Tea or Coffee?

I said:

Another case of insufficient coffee. :)

Rick said:

That’s where you’re going wrong. Everything is better with tea. ;)

Dave said:

Er, no. I discovered 30-odd years ago that the stuff makes me ill. I’ve been fuelled by coffee ever since.

Aldershot…

and Ian Fleming said:

Bond loathed and despised tea, that flat, soft, time-wasting
opium of the masses, but on his empty stomach, and in his febrile state, the sugary brew
acted almost as an intoxicant.

My own thoughts on the subject are that I used to drink tea fairly regularly as a child as my parents preferred it to coffee, but later I came to enjoy coffee very much more. I noticed that I don’t really like the taste of a strong cup of tea. When I used to drink it, it would be so weak as to almost, but not quite, just taste of hot milk, so I don’t think I particularly like tea’s flavour. My coffee can be strong enough to almost dissolve the spoon and I’ll still love it. In my not so humble opinion, the smell of fresh coffee is absolutely divine and the flavour is deliciously rich and complex. It also goes great with chocolate.

Er, no. I discovered 30-odd years ago that the stuff makes me ill.

That’s pretty much my reaction to most coffee. I do like little bit of coffee now and then. Today, for instance, I had a Tassimmo Caramel Machiato (or however the faux-Italian is spelled). It is made in two parts. A shot of coffee, followed by a milk mixture. Actually, it is supposed to be the other way around, shooting the coffee into the milk so it makes a cool layer in a glass mug. But I put the coffee in first so I can then toss two thirds of it in order to make it drinkable. Oh, and about four spoons of sugar. And hold the button at the end of the milk mixture to keep the pump and heater going in order to dilute it even more. Then it’s something I can drink that my digestion won’t regret an hour or two later.

When I used to drink it, it would be so weak as to almost, but not quite, just taste of hot milk,

Oh, you’ll be fine over here. French tea is pathetically weak. I think as my mother got older she preferred her tea weaker so that it wouldn’t trigger heartburn. She used to drink Lipton Yellow Label. I won’t go near the stuff. Insipid tasteless chaff would be a polite understatement.

I like my tea, when made, to have a colour that could easily be mistaken for coffee. So it’s not really a surprise I order in sacks of 1100 bags of Tetley from Amazon. Real tea.

It also goes great with chocolate.

So, actually, does cayenne powder. But it needs a decent dark, not some generic Cadbury dreck.

Bond loathed and despised tea

Ah, you’re quoting Ian Fleming. So it’s traditional Bond, not the new action hero Bond.
You’ll have to excuse me, but I’m not concerned about the supposed beverage preferences of a mysogynistic half-cut arsehole. All I can say is “thank god he’s fictional”.

I do like little bit of coffee now and then.

Ah you’re not all bad then Rick. There’s hope for you yet… ;)

Tetley from Amazon. Real tea.

Yuck. Couldn’t drink that stuff, I’m afraid. I did find Typhoo acceptable.

So, actually, does cayenne powder. But it needs a decent dark, not some generic Cadbury dreck.

Now you’re talking! I confess that I quite fancy a little chilli in my mocha occasionally as well.

All I can say is “thank god he’s fictional”.

You wouldn’t be saying that if Blofeld was real. ;)

Whoo! We’re back!

I guess the server needed tea. 🙂

There’s hope for you yet… ;)

I don’t think that’s ever been the case.

I did find Typhoo acceptable.

Typhoo tastes…red. I like my tea to taste brown with a hint of green.

You wouldn’t be saying that if Blofeld was real. ;)

Meh. Who needs Blofeld when you have Trump?

Typhoo tastes…red. I like my tea to taste brown with a hint of green.

Ooh, synesthesia?

Meh. Who needs Blofeld when you have Trump?

Good point.

Ooh, synesthesia?

Aren’t you able to describe tastes according to their colour?

I’m currently eating mashed potato (real, not instant) with cheese and pepper. If I had to describe it, I’d say mauve. The supermarket was out of cheddar (lovely autumn sunset) so I got a bag of grated Emmental.
I don’t know why the Frenchies are obsessed with dumping Emmental on everything (croissants, raw egg, pasta ¹, croque, etc etc etc). It’s an awful cheese. Somewhat tart, rubbery, nutty, and to top it all off it isn’t even flippin’ French!

¹ Pasta. Give me properly aged Parmigiano Reggiano or give me nothing (I’ll accept cheddar (aged at least 12 months) for macaroni cheese).

I was brought up on Brooke Bond tea – I collected many of the card series that were included in the packs was I was a youth. Nowadays, tea = Yorkshire Tea and coffee has to be freshly ground and brewed – no instant, no excess packaged pods either. No sugar in tea or coffee, although I might have half a spoon if I have to drink instant just to take the edge off it.

[from https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/5/topics/15284]

Any nation where tea is delivered as a cup of hot water and a separate teabag just doesn’t understand tea

Any nation where tea is delivered as a glass mug of hot milk with a sorrowful teabag floating on top really doesn’t understand tea.
Hello Spain, I’m looking at you.

At least most places in France give you a tea pot, mug, and teabag (one per pot). They think they know tea. They have plenty of types of designer tea (all amazingly expensive). There’s even a sweet little tea shop in the town where I work (currently closed) with an extensive supply of organic teas (black, green, red, white). I tried a few, but mostly just get hot chocolate. It’s too depressing to get tea that doesn’t resemble what I call tea.

The thing is, French tea is ground like French sausages. You can pull it apart and identify the large lumps. As such, after steeping for several minutes, one can still see the bottom of the cup. Leave the teabag in place for several games of Hanafuda, one can still see the bottom of the cup only now it’s all gone bitter.
They often have this strange idea that black tea brews at about 65C.

I took the woman some Tetley. Told her boiling water and since it was her first time with it, thirty seconds. She thought it was crazy (boiling? only 30 seconds?) but she did it. And no, the bottom of the cup wasn’t visible. Nor was the spoon part of the spoon. In other words, proper tea. She liked the taste, but I think it gave her heartburn (and she’s somebody who takes coffee in tiny cups).

There’s even a sweet little tea shop in the town where I work (currently closed) ….

The tea shop or the town?

Sorry, I forgot, for a minute. I think you meant it is the country continent world which is closed.

Ooh, synesthesia?

Colours from sounds, and some words are highlighted.

Anyway, tea occasionally, but normally coffee. Only brewed. Instant gives me some nasty intestinal distress. Only industrial grade beans give me coffee symptoms. Black. Can’t do milk.

Only brewed. Instant gives me some nasty intestinal distress.

Me too! I wonder what it is that causes it?

These deluded people who think these capsule machines make real coffee! Just a ruse for shifting more freeze-dried in with some inferior grounds.

Not just the coffee contents but the excessive packaging that’s incurred with these pod devices.

Which is also a reason for not using tea bags.

In reply to John… https://heyrick.eu/blog/index.php?diary=20200515#coffee

[BTW I do not feel ashamed using plastic discs because I don’t use them much (my normal use is a semi-nightly hot chocolate as France believes that one cannot make hot chocolate without heating milk, so good luck finding a solution that is any good mixed with hot water; plus I work in a factory that, per hour, discards considerably more plastic than I do in a year (PS why can’t I recycle yogurt pots yet?)]

In reply to Fred – it depends on what sort of teabag. A standard Tetley uses some sort of paper/cloth concoction that is stamped closed and would be, I presume, sort of biodegradable (even if it takes a while). Proper paper or linen teabags are usually stapled shut, so there’s the staple to consider. Those weird plastic teabags might be specially designed to let the tea circulate “for maximum flavour” but they are evil. I hope plastic teabags go the way of plastic drinking straws…

A standard Tetley uses some sort of paper/cloth concoction that is stamped closed and would be, I presume, sort of biodegradable

No. They have a plastic layer so that they can be heat sealed. I think it was the makers of PG who said they were trying to develop a different process but were still using plastic linings. Haven’t heard anything since.

Having just been made to face a supermarket shop I’m happy to contradict myself. Spotted PG pyramid tea bags claiming to be biodegradable. I’ll continue to stick to loose though.

Spotted PG pyramid tea bags claiming to be biodegradable.

“biodegradable” is very loosely defined, and would ideally need qualification as to the time frame and conditions under which it really degrades. It could take a few million years under “normal” conditions, or maybe only a few seconds if thrown into an active volcano.

It’s not “biodegrading” in an active volcano…

There really are differences between different biodegradable materials, but it’s only between things that will degrade in a few weeks or months in a domestic compost system, or an industrial one. Anything that takes a million years or more, wherever, is not “biodegradable.”

Anything that takes a million years or more, wherever, is not “biodegradable.”

The word “Easily” is the key as mentioned anything will degrade given time and conditions but what we normally concieve as Biodegradable is something that does is relatively quickly and leaves a safe residual.

Me too! I wonder what it is that causes it?
These deluded people who think these capsule machines make real coffee! Just a ruse for shifting more freeze-dried in with some inferior grounds.

Now I think of it, pod coffee causes me some of the same grief. I do feel it’s part of what extras are and aren’t in different methods of brewing.

Here we have a very hardworking Sunbeam espresso machine of unknown age, and one of those cold brew pots. Both hot and cold brew seem to be equally stomach friendly.

Those bloody plastic tea bags! I’ve only started to see them in the last couple of years. They don’t compost. Couldn’t they have made them at least with some PLA variant or something so the would? I don’t see what was wrong with paper in the first place though.