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I am the 5%
I love coffee. The smell, the taste (black of course), and the routine of brewing it all is such an experience for me. If you met me three months ago at my office, you wouldn't likely have seen me without my coffee in reachable distance.
Get into work at 8 am first cup, 9 am round two, settle for 3rd around 11 am with two trips back to the cafe in the afternoon as well. The canteen in the bottom of my building has an unlimited refill policy for people that bring their own mug, making my caffeine habit exceedingly easy to indulge.
You a real caffeine junkie Bill Murray
At home I would do pot after pot on weekends in my Chemex. If you've never had Chemex coffee it is pretty fantastic by the way. Simple pour over method, not to mention it is a pretty little device. I would even get a bit twitchy or have restless leg syndrome, likely as a result of the amount of coffee I'd consumed as I don't generally have either. Eventually these were complimented by upset stomach, and the general sensation of having a "tiny," stomach. I am not sure how to explain it other than general discomfort.
Really fragrant way to brew your coffee too, smells amazing
A few months ago though, I was struck with the impulse to look into tea. Tea is something we had around as a kid, but like many if not most American families coffee was the caffeine god of choice. To me, tea was oddly flavored water with little other appeal.
After doing some research on /r/tea and sauntering through the Tea Enthusiasts thread here on TL I took a small leap at first; I limited myself to a couple varieties of Twinning's English Breakfast Tea, a box of Target, proprietary Chai tea, and a Lady Grey all of which were interesting to taste though I didn't (still kind of don't) know what I was looking for in a tea.
I but I knew I loved chai, and didn't want to go cold turkey on my stimulants so I stuck with my black teas. My Star Trek sensibilities thusly pointed me to Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.
If you have a chance to be more like Jean Luc you better take it
With this in mind I took a bigger step into free leaf tea, and bought a new toy (If you can't tell by this post I like to have little, semi-uncommon things with regards to indulging various interests I decide to take up.) I took a drive down to my local tea shop and bought an Ingenuitea.
The way it works is loose leaf goes in the top, after steeping you set it on your mug and a pressure plate on the bottom is triggered allowing for hot tea to fill it, with the leaves remain steepable in the device itself. Nifty. Would recommend.
I've since cut back on my coffee consumption drastically. No more work coffee which is great because it is awful coffee, and I am no longer dropping money daily as cheap as it was I now take the ten or so dollars a week I would drop on coffee and put in away for later usage. I'll still brew up a pot on the occasional Sunday and sip it with my morning streams, but my body is definitely thanking me.
I feel generally better, I won't tout the magical properties of tea but using green tea to compliment a diet and exercise regimen has definitely been beneficial in terms of lost weight and I still get (though markedly less) my little bump in the morning. The other thing that I have enjoyed a great deal about tea is both variety and round the clock consumability.
With coffee, and I am not sure if this is psychosomatic or what, but even if I had a decaf roast at home (seldom did buy it myself, but gifts happen), I would still feel as though I was peppy and alert. This ate into my already poor sleep habits and definitely contributed to some less than restful nights. I now keep a variety of decaf, night time teas, and similar blends with no caffeine naturally around the house for when I am looking for that cup but can't afford to keep at it late into the evening.
I am sure there are some coffee-philes on TL who are in a similar boat as I was just a bit ago and I would encourage you to give tea a shot as your go to beverage. On the whole I've spent less money, feel better, and have had a new world of potable goodness opened up in my life. While I haven't cut lady coffee completely out of my life, keeping it as a friend I see every now and again rather than begrudgingly swill daily has been extremely beneficial to me. Try it and you may I say.
 
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Seriously, all these people making a huge deal about messing with their coffee and tea consumption when basically all the research is that neither has any real negative effects and they are almost entirely water with small quantities of caffeine....people just get so obsessed with them like wine or running shoes or something. Massive placebo storm in my opinion, just because you do something often doesn't mean it is complicated or important.
I just imagine these blogs with other unrelated food: "Alright TL, I'm finally cutting apples out of my diet", "I'm worried about my apple consumption, I eat one with basically every meal." "Switching out apples for pears, definitely feeling a difference".
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Both of them good if you don't get obsessed. You can even die if you drink too much water, so you just have to know where the limit is, and you'll be fine.
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Caffeine is for the weak.
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I'm in the 95% and proud of it (provided you added a ground-up caffeine tablet in there).
I like tea, but making good tea is a hassle. You can always get mediocre coffee, or make it yourself when you're at home.
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Adagio! I approve; they have an amazing selection. (Mmm, their jasmine teas.) I recently have (unintentionally) switched from coffee to tea myself out of convenience, as I prefer brewing a huge pot of tea at once vs. brewing just one cup of coffee. It stays for longer, but I still like coffee for the extra kick.
Also, no shame in being in the 95%. I like coffee both with cream and without ... how can anyone not like a well-brewed Viet coffee anyways? 
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A cup of black coffee can be a revelation. I shall continue to revel in it 
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The best teas are more expensive than the best wines & champagnes. Chinese gold crop tea (of which there are only 12 main houses - mostly from anhui and hunan provinces) can go as much as several thousand dollars per gram.
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Seems like I'm the 0%. Whenever I go to starbucks, I always get 2 shots of espresso and mix it with bottled water of my own to fill up that tiny cup they give you. Works better than an Americano since I can simply take a shot, and there's less bathroom breaks to boot. Tastes horrible, though.
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I can't drink coffee lol, it just doesn't taste that great to me, tea on the other hand is pretty awesome . Though Sob3k is partially right here, most times it is a placebo kind of thing, though coffee can have affects on the stomach because it is acidic and it can brown one's teeth which is never a good thing.
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I love coffee. I was just thinking about getting a Chemex actually
I'm getting a little tired of my French press, and want to try something new.
I still haven't gotten into English tea yet, they just all taste so awful to me. Chinese green tea FTW.
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I see some other people also don't really drink caffeine (like me, always thought I was odd). But tea is just classier than coffee. I don't really like the taste of coffee but I used to really drink a lot of those lipton bottled green teas. I realize there's nothing classy about cheap green tea, but boy was it good anyways. I stopped drinking that though but I may start trying out different tea brands when I start school next fall. I'm sure I'll probably need some sort of caffeine kickstarter when I start waking up on my own from now on.
As shallow as it will make me sound, I do like that tea-drinkers are "exclusive" because there are overall more coffee drinkers. Will make me feel "special". People will all be like, "Hey you know that Epishade guy? HE DRINKS TEA BRO. BADASS!"
Ok probably not lol.
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One part of me knows that it is fun to get a little obsessive over these kinds of things. Another part of me wants to say that you don't need to define yourself by what you drink (you know I can't possibly drink anything other than the finest black coffee because I'm such a artistic refined individual!).
One thing I would say though Cambium. If you insult ENGLISH TEA one more time, I'll furl up my umbrella, put on my bowler hat and give you a right good ticking off!
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It's all about fruit tea! That's right...no black tea at all (some people call this fake Tea_Tea). No caffeine...just yummy goodness!
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I love coffee, but it stains your teeth so bad, pretty acidic too (I have weak enamel).
I honestly always feel better if i munch on apple slices and drink lots of water. That seems more energizing that anything else.
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I like the smell of coffee. And the taste if diluted properly in a non-coffee product (like ice cream). I also like chocolate covered espresso beans.
But I cannot stand coffee as a brewed beverage. I probably drink entirely too much soda as a result. When I have the time and ability, I do enjoy a well brewed tea - to the point that I'll buy loose leafs and blend my own. (Although, not expensive leaves - I like to add a significant amount of parsley and some cat nip (don't laugh, it's great stuff and obviously not picked up in the pet aisle) and wouldn't want to mess with a really good regular tea.)
That said, I can't stand Earl Grey. Sorry. Give me an Irish Breakfast tea, green tea, black pekoe, white tea, gunpowder tea, etc, etc. Earl Grey just has a bit of a papier mache taste. (If you went to primary school when I did, I guarantee you know what it tastes like. Not by choice.)
Also, "chai" style tea (calling it "Chai tea" is redundant - chai is tea is chai) zomg. So good.
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I drink about 10 cups of tea a day. The brand i drink is bushells. The only warning i have for you is brush yah teeth! Tea stains like a motherfucker.
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glad to be born in hong kong and get to taste nice tea since my dad is a tea fan.
a nice tea pot is a must to bring out the most of the tea leaves
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i hate black coffee. only drink it with tons of milk/cream.
I love teas though. darjeeling oolongs matcha are my favourites.
No love for chai though. thats no real tea imo, its just tons of spices with some black tea
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Ah the Chemex, great tool. I'm glad i don't use coffee as a pick me up and I prefer to just enjoy it purely for its taste. Unfortunately because of the caffeine, I prefer to limit myself to 1 to 2 cups a day of filter.
What's one of your favourite beans to drink (origin and process)?
One of mine would have to be Sumatran Wahana Natural. Notes of watermelon, fruity, smooth, bit of acidity. Very refreshing.
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Of all the beans I've purchased and brewed at home using my French press, my favourite was probably Blue Mountain peaberry that I bought while I was on vacation in Jamaica.
A close second was a gift from a friend purchased from Isetan in Tokyo, the cover didn't say anything useful other than 'special blend'. It was pricey, though he didn't tell me how much.
I've also had some amazing Kilimanjaro coffee while I was touring Africa. While I was in Zanzibar, locals blend their coffees with spices such as cinnamon and vanilla beans. Very unique.
I've also tried Kopi Luwak from Bali (a small packet as a gift), and it wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be. I would probably never buy this myself.
edit:
Japan is actually a nice place to be if you nice coffee. There are tons of coffee shops all over the place (better ones are usually in posh residential areas) that roast their own beans, and sell them in small packets. They are typically 500 yen for 100 grams of artisan roasted coffee, a pretty good price if you care enough about your beans.
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On April 11 2013 16:57 guN-viCe wrote:
Drink both and profit.
At the same time. Steep your tea bag in a nice steaming cup of coffee.
+ Show Spoiler +I kid. Don't do this. If you do, Earl Grey himself shows up after beaming down from the Enterprise and stabs you in the back.
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On April 12 2013 00:13 Cambium wrote:
Of all the beans I've purchased and brewed at home using my French press, my favourite was probably Blue Mountain peaberry that I bought while I was on vacation in Jamaica.
A close second was a gift from a friend purchased from Isetan in Tokyo, the cover didn't say anything useful other than 'special blend'. It was pricey, though he didn't tell me how much.
I've also had some amazing Kilimanjaro coffee while I was touring Africa. While I was in Zanzibar, locals blend their coffees with spices such as cinnamon and vanilla beans. Very unique.
I've also tried Kopi Luwak from Bali (a small packet as a gift), and it wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be. I would probably never buy this myself.
edit:
Japan is actually a nice place to be if you nice coffee. There are tons of coffee shops all over the place (better ones are usually in posh residential areas) that roast their own beans, and sell them in small packets. They are typically 500 yen for 100 grams of artisan roasted coffee, a pretty good price if you care enough about your beans.
Or you can try and find a specialty coffee group in your city. There are usually some around, in Australia its REALLY easy to find home roasters and cafes that do specialty coffee. In fact home roasters for me are way better than commercial, I get it cheaper and roasted to my liking. I usually pay around AU$10 / 250g.
On April 12 2013 14:21 felisconcolori wrote:At the same time. Steep your tea bag in a nice steaming cup of coffee. + Show Spoiler +I kid. Don't do this. If you do, Earl Grey himself shows up after beaming down from the Enterprise and stabs you in the back.
Now you've tempted me to try...
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Tea and coffee together is quite a popular drink in hong Kong though I have never tried it.
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On April 11 2013 03:33 sob3k wrote:
Seriously, all these people making a huge deal about messing with their coffee and tea consumption when basically all the research is that neither has any real negative effects and they are almost entirely water with small quantities of caffeine....people just get so obsessed with them like wine or running shoes or something. Massive placebo storm in my opinion, just because you do something often doesn't mean it is complicated or important.
I just imagine these blogs with other unrelated food: "Alright TL, I'm finally cutting apples out of my diet", "I'm worried about my apple consumption, I eat one with basically every meal." "Switching out apples for pears, definitely feeling a difference".
Regardless of the side effects or short or long term harm of anything wouldn't you agree that too much of anything isn't a good thing? Humans need diversity. Besides that arguable point, wouldn't you agree that it sort of just sucks having to rely on extraneous stuff to live your life?
It sort of saddens me to see friends and co workers who smoke weed constantly and power down caffiene and/or ciggarettes all the time. And then binge drink on the weekends. Its like they are never themselves, always needing some other shit to regulate their mood or energy levels. You can argue that many people (especially ones that I know) just have the addiction gene and are in denial and I probably would as well. My point is the same for anything, artificial sweeteners, processed fast foods, gasoline, [insert whatever].. It's just a more satisfying and arguably happy life if you don't have to rely on shit and can just be an independent guy.
PS- Phil Laak, holds the guinness world record for longest poker sessions (over 100 hours) without any stimulants. He just ate healthy (and he still came out with a winning session even though he was exhausted, hallucinating, and obviously not operating his brain properly). You don't need caffiene, just be strong.
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