Obsessive Coffee Fetishes

[brechin]

I asked her why she did it. "It's obvious! The place where the lid and cup seam meet is usually leaky, so you want it on the other side!" "Yes!!" I replied. "And this alignment allows you to feel where the lid opening is with your hand -- without looking!" "Of course!" she said, as if all right-minded people simply know this.

Chris - you are exactly right! A few years ago, I tried drinking from a few misaligned lids that leaked all over the place. After a couple tries I figured out that the opposing seam/opening placement is best. I wish I knew that before getting coffee all over the place.

[Susie Q]

Nirvana for me is Diedrich Sumatra full roast, french pressed, served in a bowl to keep my hands warm. My first bowl is 1/2 and 1/2 with whole milk to get my daily calcium, after that it's black. I'm not a coffee snob. If it's good, it's good. Who cares where it came from. I have on occasion taken my own electric tea pot, french press, bowls, and coffee when traveling.

I've been drinking coffee since I was three years old (got started with coffee milk on a camp out)and can drink it hot or cold. I'll also drink it slightly sweetened and with cream once in a great, great while. I don't mind arab coffee that is flavored with cardamon, BUT NEVER will I drink flavored coffee. YUCK!

I fully understand the 180 degree sip hole/seam thing. I've had it drip on me too.

Edited January 11, 2011 by Susie Q (log)

[Mjx]

I think in most NYC diners and corner sandwich shops (AKA "delis," which doesn't necessarily mean "Jewish delis" in New York as it would in many other U.S. cities), a "regular" would be a coffee with milk and two sugars in a blue paper cup with an image of the Parthenon in white (AKA a "Partho cup")....

Ugh. I found that out the hard way, when I once (and only once) ordered a 'regular' coffee in NYC, thinking it would have to mean 'plain'.

And, my particular coffee fetish is that it cannot contain any dairy product or facsimile thereof, as I find such substances disgusting in coffee. Seriously: I can drink virtually any coffee, with any flavouring in it (raspberry? in coffee? ridiculous, but okay, whatever...), at any temperature, with any amount of sugar, and be philosophical about it. I think I could even handle salt in my coffee; I know, to my mild sorrow, that I can handle pepper in it (this involved a very strange mistake). But dairy in coffee renders it undrinkable to me: I find caffé latte entirely incomprehensible. If I'm feeling exhausted or otherwise enfeebled, even the smell of coffee with dairy in it makes me feel queasy.

(I do have actual standards, but I drink so much coffee made by others that I'm pretty tolerant of less-than-perfection.)

[Toliver]

I am an iced coffee lover as well...

My brother loves iced coffee because he can consume it quicker than when it's hot...get that caffeine in ASAP.

My SIL got mad at me when I suggested he take his "leftover" brewed coffee and make coffee ice cubes out of it. That way, when he makes his iced coffee with the coffee ice cubes, he won't be diluting it with ice cubes made from water.

My SIL still shoots me dirty looks whenever the subject of his iced coffee arises.

[haresfur]

Yesterday, I went to our local breakfast place (Phenix Square Restaurant) to get a sack of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and a coffee to go. When I got there, I realized something astonishing: for the first time in my life, the server had put the lid on the coffee cup correctly, so that the lid opening was at six o'clock, directly across from the cup's seam at twelve o'clock.

I asked her why she did it. "It's obvious! The place where the lid and cup seam meet is usually leaky, so you want it on the other side!" "Yes!!" I replied. "And this alignment allows you to feel where the lid opening is with your hand -- without looking!" "Of course!" she said, as if all right-minded people simply know this.

Not the best picture, but note the text at the top of the lid:

[Shel_B]

Cream!

I usually drink coffee black, but every now and then I'd like some cream in it. Many coffee bars offer "cream" that is really half-and-half. Some offer a variety of "whiteners," such as half-and-half, whole and skim milk, soy milk, etc., but not real cream.

I might be asked if I'd like cream with the coffee, but often it's half-and-half that's being offered.

So, my peeve is that other items are described as cream, and that real cream is very difficult to find in a coffee shop. There are only three places that I know of in Berkeley that offer real cream, and two offer manufacturing cream All the other shops I've visited offer ersatz cream.

[pastrygirl]

One sugar and a splash of milk. Half and half if milk is too hard to come by (i.e if I'm making espresso at work and there is no milk in the bar fridge and I don't feel like going downstairs to the walk-in), but not too much or it will be too rich. Heavy cream? Ugh, way too rich, I don't know how people can drink that!

[Zachary]

Oh boy!

In the morning: I have about a dozen mugs, of which my favorites are from Calistoga Pottery (though my Heart Roasters mug is nice). They're handleless, but beautiful, and they'll teach you to not fill the mug all the way full. Beans are from Catalina Coffee in Houston, ordered every two weeks. Burr grinder, good water (we have to have a whole house filter and softener out here). My biggest thing though is the proper ratio. 6 grams of coffee beans in 100 grams of 202-205 degree water. The goal is to get brewing done in 3 minutes. Most coffee goes into a thermal carafe. Drunk black, and hot.

Thanks,

Zachary

[David A. Goldfarb]

I just bought an Espro Calibrated Espresso Tamper. It does help me make more consistent espresso, but it feels obsessive and fetishistic.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Cariamanga-Vilcabamba blend, medium roast, fresh ground, in a Moka pot, and into a checkerboard ceramic mug with a splash of whole milk. I will accept no substitutes in my home.

Outside of home, I won't drink coffee unless it's essencia in hot full-fat milk.

[highchef]

There is only one coffee. Community coffee, medium roast. That is all.

This is the only way to go in the morning, down to the brand and roast!

Even at $7.29/lb...

[Lindacakes]

Well, really, a proper cup of coffee is espresso served at a bar in Italy, while you are standing up, contains a sugar, and is followed by a small glass of water. Repeat whenever you are flagging.

For me, a cup of coffee is not served in a paper cup and is never carried around like a child's sippy cup. I don't know when this fetish started, but I wish it would stop.

Since I am unfortunate enough not to live in Italy, and addicted to coffee on a daily basis, I have to compromise.

Moka pot, Illy fine grind espresso. Probably more sugar than most people like. Served in a Johnson Bros. commemorative cup with the Empire State Building on it, in bed. Followed by a glass of water. Don't repeat if you can help it. Mainly because the Johnson Bros. cup is two and a half Italian portions . . .

[rotuts]

if you really wish to be a student of coffee, you will eventually roast your own.

night and day. its actually very easy.

but thats the first step and a key one.

then there is the grinder etc.

look here and read about it:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/index.php

ive been doing this for about 10 years. its not difficult

but probably only for those who have had the 'perfect cup' and not recently.

[C. sapidus]

My main coffee fetish has to do with warming the thermos that I bring to work. The process has grown more elaborate over the years to include countercurrent heat exchange and my morning oatmeal. It probably makes a minor contribution to global warming, but I will trade the future of our planet for steaming-hot coffee in the late afternoon.

[tikidoc]

if you really wish to be a student of coffee, you will eventually roast your own.

night and day. its actually very easy.

Agreed. And sweetmarias.com is both a great source of information and green beans.

After going for a couple of years without roasting because my drum roaster died (despite meticulous cleaning and care) after a couple of years, I recently got back into it using the heat gun method (google heat gun dog bowl coffee roasting). $35 for a heat gun at Lowes vs $500 for another drum roaster, seemed worth a try. It has worked great. Yes, I have to sit and stir rather than having the machine do the work, but I can see, smell, and most importantly, hear the beans as they roast, and I have so much more control of the process. And as long as the kids don't distract me, causing me to stop stirring and burn some beans, I can get a very good, even roast in under 15 minutes.

And green beans are much more economical than pre-roasted. Find some you like, buy a bunch (much cheaper), and roast once a week or so.

[weinoo]

Roasting your own is a great coffee fetish to have; that is, IF you can roast your own.

But, since I can't, I stick with coffee that I buy, usually from Stumptown, Counter Culture, Intellegentsia, Blue Bottle, or one of the other high-end purveyors, and always within a few (i.e. less than 3 or 4) days of their being roasted.

[tikidoc]

Roasting your own is a great coffee fetish to have; that is, IF you can roast your own.

Not to be argumentative, but almost anyone CAN roast their own coffee. Not saying everyone should, if you have no desire to do so and like what you can buy, great. But if you want to roast your own, it is easy to do with a little knowledge and under $50 worth of equipment, some or all of which you likely already own. Many have had satisfactory results with just a stovetop "Whirley-Pop" type popcorn pan, or one of the air popcorn roasters. The heat gun method that I use requires a heat gun which can be purchased for about $30 (pays for itself due to the lower cost of green beans compared to similar quality roasted beans), a metal bowl, a wooden spoon, and about 15 minutes (less when the weather is warmer).

[threestars]

It has to be BLACK. It has to be HOT. And it has to be in my hand within 3 minutes of waking up. After that I can get very fussy.

I love doing this one! I am also not a fan of hot coffee at coffee shops in to-go mugs(those paper cup things). I want it in a mug. It has to be in a real mug.