Starting to drink my coffee black

[Jeffy Boy]

I drink a fair bit of coffee (5-6 cups a day). For years I've had my coffee with a bit of cream or milk - no sugar. Recently I've started to like it black. I find there's more coffee "flavour" that way.

Am I just going through a phase, or is this part of a normal taste progression?

[phaelon56]

I think it's a normal progression. I found that I never enjoyed coffee black until I started drinking really good quality coffee. Despite that change.... I have gone back to drinking coffee with half and half more often than not. If I'm homr roastign and trying a new blend, a new bean or a roast level that I haven't tried before, I always like to sip a bit of it black before adding anything, just to experience the full flavor.

[Hest88]

I find that the older I get the less I can tolerate sweet flavors. I used to drink coffee with cream and sugar--so it was more like coffee ice cream. (Caffeine never affected me, so I only drank coffee occasionally and purely for the taste.) Now I'm evolving to cream only. I can picture a day when I drink it black.

Same with chocolate. I was one of those milk chocolate fans. Now I'm finding that even expensive milk chocolate is a bit too sweet.

[phaelon56]

Funny that you should mention the sweetness issue. I find that, for me, different forms of coffee/espresso consumption dictate some sweetness or none at all. I enjoy hot coffee either with cream or black but can't tolerate even the slightest hint of sugar. If I stir my cofee with a spoon that some else previously used to stir a heavily sugared cup of coffee., I'll detect a residual note of sweetness that makes the coffee nearly undrinkable. When consuming a cappuccino or latte I find a that a very small amount of sugar is often to my liking but I've grown to dislike refined white sugar - turnbinado (raw) sugar is to my liking. One distinct trend I've noticed in capuccino's - the better the espresso the less sugar I need. I home roasted a new blend last week and found that it was very drinkable with absoilutely no sugar - the chocolate undertones and natural sweetness of the espresso made it sweet enough. I also enjoy straight espresso on occasion but always like a bit of sugar in it.

Then there is iced coffee - I always need it with some sort of milk and it must have at least a bit if sugar in it for me to find it drinkable.

[markovitch]

i've alwys gone for the black stuff. I think it may stem from my mother's penchant for flavored non-dairy creamer.

then again, aske me in 5 years when coffee isn't two meals a day (college)

[Moopheus]

I haven't a problem with sweet flavors, and like coffee ice cream and candies, but when I drink coffee if it has milk or cream in it it just tastes watered down to me. If I find myself reaching for the sugar, that means the coffee is bad. Good coffee doesn't need to be covered up. But it's true that when I was a kid I drank it with cream and sugar; I think the change came mainly, as Phaelon said, with discovering better coffee.

[Gary Soup]

I think there's a regional thing to it. When I lived in New York, "regular" coffee meant milk and sugar. In San Francisco, black without sugar seemed to be the default at the time I moved here 40 years ago. I made the transition out of sheer laziness, as in "whatever."

[Gary Soup]

If I find myself reaching for the sugar, that means the coffee is bad. Good coffee doesn't need to be covered up.

I learned two things about getting coffee in Asia. First was that it was close to impossible to get unsweetened black coffee. The second thing was that if I succeeded, I usually wished I hadn't.

[phaelon56]

At age 19 I was having dinner in a Chinese restaurant in NYC. I'd only recently began drinking coffee and had rarely, if ever, eaten in a Chinese restaurant. My woman friend, who had lived in Manhattan since birth, was horrified when I ordered coffee after dinner - her comment: "No one EVER orders coffee in a Chine restaurant!". (I suspect they brought me Sanka or its equivalent).

[Jeffy Boy]

I found that I never enjoyed coffee black until I started drinking really good quality coffee.

That's interesting - I think I first got onto drinking my coffee black when I was on a business trip, and only had mediocre, weak coffee to drink. I drank it black in a desperate attempt to extract as much coffee flavour from it as possible.

I enjoy hot coffee either with cream or black but can't tolerate even the slightest hint of sugar.

I can't stand any sugar in my coffee either, and I hate coffee flavoured desserts. But I like a strong cup of coffee with a dessert. And I hate coffees with liqueurs in them, like Spanish Coffee.

[pnapoli]

I've grown to dislike refined white sugar - turnbinado (raw) sugar is to my liking.

yeah, i'm with you.

i find that i don't enjoy coffee with cream anymore; even whole milk bothers me. i like to add just a little nonfat milk or otherwise have it black. i'm not into flavored anything.

[phaelon56]

i like to add just a little nonfat milk or otherwise have it black.

Ah the vagaries of human taste. I'll put heated whole milk into a cup of coffee or 2% in a pinch but non-fat? I'd rather put in a slurry of talcum powder and water! Yet when it comes to drinking milk or using it with cereal it's non-fat all the way (and my cappa are 1% or 2% - go figure).

[misstenacity]

I've been moving along this trajectory as well - used to be heavy sugar, heavy cream(er), even adding truly nasty and yummy things like hot chocolate and General Foods International Coffees to my cuppa.

My current place on the spectrum is "add white stuff, but no sweets". So l like "plain" lattes, Americanos with just half and half, and my regular coffee with either milk or half n half. But I don't add just a smidgen - my typical dose of half&half is 1oz in a 10oz mug of coffee.

And today I just ruined myself for the really-not-so-bad office coffee, which flows free and plentiful here. Seattle's Best brand, a Bunn coffeemaker, but thankfully directly into vaccum pots, not those glass decanters. So its not bad stuff. But today I finally brought in my Bodum single cup drip maker (Filter Belgique) and made some freshly roasted Kenyan AA. Damn. No more Seattle's Best for this corporate slave....

Andrea

Cedar Crest, NM

FoodBlog at http://tenacity.net

[Jeffy Boy]

I'd rather put in a slurry of talcum powder and water

Oh, you mean Coffee Mate!

I used to keep some Coffee Mate around for when I was so freakin' lazy on a Saturday morning that I'd have it with instant coffee, because making regular coffee was "too much work".

Mmmm, that's a charming combination. Instant coffee with non-dairy creamer...

[BeJam]

Oh, you mean Coffee Mate

How long does Coffee Mate last? I bought a bottle after I'd been drinking coffee black for five years and had forgot that other people, like my boss at the time, didn't. I was mildly repremanded for not having a little milk or even a little powder for guests at my home. That was about seven years ago. I still have it and I don't think I've even broken the wax paper seal on the top. Should I serve it with Twinkies?

[pnapoli]

BeJam, just chuck it, dude.

[herbacidal]

BeJam, just chuck it, dude.

Nah, think of some cool way to dispose of it.

Too bad you can't make a cannon out of it or something.

Where's that thread on exploding fruit and having fun with produce?

[phaelon56]

My jar says "Best before 16Dec00" but not a word about it ever going bad. "Best" is relative, of course, since it's pretty horrid stuff when it's in its prime. I'll save mine figuring that ny guest who's crazy enough to request it can't tell the difference.

We have a jar at work from BJ's Wholesale Club - their house brand. It's such a versatile food product. There are directions on the back for making your own delicious whipped topping with it - just like real whipped cream! Should I copy them and post them for you?

[Verjuice]

Black coffee is, quite simply, the good and right thing to do.

[BeJam]

Too bad you can't make a cannon out of it or something.

I just checked my jar and it expired in '98. Which means I packed and moved it 700 miles. While it may not be good to make a cannon out of the ingredients indicate it could be used to fire a cannon.