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nytpu: Coffee and Tea and the Java and Me
nytpu: Coffee and Tea (local copy)
~nytpu states:
I remain convinced that coffee drinkers don't actually like coffee and only drink it for the caffine.
and
Most tea drinkers I know including myself would still drink tea if it didn't have caffine; while almost every coffee drinker I know are pretty open in saying they wouldn't drink coffee if it didn't have caffine in it.
While I concede that most coffee drinkers I know wouldn't drink the coffee without the caffeine, I don't think they enjoy it any less than someone who likes tea. While tea drinkers may have more tastes to note with the wide variety of teas out there, you can ask coffee drinkers what kinds of coffee they like and you'll get a variety of answers. As a reformed coffee AND tea drinker myself (I can't drink a lot of caffeine anymore), I can say that I loved finding different types of coffee beans, from Cuban/caribbean, to Ethiopian, to Kona, to my old stand-by, Colombian. I did frequently put some milk and sweeteners in it, but I wasn't heavy-handed, and as ~Skyjake mentioned in his own reply [1], different tastes can be drawn out with the different mixers, much like a good milk in any breakfast or chai tea.
[1] skyjake: Re: Coffee and Tea
Now, I will also concede that there ARE a lot of people who just don't care what it is they are drinking so long as it: 1) tastes good 2) has a lot of caffeine in it. These are the folks that don't buy the "artisanal" beans and rather choose the cheapest bean possible because coffee is simply the vehicle to get caffeine into their body and is the most "natural" way to do it (vice energy drinks).
I also really liked tea, and still do. I would buy bags of loose leaf tea online and have a whole cabinet at my desk at work from which to choose. Anything from black to green to white teas, and anything inbetween. Chai, breakfast teas, etc. It just really depended on my mood - and even the season - on which one I wanted to try. I'd drink it with- or without creamers or sweeteners and enjoyed them equally. As ~nytpu states, there are a lot of teas out there and they have a lot of flavor profiles above and beyond what coffee could hope to have, but when you know what you like, you know what you like, and I argue that coffee has its own nuances to chase.
I think part of the draw of both tea and coffee is the habitual rituals. Before I dropped caffeine I would, as I said above, have a lot of teas to choose from. I liked going to my cabinet, looking at what I had, and deciding which would be my favorite for the moment. I'd then get my tea infuser, dump some tea into it, brew up some water to the right temperature for the tea I'm drinking, pour it into the infuser, let it steep, and set it on top of my cup and let the delicious brew pour through the bottom of the infuser. Depending on the tea I'd either add nothing or a dash of this or that, and then I'd go sit back at my desk, warming my hands on the mug, relishing the smell and taste as I refocused on the task at hand. It's quite emotionally and mentally cathartic.
Although I described my tea ritual, much could be said about coffee as well: I have a friend or two who find custom coffee roasters, grind their own beans, and use a pour-over filtering method to get the right flavor profiles. I've even done my own cold brew process at home with a cold brew container made specifically for the task. As I said, part of it comes down to ritual.
Now that I don't drink a lot of caffeine, I haven't really been drinking much tea OR coffee (even decaf), but I do go through phases where I drink a lot of non-caffeinated teas but they don't always stick. Recently, I realized I miss the ritualistic coffee-or-tea-in-the-morning routine, and so I started looking around for alternatives. Apparently, to my surprise, chicory root is a very popular coffee alternative. I bought several popular brands off the internet to try: Pero, Caffix, and the 2 flavors of Postum. I might post about them separately, but the TLDR is that they're really close, but just don't hit the right spot for me; however, I still enjoy them in their own right for what they are, and I get to enjoy the ritual of making a nice warm cup of hot, tasty, "beverage" in the morning (or even now in the afternoon since it's caffeine free).
P.S. - I had to stop caffeine because it took me 8+ years to realize that I'm caffeine sensitive, even after getting used to it. A cup in the morning would have me staring at the ceiling at night, unless I was exhausted, in which case I just passed out, but even then caffeine was inhibiting my REM sleep. It also causes me to have intestinal problems / distress which my body, now in its 40s, is rejecting to cope with anymore. I really do miss it, but being level instead of stress-hormone-induced 24/7 is a world I can more easily deal with. Plus I sleep better.
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2023-03-06
Tags: coffee, tea, caffeine
Gritty
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