I’ve never had coffee before. I mean, I drink frappucinos from Starbucks, but I’m pretty sure you’ll all agree that frappucinos don’t really constitute coffee. They taste a lot more like frozen hot chocolate than frozen coffee.
Despite my lack of experience with the wonders of coffee, I currently have a hot cup of French Vanilla coffee in hand. Why? Well, there are two reasons.
Firstly, sleep has become a rare commodity since I’ve started work. It just doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day for everything I want to do. Which means that I’ve been getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night, instead of 8. Which, in turn, means that I’ve been very sleepy at work. The really nice drippy rainy weather outside doesn’t help the sleepiness. Today’s weather is perfect for staying at home, tucked in bed, listening to the rain on the window and reading a book. But instead, I’m at work.
Secondly, work has free coffee. Not just free coffee, but free “gourmet” coffee. They have a couple of hazelnut blends that I think I will try later (or tomorrow). Here are my first impressions of my first real cup of coffee.
It tastes burnt. Or rather, it tastes of burnt stuff. Which makes sense, seeing as how coffee beans are roasted before being ground up. It’s not very bitter (probably because I happily dumped three small packets of sugar in), and I’m wondering if I added too much or too little milk. How much milk is one supposed to add to one cup of coffee?
I would have expected coffee to taste stronger than this. I think this is largely because it’s opaque.
Well, there ya go. Any advice from experienced coffee drinkers? What’s good coffee? How much sugar and/or milk?
Hmmmm, coffee is one of those things that everyone has a different opinion on. Personally, I like it with cream and between 2 and 3 sugars. Black coffee (flavored or not) is entirely too strong for me. Well, I stopped drinking coffee when it started eating a hole in my stomach, but when I did, I didn’t drink it black.
Out of the flavors I’ve tried, I like hazlenut the most, followed by french vanilla. Everything else (except moccha which I should have put up there) taste about the same to me.
Or tastes the same, rather.
I like coffee with milk (not too much, just to give it a chocolate brownie frapuccino color) and no sugar. It tastes stronger that way (even if sometimes it isn’t) and you can fool yourself into being awake that way. If you want really strong coffee, have some espresso. I like coffee with hazelnut flavor. Like, a tall hazelnut latte from Starbucks is pretty good.
Good luck in your caffeine endeavors, Sam
Coffee contains caffeine and should be made illegal.
Rick contains perversion and should be made illegal.
I contain 70% water and should be made illegal.
Sam, you rule.
Just don’t turn into one of those jerks who can’t function in the a.m. without a coffee fix. I like the random frappucino once in a while, but I don’t ever want to be physically dependent on stimulants.
According to Adan, I make the best coffee in the world.
The best way to go is this: for a “tall” coffee from Starbucks, add three packs “sugar in the raw” and a about an 1.5 inches of half & half to the top of the cup.
If the coffee tastes burnt, it was not brewed correctly. I am familiar with the burnt-coffee taste. No good! In an opitimumly brewed cup of Starbucks joe there will be some very small coffee bubbles at the top. That means it’s extra fresh.
I do not care for flavored coffees, since I tend to add enough sugar as it is.
My sympathies to Whir, as coffee also ate a hole in my stomach after about 5 years of drinking it. Now a cup of Starbucks coffee would surely kill me – I can only drink watered down deli coffee.
I have the same kind of corporate bullshit coffee machines at work as ET does, except her company gives is out for free and at mine you have to pay a quarter! (Unless you hit the machine just so, on the side.) It’s the kind with teeny cups of grinds that you put in a thing and it goes VRRRRROOM and brews it on the spot. It taste like crap.
Put it this way, I have an espresso machine in my apartment and my morning diet consist of espresso and toast. I don’t believe in flavoured coffee mainly because there’s nothing like good sniff of espresso powder to wake you up before you turn up the machine. Wern has decided to call my apartment cafe 153.
And Yes…I have suffered burning hole in my stomach after one night at Changi airport with Jo, Marc and the gang. We were rping till the morning after and made friends with the midnight staff at starbucks there. They gave me a mug full of what they call “dinosaur” free of charge. And I forgot to eat something with that.
My recipe : 2 shots espresso, 1/3 milk (skim milk froths the easiest but full cream taste the best), 1 teaspoon of raw granulated brown sugar per shot of espresso. add a little bit of choc powder on top if you want a sorta cappucino.
Erin, we’ve got the same machines at work. We took to calling the coffee ‘liquid ass.’ A lot of people stopped drinking it after that…
I get my caffeine from a can, so my teeth rot now instead of my gut.
I drink a lot of english breakfast tea now. It’s the strongest tea I could find.
Coffee for me. I’ve been drinking it for seven years now, and am thoroughly addicted — which is to say, I get a heinous headache if I don’t get my fix — but then I also drink a LOT of coffee. Tell ya what, help me remember to talk about coffee next time I see you, and I’ll go nuts. I have a lot to say on the subject.
You should all find an opportunity to visit Singapore and try the local coffee here. I promise you for first timer, you’ll stay awake as long as you want and still feel fresh. The caffeine level in the local coffee here is much higher. The coffe bean is toasted in the coffee shop, blend and brew the very same day to consume. You don’t have to check it out with Sam, she never ever dare try it.
i worked at an indoor kopi tiam with jee before, and they had to fire us after 3 months, because they were starting to lose profit on the kaya toast and curry chicken.
( we were allowed free meals, anytime we felt hungry. i’d have gladly worked for free food there, but they didn’t ask.)
made lots of kopi-c — freshly brewed black coffee with carnation milk and teh. enough to get myself hooked.
my favourite recipe was to add sugar and a little hot water (to melt the sugar) to a can of condensed milk, and add a heaped spoon of that into the coffee.
if you want to know how to make really good kaya toast.. i’ll show you when we get back for CNY.
Thai coffee is amazing. There’s a wonderful little thai restaurant right near where I work. Great food and fantastic coffee.
Thai coffee and Singapore local coffee is quite similar, except thai coffee there’s a little sourish after taste.