Coffee

[Dr Lobster*]

i think instant coffee tastes like dog shit. i've never been a coffee drinker.

but i purchased my wife an espresso cappuccino maker for christmas and i've really gotten into it. got a mug of illy in front of me as i type.

any coffee drinkers here?

just as an average, if i drank a normal sized mug of espresso illy just before i went to bed, how much longer would you expect it to keep you awake?

i've been drinking 3/4 cups a day and i've been struggling to get to sleep before 3am. (not a problem as i'm on holiday from work)... and i've not had any in the evening after around 8pm and i normally go to bed at 11. perhaps i'm not used to it?

any types of coffee you recommend? i like it strong.

[bilky asko]

Caffeine is a surprisingly strong drug for those not used to it - I once was unwittingly taking cold tablets with caffeine in, and they were keeping me up until 4am when I was going to bed at midnight. I'd imagine that espresso would have a stronger effect than most coffee, hence the issues you're experiencing.

I don't drink coffee, and I only had the first cup of tea I enjoyed in a London café just over a year ago, for the princely sum of 80p (but at no cost to me).

EDIT: That photo of yours is a bit wonky - I'd suggest a new tripod.

[Cache]

I've always been a coffee drinker, and I'm a trained barista. But even though I drink loads, I have to stick to decaf after about 4pm or I stay awake far too long.

On a similar note, I bought a Nespresso macine a few days ago (which takes coffee capsules) - I was expecting it to taste like shite to be honest, but they're actually really good. So much easier to clean, and a lot faster.

[DVB Cornwall]

Four or five mugs of Gold Blend a day, 1.5 slightly heaped teaspoons per mug, plus either a Starbucks, Costa or M&S Cafe Latte when I am out in a City or Town. Usually have last around 8pm, unless I've been out at a meeting or event in the evening, when I'll almost always have one when I get home.

Sleep not usually an issue.

[bilky asko]

Four or five mugs of Gold Blend a day, 1.5 slightly heaped teaspoons per mug, plus either a Starbucks, Costa or M&S Cafe Latte when I am out in a City or Town. Usually have last around 8pm, unless I've been out at a meeting or event in the evening, when I'll almost always have one when I get home.

Sleep not usually an issue.

Yes, but you gave up sleep back in 1989. Some of us haven't risen to that level of homeostasis.

[Dr Lobster*]

it must just be me not being used to the caffeine - i do drink a lot of tea (on a "bad" day, more than 10 cups), never normally have any problems sleeping, but i do find i need a wee in the night a few times if i drink that much, that's the only problem but on average i suppose i have 5 cups of tea a day. two tea bags in the morning cup.

and bilky, the reason is the photo is on the wonk is because of the configuration of our kitchen, which, well, it drives me crazy and i wanted to hide the clutter



when not in use it fits nice and snugly under the boiler which you can see top left, but there isn't space to use it very easily with all the various bits you need out when you're using it.

[bilky asko]

and bilky, the reason is the photo is on the wonk is because of the configuration of our kitchen, which, well, it drives me crazy and i wanted to hide the clutter



when not in use it fits nice and snugly under the boiler which you can see top left, but there isn't space to use it very easily with all the various bits you need out when you're using it.

Glad to see your tripod's fixed.

I hear that coffee machines take up more room in use the more complex they are - a basic Nescafé Dolce Gusto takes up nothing; a Franke or La Cimbali machine requires at least two kitchen islands.

[Andrew Wood]

Four or five mugs of Gold Blend a day, 1.5 slightly heaped teaspoons per mug, plus either a Starbucks, Costa or M&S Cafe Latte when I am out in a City or Town. Usually have last around 8pm, unless I've been out at a meeting or event in the evening, when I'll almost always have one when I get home.

Sleep not usually an issue.

Cannot start the day without a cup of Gold Blend. So much so into the routine, that this morning I automatically went to the fridge and poured milk into my hot Beechams powders that were replacing the usual coffee...

I'll also have a worrying number of cups during the day - be it Kenco from the freebie machine in the staff room or Gold Blend at home.

However in the evenings, whilst coffee doesn't stop me sleeping at all, it'll be a glass* of beer or wine.

It's strange how tastes change: when I lived abroad, I would always drink 'proper' coffee from ground beans, rather than instant, always black and no sugar. But back in England, it's back on the Nescafé Gold Blend with skimmed milk (still no sugar.)


* The singular may be inaccurate.

[Nick Harvey]

Always coffee, never tea here. I think my last cup of tea was somewhen in the sixties. Even the smell of tea makes me feel sick now and I can even tell if somebody uses a spoon to stir their tea and then uses it in my coffee.

None of the 'fancy' stuff though. I much prefer normal, boring Nescafe instant. I used to drink half a dozen or more mugs a day, but rarely have more than three now. The last is usually about 7pm.

I don't get problems sleeping. Similar to Andrew, I sink the last coffee deep down under a wine or few during the evening to make sure there isn't a problem.

[lukey]

Every morning, I have a grotty mug of instant (2.5 tsps) at home in a bid to make me vaguely human, even though it tastes like bitter piss. If my travelling Bodum isn't in ruin, it's a minor upgrade to pre-ground 'real' coffee. After that, it's freshly-ground Americanos at work (roughly a double shot every 90 minutes from 8am until about 3pm), at which point I usually stop for the day just as the heart palpitations start up.

I'm somewhat dependent on it to stay lucid during a work day, but wouldn't call myself addicted. At weekends or holidays etc. I can go weeks without much/any caffeine without noticing. Seems to be dictated by context/habit as much as anything. But when our coffee machine is on the blink at work, I do get a bit crabbit.

EDIT: Following the sleep chat, although my routine is normally to stop caffeinating by 4pm, even if I'm drinking coffee (usually instant) up until 11ish, I can still pass out within an hour of drinking it. I only really get a discernible 'buzz' from the coffees which bookend my morning commute.

[tillyoshea]

Much like the good Doctor, I cannot stand ordinary instant coffee, but I do enjoy a "proper" coffee. To me, instant doesn't actually taste anything like coffee - I guess it's one of those odd differences in the way people taste things, but the two taste unrecognisably different to me. All told, I'd say I typically have a couple of espressos and a couple of strong lattes a day, and don't have any trouble sleeping.

I recently acquired a Nespresso machine which provides surprisingly good results - to me, it tastes better than most coffee shop efforts I've been served - though I know coffee purists scoff at the fact that the coffee isn't fresh and so forth.

I also enjoy tea now and again. And at work, I occasionally have an "Instant Latte" (either Morrisons or Nescafe), which tastes nothing like coffee but serves quite nicely as a comforting hot, sweet drink.