Just for fun...

Stefan Mikes said:
We have so different tastes and expectations, Art!
I have been to the United States three times. On each trip, I knew I would be missing European coffee in North America (Canada was not any different). I was carrying a jar of Nescafe Gold in my baggage and made coffee in the hotels myself. On my last trip, one of the guys working for the U.S. company asked me what I missed the most in the U.S. and I said "coffee". He brought me to a shopping centre with his car and introduced to Starbucks. I couldn't be happier! The café was connected to a bookstore, where I bought as many as three novels. A wonderful time!

If Starbucks didn't exist, it should be invented :) Same in Beijing China. Where to get decent coffee? Starbucks of course :)
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All European coffee shops I visited make an Americono ? Or the Brits "filter coffee " all of which I prefer to most USA coffee shops.
No sweetner, only light cream (if very bitter) usually works for me.
 
Art Deco said:
All European coffee shops I visited make an Americono ? Or the Brits "filter coffee " all of which I prefer to most USA coffee shops.
No sweetner, only light cream (if very bitter) usually works for me.
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The best thing about coffee I found in an inn in Ireland :)

1757539429216.png
 
I bought a srainless mocha pot and make expresso at home in it. Got it pretty close for a while, but none of my guests will drink it.
And when I worked in an office, I was asked NOT to make coffee by my coworkers. Wusses, all of 'em.
 
Art, I have a story for you :)

It was a time I worked with a man who was a cartoon stereotype of a German. I booked him at a lovely small hotel in Warsaw. As we went down to the restaurant, Wolfgang asked the waiter for coffee. The server showed him a regular list of coffee made in the espresso machine. The German blinked and tried to explain he was expecting "normal coffee". What "normal coffee" would be then? Wolfgang just expected a mug of filter coffee, which is the norm in Germany. Poor waiter had to figure out how to make "normal coffee" using the espresso machine! :D

When I worked scientifically in Germany in 1990, the first thing I was told by my office colleagues was to pay my monthly share of "coffee money". Every day at a specific time, we had a "coffee break", and of course we drank "normal coffee". The colleagues soon noticed me using a lot of sugar. 'Why do you put so much sugar into your coffee Schtefan?" -- "I save your sugar industry against bankruptcy!" :D
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Art, I have a story for you :)

It was a time I worked with a man who was a cartoon stereotype of a German. I booked him at a lovely small hotel in Warsaw. As we went down to the restaurant, Wolfgang asked the waiter for coffee. The server showed him a regular list of coffee made in the espresso machine. The German blinked and tried to explain he was expecting "normal coffee". What "normal coffee" would be then? Wolfgang just expected a mug of filter coffee, which is the norm in Germany. Poor waiter had to figure out how to make "normal coffee" using the espresso machine! :D

When I worked scientifically in Germany in 1990, the first thing I was told by my office colleagues was to pay my monthly share of "coffee money". Every day at a specific time, we had a "coffee break", and of course we drank "normal coffee". The colleagues soon noticed me using a lot of sugar. 'Why do you put so much sugar into your coffee Schtefan?" -- "I save your sugar industry against bankruptcy!" :D
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Do they only serve espresso in most places in Warsaw? I could get "strong filter coffee" most places, but but never figure out how to order in France. No matter what I said they brought me nescafe. If it wasn't for the wine I would have been dehydrated to death.
EDIT "When in Rome, do as thr Romans do. When in France, just stick to wine .."
 
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Those expresso machines are ridiculous, two of them in a small cafe and everyones shouting their order over the din and the people at the tables are trying to shout over both of them.

Coffee is a cornerstone of middle class snobbery in the UK, freeze dried instant is like turning up at a ball in a shell suit.

They even have adverts playing on posh people being horrified they dont have the latest beans for the guests.

The wife and I were at a posh coastal garden centre, we walked into the cafe and everyone eas looking glum.

The coffee machine was broken, so the missus says.
Have you got instant?
Everyone looked with horror..and Im not exaggerating here.
The woman tried to pretend that some common person might have left some in a cupboard, while the entire room looked on like a social experiment was taking place.
Thatll do, I,ll take two.
The woman then had to pretend she did nt know how to make it.
Once the the golden seal was broken, a brave middle class person shouted, ..
I'll have one as well.
The validation was complete, its OK in an emergency, everyone started ordering instant.
Im not making that up, its exactly how it played out.
And its everything about everything in England.
They probably are still telling the tale to this day at dinner parties.
 
Chargeride said:
Those expresso machines are ridiculous, two of them in a small cafe and everyones shouting their order over the din and the people at the tables are trying to shout over both of them.

Coffee is a cornerstone of middle class snobbery in the UK, freeze dried instant is like turning up at a ball in a shell suit.

They even have adverts playing on posh people being horrified they dont have the latest beans for the guests.

The wife and I were at a posh coastal garden centre, we walked into the cafe and everyone eas looking glum.

The coffee machine was broken, so the missus says.
Have you got instant?
Everyone looked with horror..and Im not exaggerating here.
The woman tried to pretend that some common person might have left some in a cupboard, while the entire room looked on like a social experiment was taking place.
Thatll do, I,ll take two.
The woman then had to pretend she did nt know how to make it.
Once the the golden seal was broken, a brave middle class person shouted, ..
I'll have one as well.
The validation was complete, its OK in an emergency, everyone started ordering instant.
Im not making that up, its exactly how it played out.
And its everything about everything in England.
They probably are still telling the tale to this day at dinner parties.
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Yeah. Over here instant is not acceptable. No one admits drinking it, but strangely everyone has some in a cupboard. "For baking " they say, even if they never baked even a cookie in their lives.
And I'm sure you made an impression . But that's no surprise...
 
I like my pour over coffee. Fresh ground, black but not bitter. Maybe an acquired taste.
 
Art Deco said:
Yeah. Over here instant is not acceptable. No one admits drinking it, but strangely everyone has some in a cupboard. "For baking " they say, even if they never baked even a cookie in their lives.
And I'm sure you made an impression . But that's no surprise...
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I haven't seen Maxwell house or Nescafe since the early 90s I'd say! Don't know anyone who has used that s*it for years. Everywhere sells real coffee, I can even get decent beans now in my local spar. Takes a few minutes to grind some every couple of of days for fresh coffee. I don't see any reason why you'd drink that fake stuff. And it always left a horrible after taste. My problem with Starbucks, apart from the crazy cost, is it always tastes bitter.
 
I was on an airport transport bus many years ago and it drove past a Starbucks sign
The guy in front of me said to his girlfriend.
'Starbucks is the McDonalds of coffee'

It stuck with me to this day
 
Rás Cnoic said:
I haven't seen Maxwell house or Nescafe since the early 90s I'd say! Don't know anyone who has used that s*it for years. Everywhere sells real coffee, I can even get decent beans now in my local spar. Takes a few minutes to grind some every couple of of days for fresh coffee. I don't see any reason why you'd drink that fake stuff. And it always left a horrible after taste. My problem with Starbucks, apart from the crazy cost, is it always tastes bitter.
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The bitterness is why they push all the dairy, flavoring, and sugar , I guess ... IMO the only good thing about that chain was that somehow they got people to expect better than Maxwell house that had been sitting on a warmer for hours. The worst thing to me was they showed cafes that free refills weren't needed. In my tiny town we have more Starbucks locations than McDonalds.
Rás Cnoic said:
When Starbucks et all starting coming into Ireland and UK the names used drive people mad. An 'Americano?' Just a filter coffee FFS. And all these stupid enormous sizes 'Grande' Just feckin' call it big medium or small!
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That still drives me nuts. And Dunkin uses stupid names at inflated prices now, too.
 
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Stefan Mikes said:
I'm actually addicted to coffee.
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I thought I was, too, but now I view it differently...
20250402_115154.jpg

Stefan Mikes said:
Got a Nespresso coffee machine. As the genuine Nespresso capsules are defo overpriced, I'm buying Carrefour compatibles, which are inexpensive but good.

A Nespresso machine is designed to make very small portions of either Espresso or Lungo. As I need a big mug of coffee, I use as many as two capsules per portion, each used twice :) Five mugs a day, ten capsules or a box :) A small issue is I need to ride for 6 or 7.5 km one way to get to one of the Carrefour supermarkets in the neighbourhood.
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Sounds like we have similar Nespresso machines. Wife got it for her office. Now I use it for the first quick fix in the morning while the French press is steeping, and for a nightly after-dinner decaf.

All capsules and beans from Peet's, a California roaster.
 
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Rás Cnoic said:
When Starbucks et all starting coming into Ireland and UK the names used drive people mad. An 'Americano?' Just a filter coffee FFS. And all these stupid enormous sizes 'Grande' Just feckin' call it big medium or small!
Click to expand...
Yeah, the Starbucks names are stupid, and the coffee's not great. Emergency backup only.
 
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