I recently switched to drinking black coffee

I have a horrific caffeine addiction, and was up to the point of drinking several pots of coffee every morning before switching to tea (likely upwards of 10 cups) in the afternoon. Interspersed with all this was numerous cans of fizzy pop. Y’know, the brown ones that have caffeine in them.

So I decided to switch to drinking black coffee. The reasons were several in their number: it would cut down on milk intake reducing both the cost and the calories; I wouldn’t like it as much so I’d drink less.

It has reduced my milk intake, although Mrs PF has started eating porridge for breakfast so I’m buying more milk than ever. Also my toothpaste bill is increasing as my teeth pretty much immediately turned a shade of deep sienna. It’s true that I don’t like it as much, but it turns out that addictions don’t really care how much fun you’re having so I’m not really drinking any less.

Oh, and I keep forgetting it’s black coffee which means I just took a big ol’ gulp and now every surface of my mouth, tongue and throat feels like it’s been sandblasted.

So, “yay” for self improvement!!!

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FYI, I am same, but stuck with black coffee. Learned that I can make very “weak” coffee (one small scoop in the filter coffee maker) as I learned it was the hot temp water that I really needed when doing my daily work on the computer.

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Oh, cool tip. Thanks!

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As an aside, I’ve noticed that black coffee is far more sensitive (to my taste, at least) to the quality of the coffee used than coffee with milk.

Any recommendations of good coffee to buy (bonus points for it not being 5x the cost of Lavazza Red)?

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Sorry. No recommendation. I have a brand that I see used in commercial places that I get via Amazon. Nothing I have seen in grocery stores is my liking. Anything from speciality coffee shops seems expensive.

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Hah. I gave up milk (except in béchamel and mashed potatoes), cream and yoghurt when I was 4 years old; I began drinking coffee (black!) at about 12/13 and stopped putting sugar in it before I was 14. So I’ve been drinking unsweetened black coffee for over 65 years.

I like my coffee fairly strong… Americanos in most places in the UK are already like dishwater to me, so I’d rather drink hot water (which I got used to in China) than @rms “?brew”!

About 30 years ago, I realised I was drinking about 8 large mugs a day and wasn’t sleeping well, so I gave up. I had withdrawal symptoms, a sharp ache that began at the top of my head and over a week or so gradually moved all the way down to my feet.

Now, I have a couple of mugs in the morning with breakfast and no more unless it’s a very stressful day when I might have more, or if we go out for a lunch (very rare) I swap dessert for a coffee.

:slight_smile:
Mark

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I agree with you absolutely… that is to say coffees that my wife likes (she takes milk), Sumatra Mandheling for instance, I find unpleasant; on the other hand we used to find Sumatra Blue Lintong, which was my all-time favourite, though I haven’t seen it for years. So I think that black coffee is more sensitive in the sense that milk must mask some of the aromas.

That said, we find that the best all-purpose coffees which suit both of us are either Columbian Risaraldo or Columbian Supremo from… … Lidl! Taylor’s Italian is good, but about twice the price!

:slight_smile:
Mark

Appropriate that we should be discussing black coffee in And Now For That Latte! :grin:

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After much experimentation myself I finally settled on CaféDirect FairTrade Mayan Gold, which taste great in my home-made cappuccinos. It serves both my tastes and my socio-political convictions. (Also use their instant coffee because there is nothing more cruel in the morning than having to make a cup of coffee to make coffee — not original but nicked from a sandwich board outside of my favourite café in London “ScandiKitchen”.)

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@pigfender, I think I told you my background with coffee. I see it as the abusvie lover that has attemped to kill me multiple times and now I am required to make a place for it in my life. I strongly urge you to break that habit if you can. See a physician and get medical assistance if needed. If you have having the withdrawl symptoms, it’s time to make that change.

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@pigfender Although there is no absolute scientific evidence, there is good indication that coffee drinkers live longer. This refers to around 5 to 10 cups of “average” coffee, and has probably nothing to do with the caffeine. Of course, this says little about how well you tolerate it.

Personally, I drink around 15 cups a day and tolerate it well. About a year ago, I started drinking half of it decaffeinated. Especially in the evening.

At the beginning, I didn’t particularly like the taste of decaffeinated coffee. But taste is surprisingly adaptable. I now find it really pleasant. :slightly_smiling_face:

I drink my coffee with a bit of milk. The amount of calories in the milk is negligible. But the milk makes it easier on the stomach. Unless you can’t tolerate milk

To summarize: if you tolerate coffee well, there is no scientific reason to give it up. If you want to consume less caffeine, you can switch completely or partially to coffee without caffeine.

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I’m lazy. I get up 5.30-6 and make coffee for my wife and me with our Nespresso.

Nespresso Roma black for me and Voluto white for her. 2-3 cups a day.

Several glasses of Soda a day (Sodastream iced tea and ginger ale current choices)

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I’m amazed at myself for exercising such caffeinated self-restraint. For the past 40ish years I’ve started my mornings with two cups of French Pressed (Equal Exchange Love Buzz from the local freeze-dried hippie food coop) brewed fairly stiff, with a half-teaspoon of turbinado and enough milk to bleach it mid-Mahogany. At lunch I re-rev with an iced tea.

Hmmm. Maybe it’s not self-restraint. Maybe it’s just that old hobgoblin, a foolish consistency. Which, come to think of it, may be the same thing.

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I looked up what I now buy. Not bad and as good as any: Pelican Rouge ACCELERA Whole Dark Roasted Coffee Beans | 60 percent Arabica. I don’t know the extent of its world-wide availability. I buy via Amazon in a 1kg bag.

I’ve also been known to fill a 1/2 big mug from the Nespresso machine with generic pods and fill rest of cup with boiled water. Have not found brand of Nespresso pods that is memorable or recommendable, but the beverage is hot so I put up with it.

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I’ve been trying Sainsbury’s Fairtrade range lately. No. 4 French Style is pretty good. I also buy the Ueshima brand – Japan’s No.1 Coffee, apparently – when it’s discounted/nectar.

Aside: I use a one-cup cafetière, routinely stir, and let the water cool for a minute or so after boiling. It’s curious how much the coffee-making process can alter the taste.

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I buy beans in bulk from a local business supplier (in Suffolk UK) - min. order 6x1Kg, but so much less expensive than the same quality in supermarkets. I have a vintage, Astoria espresso machine with a brass tank plumbed into the mains that now only gets used for special occasions, but my daily round changed (for the better, and quicker) when I discovered Aeropress last year. 4 black no sugar cups a day.

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I suggest you begin following James Hoffman on YouTube. He can sort you out with how to best prepare pour over black coffee. Depending on whether you live near a good specialist coffee source, you may want to consider a subscription to a high-quality roaster who works with single estate coffee. (In the UK, Origin is a good shout for starters.)

It’s a rabbit hole, but it’s a lovely one. And yes, when you start drinking coffee black (and without sugar), you really learn the difference between good coffee and bad. One thing you really notice is process: how a washed coffee bean tastes different than a natural-process or anaerobic one. And you’ll also start noticing regional differences.

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Just don’t try the black coffee our American cousins drink. Floor sweepings!

In almost 40 years of travel to the US in the semiconductor and electronics industry I found only two or three places that made a decent coffee. One was in NY, run by an Aussie. Another was in Tucson of all places, the other In San Jose.

I made the mistake of trying Starbucks once - Had to give myself a stern talking to about never crossing that threshold again.

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Have to add a little colour - In Tucson there was a bar that if you entered wearing a tie it would be cut off and hung over the bar! I took the CEO of the company I was GM of at the time and ‘forgot’ to warn him. He was a good sort, remember the downstairs bar at Raffles Singapore with him - serious consumption of good Scotch.

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Starbucks was nice in the 1980’s when they were a supplier of coffee to restaurants et. Al. When they went mass market street-front retail, things changed. That being said, getting a “filter” coffee with free refills is still attractive in my country of residence, compared to competition.

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As an American who migrated to the UK a decade ago, I’ll have to disagree: the UK lagged behind the coastal cities of the US in specialist coffee culture. Intelligentsia and other third-wave coffee businesses were on the scene before that trend reached the UK, and as mediocre as Starbucks is, it’s still a notch above Costa or Nero!

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