A day without coffee is "sleep".

I think the 'ritual' of coffee is just as important to me as the caffeine boost.* I like my coffee hot. No cream and no sugar. Preferably drunk from my favorite coffee mug. I don't try to drink coffee during my piano practice time, though. The coffee just gets cold.


*I tried switching to tea once or twice and it just wasn't the same. My guesstimate was that I was getting about the same amount of caffeine.

I am told tea gives a different kind of caffeine.

So, what do I know? Am I a caffeinologist>?

Caffeine from tea vs. coffee: the caffeine is the same (by definition or else it would have a different name and chemical formula) and its receptors would not be able to distinguish the source (coffee, tea, cola, chocolate, pills, etc). There could, theoretically, be some difference in absorption/bioavailability based on the source, though.

No coffee - tea, which I brew and then drink iced - sweet southern iced tea.

Sam

I definitely feel more sensitive to coffee than tea. I drink quite a lot of tea (4-5 cups a day), and 1 or max 2 cups of coffee. My body really notices the cup of coffee!
So I think that (as I take them) I must be getting quite a bit more caffeine from a cup of coffee.

There have been plenty of studies showing health benefits associated with moderate caffeine intake, so this isn't something that I bother worrying about or feeling guilty about.
I do stop my caffeine intake fairly early in the day to avoid impacting sleep quality (which I'd certainly consider a negative from a health and quality of life point of view).

+1

I'm a programmer in my day job, so caffeine consumption is practically in the job description. I usually average about 3 cups per weekday (less on weekends), but I stick to decaffeinated drinks after 7:30pm.

I used to be a really heavy booze drinker until quitting 7 yrs ago. I confess that I now have the same “taste” or desire, if you will, for coffee and diet sodas. Maybe it’s addictive personality but I’m also hooked on music so it’s not all bad. I’m with Sam on the iced tea as well.

I got temporarily hooked on brewed coffee, after a friend returned from Costa Rica bearing gifts of bags of coffee. When she found out that I was an "instant coffee" person, and had no way of using the Costa Rican coffee… she thoughtfully provided me with a coffee machine as well!

I found out that the stuff is a lot more addictive than instant. A cup of brewed seemed in some weird way, to be alive or have a personality of its own. And flavor! It didn't help that I always, accidentally/deliberately, made it way too strong, black as black. (Whoops, guess I'll just add more cream.) I added a second cup to breakfast... then at lunchtime as well, then mid-afternoon, and then suppertime.

I looked at the coffee machine one day and thought, This coffee craze is going nowhere but around in circles. So I washed it out one final time and set it in a corner of my kitchen. Back to my utilitarian instant granules… One ordinary, unassuming cup is all I need at breakfast time, and it doesn't ask any more of me than that, or try to go beyond its bounds…

(I am feeling headachy and lethargic, and a small cup of weak instant helps with the worst of that, but that shouldn't last long.)

Speaking of instant coffee, I was amazed when I was talking to a Milennial generation young person and asked her opinion of the brand I used. She said "I never have tried instant coffee." Also what happened to all the instant coffee commercials that used to be on constantly? Fortunately Folgers and Tasters Choice have quietly continued to produce their consistent, though different, brands for us to enjoy.

Don't forget the greatest instant coffees of them all! I keep meaning to look for some of these. They still make them, I guess.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013...cial-general-foods-videos_n_4481433.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Foods_International

Did anyone used to make Russian Tea? We lived on this stuff in the 70s. With Tang, of course, or it's not really Russian Tea. It's actually a very "piano" drink for me because that's when I was first taking lessons and banging away on the little Yamaha M2F.

https://todayscreativelife.com/russian-tea/

Yes! I hadn't thought about that in years and years. A small restaurant on the upper floor of an old brick building in the city I used to live in sold it and I always had some when I ate there.

I find that coffee makes my playing worse and alcohol makes me plays better, mainly because coffee makes me more alert and tense, while alcohol makes me more relaxed. I play better when I am more relaxed.

Maybe make some recordings and play them back. It could be that alcohol makes you less critical of your results.

I drink coffee when I'm practising but not when performing. When I'm practicing, I need all my concentration and faculties (what little I've got of them in my old age) to focus on what I'm doing. I need to notice any slight unevenness in rhythm or runs/passagework, and fix them. Coffee/caffeine helps in that, and it also (very slightly) simulates the effect of the nerves/excitement that I experience when performing for an audience, and so I learn how to control that.

Whereas what alcohol does is to make you think you're better than you actually are (as pianist, as driver, as Adonis/Venus...... ), while impairing your concentration, coordination and reflexes.

I love coffee. Really nothing else to add to that other than good old artery clogging heavy cream.

I take mine black (no surprises there given my beliefs) and without sugar. I would take it without water if I could work out how.

Buy coffee beans to chew?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CAROL-ANNE...r=8-1&keywords=coffe+beans+chocolate

Taste like sh*t, though.

I've had some delicious chocolate embedded with tiny coffee chips from them (which gives the choc a crunchy bite and a strong but not overpowering coffee taste):

https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk

They've also experimented with chilli flakes in their chocolate, as well as sea-salt and other delicacies.....

Isn't coffee pareve?

Not so, an Americano is an espresso with added water. Quite different.

Ian

What gets me is if you don't pay 40p extra they pour half the espresso down the sink!

I prefer coffee with my milk rather than milk with my coffee.

I put in (precisely) 5ml milk, then pour in coffee to the "fill line" in my mug. Milk with added coffee tastes much better than coffee with added milk.

I wasted part of my recent trip to UK trying to find what we in Australia call a Long Black. "Oh, that's an Americano" they kept saying. But it wasn't a LB. Finally worked out that an Australian LB adds the shot of espresso to the hot water, thus preserving the crema. An Americano (as I had it everywhere in England before I gave up and had tea, which, by the way, was excellent) just pours hot water on top of the espresso.

Huh?
Pour espresso into water
is different from
Pour water into espresso?

So tell me, what if you pour water and espresso simultaneously into a new glass?
Is that different?

It makes a difference with highly concentrated acids, but I can't imagine it matters with coffee. If it does, I wouldn't drink the stuff..... ;-)

Ok, I'll bite, probably regret it, but what difference does it make?

Of course Bennevis, like I have said before, you are most likely correct.