Coffee Drinkers? (or other hot beverages)

[tkam]

In a quest to stop drinking soft-drinks I think I'm going to give coffee a try. Any suggestions on a mild coffee for a first-time coffee drinker?

[tyrion]

I find Columbian, Mexican, Costa Rican coffees to be on the mild side. You may want to stay away for Starbucks if you are buying a cup in a store. They brew their regular coffee way too strong in my opinion. I tend to buy Starbucks, Seatles Best, and Peets since I can get them in the supermarket. Intelligentsia out of Chicago is one of my favorite coffees.

[K3cT]

Java, definitely Java if you like your coffee smooth and candy-like.

[justin]

7/11 executive blend

[jvlgato]

Douse it with flavored syrups, some sort of creamer, maybe even sugar to taste. I like Torani Hazelnut and milk. Real coffee drinkers will laugh at you, but it sure makes it easy to like!

[jp11801]

most commercial grade coffee sucks balls and is the reason that milk and sugar are required by most people. I'm a bit intense about my coffee but home roasting takes 20 unsupervised minutes per week and it blows away store bought.

Todd try Small Batch Craft-Roasted Coffee from Sweet Maria's! pricey but worth every penny.

[justin]

Douse it with flavored syrups, some sort of creamer, maybe even sugar to taste. I like Torani Hazelnut and milk. Real coffee drinkers will laugh at you, but it sure makes it easy to like!

i dunno about that. mcdonalds gave me their fake creamer and sugar by mistake. i threw it away it was so bad. a tablespoon of milk tastes best to me, in any coffee

[Beefy]

If you want to try coffee, it has to be espresso based IMHO. Percolated or dripper coffee is typically awful...... way too strong and bitter, and with no depth or subtlety. I can only recommend to try out a few cafes in your local area, and get easy drinking coffees like lattes and cappuccinos. Work your way down to espresso and macchiato once you get a taste for it.

FWIW, I have a Nespresso machine. It uses coffee pods of various flavours to give a very quick, easy and surprisingly good shot of espresso. Perfect balance of price/performance/convenience for me.

[Fing]

Or try Tea!

Japanese Green tea is okay. Chinese tea is good (Chrysanthemum tea is very easy to drink).

Or a cup of british tea (PG, Tetleys - not the herbal stuff you get over there) and add some milk. Can be drunk with a teaspoon of sugar if absolutely necessary but try to do without.

[mypasswordis]

My comment probably doesn't belong here, but I just wanted to say maybe you should try to wean yourself off caffeine. That's exactly what I did a few years ago, since I hated having caffeine dependence. Stopped regularly drinking soda too because I had stomach problems which were exacerbated by the carbonic acid. I replaced it with moderate amounts of exercise and haven't looked back. If I try to drink coffee now, I get twitchy for about 5 minutes and then it's pretty much a liquid sleeping pill.

[grawk]

old bisbee roasters guatemallan is VERY good, and an easy drinker.

[dBel84]

I am a coffee drinker - a little obsessive at times but I wanted to second MPI's voice of reason. Not necessarily kill the habit altogether but if you substitute coffee for soda you may end up drinking a dozen mugs a day and that is not going to be good for your health. Personal story: My turning point came when I had run out of coffee beans and refused to pick up the local supermarket smack, by the end of the day I had serious withdrawal ( thumping head, puking - not pretty ) , I weaned myself to 2 cups a day ( from 10+ ). I never thought I was dependent on the stuff and used it as the primary source of liquid, never had palpitations , hypertension or other known side effects so that was a big wake up call. OK; MD hat off, if you are going to drink coffee, make sure it is enjoyable and in all honesty the best coffee is small volume , steam generated aka espresso/expresso ( depending where you come from ) , if it is well made it is not bitter but rather a smooth drink that is both creamy and rich. You can even top it with 10ml of steamed milk - machiata if you prefer a little dairy. ( I dislike Americana but only because it is akin to adding water to a good single malt ) My poison is a dark roasted bean which again if done correctly is not bitter but can be. Generally the lighter roasts are not as strong but can easily leave a bitter aftertaste and be less enjoyable than the darker roasts. The true Blue Mountain beans are smooth, but also one of the most expensive beans out there. Trader Joe's Blue Bay is a consistent blend I enjoy. enough waffling, time for my morning cup ..dB

[jvlgato]

i dunno about that. mcdonalds gave me their fake creamer and sugar by mistake. i threw it away it was so bad. a tablespoon of milk tastes best to me, in any coffee

I actually meant to add sugar even after adding the Torani syrup.

Agree, fake creamer can be pretty awful, and I prefer milk, as well. And I should say, I really don't drink that much coffee anyway, so what do I know!?

[Beefy]

by the end of the day I had serious withdrawal ( thumping head, puking - not pretty ) , I weaned myself to 2 cups a day ( from 10+ ).

Holy crap!

[grawk]

you had it worse than I do. That's impressive

[dBel84]

quite timely

coffee shortage

..dB

[melomaniac]

beefy got it right IMHO - espresso or nothing. and espresso machines need not be expensive (don't buy by the cup in stores, it's big money down the drain).

however, my spouse likes french press (rough ground, top with water, press down). my sister stays with drip (can be okay depending on filters and how well the coffee is roasted and ground, usually rather bitter though). my dad makes turkish coffee (finely ground, boiled with sugar until it foams three times). well, this is a gadget lovers' forum, you can find many other methods.

in the end, coffee will be better for your than the corn-syrupy softdrinks you're trying to kick, but only marginally. keep caffeine intake to healthy levels please, or your ears will ring! and nobody here will endorse that side-effect, I hope.

[Eric5676]

I'm a lightweight.

I drink a couple of cups in the morning of Folger's Black Silk with a little Milk and a pack of Equal per cup. I'm not sure I could say this is coffee is "mild" with a straight face although it may as well be water vs. Espresson and stuff like that.

This is pretty much the only caffeine I take. Rest of the day it's juice and water. Soda I rarely drink.

Since you can always control how much you use, I'd just pick a leading brand and see which flavor description suits you and go from there.

[manaox2]

I drink the diet sodas instead of much coffee these days, it seems like comparing crack to cocaine. Cheaper, less classy, enormous rush, and less preparation. Both wonderful and addictive. This is why I have to stay away from hard-core uppers, I'm so horribly hooked on caffeine already.

Coffee is wonderful, I would probably jump on a nespresso machine myself if I drank it more often currently.

[CarlSeibert]

I quit caffeine twice. The first time was pretty much like the withdrawal sequence in Trainspotting. And it didn't last.

Then, a few years ago, I got a terrible case of food poisoning. I couldn't have caffeine for a week and didn't much care, since I felt like I was dying anyway. Since then, I've been a decaf person mostly. I have no desire to go through all that again.

[n_maher]

I limit myself to two cups a day, occasionally I get the chance to swing by my favorite Turkish cafe and get a cafe mocha, which I will now make sure happens tomorrow.

I don't know why but I pretty much quit soda about 10 years ago and now have one a week, on average. I don't miss it at all.

[Augsburger]

The only sodas I drink are the Sprecher Puma, Cherry et al, everything else tastes like corn syrup toxic waste to me. Try any real Kona that you can get your hands on , not Kona blends which can have as little as 10% real Kona beans but 100% Kona coffee. Kona coffee has a very mild but flavorful taste.

[sschell]

For straight coffee, I'm partial to Central American coffees (I've had some really excellent single origin Guatemalan). Had pure Kona once and agree it is very mild (not in a way I enjoyed, but I can see how it might be appealing to people getting their feet wet). An Aeropress might be a good place to start preparation wise (single cup brewing, ability to alter coffee-water ratio).

[jp11801]

I really like Nicaragua, Rwanda, Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Kenya and Ethiopia for coffee in general but there is great coffee available from most countries that have the altitude. I'm not nuch of a blue mountain or kona fan as they are way too mild for me and waaaaayyyy overpriced. For the same money I can get small lot coffee that just one regional cupping events. If you ever get real Cuban coffee it can be outstanding, not the style of coffee but beans from there, good stuff.

[shoespear]

It is indeed great that you are actually giving up the path of soft drinks and heading towards coffee. There is actually first time for everything though, I found my favorite cup by trying each and every type available in common coffee shops and finally I landed on something that is to my preference. If you are not rejecting milk, I would suggest you to go for latte at first, or mocha as the coffee wouldn