the Cappucino sound so posh…
• We love rustic coffee made over the campfire in a tin and look for dandelion roots to substitute for it when our hike goes beyond the coffee supply!
• We tolerate instant coffee when nothing else is available.
• The culture of Coffee is universal…

We crave Chocolate-Covered Coffee Beans—just not too many at once, or you will get a digestive surprise. We love Coffee as a flavoring in everything from chocolates and candy to cakes, cupcakes, and ice cream.

How much Coffee is ok?

You are drinking up to four or five 8-oz cups of Coffee per day, which is considered acceptable. If you drink more, it could be good to consider using decaffeinated Coffee instead or substituting some cups of Coffee with steeped tea. Drink a dark roast that has more flavor and less caffeine. Limit your intake on the weekends. Try varying how much Coffee you drink, as tolerance build-up has something to do with the beneficial effects. You get more bang from the cup when you have less of a tolerance build-up.

Individual reactions to Coffee can vary. Some people seem to be able to tolerate more caffeine than others. Some people like having a coffee first thing when getting up in the morning, while others enjoy it later. For some, it keeps them awake at night; for others, it makes them sleep.

Coffee… how good? Or not so good is it for you?

Caffeine in Coffee vs Tea

You may have heard that tea contains more caffeine than coffee. Well, rethink that! A cup of Coffee has more caffeine than either steeped black tea or green tea. The misinformation came in at the original testing level.

Coffee beans themselves have less caffeine than tea leaves. Because more coffee beans are used ‘cup-by-cup’ in Coffee, the caffeine per cup is higher. It takes fewer tea leaves to make a cup of tea, so ‘cup-by-cup’ of tea contains a lower amount of caffeine.

When it comes to tea, green tea has a higher caffeine content than black tea per cup.

When should you avoid Coffee altogether?

You should avoid Coffee when you are pregnant or nursing. Some say you can have a little organic coffee in moderation. But if you can do it without it, it is better. Children should not be given Coffee or tea. They are stimulated quite enough! 🙂

If you are undergoing sleep deprivation training in the military, it is somewhat easier to endure it if you are not used to drinking Coffee daily. Otherwise, some military people swear by it to increase short-term stamina. Hence, campfire coffee is always welcome when you are ” out in the field.“

How to Make Great Coffee

• Traditional American Style Coffee: Use freshly roasted Coffee. Fresh Coffee produces more foam on the top. Keep it in a tin in the freezer. Use a measure to ensure the strength you like. Use a coffee machine with a filter or a French Press. It is served either with cream or milk but no sugar or black with sugar. A so-called Regular Coffee is served with both cream and sugar.
  
  Your first Coffee as a young adult will often be Coffee with cream and sugar. Then, somehow, you get rid of the sugar as you want to taste the Coffee more. Then, you learn to drink it black, to save on calories, or just because you like the taste.

• Camp Coffee, two ways.
  1. Boil water and pour over a measure of Coffee, 1 tablespoon per cup. Let it brew for up to 4 minutes. Sieve the Coffee or use a filter.
  2. Place coffee in a food-safe metal tin or pot—1 tablespoon per cup. Add water. Bring to a boil, simmer for a minute or two, pour, and enjoy.
• Cafe au lait—A French invention that has caught on all over the world is coffee with a shot of espresso mixed half and half with warm milk. In a fancy mug, it has a posh Parisian twist.
• Classic Americano Coffee: Make an espresso coffee. Heat a coffee mug and pour the Espresso into it. Fill to the top with hot water; this is called an infusion. Add sugar and spices for a dressed-up Americano.
• A Cappuccino is 1/3 each of Espresso, steamed milk, and foamed milk.
• A Latte uses 1/4 of a cup of espresso as a base. Add steamed milk to the 3/4 mark and top with foamed milk.
• A Mocha Coffee is made with half and half Espresso and rich cocoa topped with steamed milk. Sometimes, a dollop of whipped cream is added.
• A Flat White Coffee is made with 1/3 espresso and 2/3 frothed milk.
• Viennese Coffee is a strong, rich, dark coffee. Add cream (and sugar if you like it sweet), topped with a dollop of real whipped cream sweetened with vanilla sugar.
• A Heidelberg Ice Cafe is a chilled, extra-strong, rich coffee with coffee cream and sugar served in a large beer mug. Room is left in the mug to add a good-sized dollop of vanilla ice cream, and it is topped off with whipped cream garnished with a drizzle of melted chocolate. Yum!
• A Cortado Coffee is a double shot of Espresso served in a glass with an equal amount of hot, freshly steamed milk added. Presentation is just as important as the taste for a perfect Cortado, which is intended to be sipped slowly while savoring the strong espresso flavor. To learn more about this special coffee, look at the Coffeeness website.
• A Macchiato Coffee is a double shot of Espresso served in a fancy demi-tasse cup with a spoon on the side. It has a separate layer of frothed milk on top rather than mixed in like Cortado Coffee.
• Turkish Coffee is made in a small pot over a hot stove. Traditionally, it was made by nomads in the desert. A small pile of sand was heated on coals, and a little pot was placed in the hot sand.
• This is how my Armenian friend showed me how to make Turkish Coffee, but they called it Armenian Coffee!
  Place a tablespoon or two of extra finely ground Coffee (finer than for Espresso) in a Turkish coffee pot. (See image) Add a spoonful of sugar. Heat gently to almost the boiling point. Watch carefully so that it does not spill over. When heated, pour it into an elegant demi-tasse cup and enjoy it. Some people also add a little milk.

Enjoy your Coffee! And why not read a good book, too?

Author Gwen Tuinman Weaves Stories Of Intrigue