Obsessive Coffee Fetishes

[Chris Amirault]

but my question still is, they put it in BEFORE they hand it to you? Or they give you a creamer and a pack of sugar with it?

Sorry: yes, they add it for you unless you ask for stuff on the side.

Speaking of which, if you're ever short on heavy cream and the stores are closed, you can always go to Dunkin Donuts and ask for an "extra extra extra light -- but don't add the cream," and they'll give you a separate cup with about, well, a cup of cream in it.

[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.

...

Nice post! I'm left handed so I like the seam at 2:00 where my fingers wrap nicely around it while getting all the benefits you state. But I swear the default is usually exactly wrong.

Here the standard coffee orders are "flat white" "flat black" "cappuchino" or "mocha". For take away they will ask about the sugar. For drink in cappuchino or mocha always comes with a spoon so you can eat the foam first (yum!). Even in Maccas (McDonalds) where I'm sitting right now.

[heidih]

I did not witness this one but my sister assures me it is true. She now refuses to go to a coffee place with one of her friends because the girl asks for the milk in her latte to be at a specific temperature and will argue and reject the cup if she deems it too high or low.

[andiesenji]

I have just a few minutes to read and post but thought I would mention someone who I met this morning while volunteering at my local polling place.

This was one of the other vols., who took exception to the coffee, declaring it "cheap, filthy, trash" and the fact that it was prepared for the volunteers was insulting.

Well, it did come out of a Farmer Brothers can but it was freshly ground, good quality coffee beans from Trader Joe's and everyone else, including me, had pronounced it very good.

This person also was critical of both the powdered creamer and the half & half (also from Trader Joe's)- she wanted Land-O-Lakes Non-Fat 1/2 & 1/2 - also the disposable cups (cardboard, not styrofoam) and apparently the way the doughnuts had been arranged.

She departed after less than an hour as she had "an important appointment" even though, like the rest of us, she had signed on to work a certain number of hours.

Of course her complaints about the coffee did not stop her from drinking two cups of coffee while she was present, eating three doughnuts and taking a full cup and a doughnut with her when she left.

Obsessive with reservations, I guess...

Edited November 2, 2010 by andiesenji (log)

[pastameshugana]

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.

Yes! Yes a million times over! My father taught me the 'proper' way to put a lid on a coffee cup when I was a wee little bean sprout ordering hot chocolate, and I have since indoctrinated my wife and three of my four kids (#4 isn't crawling yet).

Of course - everyone thinks we're crazy - but it's really everyone else who is so crazy (uncaring? unkind?) as to not pay attention to proper disposable coffee cup lid etiquette.

[scubadoo97]

again my obsession is no lid unless walking with the cup.

[Borgstrom]

My wife likes half and half in hers and the only thing about it that I think unique is she puts the half and half in the mug than pours the coffee on top. No stirring necessary that way.

I do the same thing. I think it keeps the coffee warmer than that stirring business, and I swear I can taste the wood of wooden stirrers.

+1

Save the planet. Cream in cup first, then coffee.

[kayb]

And while you are there, try the rethermalized donuts! Yes, they are just as bad as they sound!

"Rethermalized"? I believe that one belongs on the "culinary apocalypse" thread. Or at least the "death of the English language as we know it" thread.

Rethermalized. That just makes my eyelashes hurt.

[scubadoo97]

My wife likes half and half in hers and the only thing about it that I think unique is she puts the half and half in the mug than pours the coffee on top. No stirring necessary that way.

I do the same thing. I think it keeps the coffee warmer than that stirring business, and I swear I can taste the wood of wooden stirrers.

+1

Save the planet. Cream in cup first, then coffee.

yes that's how we do it. My wife like creamer in her coffee. Never need a spoon using the creamer first method.

Edited November 4, 2010 by scubadoo97 (log)

[andiesenji]

My wife likes half and half in hers and the only thing about it that I think unique is she puts the half and half in the mug than pours the coffee on top. No stirring necessary that way.

I do the same thing. I think it keeps the coffee warmer than that stirring business, and I swear I can taste the wood of wooden stirrers.

+1

Save the planet. Cream in cup first, then coffee.

Lordy, talk about obsessive fetishes. Let's hope that the folks who like coffee this way don't run into a similar thing that has long occupied tea fan(atics).

Sometime after the turn of the last century there was some brouhaha about "Milk in First" and "Milk in Last" and the supposed "harm" there might be because it wasn't "sanitary." Or some such nonsense.

My great grandmother, a very aristocratic Victorian lady considered that to be some kind of idiocy because she preferred having the milk in her cup first because it mixed well and it was safer for her delicate bone china cups. The milk was always warmed but not hot.

The milk we had was actually more like what we know today as half & half as it was from Jersey cows and the butterfat content was much higher.

Anyway, I like the cream in my coffee first and I like it warmed and I know exactly how much cream is in my coffee this way because I can see the level in the cup.

[David A. Goldfarb]

And while you are there, try the rethermalized donuts! Yes, they are just as bad as they sound!

"Rethermalized"? I believe that one belongs on the "culinary apocalypse" thread. Or at least the "death of the English language as we know it" thread.

Rethermalized. That just makes my eyelashes hurt.

Does it mean, like, "warmed up"?

[Kerry Beal]

And while you are there, try the rethermalized donuts! Yes, they are just as bad as they sound!

"Rethermalized"? I believe that one belongs on the "culinary apocalypse" thread. Or at least the "death of the English language as we know it" thread.

Rethermalized. That just makes my eyelashes hurt.

Does it mean, like, "warmed up"?

Timmy's fries them in the factory in Oakville - transports frozen. The franchise bakes them.

[nakji]

Here's mine. I take my coffee black. But nine times out of ten, black coffee is extremely hot straight out of the pot. I assume this is because most people cool their coffee down with milk/cream to a reasonable drinking temperature. It's nicest, I guess, when the milk is warmed up, but in a take-out coffee situation that doesn't happen so much. So I have to either ignore the coffee for a few minutes until it hits what I feel is a reasonable drinking temperature; burn my tongue; or - and I have done this the odd time in Tim Hortons where they keep their coffee very, very hot - float an ice cube in it. I don't prefer it this way, but I have done it.

What I DO prefer, and have only ever been able to do in South Korea, is use one of those plastic stir-stick things - do you know the kind? They're usually orange or brown in Canada, but at Starbucks in SK they're green. They don't have these stir-sticks at the take-out coffee places in my hometown in Canada, nor in Japan or China - I've only seen them in Seoul. But they make the perfect straw for sipping up black coffee. As you draw the coffee up the small passage ways, it cools the coffee somewhat, and aerates it a little on exit into your mouth, just enough to keep it from burning. Perfect. And I can drink my coffee right away. I keep meaning to pick up a box of the things when I'm back in Canada to carry some around with me, but since I rarely have take-away coffee anymore, it's one of those "someday..." things.

[chileheadmike]

I roast my own beans, grind, and brew in a French press. I drink it black with no cream or sugar.

Once the coffee is ready, I pour a cup into my favorite mug and the rest into my travel mug to take to work, lid on.

Once at work, the lid is removed and the coffee enjoyed.

I've seen a couple of references to fat free half and half. Makes no sense to me. How can half cream and half milk be no fat?

I'm thinking this is one of the culinary signs of the apolocypse.

[rmillman]

searching for the best beans:

1) cup of excellence, http://www.cupofexcellence.org/, go there, see who had the highest lots for a particular country, trace it to the roaster and buy the beans

2) coffee review, coffeereview.com, look at the highest rated in a particular month, buy and drink.

All coffee is weigh

[andiesenji]

They sell this kind coffee stir straws at Smart & Final. They are cheap.

I've purchased them for parties.

They are hollow, inches long and are also used in bars for mixed drinks.

Are these similar to the ones you mention?

[nakji]

Those are exactly the ones! I'd order a box, but I hardly ever have take-away coffee anymore. Still, it'd be nice to have a stash in my purse for emergencies...

[andiesenji]

Speaking of coffee fetishes, I met a person yesterday who told me she had two coffee brewers and an espresso machine that she uses every day.

One is for "breakfast" coffee, one is for "dinner" coffee because she doesn't want to "cross-contaminate" the brewers with different types of coffee.

I know this kind of thing makes sense with teas that are so different (green, oolong and black) but this is the first time I've heard that coffee residue from one type can affect another type.

I mean, it is possible to clean these things so they are fairly pristine.

Both of the coffee brewers are the Technivorm, the breakfast has a thermal carafe, the dinner a glass one.

I haven't paid much attention to the discussion about this brewer so didn't realize, until I got home and checked, how expensive they are.

It reminded me of the Jack Nicholson character in The Bucket List.

Edited November 10, 2010 by andiesenji (log)

[lancastermike]

Speaking of coffee fetishes, I met a person yesterday who told me she had two coffee brewers and an espresso machine that she uses every day.

One is for "breakfast" coffee, one is for "dinner" coffee because she doesn't want to "cross-contaminate" the brewers with different types of coffee.

I know this kind of thing makes sense with teas that are so different (green, oolong and black) but this is the first time I've heard that coffee residue from one type can affect another type.

I mean, it is possible to clean these things so they are fairly pristine.

Both of the coffee brewers are the Technivorm, the breakfast has a thermal carafe, the dinner a glass one.

I haven't paid much attention to the discussion about this brewer so didn't realize, until I got home and checked, how expensive they are.

It reminded me of the Jack Nicholson character in The Bucket List.

The OP asked for obsessions. The person you speak of certainly is.

[KD1191]

I'd been reading this thread from the beginning, but only this morning realized my own quirk.

My wife takes cream and sugar in her coffee, I like the smallest touch of cream. I prepare both in the mornings, and always insist on stirring my coffee first, lest an iota of her sugar make it into my cup via the shared spoon.

[scubadoo97]

Speaking of coffee fetishes, I met a person yesterday who told me she had two coffee brewers and an espresso machine that she uses every day.

One is for "breakfast" coffee, one is for "dinner" coffee because she doesn't want to "cross-contaminate" the brewers with different types of coffee.

I know this kind of thing makes sense with teas that are so different (green, oolong and black) but this is the first time I've heard that coffee residue from one type can affect another type.

I mean, it is possible to clean these things so they are fairly pristine.

Both of the coffee brewers are the Technivorm, the breakfast has a thermal carafe, the dinner a glass one.

I haven't paid much attention to the discussion about this brewer so didn't realize, until I got home and checked, how expensive they are.

It reminded me of the Jack Nicholson character in The Bucket List.

The OP asked for obsessions. The person you speak of certainly is.

Cross contamination? I understand if she was using flavored beans in one brewer but if not it tops the list of obsessions.

[andiesenji]

Speaking of coffee fetishes, I met a person yesterday who told me she had two coffee brewers and an espresso machine that she uses every day.

One is for "breakfast" coffee, one is for "dinner" coffee because she doesn't want to "cross-contaminate" the brewers with different types of coffee.

I know this kind of thing makes sense with teas that are so different (green, oolong and black) but this is the first time I've heard that coffee residue from one type can affect another type.

I mean, it is possible to clean these things so they are fairly pristine.

Both of the coffee brewers are the Technivorm, the breakfast has a thermal carafe, the dinner a glass one.

I haven't paid much attention to the discussion about this brewer so didn't realize, until I got home and checked, how expensive they are.

It reminded me of the Jack Nicholson character in The Bucket List.

The OP asked for obsessions. The person you speak of certainly is.

Cross contamination? I understand if she was using flavored beans in one brewer but if not it tops the list of obsessions.

No, she is too much of a "purist" to allow flavored coffee in her "machines," as she called them.

Her breakfast coffee is Kona and her dinner coffee is an "estate" Jamaican. Wallford or some similar name.

[andiesenji]

I had the name wrong. It is Wallingford Blue Mountain.

[scubadoo97]

Interesting that she limits herself to 2 beans. Both good but both very expensive with the cost more reflective of availability than quality.

Okay now I know why she limits herself to two beans. She only has room for 2 drip coffee machines.

I have at least a half a dozen varietals that I roast on a regular basis

This is funny stuff.

[andiesenji]

Interesting that she limits herself to 2 beans. Both good but both very expensive with the cost more reflective of availability than quality.

Okay now I know why she limits herself to two beans. She only has room for 2 drip coffee machines.

I have at least a half a dozen varietals that I roast on a regular basis

This is funny stuff.

I suspect that she is more interested in impressing other people than in actually enjoying the coffee. Her husband is a local bigwig and they entertain constantly. She has a live-in cook/housekeeper but brags that she always makes the coffee herself. (We met while I was in Dillards looking at handbags.) I'm pretty sure you are much more of a connoisseur of coffees that she is. I'm sure you are more like my friends who always buy the green beans, roast them to the desired "peak" then brew, and they buy a few varietals and blend them to get just the flavor they want. I lent them my espresso machine several months ago because I rarely use it, tried to give it to them but they wouldn't accept it as a gift. They prefer one of the old vacuum brewers that I gave them several years ago as they say it makes better coffee than any of the newer types they have tried.

I don't consider them obsessive as they are always experimenting and trying new things.

Edited November 11, 2010 by andiesenji (log)