Invisible Adjunct

When I'm flush with cash, it's coffee from Orsini, a local roaster who does everything the expensive, old-fashioned way. When my cash flow is its more usual trickle, I rely on Costco's 3 lb., $8 bag of beans.

My morning routine requires two cups of PG Tips; but when I can buy coffee, I get it at Anderson's, Austin's excellent roasters.

La Colombe Coffee -- a local roaster, $10 per pound. There are some things, no matter my financial predicament, that I won't compromise. Coffee makes life worth living.

Just Maxwell House or Folgers and sometimes something supposedly better if it is on sale. I also grind my own Turkish Coffee in the supermarket machine which is useful for the office. When I'm travelling I indulge in those Starbucks Mocha Frapuccinos. Otherwise if I am buying coffee in a store it is the drip variety.

www.rishitea.com

I like their silver needle (white) and golden needle (black), and they have a good earl grey.

www.tenrenstea.com

I like their oolongs (especially the greener ones).

I have always liked the Tao of Tea
www.taooftea.com

but am going to try the ones suggested by loren!

I buy Starbucks French roast and grind it at home.
*glares around defiantly, ready to dash into previous thread and retrieve mace and chain*

Every two or three months, I'll have an iced mocha (preferably w/lots of chocolate syrup...). Otherwise, not a coffee or tea drinker. Heresy, I know.

I drink two cups of Sulawesi in the AM; then a make a pot of Darjeeling while feeding daughter lunch -- to be downed while she naps and I furiously pound out more text (. . . have published, but am now perishing nonetheless).

Loose Spiced Apricot Tea, Eastern Shore Tea Co., Lutherville, Maryland

I love a fresh Kenya AA, from whatever roaster (ideally, a non-chain local roaster) — but it’s been years since I bought any.

In real life, Eight O'Clock whole bean, preferably the 100% Colombian, but whatever Jewel/Osco has in stock.

Folgers crystals. All other forms of coffee are labor intensive and divert valuable time and energy from publication.

With age comes feebleness. I've dropped tea entirely and reduced my coffee consumption to a single expresso after dinner: Lavazza.

Coffee? A large café au lait, preferably with a dark roast. Almost every day, usually at the coffeebar in the campus restaurant near my building.

Tea? Celestial Seasons Echinacea Cold Care, or Lemon Zinger.

Mocha icecream - particularly mocha almond fudge with additional hot fudge sauce - at bedtime.

For caffeine-as-drug, soda. Beverages ought to be cold.

Good Earth Tea, which, I think comes from Santa Cruz, CA. They have quite a few yummy varieties, including their newest Red Teas. Their Vanilla Chai may not be the real stuff you can get at a cafe, but it grows on you.

Coffee: preference is Peets, but I try to find shade grown. Reality is that the adult child works at Largest Chain O'Coffee, and gets a ppound a week, most of which comes to us for free, so there. Otherwise, it's Costco.

Tea: PG tips, unless the local Liquidation World has those big restaurant bags of Twinings bags for $3 per 100. Oh, and Celestial Seasonings Vanilla Roibos is the all-day drink.

Barry's. Blended in the original home of tea and also myself, viz, Cork, Ireland.

Tea: maybe once a year, Early Grey or a green.

Coffee: never have, never will.

Heresy love company, Miriam.

I am truly ashamed to say that every morning I have 1-2 cups of lipton tea. I live in paranoia that my mother is going to find out and disown me. For coffee, I love whatever they roast at 1369 in cambridge MA but I also have an embarrassing affinity for dunkin donuts.

There's no shame in liking Dunkin Donuts coffee (and even less shame in liking Tim Horton's).

Peets, hands down. Alas, my digestive system has declared war on me and I've had to stop drinking coffee. Sigh.

I discovered Peets while working at a Silicon Valley startup. While the company was super-tight with cash for everything else, they did have Peets and an assortment of cold sodas in the break room. It made working late nights so much more bearable!

Put me down as a heretic too. Caffeine is best consumed in soda form (though I do occasionally get chai).

#20/21 -- Not only is there no shame in doughnuts, I submit that there is glory in them. But you will not have lived until you've tasted Krispy Kreme. If I weren't already overstuffed, I'd drive down on Ponce de Leon and get a half dozen of 'em right now. Maybe I'd even leave two for the wife's and daughter's breakfasts.

I used to prefer Peets over any other coffee--I grew up in the Bay Area, and have been drinking Peets for a good 20 years--but since expanding their quality has gone down. My husband and I have had some truly excellent coffee from an online independent retailer: moorecoffee.com. She has pretty wide range of varietals, does her own roasting. May I highly recommend the Mocha Yemen Ismaili.

I like Costa Rica brand. It's from Finland.

I prefer tea--nothing too florid--to coffee, but my uncouth roots are evident in the fact that soda is my preferred caffeine delivery system...

For tea:
Twining's Earl Grey, most frequently.
Local loose leaf (any) when I can.

For coffee:
At home: from a kilogram tin of President's Choice.
In transit: Tim Horton's.
Anathema: Starbuck's.

Aargh! Not Krispy Kreme! We drive past corporate HQ every time I visit my inlaws. They seem to be the local religion, but I don't understand why.

Donuts ought to have some solidity to them, some cake-ness. If you want something so fluffy that you aren't sure whether or not you actually ate something, get a good croissant.

Having living for a long time in Florida before moving to New England, I would like to proclaim my love for Krispy Kreme. Oh, to see that "hot now" sign! (I actually never eat doughnuts at dunkin donuts, and just go there for the coffee and an occasional breakfast sandwitch).

There is a very nice, locally owned business here in Saint John (New Brunswick, Canada) called Java Moose (no jokes please). When I can, I get beans from them or buy a cup.

I'm currently on a Harry & David Cinnamon Hazelnut Praline coffee kick.

Mocha Frappes for me, thanks, or Luzianne iced tea with enough sugar to let it work as brick mortar (I grew up and currently live in the South -- iced tea is a year-round thing).

On the Tim Horton's thing -- love them, but isn't it creepy that you can buy something called "Timbits" at a place named for a guy who died in a car crash?

Ugh, Ralph -- if you're on Ponce, just head down Briarcliff and wend your way to the Flying Biscuit! I never got the Krispy Kreme thing, even in my Atlanta grad school days. We have them here, now, and I bought some for the department office, but they just don't have the wonderful, raised, yeasty taste of proper donuts!

On the other hand, Atlanta taught me that Coke in the morning is a Good Thing. Now that Coke makes smaller cans, I admit occasionally indulging.

Re. Timbits and where they come from:

We don't talk about that, here in Canada.

Taiwanese green tea.

Coffee makes me too jittery to work. Any more than a couple of ounces, and I'm useless til lunch. Hope this helps.

Rooibos tea. Just discovered this stuff. It rocketh mightily.

what on earth is rooibos tea?

Good questions, IA, but I think the burning issue here is:

To what extent do you have access to FREE coffee at work -- and how do the results correlate to academic discipline, degree status, institutional prestige, and security of employment? I for one miss nothing about the ivy league boutique where I adjuncted, except the free espresso on tap.

#34 ADM -- The Flying Biscuit is a treat any time of day. So is Krispy Kreme for melt in your mouth goodness. But even this addicted grit delays his Coke until lunchtime. And don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards!

Uh oh. Here come the Donut Wars (second only in ferocity to the infamous Software Skirmishes).

Let me say this about that, to wit Krispy Kremes.
1) Krispy Kremes are not doughnuts in the "wonderful, raised, yeasty taste" sense ADM craves. If it helps you to appreciate them, think of them as another thing entirely. If you just don't like them, you don't like them. BUT:
2) You're not allowed to say you don't like them unless you've had them hot off the doughnut line. Cold Krispy Kremes, Krispy Kremes more than a couple of minutes off the line, are not Krispy Kremes but the sad ghosts of Krispy Kremes. There is no point buying Krispy Kremes from one of those places that gets them shipped in. Go to a real Krispy Kreme outlet, wait until the HOT NOW sign is lit, and buy at least two hot, fresh ones when they're ready -- at least two because if you have any susceptibility at all, after you've finished the first you will immediately need another, and you won't want to wait in line for it. If you can eat a fresh, hot Krispy Kreme with indifference of soul, I respect your stoic nature, but I don't envy it. Mmm.. Krispy Kreme!

My biggest dilemma is that it takes coffee to make coffee. In other words, I cannot properly work the coffee maker unless I have already had a cup. I opt for the free coffee at school, which is horrible, but I add free chocolate milk to make a poor man's mocha.

I will take Tim Horton's and/or Dunkin' Donuts over Krispy Kreme anyday. KK just cannot do a proper Boston Cream, my favorite donut.

A shout out to Chris for picking La Colombe. Go Philly! The shop in Manayunk is one of the few places I will go down there.

I am _such_ a tea slut. I drink it at least twice a day every day, sometimes as many as four or five times. It's almost always caffinated, with sugar and milk. I'm currently rotating between Earl Grey, Black Jasmine, green tea, and "Kwazulu." Oregon Chai mix is good too. I like Choice's fair trade organic teas, but I can't get them here without mail-ordering, so I drink what I can get: Tazo, Republic of Tea, Stash, bulk bin stuff, Twinings, even Lipton in a pinch...

Orange Pekoe is the drink of the devil, however. Bleargh.

Coffee's okay, IF it's drowned in milk, sugar and chocolate in the form of a mocha. :)

To language hat, I am sold. I generally have found Krispy Kremes a bit overpriced, but I guess I always tried them cold. Now to find one of the outlets...(Mmmm... Hot Krispy Kreme!)

At work, Columbian (Yuban), because it's the best reasonably priced coffee I can find, and I'm not the only one drinking the coffee I buy.

At home, either an African (Kenya AA is OK, but I prefer Ethiopia AA), Sumatran (Moka Java, which I used to mix with Ethiopia for nearly perfect flavor), or, more frequently, a local coffee. I have the good fortune to live in coffee country, and though I can't afford the really good Kona stuff regularly, there are a few local roasters who cater to local tastes. Lion Coffee is pretty widespread here, and does a really nice job.

For the record, French Roast and Starbucks Roast are not acceptable: if you want to taste the coffee, it needs to be a medium or medium-dark roast, not charred.

I agree. Medium roasts are the way to go! Dark Roasts, and Starbucks in particualr, are an abomination. And I'm not a big fan of blends either.

I will admit that there is something about walking into the Krispy Kreme and having the woman behind the counter hand you a fresh, hot donut while you make your choice. They are definitely better when fresh. And they do have a "melt-in-your-mouth" quality that is different from pretty much anything else. Still, although I completely understand Krystals, Sweet Tea, Mary Mac's fried chicken, real grits (not to mention susage and cheese grits) and the wonders of Waffle House, I don't get the Krispy Kreme thing. But that could also be because I really am a jelly donut kind of medievalist.

BTW Rooibus tea (aka red tea) is from southern Africa -- I think it's actually a bark. It tastes nice, has no caffeine, and is higher in anti-oxidants than "real" tea. Where I live, you can only buy two brands -- Republic of Tea -- hugely overpriced, and Celestial Seasonings.

Mma Ramotswe, heroine of Alexander McCall's (I think?) mysteries, drinks it regularly.

real grits (not to mention susage and cheese grits)

Now you're making me hungry...

If anyone ever ventures to Alaska for any reason, Anchorage's Kaladi Brothers is a fine roaster. Tea-wise, I'm a republic fan, with kiwi pear and blackberry sage topping the charts. I usually settle for something cheaper, though. My republic fetish started when I worked at a cafe and had the awesome free drinks mandate working in my favor.

For coffee, my favorite is Community Coffee (the Official State Coffee of Louisiana - they serve little cups of it at the welcome centers at the state line, and I know I'm home), either their Between Roast (between medium and dark) or the kind with chicory in it (Cafe du Monde coffee with chicory is also good). But when I run out of Community, I get coffee from Trader Joe's (I alternate among Bay Blend, House Blend and French Roast).

For tea, I like Twinings Darjeeling, Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime, and Bigelow's Constant Comment.

I like the very occasional cup of tea - green tea, especially. My usual beverage of choice, however, is diet Dr Pepper. I've never had a sip of coffee, as I can't stomach the smell of it, and I tend to follow the general rule, 'don't eat that which smells rotten, unless cheese, in which case only eat that which smells rotten.'

ADM,

Do you have access to any Good Earth Tea? I am certainly no expert on Red Tea, having never heard of it until recently. Good Earth has quite a few varieties of this; I have only had a chance to try the rasberry and lemon flavors. Both are yummy.

Couldn't respond to the poll. I'm a PhD dropout who's oddly enough found FT employment as an "academic professional," doing technology-related stuff (faculty development, program administration, project managment, web development, you-name-it). It's regular work, the pay is better than some tenure-trackers, and it keeps my family together. Why this happened to me when many of my classmates got sent to the salt mines, I don't know.

Oh, Baba Budan blend is really good coffee.

I found "left academia behind, thank Jeebus" to be a missing option as well.

I still drink tea, though. Taylor's of Harrogate at the moment. Good stuff.

And I've found the Kwazulu goes better with lemon than milk, Rana. But that's just me. :)

I've got to second calicajun's choice of Louisiana coffee with chicory. In New England (where I live now) we can only get French Market but Cafe Du Monde is my preference. They do something in the roasting process which makes the coffee very strong (one scoop is usually enough for a twelve cup pot) so you can jolt yourself to life for those 9am classes after staying up until 3am working on the dissertation.

part time contigent.

and because of that, i have a variety of caffeine based assistants at my disposal. in the morning, it's whatever-good-kind-of-dark-oily-beans-are-on-sale dripped to esperesso like thickness. i grind 'em right before the water hits 'em. then during the day, since i'm on the road so much and i don't really have time for pit stops, i suck on caffeine infused breath mints. my best friend. at night if i need it, i brew a cup of cheapo supermarket tea and add a heaping spoonful of dried ginger and some soymilk.

i took the family on a road trip to krispy kreme once. wasn't really worth the gasoline, in my opinion. but then again, i was raised (ha ha, get it?) on dunkin donuts.

Mate!

DM -- Yes, I can get all kinds of Good Earth Teas at the local Safeway. I'm actually still hooked on their original spice blend, which I first tasted in one of their restaurants. I drink the decaf version of the original, and both versions of their chai, although I think you really need two bags for a good cup. I like it, though, because I can make it with low fat milk and the stuff in the yellow packets, whereas premade chai is just packed with refined sugars and is way sweeter than the chai you get in Indian restaurants.

Coffee - Javaheads a local coffee shop that roasts thier own. The House is good, I take a Cafe Americano.

Tea - Green Chai from Stash

I'm particularly fond of Twining's lemon and ginger tea.

Green tea sometimes, and coffee jags for a week or two, sometimes. Brands? Doesn't matter, though tick and richly brewed is better.

This site needs a full-fledged entry on the caffeine issue--is a daily addiction good for a body and mind? If bad, in what ways? Do people find themselves different with or without it, aside from the obvious heightened energy or jitters, etc.?

I find that if I drink caffeine for more than a week, my whole personality changes. I get less confident, I waste more time on useless stuff, important stuff takes more time, I swear my IQ goes down, and I generally just think less clearly than when I'm free of the drug.

whatever sack a whole beans people give me and like it (mom?!?). if i run out of free stuff i get organic swiss water decaf from trader joes, mollie stones or whole foods. is every other day still an addiction? who's to say what's abnormally dependent when it comes to caffeine?

I like Ten Ren Tea too. Their green oolong smell wonderful. You can find it at www.TenRenTea.com it gets shipped and deliverd quick.