I don’t drink coffee, but my worst experience with it has been dealing with people who prioritize making it over getting their work started. That really pisses me off!
@DonBirren Yeah, but then they’re able to work better than they would without it … (they should be making and drinking it BEFORE work though, I agree.)
@DocJRoberts@DonBirren@Kyeh Unless you have mild ADD that’s treatable with a mild stimulant, in which case coffee may be therapeutic. Mine needs more than just caffeine, and I’m still waiting to see if the stronger stuff will be approved. (I’m not optimistic.)
How quick it goes from “too hot to drink” to “meh tasting brown consommé”—Don’t get me wrong, I still drink it, but that sweet spot is such a short window!
Back in my working days, the worst part was letting other people make or buy it. I only drink black coffee. I hated it when someone decided the office coffee pot was a good place to make flavored coffees. I was also wary of anyone doing a coffee run who wouldn’t write things down. Invariably it was: “I forgot what you wanted in it so I just added lots of cream and sugar.”
It gives me horrible heartburn. I used to love it and drink it everyday but now I die from heartburn after one cup and that after take nexium twice a day.
Opinions about coffee probably follow the Vilfredo Pareto 80/20 rule (aka power law statistical distribution), I think.
That is, the 80% of folks who like coffee don’t make a lot of noise about it.
OTH, the 20% who don’t like it, want to tell everyone about how much they don’t like it.
As it happens, I’m drinking a cup at the moment. I made it fresh in a single serve, environmentally wastefully negligent, Keurig machine using a single use, disposable, thermoformed, non-biodegradable polypropylene, blend cup labeled McCafe Premium Roast 100% Arabica Coffee.
My Morning Joe is tempered with 26g (3 single creamers) of Land O Lakes Mini Moo’s half and half, which only serve, I suppose, to compound my environmental misdemeanor.
Or if one is particularly vehement about their dislike of coffee, one could argue that it isn’t Pareto’s law but rather Sturgeon’s Law that is appropriate here. Sturgeon’s Law states that “90% of everything is crap.”
Being basically a moderate optimist (the glass is half full and simultaneously half empty), I could argue that 90% of those coffee hater’s comments are crap, and that they just haven’t had the right cup of coffee, served at exactly the right time and place…yet.
So, let’s hear from the 80%, what is the best cup(s) of coffee you have ever had?
I can think of some memorable cups. One is the Kona coffee I had in Hawaii, but could never quite duplicate at home, even though I bought supposed Kona coffee here on the mainland later.
Another would be a cup at a Chock Full o Nuts coffee shop in NY City in the mid-1960s.
Then there was my first cup of the hazelnut flavored blend, my then new secretary made for me from coffee which she purchased at a local roaster in Atlanta.
I have to count in this list cups of Luzianne coffee with chicory laced with Pet Evaporated Milk and overly sweetened in the days of my youth, when visiting country relatives.
Yet another would be a steaming cup of black Maxwell house made over a camp fire on a frigid, and frosty morn, while camped on the C&O Canal in Maryland – or for that matter most any cup when camping in subzero weather.
While I have had my share of bad coffee–sour, stale, and bitter beyond belief, from too long boiling in the pot, there is one cup of bad coffee, that I have never forgotten.
We were at dinner at a French restaurant in Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s. I remember having escargot, and a large dessert, with which I had a fairly descent cup of coffee.
Then it was time to hit the road and drive to Delaware. I made it–but just barely–o the first rest stop on I-95 between Baltimore and Washington. I scampered and hobbled while stooped over, and doing my best to hold it in as I desperately fought to reach a stall in the toilet in time. I had a cathartic bowel cleansing experience which I remember to this day.
I often thought that last cup of coffee must have been doctored in some manner (ExLax?)
@Jackinga You sure it was the coffee, not the escargot? Or decadent dessert?
(I like your statistics about the vocal and vehement - not to mention smugly superior - coffee haters, though! )
@Jackinga My most memorable cup of good coffee is the first café latte I ever had, back before they were common here. My husband had them in Italy. We got them at Caffe Med in Berkely. Wow, was that ever wonderful!
@Jackinga I should also mention, but didn’t think of it at the time, is how different the coffee is in Europe. I’m talking here about simple coffee, not espresso or some kind of latte, but just a common brew.
I used to love that first cup, when off the airplane. Though my bod was protesting owing to the time-zone changes, my taste and smell were celebrating the arrival.
European coffee is, I think, not only a lighter roast, and more concentrated brew, but a different blend somehow – maybe more Robusta beans? Can anyone pinpoint the difference?
@Jackinga@Kyeh I too can still remember the first latte I enjoyed. 27 years ago, I can still picture the coffee house and the friend I was with. Since that day, my coffee palate has evolved further. Another friend blew my mind when he introduced me to importing green beans, roasting them locally, and grinding said fresh roast daily. Take those light-roasted beans, use the pour-over brew method, and the fruity, floral notes just bloom. Life-changing.
Beyond roasting our own beans, Jamaican beans savored in Jamaica were quite special.
@Jackinga@JWhirly I tend to prfer the dark roast coffee (Sumatran is what I usually get) but that does sound worth trying. I’m not up for roasting and grinding my own beans though - too many other projects already!
When the cup gets emptied.
The worst thing about drinking coffee is I absolutely hate coffee.
@Kidsandliz yep me too!
@Kidsandliz @mycya4me more for me
@heartny Some would say it’s a bonus. I knew where my dad would be in the morning. Keeps you regular?
Is “drinking coffee” like “drinking-water”…?
I wonder what you’d use the other kind(s) for…
@shahnm Enemas, mostly.
@shahnm The grounds make a great exfoliant.
And can be used to repair scratches on wood furniture.
@shahnm You asked…
I don’t drink enough coffee to have an opinion.
@awk Turns out they changed that rule a little while back. Now you can go ahead and have an opinion even if you just drink a little coffee.
@awk On the internet, you don’t have to know anything about anything to have an opinion on it.
@awk @phendrick That seems to apply anywhere and everywhere now…
@shahnm
Nothing - except the headache if I don’t get to drink any.
@Kyeh
When you want to double like a comment!! (as I sip my morning brew)
The taste by far is the wost thing about drinking coffee.
@kjady I couldn’t agree more.
It’s not hot chocolate.
@hchavers Amen to that!
@hchavers Good answer!
Tummy troubles, for sure. I like the taste and it does work to keep me awake, but there’s a 50% chance I’m on the toilet 10 minutes after drinking it.
@PooltoyWolf cheap and reliable colon cleansing!
@PooltoyWolf I don’t think I want to know about the other 50% when you don’t make it to the toilet…
@macromeh Nothing happens the other half of the time LOL!
The cost … $0.60 to $1.30 a shot
@rustyh3 Cheaper than most other beverages, though!
I don’t drink coffee, but my worst experience with it has been dealing with people who prioritize making it over getting their work started. That really pisses me off!
@DonBirren Yeah, but then they’re able to work better than they would without it … (they should be making and drinking it BEFORE work though, I agree.)
@DonBirren @Kyeh you could also kick your caffeine addiction and you’ll feel better and work better without it
@DocJRoberts @DonBirren Nah.
@DocJRoberts @DonBirren @Kyeh Unless you have mild ADD that’s treatable with a mild stimulant, in which case coffee may be therapeutic. Mine needs more than just caffeine, and I’m still waiting to see if the stronger stuff will be approved. (I’m not optimistic.)
After being up for 4 days experimenting, I can find no bad side effects of drinking coffee!
There is no worst thing about coffee. It is a warm (or hot) refreshing drink that energizes. The least good thing is that it can be habit-forming.
@olperfesser You forgot cold.
It tastes bad and smells bad. That’s why I don’t drink it.
How quick it goes from “too hot to drink” to “meh tasting brown consommé”—Don’t get me wrong, I still drink it, but that sweet spot is such a short window!
Back in my working days, the worst part was letting other people make or buy it. I only drink black coffee. I hated it when someone decided the office coffee pot was a good place to make flavored coffees. I was also wary of anyone doing a coffee run who wouldn’t write things down. Invariably it was: “I forgot what you wanted in it so I just added lots of cream and sugar.”
Nothing bad comes from.drinking coffee. Only good comes from drinking coffee.
Any non-believer in the sanctity of coffee should be sacrificed to the giant coffee-drinking badger deity in the sky.
@OnionSoup He’s quite beautiful!
@OnionSoup Now if you only had a coffee-drinking badger deity statue …
@rockblossom if meh sold them, I’m pretty sure everyone at Meh could be a billionaire.
There’s an untapped market out there for badger statues.
@OnionSoup Shouldn’t that light beam be a little further back?
@OnionSoup
Too much gives me the jitters.
It gives me horrible heartburn. I used to love it and drink it everyday but now I die from heartburn after one cup and that after take nexium twice a day.
Opinions about coffee probably follow the Vilfredo Pareto 80/20 rule (aka power law statistical distribution), I think.
That is, the 80% of folks who like coffee don’t make a lot of noise about it.
OTH, the 20% who don’t like it, want to tell everyone about how much they don’t like it.
As it happens, I’m drinking a cup at the moment. I made it fresh in a single serve, environmentally wastefully negligent, Keurig machine using a single use, disposable, thermoformed, non-biodegradable polypropylene, blend cup labeled McCafe Premium Roast 100% Arabica Coffee.
My Morning Joe is tempered with 26g (3 single creamers) of Land O Lakes Mini Moo’s half and half, which only serve, I suppose, to compound my environmental misdemeanor.
Or if one is particularly vehement about their dislike of coffee, one could argue that it isn’t Pareto’s law but rather Sturgeon’s Law that is appropriate here. Sturgeon’s Law states that “90% of everything is crap.”
Being basically a moderate optimist (the glass is half full and simultaneously half empty), I could argue that 90% of those coffee hater’s comments are crap, and that they just haven’t had the right cup of coffee, served at exactly the right time and place…yet.
So, let’s hear from the 80%, what is the best cup(s) of coffee you have ever had?
I can think of some memorable cups. One is the Kona coffee I had in Hawaii, but could never quite duplicate at home, even though I bought supposed Kona coffee here on the mainland later.
Another would be a cup at a Chock Full o Nuts coffee shop in NY City in the mid-1960s.
Then there was my first cup of the hazelnut flavored blend, my then new secretary made for me from coffee which she purchased at a local roaster in Atlanta.
I have to count in this list cups of Luzianne coffee with chicory laced with Pet Evaporated Milk and overly sweetened in the days of my youth, when visiting country relatives.
Yet another would be a steaming cup of black Maxwell house made over a camp fire on a frigid, and frosty morn, while camped on the C&O Canal in Maryland – or for that matter most any cup when camping in subzero weather.
While I have had my share of bad coffee–sour, stale, and bitter beyond belief, from too long boiling in the pot, there is one cup of bad coffee, that I have never forgotten.
We were at dinner at a French restaurant in Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s. I remember having escargot, and a large dessert, with which I had a fairly descent cup of coffee.
Then it was time to hit the road and drive to Delaware. I made it–but just barely–o the first rest stop on I-95 between Baltimore and Washington. I scampered and hobbled while stooped over, and doing my best to hold it in as I desperately fought to reach a stall in the toilet in time. I had a cathartic bowel cleansing experience which I remember to this day.
I often thought that last cup of coffee must have been doctored in some manner (ExLax?)
@Jackinga You sure it was the coffee, not the escargot? Or decadent dessert?
)
(I like your statistics about the vocal and vehement - not to mention smugly superior - coffee haters, though!
@Jackinga My most memorable cup of good coffee is the first café latte I ever had, back before they were common here. My husband had them in Italy. We got them at Caffe Med in Berkely. Wow, was that ever wonderful!
@Kyeh My wife had the escargot too, but not the coffee. So I concluded that the real difference was the coffee.
@Jackinga I should also mention, but didn’t think of it at the time, is how different the coffee is in Europe. I’m talking here about simple coffee, not espresso or some kind of latte, but just a common brew.
I used to love that first cup, when off the airplane. Though my bod was protesting owing to the time-zone changes, my taste and smell were celebrating the arrival.
European coffee is, I think, not only a lighter roast, and more concentrated brew, but a different blend somehow – maybe more Robusta beans? Can anyone pinpoint the difference?
@Jackinga Your answer was 80% too long.
@Jackinga @Kyeh I too can still remember the first latte I enjoyed. 27 years ago, I can still picture the coffee house and the friend I was with. Since that day, my coffee palate has evolved further. Another friend blew my mind when he introduced me to importing green beans, roasting them locally, and grinding said fresh roast daily. Take those light-roasted beans, use the pour-over brew method, and the fruity, floral notes just bloom. Life-changing.
Beyond roasting our own beans, Jamaican beans savored in Jamaica were quite special.
@Kidsandliz Thank you for your comment. It was 90% crap.
@Jackinga @JWhirly I tend to prfer the dark roast coffee (Sumatran is what I usually get) but that does sound worth trying. I’m not up for roasting and grinding my own beans though - too many other projects already!
@Jackinga And coffee is 100% shit.
@Kidsandliz
Well… at least this one is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak
Drinking coffee is the worst part about drinking coffee. blech. love the smell though
There is no worst thing…this was a joke question, right?
I don’t like coffee.