Coffee or Tea?

Coffee or Tea?

  • Prefer Coffee

    Votes: 35 74.5%
  • Prefer Tea

    Votes: 12 25.5%

  • Total voters
    47

the sound of Tao

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2014
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Nice BMCG, you have my dream machine, La Marzocco... the Kondo of coffee makers, I'll have mine short and black thanks


giotto.JPG

I tried it with Stillpoints under my Giotto... the ultra 5s added much more gusto and generally a more refined crema.
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
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as long as its got caffeine.
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
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Enjoy both coffee and tea. :cool:
LM GS3 and Ceado, here.
 

the sound of Tao

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2014
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Sencha

Well-Known Member
Nov 11, 2013
110
13
323
U.K.
Pu-Erh smells like a barn yard. I can't cozy up to it
Oolong is my favorite

I agree, aged pu erh (say 20-30 years old) can indeed smell a bit musky. The first time i had the pleasure of sampling a properly aged pu erh (over 40 years old) I thought it smelled like old carpets, doesn't sound exactly like the kind of thing you would want to drink. But you know, it can feel very different to drink, smooth and deep with great energy. Its become one of my favorites to drink. Worth checking out at least once in your life.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I agree, aged pu erh (say 20-30 years old) can indeed smell a bit musky. The first time i had the pleasure of sampling a properly aged pu erh (over 40 years old) I thought it smelled like old carpets, doesn't sound exactly like the kind of thing you would want to drink. But you know, it can feel very different to drink, smooth and deep with great energy. Its become one of my favorites to drink. Worth checking out at least once in your life.

I drink a lot of different teas as there are so many to explore but every time I open a Pu-Ehr it truly smells like a mans urinal at half time at an NFL game. Give me a good green or an even better oolong and I'm happy

Sencha do you drink herbal teas
 

Folsom

VIP/Donor
Oct 25, 2015
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Eastern WA
Steve have you had Kukicha? The Choice brand is one of the better ones for that. You can't overbrew it, or use too hot of water. It's brown in color but not high in caffeine. Fantastic flavor.

Or how about Bancha? You get it at an Asian import store typically. It's the "everyday" tea in several Asian countries, and typically what would be used in the studies for green tea. Ironically in the USA we only drink special occasion green teas, and basically no one sells Bancha, the everyday tea... The Bancha doesn't tend to get bitter so much, is resistant to boiling, etc. It's pretty good and the health benefits can be noticeable upon consumption sometimes.
 

853guy

Active Member
Aug 14, 2013
1,161
10
38
Bulletproof-type coffee to start the day, combining coffee, grass-fed butter and organic coconut oil, blended together with four eggs.

In the evening, herbal teas, often peppermint.

Mostly prefer coffee, but depends who's making it.

Best,

853guy

P.S. Before I started freelancing, I worked at a company that had a fully plumbed-in two-handle La Marzocco Linea. It was a brilliant machine, but as I say above, the coffees it made came down to whoever was making them. I have many friends who have the Rocket, but let me give a shout out to the machine we personally use, that's half the price and makes a coffee that won't win you prizes, but still makes a good shot (acknowledging it's temperature control delta is greater, and you have to wait in between shots for the boiler to heat up again): the Rancilio Silvia. Can also be picked up second-hand, with good backup and parts support, especially here in Europe. I would also rather stick with the Silvia and have an excellent grinder (say, a Mazzer) than a better coffee machine with a lesser grinder - if that was the type of compromise one needed to make.

The-Rancilio-coffee-machine.jpg
 
Last edited:

GaryProtein

VIP/Donor
Jul 25, 2012
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I drink a lot of different teas as there are so many to explore but every time I open a Pu-Ehr it truly smells like a mans urinal at half time at an NFL game. Give me a good green or an even better oolong and I'm happy

Sencha do you drink herbal teas

Lapsang Souchong smells pretty bad too.
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
3,899
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Bulletproof-type coffee to start the day, combining coffee, grass-fed butter and organic coconut oil, blended together with four eggs.

In the evening, herbal teas, often peppermint.

Mostly prefer coffee, but depends who's making it.

Best,

853guy

P.S. Before I started freelancing, I worked at a company that had a fully plumbed-in two-handle La Marzocco Linea. It was a brilliant machine, but as I say above, the coffees it made came down to whoever was making them. I have many friends who have the Rocket, but let me give a shout out to the machine we personally use, that's half the price and makes a coffee that won't win you prizes, but still makes a good shot (acknowledging it's temperature control delta is greater, and you have to wait in between shots for the boiler to heat up again): the Rancilio Silvia. Can also be picked up second-hand, with good backup and parts support, especially here in Europe. I would also rather stick with the Silvia and have an excellent grinder (say, a Mazzer) than a better coffee machine with a lesser grinder - if that was the type of compromise one needed to make.

My next purchase will be a HG-1 grinder with 83mm conical burrs, same as used in a coffee shop but hand-powered. I'm not in any hurry as my Compak K3 is decent but a large conical-burr grinder is an another league... mostly for consistency and a larger "sweet spot" but some beans are going to be better vs a flat burr like the K3 or Mazzer Mini. The HG-1 can be fairly easily motorized, which is nice as $3k for the electric version is too much cash for me. I also single-dose my grinder and keep the beans in storage canister, weighed out for each shot to the tenth of a gram. It's amazing how much small changes effect espresso.

http://lynweber.com/product/hg-1/
 

Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
8,570
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Calgary, AB
I can't imagine drinking Bailey's and Tea..so there's my answer.
 

853guy

Active Member
Aug 14, 2013
1,161
10
38
My next purchase will be a HG-1 grinder with 83mm conical burrs, same as used in a coffee shop but hand-powered. I'm not in any hurry as my Compak K3 is decent but a large conical-burr grinder is an another league... mostly for consistency and a larger "sweet spot" but some beans are going to be better vs a flat burr like the K3 or Mazzer Mini. The HG-1 can be fairly easily motorized, which is nice as $3k for the electric version is too much cash for me. I also single-dose my grinder and keep the beans in storage canister, weighed out for each shot to the tenth of a gram. It's amazing how much small changes effect espresso.

Wow, Dave. You have my total admiration for being willing to go through the self-flagellation of hand grinding your beans and being forced to spend an extra twenty to thirty seconds to wait for an espresso. Me? Yeah, I'm all about getting a great shot, but I'm drawing the line at grinding my beans via manual labour. Although I'm willing to bet somewhere on the interwebs, on a forum dedicated solely to baristas of single blend roasts, right now there's a debate raging on how completely superior hand-grinding is versus machine grinding when it comes to consistency, texture and crema. Coffee geeks. I would laugh, but then here I am on this forum.

Be well, Dave,

853guy
 

Ronm1

Member Sponsor
Feb 21, 2011
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^not bad Bob, but I truly like Lyambiko's take much better.
 

Sencha

Well-Known Member
Nov 11, 2013
110
13
323
U.K.
I drink a lot of different teas as there are so many to explore but every time I open a Pu-Ehr it truly smells like a mans urinal at half time at an NFL game. Give me a good green or an even better oolong and I'm happy

Sencha do you drink herbal teas

Ha! That made me laugh!! A mans urinal at half time at an NFL game................. that is one lot of pish!!

Alas herbal teas are not on my radar as in effect they are not tea but herbal infusions. OK, so I may be a bit of a tea purist but I'd much rather drink a good tea than some fruity hot water. I have some wonderful Oolongs also, if you fancy a few samples Steve then just let me know, I'd be more than happy to send you some.
 

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