Coffee meme

(Via Blog of Rand)

1) When did you first start drinking coffee?

When I started working full time. Anybody who spends a third of their lives in a place of work and never drinks coffee is - weird. Abnormal. (I do work with such a creature.) I used to use milk all the time in my coffee. Some time in the early 90's I acquired a taste for drinking without milk, but it still depends on the coffee. My current office-related intake is three cups a day.

2) Do you have any coffee-related incidents that you regret?

Besides the occassional too-late-in-the day cup? Nope.

3) Have you ever tried to give up coffee altogether?

Yes, but I quickly realized that it would be terribly inconvenient to do so in Norway. In Norway, if there is anything readily available besides water, it's coffee. For example, I have observed on several occassions that the only beverage available at a meeting is coffee. Even now, there's often a huge coffee urn filled to the brim, and one little thermal pitcher of hot water and 4 tea bags for the one weirdo, uh, tea drinker.

At any rate, it may be wise of me to keep drinking the stuff since one study showed that elderly ladies who drink coffee had sharper wits than elderly ladies who don't drink coffee.

4) Do you have complicated taste in coffee? That is, do you make an intentional attempt to purchase and drink certain kinds of coffee for political or olfactory/gustatory reasons?

No. I'm thrilled if the coffee tastes good without milk and that's the extent of my taste buds' capability/interest in the matter. There is a coffee bar I like to go to, and sometimes I'll try one of their specials of the day. One coffee was labelled "sour" and yes, I could taste a slight sourness to it. Not my cup of tea (heh), but I was pretty pleased that I could actually taste something like that. Else it's the usual mucking around with double mocca lattes.

I had a friend, Elsa, who drank coffee like water. She explained that ever since she was served the perfect cup of tea, English-style, she could never again drink tea without it being done just that way. Coffee, however, didn't matter to her taste buds; it all tasted fine to her (it's probably relevant that she liked bitter-tasting food).

If I owned a coffee maker and the taste appealed to me, I would for sure buy a "fair trade" brand of coffee they have here in Norway. As it is, my standard fare at home is Nescafé Gold. Which reminds me: There is a difference in freeze-drieds. I tried a cheap brand and noticed its "grains" were larger than Nescafé's, didn't dissolve as well, and had less flavor.

(And one that I had to add:)

5) Do you have any coffee-related incidents that are exceptionally nice?

Yes. In some hotels in Europe (especially the British Isles), there is an electric tea kettle, cups and some instant coffee and tea in the rooms. I remember starting the day on vacation with my friend Elsa with a cup of coffee, usually in her room since she smoked, and we'd chitchat and look over maps and the day's agenda. For those times the room had no electric tea kettle, Elsa's trusty little heating coil and our own supply of instant did the trick. Sometimes it would be café avec, as well. Talking together, relaxed with a cup of coffee, was a wonderful way to start the day! The best part was when Elsa had it all ready by the time I got to her room; I felt so pampered.