The Coffee Thread

[Knight.of.Logos]

I am debating about switching to tea before work. On days I drink green or black tea instead of coffee, I get less of an "afternoon slump." I also am a bit more "on edge" with coffee, which sometimes might work in my favor (more talkative, more drive at work, etc.), but has it's downsides (sometimes it is better to talk less, and sometimes the energy from coffee is almost too much to focus well). I really enjoy the smell and taste of coffee, however, so maybe I'll do it on weekends or something.

 

[Mountaineer]

Never mix job with coffee. It's a bad idea.

 

[Viktor Zeegelaar]

I am debating about switching to tea before work. On days I drink green or black tea instead of coffee, I get less of an "afternoon slump." I also am a bit more "on edge" with coffee, which sometimes might work in my favor (more talkative, more drive at work, etc.), but has it's downsides (sometimes it is better to talk less, and sometimes the energy from coffee is almost too much to focus well). I really enjoy the smell and taste of coffee, however, so maybe I'll do it on weekends or something.

Switch to water before work. And during work. And after work. You'll be amazed how much better you'll feel and how much better your health will get if you skip out on caffeine and alcohol altogether, unless maybe at specific social situations like being in a restaurant or so. Make it an exception you appreciate, not a habit.

 

[Akaky Akakievitch]

I am debating about switching to tea before work. On days I drink green or black tea instead of coffee, I get less of an "afternoon slump." I also am a bit more "on edge" with coffee, which sometimes might work in my favor (more talkative, more drive at work, etc.), but has it's downsides (sometimes it is better to talk less, and sometimes the energy from coffee is almost too much to focus well). I really enjoy the smell and taste of coffee, however, so maybe I'll do it on weekends or something.

This guy and his research will blow you away, it has made me do a full u-turn on drinking black/green tea:

Fluoride In Tea: Black, Green, White, Herbal & More (Search 357+ Teas)

Search the fluoride content of 357+ best-selling teas including green, black, white, herbal, oolong, instant and iced tea.

truthaboutfluoride.com

Apparently caffeine inhibits the body's process to detox fluoride, but apart from that, you can find plenty of non-fluoride coffee which is fine to drink so the coffee-drinkers are safe, unlike with regular black/green tea, which seems to be almost entirely contaminated with fluoride these days. Wop wop.

I tried starting a coffee habit again and couldn't moderate it, so now I'm caffeine-free mostly, alternating between drinking Rooibos, dandelion root, and herbal teas throughout the day. I really enjoy the coffee aroma too, maybe i'll just sit in the corner of a coffeeshop every now and then to breathe it all in, lol.

Switch to water before work. And during work. And after work. You'll be amazed how much better you'll feel and how much better your health will get if you skip out on caffeine and alcohol altogether, unless maybe at specific social situations like being in a restaurant or so. Make it an exception you appreciate, not a habit.

Make sure it's fluoride-free water too

3 Best Fluoride Water Filters In 2023 (33+ Brands Tested)

33+ water filers were independently tested with a fluoride meter to determine the best fluoride water filters of 2023.

truthaboutfluoride.com

 

[CSH2C]

A cup of coffee before a bike ride helps to keep my energy level. I notice a drop in performance when I don't drink coffee before. I wish to change this. Am considering a slow reduction. Also considering only to drink coffee before a bike ride(3 times/week), and no caffeine the other 4 days. Anyone have thoughts or suggestions for me,?

 

[MartyMcFly]

A cup of coffee before a bike ride helps to keep my energy level. I notice a drop in performance when I don't drink coffee before. I wish to change this. Am considering a slow reduction. Also considering only to drink coffee before a bike ride(3 times/week), and no caffeine the other 4 days. Anyone have thoughts or suggestions for me,?

What about orange juice? It has some sugar which may give you energy, but it is pure and has good vitamins.

 

[Knight.of.Logos]

This guy and his research will blow you away, it has made me do a full u-turn on drinking black/green tea:

Fluoride In Tea: Black, Green, White, Herbal & More (Search 357+ Teas)

Search the fluoride content of 357+ best-selling teas including green, black, white, herbal, oolong, instant and iced tea.

truthaboutfluoride.com

Apparently caffeine inhibits the body's process to detox fluoride, but apart from that, you can find plenty of non-fluoride coffee which is fine to drink so the coffee-drinkers are safe, unlike with regular black/green tea, which seems to be almost entirely contaminated with fluoride these days. Wop wop.

I tried starting a coffee habit again and couldn't moderate it, so now I'm caffeine-free mostly, alternating between drinking Rooibos, dandelion root, and herbal teas throughout the day. I really enjoy the coffee aroma too, maybe i'll just sit in the corner of a coffeeshop every now and then to breathe it all in, lol.

I knew tea contained fluoride, but I always thought it was a more natural form of fluoride that isn't as bad as the industrial waste products they add to the water supply. Either way that is good to know, thanks for sharing it. I might try to do mostly white tea then and keep drinking coffee. I might have to reduce doing two cups a day to just one cup a day, though.

 

[Early Bird]

A cup of coffee before a bike ride helps to keep my energy level. I notice a drop in performance when I don't drink coffee before. I wish to change this. Am considering a slow reduction. Also considering only to drink coffee before a bike ride(3 times/week), and no caffeine the other 4 days. Anyone have thoughts or suggestions for me,?

Have you ever tried wheatgrass? They sell the fresh grass, frozen cubes for smoothies or a powdered form with a scooper inside the container. The powdered form is usually mixed with spirulina, barley grass, or other greens. Sometimes there is green tea in these blends as well for a little more energy.

All natural and easy to mix in a shaker bottle on the go with some water and a little juice if you need help masking the flavor.

Numerous health benefits and provides natural energy that is more evenly released.

Readily available at Whole Foods type places or smaller health food stores.

 

[Cr33pin]

This guy and his research will blow you away, it has made me do a full u-turn on drinking black/green tea:

Fluoride In Tea: Black, Green, White, Herbal & More (Search 357+ Teas)

Search the fluoride content of 357+ best-selling teas including green, black, white, herbal, oolong, instant and iced tea.

truthaboutfluoride.com

Apparently caffeine inhibits the body's process to detox fluoride, but apart from that, you can find plenty of non-fluoride coffee which is fine to drink so the coffee-drinkers are safe, unlike with regular black/green tea, which seems to be almost entirely contaminated with fluoride these days. Wop wop.

I tried starting a coffee habit again and couldn't moderate it, so now I'm caffeine-free mostly, alternating between drinking Rooibos, dandelion root, and herbal teas throughout the day. I really enjoy the coffee aroma too, maybe i'll just sit in the corner of a coffeeshop every now and then to breathe it all in, lol.



Make sure it's fluoride-free water too

3 Best Fluoride Water Filters In 2023 (33+ Brands Tested)

33+ water filers were independently tested with a fluoride meter to determine the best fluoride water filters of 2023.

truthaboutfluoride.com

You just had to ruin my day eh...

 

[Akaky Akakievitch]

I knew tea contained fluoride, but I always thought it was a more natural form of fluoride that isn't as bad as the industrial waste products they add to the water supply. Either way that is good to know, thanks for sharing it. I might try to do mostly white tea then and keep drinking coffee. I might have to reduce doing two cups a day to just one cup a day, though.

My understanding is that any fluoride is bad, even if it's the natural sodium fluoride, but of course the hydrofluorosilicic acid they add to the water supply which poses as 'fluoride' is definitely not good news either.

White tea is probably better as it's more rare but I'd check the source I linked and search the brand to see if he's already tested it. The guy behind this research is doing such a great job, maybe all by himself too from what I can tell, with support from donors and followers.

You just had to ruin my day eh...

The fluoride truth-bomb is a party-pooper indeed. But at least we are empowered by knowing where fluoride is actually found vs the masses are remain nescient or ignorant about it. I have sympathy for many people because they will never know that a large cause of their health defects arise from background toxic elements such as this, not to mention the toxins, EMF's, GMO's and everything else plaguing us. We're up against it these days.

The good news is: coffee-drinkers have dodged the fluoride bullet, for now at least...

 

[Brother Thomas 256]

You just had to ruin my day eh...

Same

 

[Hermetic Seal]

I recently got a Hario V60 pourover brewer and gooseneck kettle and feel like this has really elevated my coffee "game" compared to only brewing in the Aeropress up until now. A friend from my parish (henceforth "Sensei") has been running a specialty coffee roaster and cafe for over fifteen years now, and the V60 is his brewer of choice. I thought I'd share his suggested technique for the V60, which is quite contrary to popular V60 techniques but easier to perform and creates a more consistent brew. In addition to a V60 brewer and filters, you will need a burr grinder, a scale with timer, and a gooseneck kettle for pouring.

• 1:16 coffee:water ratio; for this example, I'll use my typical proportion of 20g/320ml. This produces around 10 oz. of coffee/roughly a full mug, and can easily be doubled to brew for two.
• Grind size should be finer than typical pourover but not as fine as espresso; on my grinder (the popular entry-level Timemore C2), I'm grinding at 14-15 clicks. For larger brews, increase the grind size. I suggest dialing in your brew/grind size for a single-mug serving first, then scale up.
• Kettle temperature should be off-boil. I'm boiling my kettle, then cutting the heat before grinding and preheating the brewer; a bit inexact, but if you have a kitchen thermometer you can dial it in more precisely to around 205 F.
• Place your filter in the brewer, and rinse with hot water. This will rinse the paper taste from the filter, and pre-heat the brewer. The V60 comes in various materials; plastic holds heat well, while glass and ceramic need to be thoroughly pre-heated. I use my clunky old temperature controlled kettle to boil a liter of water, then pour it all through the brewer over the sink because my tap water takes eons to heat up, but hot tap is fine too. The pre-heated brewer will help maintain temperature during the brew, facilitating better extraction and drawdown time. Personally, I prefer the ceramic brewer for the aesthetic value.
• Pour the dry grounds into a gentle "ant hill" shape inside the brewer. Set your V60 on top of your mug or server, set them on the scale, and tare to 0 g.
• Start your timer. Bloom with roughly 2x-3x your dry weight, in this case pouring ~60 ml of water clockwise along the far outer edge, leaving an "island" of dry grounds in the center. Your coffee should look like this so far:
• 
  
• Wait 25-30 seconds, then start pouring from the outside again, and slowly work your way in. Pour carefully with the water flowing straight down at an even pace and height. Your pouring spiral should slowly approach the little "island" of dry grounds in the middle. Just slowly keep eroding the edges of the island, pouring closer and closer to the center until the island is gone.
• The "island" will, at some point, probably roll and move around. You can use the pouring stream to push or "lasso" it back toward the center, but as long as you make sure all the grounds are wet, it's not a huge deal if it "wanders" a bit.
• Maintain a slow, steady stream in the center until you reach your brew weight, in this case 320ml. Total dwell time, including your initial bloom, should be about 2:15-2:30. If it's outside that range, adjust your grind settings accordingly.
• Your final result should look similar to this:
• 
• Stir the resulting brew in your mug or server, and enjoy. I suggest waiting 10-15 minutes for your coffee to cool off if it's in a mug, or brewing into a server and pouring small quantities into your cup at a time. The resulting brew should be well-balanced with a nice blend of body, clarity, smooth and sweet flavors, assuming you're using some decent coffee. My personal preference is for naturally-processed Ethiopian beans with flavors reminiscent of berries, but it's totally up to you.
  
  In Sensei's pourover theory, the "bed" of coffee after it draws down should match the shape of the brewer - in this case, an inverted cone. The reasoning behind this is that a flat bed of dry grounds, as in most V60 "recipes", can lead to over-extraction in the center, resulting in a more bitter/harsh-tasting cup. This is why we maintain a center of dry grounds for a while, to get a more even extraction and avoid over-extracting the center.
  
  You will notice that unlike many popular V60 "recipes" there is no "swirl" or stirring after pouring. The problem with the "swirl" is that it introduces chaos into the brew on several levels: 1) it results in fine particles clogging the filter, slowing the drawdown time and leading to increased bitterness/harshness; 2) it facilitates inconsistent and erratic results; 3) it flattens the bed, leading to over-extraction in the center as water in the center of the brew passes through a greater volume of coffee on the way down. By eschewing the "swirl," we can grind finer and have a faster drawdown, leading to better flavor and more consistency.

 

[windsofchange]

Tea with milk and sugar is a gamechanger

 

[Easy_C]

So...for brand recommendations...
Does anyone have any recommendations for a brand that's both reasonably affordable and made by Catholic or Orthodox groups? I know about Mystic Monk coffee but I do not know if any other brands exist.

 

[DanielH]

So...for brand recommendations...
Does anyone have any recommendations for a brand that's both reasonably affordable and made by Catholic or Orthodox groups? I know about Mystic Monk coffee but I do not know if any other brands exist.

I haven't tried their coffee but I'm aware of two Orthodox monasteries that make coffee.

1) All-Merciful Saviour Monastery, Vashon Island, WA - run by Abbot Tryphon. Very based, recommend buying just for that.

2) St. Tikhon's Monastery, South Canaan, PA Burning Bush Coffee Roasters

 

[Cr33pin]

Tea with milk and sugar is a gamechanger

milk and honey*

 

[Easy_C]

I haven't tried their coffee but I'm aware of two Orthodox monasteries that make coffee.

1) All-Merciful Saviour Monastery, Vashon Island, WA - run by Abbot Tryphon. Very based, recommend buying just for that.

2) St. Tikhon's Monastery, South Canaan, PA Burning Bush Coffee Roasters

#1 is perfect. And they have a nice decaf blend.

 

[Hermetic Seal]

Brown Coffee Company is also Orthodox-owned.

 

[Stadtaffe]

Caffeine, certainly a drug too I feel sorry for you guys who are on 10 cups of coffee a day... if you only drink water during the day and sometimes another drink at a cafe or when going out, see what a big difference that will make in your life.

Cross-posting here as a favourite drink was mentioned.

But who does that? 10 cups per day. On some occasions I feel I am pushing it when I have 4 cups but usual amount is 2 or maybe 3. I really love it, but not everyone has bodily chemistry which handles caffeine well.

There is a limit though, have experimented with the Robusta beans which have more caffeine and a slightly different taste. Have had it take me to a nasty realm which is almost impossible with coffee for me. So just stick to light roasted arabica and rarely make it very strong.

 

[Hermetic Seal]

Since the start of the Apostles’ Fast I’ve been making just one 21g/336ml brew per day in the V60 and not really craving more. I had been making two cups a day using 36-40g and was starting to feel a bit too jolty later in the morning. I might stick with a single brew around this size after the fast, too.