Subject line courtesy of the Beastie Boys.

I didn't even drink coffee until I met The Smoker. Now I have one cup of hazelnut with whole milk, and for the rest of the day it's either decaf (with milk and cream, since our decaf sucks) or tea, because my parents are caffeine addicts and I know that is a scary path to go down.

Spread the coffee (or tea) love.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Answers

Ooh, delurking for the first time here. Because of the coffee, you see.

Wawa (local convenience store). 16 ounce. Half chocolate macademia nut, half regular, no cream, no sugar, not ever. Then I make a pot of the regular cheap brand at the office and work on it all day.

Though it's once again time for Girl Scout cookies, which means lots of tea to dunk my shortbread in. And again, nothing added to the tea. Just very strong.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Mmmm. Coffee.

I love my sugar with coffee and cream. People (like my relatives, natch) make fun of how much sugar I put in my coffee.

That's why I am drinking it and you aren't, punky. Man.

I'm not a snob about coffee; I love all kinds, even bad coffee. Even instant. I just heart coffee. We're best buds.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Stef! Hi! Welcome!!! love the Stef, y'all.

My coffee has to be strong and black (like my men), but that's so I can add two creams and a sugar. Real sugar and real cream, please... although I'll accept whole milk instead of half-and-half. Those powdered creamers belong in the same place as artificial sweeteners: Satan's Break Room. I'm convinced they cause cancer... I'm thinking about letting someone know.

Currently, I am the luckiest employee in the whole world. My new boss is also my best college pal, and she is a coffee snob. She only drinks coffee made in a percolator, and ground fresh daily right here in her kitchen from the organic beans she buys at Whole Foods weekly. I offered to bring some coffee and she recoiled in horror for a minute, worried I would buy the wrong stuff. She thanked me politely but shook her head vehemently. I didn't really want to spend another $10 a week on a bad habit anyway.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I don't drink coffee very often, and it depends on where I"m getting it. Starbucks et al = latte with skim milk and vanilla. At work, just black with skim milk. Sometimes sugar if I'm feeling sassy, but then only like half a packet.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I should've titled this "Fifty cups of coffee and you know it's on!" Selective memory gets me every time.

I can't do the sugar, y'all. It's milk/cream or nothing. The idea of sweetening coffee or tea -- in any form -- is not for me (I don't even drink sweet iced tea. That's the Yankee in me, I guess).

The Smoker thinks Cain's is ambrosia.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I'm a tea lover. Nothing in it. I like the loose stuff that comes in the cute little tins. Mostly because it tastes good. English and Irish Breakfast are my faves. Pet peeve: I hate it when people take the bag out of my tea. I drink with it in because I like it really strong.

Coffee is okay. Black, no sugar.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I make the best coffee (which must be Community, and in which the spoon must stand on its own) in the whole land. Bet five thousand.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

You know I love you, AB, but sometimes you forget that I make the best coffee in all the land.

But I don't have the five grand to bet.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I rarely drink coffee anymore because it makes my tummy sad but Einstein's Bagels' Holiday Blend is oh, so good.

My daily caffeinne intake is via a Starbucks grande non-fat caramel macchiato with shots on the bottom. My concession to the "cut out caffeinne if you are trying to conceive" bitches is to cut out the third shot I used to get. Trust me, no baby wants a non-caffeinated me for a mama.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I only just started drinking coffee at the end of last year. Why did no one tell me that convenience store cappuccino was so gooooood?

I like lots of sugar in regular coffee, with a dollop of half n' half. How did I ever drive without coffee? How did I ever hang out at night without coffee? How did I ever eat dessert without coffee?

By the way, I'll share the Wawa love, but there ain't no love like my love for Sheetz.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Coffee. The more the better. Always black with no sugar. This is going to sound wierd, but I love coffee so much that I stopped being an addict to the caffeine. The reasoning is simple. The coffee in my office sucks. So instead of being completely miserable sucking down bad coffee just to get the caffeine, I broke the habit so I could only drink good coffee. Which means more trips to the Caribou Coffee (which kicks ass, by the way), but the quality factor is way up these days.

On a side note; Robyn, I share the Sheetz love. It was the only place open after 11pm in the tiny little Pennsylvania town where I went to college. It would have been impossible to have survived college without that crazy convinence store. All Hail Sheetz!!

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Besides convenience store coffee, I have a weakness for diner coffee. Something about those thick white mugs makes it taste better. Or maybe that's the cigarette I'm smoking with it.

Oh, and then there's dipping a chocolate bar in the coffee so it melts, just a little bit, and...yum. Caffeine and sugar in one happy package!

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Anna Beth's coffee is the best in the whole wide world!

and she didn't just threaten me if I didn't come over here and say that, no she didn't....

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

AB is right about Community. And if you can see through your coffee? You didn't make it right.

That is all.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I drink coffee, decaf, because it's not a pretty thing when I get too much caffeine in my system. I can't concentrate and talk endlessly. One guy I used to work with got me going on Chinese restaurant tea and laughed and laughed when I could. not. shut. up.

Since decaf coffee generally sucks, I spent a lot of time and money finding the perfect decaf. I've settled on Peet's. I order from their website. Sure it costs $16 a pound with shipping, but it's only once a month.

I carry it to work it my Stanley thermos. It's the kind the construction workers carry. My husband gave me a hard time about it when I bought it. I can't carry those cheap plastic ones with the glass bottle. I ALWAYS break them.

My coffee tastes are counter to some hard core coffee drinkers here. I like it a little on the weak side with two packets of sugar and Coffee Mate. I admit it. I LIKE the taste of Coffee Mate. There's no accounting for taste sometimes.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I buy my cup every morning at Playas Las Tunas, across the street. I always think I should make it myself, but washing the coffeemaker afterwards is always such a pain. Plus mine never tastes as good as theirs does.

And word on the diner coffee. I used to stop at the Paris Coffee Shop in Ft. Worth every morning on my way to high school for several cups of Cain's. It is the magic of the thick cup, I tell you.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

A must for ForumCon: an AB/Mike coffee-making face-off.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I used to drink coffee when I was younger, but somehow "quit" seeing as I only drank it at restaurants with dessert. now I no longer eat at restaurants cause I dislike eating in front of people (y'all it's a fear. sorry. I either get take out, order in, or eat at home). I used to have it with 2 cremes/3 sugar packets though. always. well, almost always. if the cup was extra smaaall, I'd go for 2 sugar packets if I had to. my cousin made me do 4 once and I almost gagged. horrible. like pure melted sugar...blech.

I drink tea every night now though ...strong and a teaspoon of sugar - it's best with wheat crackers dunked in it. my term for the texture is 'mooshky'...heh

is it bad that at Stahbucks, I usually get an orange italian soda? :P

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Anyone have a cap/espresso machine? Like, not the Krups two-cup variety or something of that ilk. I used to work in a coffee bar and making drinks was mucho fun. Unfortunately, there was also the bookkeeping, ordering, and trying to look busy part.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Banducci's (or whatever little local expresso place is in the town I am currently in...I am anti starbucks!) Coconut Brave, make it a double, and make it iced. Yummmmmmmmm.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I have never understood the appeal of iced coffee. To me, it isn't coffee unless it scalds the roof of your mouth. Cold coffee? No, thank you.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Jessa, I have an Athena Barrista from Starbucks, the top of the line of their home machines. It kicks ass but I must admit that lately I've been sending rog out on the weekends instead of using it, mainly cause I want caramel macchiatos and I can't make that at home until I pick up some more caramel sauce and vanilla syrup.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Hot coffee certainly does have its place in my world, if its just regular old coffee, it absolutely can not be iced, but Braves just have to be iced for some reason. Also, keep in mind, when I am in a place to need to have a double shot brave, its generally 110 degrees and I feel like a hot cup of coffee would just add to the melting effect.

*goes to find coffee now*

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Julie, you just haven't had the right kind of iced coffee, that's all. My favorite kind of iced coffee--refrigerated espresso and milk, with a half a shot of vanilla, over a huge cupful of ice? Mmmm. It's like a white russian, except with caffeine instead of booze.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Iced coffee? So good. If only they'd open a PJ's in Atlanta - I'd have a Granita every day.

Now, what are y'all's feelings on chicory?

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Me + chicory = Love.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I have to agree. But AB. I swear by French Market in the white can - I use Community only if the white can isn't available.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

In the interest of science, I would be willing to let all of you make iced coffee for me so that I could experimentally drink it and decide which is best, and whether hot coffee is still the way to go. I'm sacrificial like that.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

This iced coffee w/ vanilla thing... is that regular old vanilla in your kitchen cabinet or is the vanilla flavored syrup stuff specifically intended for coffee? Sounds yum! When I was pregnant I drank this stuff called teccino. It was a health food type stuff that I believe had chicory in it along with some other natural stimulants. It looked, smelled, and tasted very similar to coffee. I got an espresso/cappucino maker as a wedding gift 9 years ago. When I opened it, I saw it came with a video, so I immediately packed it back up in the box. I have never used it.

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2002

Slickery - I am SOOOO on the Caramel Macchiato page with you!! I have a Starbucks less than a mile from my house and it takes every bit of willpower to not treat myself every day!! I take my Venti Caramel Macchiato skim with 1 extra shot and extra caramel.

Regular coffee-wise, I am a flavored coffee type of gal. I brew it myself in my good old Mr Coffee but it is usually freshly ground beans that were ground in a Burr grinder. I prefer real cream with a Sweet & Low...I know, I know, artificial sweetners, what am I thinking? Well, my Dad always took his coffee light with Sweet & Low and when I was a kid, he would let me finish the 1/2 of his second cup of coffee on Sundays. I don't mind sugar in coffee but it seems crazy to me to have to put in that much sugar to get it as sweet as my one Sweet & Low does.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002