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Coffee?

Started by CosmoKramer Jan 11, 2005 at 10:51 AM 40 replies 7.4k views

Original Post

Jan 11, 2005 at 10:51 AM

How many people here need caffeine in the morning to start their day? Or late at night when working on your programming assignments? I dont really like the taste of coffee. The instant stuff smells like shit and tastes worse. The expensive fancy percolated stuff usually smells amazing, but the taste is still not great in my opinion. So Im trying to compose a list of pros/cons between coffee and caffeine pills Coffee Pros ------------ some like the taste (not me though) Coffee Cons ----------- hot / spillable / not very portable makes you have to go to the bathroom tastes shitty unless you have the fancy stuff Caffeine Pills Pros ------------------- portable, easy exact amount of caffeine ( can get pills that equal .5, 1, 2, 3 etc cups of coffee) Caffeine Pills Cons ------------------- can be expensive (?) It looks like the only thing coffee has going for it is the taste, and I dont like the taste so caffeine pills sound better to me. Can anyone think of any other items to add to any of the 4 lists above? Like is there some big thing im forgetting? For example do caffeine pills give you cancer or something like that?

benryves

Jan 11, 2005 at 10:54 AM

Coffee? Here's the solution: a nice hot cup of tea.

MadKeithV

Jan 11, 2005 at 10:57 AM

Instant coffee is to coffee what strawberry-flavoured candy is to real strawberries.

Percolate! But try Robusta variety coffee. Most coffee sold is Arabica variety, which tastes a hell of a lot stronger (and is therefore considered "better"). Robusta is hard to find, because it's considered an inferior alternative, but I think it has its own merits. It's a lot more tea-like in flavour, very mild, nice if you're going on multiple-litre coffee benders ;).

Scint

Jan 11, 2005 at 10:58 AM

I've heard that eating a fresh apple in the morning is as effective in getting you energy as a cup of coffee. For me, I am usually wide awake and focused in the morning. It's the afternoons when I get tired and need a soda.

Perfunction

Jan 11, 2005 at 11:04 AM

good coffee is amazing...i think one of my favorite drinks of any type is a white chocolate mocha.

i drink coffee/pop/tea because its good. i have tried caffeine pills but no matter what form it comes in i cannot notice the effects of caffeine.

owl

Jan 11, 2005 at 11:13 AM

Good coffe is a must every morning of my life. If it is expresso, I don't put sugar on it. If it is from filter, I need sugar with it.

Estese

Jan 11, 2005 at 11:15 AM

Ritalin == Coffee * 1000

Sandman

Jan 11, 2005 at 11:16 AM

Coffee is definitely an acquired taste. I used to hate it, but I'd drink it anyway from time to time because it's free at work, and there are some mornings when I really needed help waking up.

After drinking enough of it, I actually enjoy it now. Black, no sugar.

gpalin

Jan 11, 2005 at 12:12 PM

Quote:
Original post by Sandman
Coffee is definitely an acquired taste. I used to hate it, but I'd drink it anyway from time to time because it's free at work, and there are some mornings when I really needed help waking up.

After drinking enough of it, I actually enjoy it now. Black, no sugar.

That's exactly the way it was for me too! I didn't like coffee until I was working on my co-op job this recent summer. I tried the lounge coffee - not too bad. And my coworkers and I would sometimes go to a coffee shop nearby for a morning pick-me-up and a chat.

I got a coffee press for Christmas (this recent), and I love being able to make my own coffee in the morning. I'm the type that needs a jump-start after getting up, and a cup or two of coffee does the trick.

Supposedly coffee tastes better when it's from a press rather than a machine or pot...?

kSquared

Jan 11, 2005 at 12:15 PM

Strangely enough, I love the smell of coffee beans (particularly in the grocery store bag-your-own section) and the taste of coffee ice cream. Coffee itself, however, I cannot abide. As new-age and hippy as this sounds, I view addiction or chemical dependence (however slight) on an outside substance as something to be avoided. After all, would you want to be dependent on a third-party vendor for the quality and performance of your own software? ;)

evolutional

Jan 11, 2005 at 1:23 PM

Quote:
Original post by Sandman
After drinking enough of it, I actually enjoy it now. Black, no sugar.

Black no sugar is the only way. I have a caffetire (sp?) and get the Dowe Egberts Dark Roast - brilliant. Wouldn't wanna spoil that with milk and sugar.

NLDEV

Jan 11, 2005 at 1:26 PM

Quote:
Original post by evolutional
Quote:
Original post by Sandman
After drinking enough of it, I actually enjoy it now. Black, no sugar.

Black no sugar is the only way.

Same--milk and sugar just destroy the coffee's taste. I'd only consider using those with instant coffee or even a cheap drip machine. I wouldn't dream of it when I'm brewing some nice coffee with a french press, though.

CosmoKramer

Jan 11, 2005 at 1:27 PM

It sounds like no one really likes the taste of coffee, and the only reason they drink it is because they were 'forced' to drink it a few times, and got addicted to it, so now it seems like it tastes good.

Thats not what I want. I dont really like the taste, and I dont want to force myself to like it by getting addicted to it.

Anyway, were kind of missing the point of my post. Im not taking a survey of who likes coffee, because I already know there are lots of you.

I just want to know people's take on caffeine pills. Given that I dont like the taste of coffee, is it reasonable to take caffiene pills in the morning instead to get my morning jolt? Since they are just caffeine, they cant be worse for you than coffee, can they?

Perfunction:

Quote:

good coffee is amazing...i think one of my favorite drinks of any type is a white chocolate mocha.

i drink coffee/pop/tea because its good. i have tried caffeine pills but no matter what form it comes in i cannot notice the effects of caffeine.

Thats interesting. Your saying that the caffeine pill didnt wake you up at all, or make you more alert, or any of the other effects of coffee?

I dont suppose you remember the brand name of the pill? Or better yet, how many mgs of caffeine they had?

Thanks all.

c-gibson-s

Jan 11, 2005 at 2:21 PM

I had coffee one time and cant stand it. It smells great but is just ew tasting.

For a little bit of get-n-go in the morning i drink a diet pepsi or two, which has a ridonkulous amount of caffiene..or at least to me.

Red bull or bawls would be good except they are crap expensive..but usually we have a couple after a late night lan :)

PumpkinPieman

Jan 11, 2005 at 2:27 PM

If you're talking about straight coffee then I'll agree with you, it's much to bitter for my liking. However I take my coffee with tripple creme and a single sugar, so it dulls down that bitterness a lot. Tim Hortons seems to make a really great batch of coffee, so I try and get a Tims coffee as much as I can. :)

If you're desperate to stay awake, starbucks has an awesome brew. :)

the_dannobot

Jan 11, 2005 at 2:31 PM

Yeah, I used to not like the taste of coffee either.

I started drinking it when I got a job at a military installation that "distilled" their own water, straight from the Mississippi River. The water actually had a green tint right out of the faucet. Needless to say, the only way to kill the taste was to to brew a big pot of motor oil and drink it black.

So, yeah, I drank military-grade coffee all day, and I'm still hooked on the stuff. I'm a total zombie all day if I don't get caffiene.

jperalta

Jan 11, 2005 at 2:35 PM

I read an interesting article in the local newspaper recently about caffeine and its effects on humans, particularly related to addiction. You can find the link here.

Rhaal

Jan 11, 2005 at 2:40 PM

Quote:
Original post by CosmoKramer
Coffee Pros
------------
some like the taste (not me though)

Coffee Cons
-----------
hot / spillable / not very portable
makes you have to go to the bathroom
tastes shitty unless you have the fancy stuff

Caffeine Pills Pros
-------------------
portable, easy
exact amount of caffeine ( can get pills that equal .5, 1, 2, 3 etc cups of coffee)

Caffeine Pills Cons
-------------------
can be expensive (?)

It looks like the only thing coffee has going for it is the taste, and I dont like the taste so caffeine pills sound better to me.

The problem with your pro/con lists is that you use too many abstract opinions.

--taste, portable, easy, expensive--

Here's my list:

Coffee Pros- Hot drink in the cold morning.- Portable.- Unique flavor.- Flavor variety.Coffee Cons- Requires preparation.- Hurts on the crotch.- Fills your bladder.- Unique flavor might not be enjoyable.Pill Pros- Requires no preparation.- Quick and easy.- Portable.- Taken with a drink you like.- Can measure exact amount.Pill Cons- Can measure too much very easily and die.- Uses a measuring system based on it's supperior (coffee).- Diuretic effect worse than with coffee.- Addiction to simplicity of the pill.- Then the seizures start.- And your eyes turn yellow.- And you get F*D up.- Just like my cousin.

Rhaal

Jan 11, 2005 at 2:44 PM

Quote:
Original post by kSquared
...
Coffee itself, however, I cannot abide. As new-age and hippy as this sounds, I view addiction or chemical dependence (however slight) on an outside substance as something to be avoided. After all, would you want to be dependent on a third-party vendor for the quality and performance of your own software? ;)

If you really want to do that and it works for you, then more power to you. That's awesome. However...

What good is it to die knowing you couldn't enjoy a cup of java because you felt a 'dependency' link to it? You alone define your relationships with objects you interact with. If *enjoying* a beverage is a 'chemical dependency' to you, then avoid it.

I'd rather enjoy my coffee and die sooner than live an extra 5 years as a senile old man telling kids not to drink coffee so they can be like me :)

Strife

Jan 11, 2005 at 2:48 PM

Quote:
Original post by CosmoKramer
It sounds like no one really likes the taste of coffee, and the only reason they drink it is because they were 'forced' to drink it a few times, and got addicted to it, so now it seems like it tastes good.

Lots of people actually like the taste of coffee. I am one of them. I remember liking it when I was about 8 or so (whenever I first sipped some of my parents').

Also, keep in mind that an acquired taste does not mean that you must get addicted to something before you like it. It just means that the more you have it, the more you start to like it (I'm sure we could perform a controlled experiment with decaffeinated coffee and find that people would still eventually like the taste).

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