A favourite thing - WAKEUP CALL! (Coffee in general)

Member Name: Boonoiy

Product:	Coffee in general
Date:	08/08/02 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes Great, Wakes you up, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Disadvantages: Addictive, potentially harmful, perhaps too delicious and habit forming - also quite dear if you yearn the posh stuff

"Cuban coffee beans - there's none that's finer.

Ah but I'd be lost without my electric coffee bean grinder!

But Vic, what do think these Cuban heels are for?"

And the flashbacks end.....

The favourite thing op. Finally something has come to me that I can genuinely call a favourite so let's bash on shall we...?

Coffee, patron saint to the heavy drinker, helper of the weary and love of many an addict throughout the land.

They reckon that if you drink over 3 cups per day then you are addicted and will notice side effects when you come off coffee - I'm here to hold my hand up high and proclaim myself to be that addict.

So let's begin at the start shall we? Coffee first entered my life in the early 80's, I'm sure I'll always remember that smell of Mellow Birds (remember...?) and hot milk flowing through the house (didn't do much for the hall carpets, let me tell you) when my mum made elevensies (oh how it all comes flooding back to me now), the first taste - spat onto the floor until first one and then two spoons of sugar were added - and then all of a sudden, from the age of about 9, I was hooked!

Let's go through the processes:

Instant:
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The coffee of choice in most households - or at least most of the ones I know, if you live somewhere posh just ignore me.

Choice of coffee - here we have a plethora of brands to chose from. You've got the Nescafe, the Carte Noire, the Whittards, the supermarket choices, oooh, all sorts.

Once you've found one, not too bitter, not too sweet, not too much like powdered (insert disgusting substance of choice here) you'll tend to stick to it (if you're anything like me) and it'll become like an old friend.

How to make the coffee - just for the totally uninitiated, or the posh who will get an idea of what the housekeeper is up to...


1. Fill the kettle with cold water and boil-up.
2. Put a spoonful of coffee into a cup with/without sugar.
3. Add boiling water to cup and then chuck the milk in if you wish.

Easy as pie.

Filter coffee:
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The stronger, slightly posher coffee.

Here we get a bit complicated. There's so many to choose from with Kenya, Columbia, Cuba, America and, well, just about everywhere producing its own range of coffee beans to sell on to the world and confuse them so.

Pick one out at random is the best bet - you'll usually find some kind of taste guide on the pack (usually quite expensive pack at that) and you'll get some kind of idea what you're getting.

Once you've found the coffee of choice (I'm dead into Whittards "Americano Blend" at the moment - we get it stocked in at work, can't go wrong) you need to make it turn into the lovely brown, warming drink through the use of your filter machine.

Slight tangent - these are dead cheap, from about £7 for a cheap and cheerful coffee machine in the right shops.

Steps to success:

1. Put a filter paper in the machine and add the coffee. How much you add determines the strength of the finished product.
2. Fill the water reservoir to the desired level.
3. Turn on the machine and let the drips of water fill up the strategically placed jug.

Easy, but quite dear. I only ever have this at work where IT's FREE!

Then we move onto the posh stuff:
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Cappuccino, Late, Mocha, Espresso, Frappuchino (don't really get that one myself) all have one thing in common - being dear and very similar!

Go into the coffee shop, get your hugely overpriced drink and prepare to be, honestly, underwhelmed.

If you're into this kind of thing, best of luck to you. I can see the points in cappuccino up to a p
oint as it's quite nice really and Espresso for them that likes the strength and bitterness and want the kick of MEGA caffeine. But overall - very much a non-starter.

You can buy machine that can do all this malarkey at home for you - very expensive (check out the car boot sales first if you want one - or get engaged, always some fool who's willing to buy the happy couple a silly coffee maker that's going to become very complicated kitchen clutter and finally be thrown into the local car boot sale for a quick £20).

Overall then:
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Coffee is addictive - you should see me in the mornings before I've had my first (of many) cup of the day. Ratty, irritable, unable to concentrate and, well, in the early stages of withdrawal I suppose.

Coffee wakes you up, it smells great, tastes fantastic (unless you're on about Safeway Savers.....) and is the mainstay of office life. A conversation area is always near the coffee pot, the kettle boiling or the filter watching can always fill a few minutes when you want to have a quick skive away from your desk and, all in all:

I LOVE COFFEE AND NEED THE FIX!

Now, where's that mug gone.............


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"Jill Murphy asked me to write about one of my favourite things to help her celebrate her fourth anniversary of cancer-free living and to remind ourselves of all the nice things in the world. It takes more muscles to make a frown than a smile you know. If you'd like to join in, whether you've only just joined dooyoo, or you've been here ages, you're more than welcome. Just write about one of YOUR favourite things, make your title "A Favourite Thing: [your choice]" and include this paragraph at the foot of your opinion. And post before Friday, 9th August."

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