Blogcember: Caffeine
Dec. 12th, 2013 07:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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homewardangel asked about my relationship with caffeine.Sometimes, when a woman and a chemical compound love each other very, very much…
Okay, let’s be clear–I’ve been addicted to coffee since I was 13 or so, I have no desire to quit, and I tend not to entirely trust people who don’t drink coffee until they’ve proven conclusively that they’re not lizard aliens. Coffee’s great. I’m a bear until I’ve had my first cup. I searched long and hard for a coffee mug that was of an acceptable size so that I could fill it with a sufficient amount of coffee and not have to keep refilling it, and I’ve finally found the perfect mug. It’s a House Baratheon mead mug. That’s how much coffee I drink before I leave the house every morning.
I am super-picky about coffee as a result of spending a lot of time in Seattle. Fortunately, there’s a really good coffee shop around the block from me that sells fair trade, organic, locally roasted beans. I get their dark roast. I like my coffee strong but not acidic; here on the eastern part of the continent, most roasters seem to misunderstand what dark roast is supposed to take it and burn the shit out of it, Starbucks being the worst but not the only offender.
Weirdly, when I’m desperate and need to go to a chain coffee place, I go for Tim Horton’s over the other ones. Mostly because light roast has more caffeine, and if I’m going to a chain coffee place, it’s because I’m going to pass out if I don’t get coffee now.
I take coffee with milk and sugar.
If I’m working, I tend to not drink coffee after about noon or so, because it does mess with my sleep. Of course, this year I’ve had worse fatigue problems and a stupider schedule, and I discovered the one kind of energy drink that is not gross (Monster’s mocha flavour) and this was a Problem for awhile. At the moment, I’m only using them in dire emergencies because I’m worried about becoming addicted and dying of a heart attack before I’m 40.
I’m not much of a tea drinker, and when I do drink tea, it’s usually herbal. Black tea is growing on me, though. I still can’t convince my body that it has caffeine in it.
I should also add that I constantly struggle with coffeemakers, and haven’t had a coffeemaker I liked in years. I can’t manage things like a French press—it always comes out wrong—and that cold coffee brewing thing just sounds like too much work and why would I want my coffee to be cold? So it’s really got to be drip, and for some reason they don’t make drips like they used to. My current one makes reasonable coffee for one, but try making it for two and it explodes about 75% of the time. But I don’t want to get a new one, because I literally go through three coffeemakers every time I replace an old one.
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Date: 2013-12-12 12:58 pm (UTC)I make my coffee in a French press, but then filter it through a paper drip filter that has been rinsed in hot water. That removes some of the acidity and oils.
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Date: 2013-12-12 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 01:31 pm (UTC)The castro coffee shop always was good for heightening my tastes back in the day. Now I try to steer my pennies to my local woman owned shop, julies tea gardens. I can walk there....
My wife doesn't indulge so its just me I just use a ceramic filter holder and pour. I did get an electric water boiler. That's nice.
My "Squeee coffee" cup is my hands down favorite. But the electric water kettle is the coolest thing:
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Date: 2013-12-12 02:03 pm (UTC)Also, cool squee cups available here!
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Date: 2013-12-12 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 03:19 pm (UTC)I don't drink after 2pm. What is the eye condition if you don't mind me asking?
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Date: 2013-12-12 10:07 pm (UTC)Nice mug! I don't have one, but only because I already have the perfect sized mug.
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Date: 2013-12-12 03:58 pm (UTC)I live in the country with, so I am told, the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world. They make filter coffee spoon-standing strength. But they tend to suck at making espresso.
My favourite type of coffee though is Turkish coffee. But I've not dared try to make it myself yet, though I have the equipment, a parting gift from a Turkish colleague.
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Date: 2013-12-12 10:06 pm (UTC)Turkish coffee is great but I've never managed to make it properly. Also I'd probably give myself a heart attack.
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Date: 2013-12-12 04:04 pm (UTC)-- kore on DW
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Date: 2013-12-12 10:05 pm (UTC)It would be nice if I were less anxious, but I'd really get nothing done and end up making myself miserable. A heightened level of anxiety and caffeine is the only thing overcoming my own tendencies towards inertia.
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Date: 2013-12-13 01:36 am (UTC)Currently I cold-brew my decaf coffee, even in winter—home is the only place I can get a decent iced decaf, because everywhere else puts a shit-ton of ice in their iced coffee, no matter how much I beg and plead—and besides, I can add the concentrate to hot water if I want hot coffee.
I had to cut down on caffeine, BTW, because it was making me literally head-knocking crazy, besides having to go pee all the time—after all, coffee is a diuretic.
(When I have a cup of caffeinated coffee, I just take a melatonin at night so I can sleep; melatonin is available over the counter, and more readily than l-tryptophan.)
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Date: 2013-12-12 04:23 pm (UTC)I don't think I was really addicted until I was 15, and mochas were a gateway drug. So was growing up in a place with lots of Italians, which meant there were Italian style coffee places which were a great place to hang out when we couldn't get into pubs.
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Date: 2013-12-12 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 04:25 am (UTC)I think a lot of people stop at latte, I stayed at small macchiato for years, then switched to long black, then back to small macchiato then to latte (in cafes, at home I have basically a long black with some cold milk).
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Date: 2013-12-13 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 01:45 am (UTC)We do have Long Blacks, which is a the same amount of coffee as an espresso, but with more water poured through it in the machine. This site says that hot water is added to the cup, then a shot of espresso poured into it, but I have never seen that done in any place I worked.
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Date: 2013-12-12 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 05:17 pm (UTC)(I don't have enough patience to do any of those things before I've had some coffee, though.)
My coffee maker is supposed to make 12 "cups" (for values of cup that equal 5 oz) but if I try to make any more than 6, it leaks everywhere. And the coffee is always weak because the water doesn't get hot enough.
I love French Press coffee but my stomach doesn't.
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Date: 2013-12-12 10:01 pm (UTC)My coffee maker is supposed to make 12 "cups" (for values of cup that equal 5 oz) but if I try to make any more than 6, it leaks everywhere.
That's exactly what mine does. Fine if it's just for me, less fine if I have company.
French press makes you sick? I thought I was just making it wrong; every time I've made it, I've felt like I was going to puke.
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Date: 2013-12-12 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 11:14 pm (UTC)Good cuppa
Date: 2013-12-12 05:57 pm (UTC)for Christmasjust because?I took the plunge a few months ago on a Cuisinart model a few months back and I'm loving every cup. Also, there are no paper filters, so you can give yourself some eco-candy!
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Date: 2013-12-12 10:00 pm (UTC)My shitty coffeemaker still has a reusable basket; haven't used paper filters in years.
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Date: 2013-12-12 06:02 pm (UTC)(whether or not i'm actually a reptilian alien is a matter of debate, however.)
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Date: 2013-12-12 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 02:53 am (UTC)it seems like my cover's blown!
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Date: 2013-12-13 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 11:03 pm (UTC)Some of us are made bat-shit anxious by caffeine. I mean, I drink decaf because I like the taste of coffee, but drinking decaf tends to make me even more of a lizard alien to coffee-identified people.
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Date: 2013-12-12 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 04:28 am (UTC)I have all these rules about when and where I can drink coffee, and some people ask if I should just cut it out altogether and I start crawling up walls at the very idea of life without coffee.
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Date: 2013-12-13 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-13 10:08 pm (UTC)