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BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!

10 Mar 11 - 01:21 AM (#3110872)
Subject: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

For me, it's a dead heat between... (drum roll)

1. The coffee fron the coffee truck that came to my job at JLS Computers in the early 80s in downtown Toronto. The guy that drove the truck made unbelievably awful coffee, and I found that out the first time I bought it. It was bloody STRONG...and it tasted sort of like burnt peanuts. I kid you not. Absolutely putrid. I never bought his coffee again after that, but some others kept buying it, to my amazement. ;-)

and...

2. The coffee I bought at Black Cat Fish and Chips, purchased in the mid-70s in Toronto. It was wretchedly weak, stale tasting, and had a distinct flavour of dish washing detergent. I dared the owner, a mustachioed and sweaty Greek with very hairy arms, to drink some of it himself, and he reacted with wounded outrage that I would criticize his coffee! We never reached a meeting of minds on that, I'm afraid. Fortunately, there were several other coffee shops not too far away, and I reminded him of that as I left his establishment.

Now how about the story of your worst cup of coffee?

10 Mar 11 - 01:48 AM (#3110882)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,999

What the hell are you doing up at this hour? Go to slee--you were drinking coffee, right?

10 Mar 11 - 01:52 AM (#3110886)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Georgiansilver

Coffee in the UK is generally pretty poor but I like a good cup of Nescafe with milk and a teaspoonful of honey.... drink about half a dozen cups of the stuff daily.

10 Mar 11 - 02:08 AM (#3110890)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Ebbie

As you said, coffee in the UK is generally pretty poor. Nescafe is NOT my idea of coffee. lol But you know, different strokes for different folks.

I like freshly ground coffee, usually espresso blend or sometimes French Roast, strong and hot and black. I brew 4 or 5 cups worth which gives me two big mugs full. When it's stale- within the hour- it is not so good. However, if I can't drink the second mug immediately I pour it from the drip pot and let it cool and drink it like that when I get back. It doesn't stale that way.

A man from Trinidad told me why 'western' coffee is not as good as whet they have at home. They don't roast it, he said, but lay it out and let the sun dry it. I would like to try it.

10 Mar 11 - 02:11 AM (#3110892)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Ebbie

I don't have an overwhelming memory of a specific cup of awful coffee but I've had a few in my life. Usually it's because it's too weak but sometimes it has been in a restaurant where I got practically the dregs of hours' old coffee. Undrinkable.

10 Mar 11 - 02:28 AM (#3110899)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: acegardener

As I sit here with my wakeup cup of blue mountain expresso and Gauloises, every other cup of coffee I ever had was bad.

10 Mar 11 - 03:51 AM (#3110921)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Dave Hanson

I bought some own brand Italian Blend from Morrisons Supermarket in Halifax, it was totally tasteless.

Dave H

10 Mar 11 - 04:27 AM (#3110938)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Jeremiah McCaw

Relatives out west when I was a teen. Put the jar of instant in the centre of the table, then poured everyone boiled water into a dainty teacup. Add a teaspoon of the instant coffee AFTER the fact. Vile stuff - poor old coffee bean never stood a chance!

Honourable mention; the wretched fluid MacDonald's (in Canada) used to serve years ago. Current stuff is actually respectable!

10 Mar 11 - 04:34 AM (#3110943)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Dave MacKenzie

I distinctly remember the worst cup of coffee I've ever had. Came out of an urn from the 'refreshments' van outside Digbeth Coach Station in Birmingham when the London Chester coach had a 3am comfort stop. I can normally force myself to drink poor coffee, but this went straight down the gutter.

10 Mar 11 - 04:37 AM (#3110944)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Arthur_itus

The only good coffe I have had, is in Holland. They know how to make coffee. Cafetaire style. They also use coffee milk, not ordinary milk.

We still have cafetaire coffee and we use the Italian Cofee from Tesco. WE use Carnation milk which is very similar to coffee milk in Holland. Its tatstes wonderful, but I only have one big beaker per day at breakfast.

The Uk coffee such as Nescafe with water and ordinary milk is pewtred and I just wonder why brits drink it.

10 Mar 11 - 05:07 AM (#3110956)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: gnomad

What I call "little-old-lady" coffee (not served by all such, nor exclusively by them, but there is a definite association) ie instant coffee, made with boiling milk in stead of water, about half as much coffee as in a normal cup, sugar added with a small spade to sink the skin that is rapidly forming on the top as it goes cold. Generally comes in best china cup & saucer, and served with a hesitant charm.

You can't help liking the ceremony, and politeness absolutely requires that you drink up, but do it quite slowly or you will have more of the stuff pressed upon you, the last thing a drinker of hot, tangy, sugar-less espressos would wish for.

10 Mar 11 - 05:32 AM (#3110969)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: SPB-Cooperator

Worst for me, recently, was from a small shop near where I was working in Northfields. it was supposed to be a Cappuccino, but on top was a thin layer of bubbles that dissipated in a few seconds, shortly followed by a layer of skin on top of the coffee.

10 Mar 11 - 05:41 AM (#3110973)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Will Fly

I never drink instant coffee. I buy strong Colombian coffee (Fair Trade), put a heaped measureful into a cafetiere, pour on not quite boiling water and leave for around 4 minutes. Out comes the most wonderful cup of strong, fragrant coffee.

It's not where you drink it, it's how you make it. The question is: why does my coffee taste so much better than that of Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and any of the other so-called coffee chains? These coffees aren't bad - and they've certainly raised the standard of high street coffee in the UK since they started up - but nothing beats a home brew.

The worst cup? Anything instant.

10 Mar 11 - 05:47 AM (#3110977)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Ed T

1) At a youth Hostel in Jerico Beach. BC. They had a machine that served coffee and chicken soup for a quarter. I got half and half coffee and soup. I drank it, but it was really bad.

2) At a small Esso service ststion in Lake of the Woods area of Ontario. It was machine coffee also. The styrofoam cup came down , a fly came out of the cup and a really thick liquid flowed down (someone forgot to add water. No, it wasnt expresso). Ir seemed like no one had used the machine for years. They only had whitener powder, but it did masked the really foul taste somewhat.

10 Mar 11 - 05:48 AM (#3110978)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Arthur_itus

It cetainly is the way you make it.

As I said, we use Tesco's Italian Coffee and make enough for 3 mugs and we use 5 heaped spoons and pour boiling water over and leave for 5 minutes and get a beautiful cup of very tasty coffee.

10 Mar 11 - 06:03 AM (#3110987)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Allan C.

This is more about the worst cup of "coffee" I managed to avoid.

Some years ago after a very, very long drive I arrived at the town in which I was to attend a special gathering of folkies at 11 the next morning. My hotel room had what I found out later were akin to blackout curtains. I had forgotten to request a wake-up call. This combination of items caused me to sleep until about 10:30. I quickly donned my clothes and raced down to the lobby to grab a cup of coffee to caffeinate myself enough to get through what was to be another very long day. You can only imagine my dismay to discover that the continental breakfast, and therefore the coffee, had been packed up at 10 that morning!

I mustered my strength and soldiered on to the event. After exchanging pleasantries with my host and attempting the same with the other guests, I found my lack of coffee was causing my other systems to begin to shut down. With an apologetic tone I asked my host if, perchance, he might have any coffee about the place. He answered:

"Yes, I believe so. My wife keeps some instant in one of the cabinets."

STRIKE ONE

"It is flavored - hazelnut, I think."

STRIKE TWO

"And it is decaf."

STRIKE THREE

I found some gracious way to decline the offer. I will be eternally grateful to one of the attendees who offered to take me to a Starbucks. I gladly accepted.

10 Mar 11 - 06:06 AM (#3110989)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: MartinRyan

Interesting that Tesco's Italian blend gets a couple of honourable mentions here. I agree - we use it for our morning coffee (paper filter - and yes, it does matter). Rest of the day its serious coffee from a Nespresso machine. I resisted the latter for a long time until I despaired of being able to get consistency from a "proper" expresso machine.

Worst coffee ever? Why go there - the pyramid is too broad?!

Regards

10 Mar 11 - 06:25 AM (#3110999)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Bonzo3legs

I don't know about worst cup of coffee, but I find it increasingly irritating when ordering an espresso in the UK to be asked if I want a "single or double"!!!!!!!!!!

10 Mar 11 - 07:40 AM (#3111024)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: John J

I was in a delightful hotel in Nepal in 2001 with a friend. At breakfast she wanted tea, I wanted coffee - so I ordered tea and coffee.

And that is exactly what we got....disgusting!

The waiter was so sweet that I didn't have the heart to complain.

JJ

10 Mar 11 - 07:54 AM (#3111035)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Patsy

Aldi's own brand followed by surprise, surprise Marks and Sparks own brand Italian or French Roast (instant) it doesn't matter really. Before Marks and Spencers started to put 'well known' brand names in the foodstore if I was doing a shop and also needed coffee, occasionally it was convenient to pick up a jar and add it in with the rest of the shopping. The taste is really nothing special at all considering how good the quality the foodstuffs are supposed to be. On that basis I call it the worst. Decaff anything is the very very worst, like drinking cardboard flavour hot water, if I want something decaff I drink something entirely different.

It is surprising how Costa coffee or any other can vary from shop to shop, cafe to cafe. I think it depends on how well it is made by the person serving most of the time. Occasionally I have had the odd latte that has been more like a frothy coffee flavoured hot milk than a coffee and then in another cafe or restaurant they will make it really well but as a safeguard I have an extra shot added. On the whole I prefer it to Starbucks.

10 Mar 11 - 09:25 AM (#3111065)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Bonzo3legs

But the hideous "single or double" (usually with an Eastern European accent) never changes!!

And as for larrrrrrrtayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?????

10 Mar 11 - 10:03 AM (#3111085)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,number 6

I'm not a fan of Starbucks ... but regardless, the worst cup of coffee I haver had was at a Starbucks in Peachtree Georgia.

A side note to this certain establishment ... I was complaining to the guy behind the counter that I could not find a half decent cup of coffee in the vicinity ... he asked me where I was from .... I told him New Brunswick Canada .... he then replied "oh, your a Newfie"

Geeeesh

biLL

10 Mar 11 - 12:00 PM (#3111149)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Bill D

I don't drink coffee 'out' very often, but generally... 'bad' is when they are cheap with their coffee and not only buy cheap coffee, but make it weak AND have bad water to make it with, so the mineral taste from the water is more obvious. THEY are used to it..I am not. There is one place I go to yearly where, for the last 3 years I have taken my own small coffee maker (drip) and my own coffee and enough water for 2 days. I quietly brew in my room and use my own mug.

10 Mar 11 - 12:10 PM (#3111156)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: olddude

Folgers ... I hate that stuff ... for me the stronger the better

10 Mar 11 - 12:31 PM (#3111170)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: bobad

espresso not expresso

10 Mar 11 - 12:34 PM (#3111175)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Bill D

Coffee, tea...or...

the secret is out!

10 Mar 11 - 12:43 PM (#3111184)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

"I quietly brew in my room"   I guess that's what you did after my last PM, eh, Bill? ;-)

10 Mar 11 - 12:59 PM (#3111196)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: gnu

I had a Tim Horton's coffee many years ago. Just the one... well half of it. I figured Tim's had pigeons on the payroll retrieving discarded wooden stir sticks to make more coffee.

10 Mar 11 - 01:05 PM (#3111201)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Eliza

I have to smile when recalling the episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, where Baldrick uses his dandruff as sugar, and offers to make an ersatz capuccino with...guess what?.. for a chocolate powder topping.
I really prefer instant coffee, Nescafe Gold Blend. The worst I've ever had was in Istambul, a tiny cup (fortunately) so bitter and strong it made my hair stand on end. They poured it from a great height from the pot, so it was frothy. I can still taste it now!

10 Mar 11 - 01:09 PM (#3111203)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

Tim Horton's coffee used to have a good reputation, presumeably it was the best coffee of all the Canadian donut chains. By now, however, Tim's has put virtually all the other donut shops out of business and has become a near monopoly. And guess what? The coffee ain't so good anymore! ;-)

10 Mar 11 - 01:53 PM (#3111228)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Bert

Starbucks without a doubt.

It was worse than a cup of stewed coffee that I got at a truck stop about two o'clock one morning. They didn't charge me for it because it had been stewing for hours.

Eliza, that was Turkish coffee. Once you acquire the taste it is really good.

10 Mar 11 - 02:11 PM (#3111235)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,999

Preferences are one thing. Necessity is another. Worst cup of coffee I've had is the empty one.

10 Mar 11 - 02:18 PM (#3111237)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

A Tim Hortense-was the worst coffee, but the doughnut was good.

Since I retired, I don't drink at the coffee places, but only when we go out for a meal at a good restaruant; the coffee is usually very good.

I buy beans for coffee at home, Mexican or Guatemalan from Starbucks.
Their in-house coffee depends on the employees, so some is good, some is marginal (just like Hortense). I spent a couple of weeks at a plantation in the mountains on the border (Chiapas), and have drunk coffee from there ever since.

What is wrong with single or double? When I order espresso, I usually follow the first with a second. So many people do it that the 'double' has become common.

10 Mar 11 - 02:21 PM (#3111238)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: artbrooks

Instant coffee from a brown envelope out of a C-ration package, heated in a canteen cup over a Sterno tablet. After that, I don't complain about coffee.

10 Mar 11 - 02:27 PM (#3111243)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Jeri

I'll agree that the worst is the empty one, but the next worst thing is the paltry dishwater-weak tea-like stuff some people make. Worst coffe I had was in Indiana. It seemed like the closer one gets to the middle of the US, the weaker the coffee is.

I worked in a clinic, and one doctor and I tried to sneak in there and make the coffee with some actual coffee in it before others did it. People complained it was too strong, but you can dilute coffee that's too strong. If it's too weak, you can't do much... unless you steal a filter, stick some coffee in it and dip it in your cup like a tea bag. Done that. It's tricky not to scald one's fingers.

10 Mar 11 - 02:28 PM (#3111244)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,999

LOL. Good one!

10 Mar 11 - 02:29 PM (#3111245)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,999

The LOL was for Art.

10 Mar 11 - 02:32 PM (#3111247)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,999

" unless you steal a filter, stick some coffee in it and dip it in your cup like a tea bag. Done that. It's tricky not to scald one's fingers."

Get someone else to do that part, Jeri.

10 Mar 11 - 02:47 PM (#3111257)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: lefthanded guitar

Starbucks I don't know WHY that vile stuff is so popular

but then again so was/is
Justin Beiber
The Carpenters
Avrile Lavigne
Sarah Palin

10 Mar 11 - 02:49 PM (#3111258)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: gnu

In every job I have had I was always the first arrival in the morn. Always made the coffee. One morn, a full pot had been on the heat pad all night and it just reeked. I poured out the sludged and thought "This crap goes in black and comes out clear.... never again." I've had three cups in over 20 years... only because I couldn't stay awake on a technical course about hydraulic hose and fittings. Oh, I'd have still been a certified hoser without the coffee but the snoring might have offended the instructors.

10 Mar 11 - 03:07 PM (#3111268)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Eliza

Yes, Bert, I realised it was Turkish coffee, as I was sitting outside at a cafe in Turkey. But I don't think I could ever acquire a taste for it.
In the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh during the sixties, I got a student job on the wards (relief auxiliary nurse). We nurses had ghastly NHS coffee, a horrid greyish brew with a sour taste (some cheapo instant with powdered milk) But my job was to make The Doctors' Coffee. (curtsey) Real coffee grounds, roasted in a pan then percolated. It smelled absolutely delicious, the beasts.

10 Mar 11 - 03:08 PM (#3111269)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Deckman

My American Army days. When we were in the field, the cooks boiled coffee in 55 gallon garbage cans. Beyond morning coffee, it was also the ONLY hot water we had to shave with. We'd drink half a canteen cup (one quart)and then use the rest to make shaving lather. After we shaved, we drank the remaining lather/coffee. It always tasted better AFTER we shaved! bob (deckman)Nelson

10 Mar 11 - 04:57 PM (#3111316)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Grishka

British coffee is bad for ideological reasons, mirroring US tea. However, you ain't tasted nothing yet if you don't know Australian Bushell's coffee, my candidate. Serves the Yanks bloody right, mate! Nescafé - pure luxury, as the Four Yorkshiremen would say.

10 Mar 11 - 05:25 PM (#3111327)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,PeterC

<>but I find it increasingly irritating when ordering an espresso in the UK to be asked if I want a "single or double"
or the assistants in motorway services who ask if you want your americano black or white!

It is subjective of course, going on a package holiday to Mallorca with my parents in the 60s I remember people complaining because the hotel didn't serve instant.

10 Mar 11 - 05:48 PM (#3111336)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Eliza

Honestly, I swear I don't know what espresso, capuccino, latte, skinny, etc etc mean. These Costa, Starbucks and other modern coffee places are alien to me. I've been in one with a friend and even the sizes of cups were strange words, like a foreign country. I asked for a cup of tea, which they had, but it cost a fortune. And dreadfully loud jazzy music was playing, I couldn't hear my friend speak. I remember fondly the old Lyons Corner shops, at least you got a lovely cup of tea, even if the cakes were like sawdust.Oh dear, I'm too old for the twenty first century!

10 Mar 11 - 06:04 PM (#3111345)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: PoppaGator

My experience as a world traveler has been severely limited: one week each in England and Ireland in August of '04.

Most of our stay in the UK was at my brother's home in East Anglia, but our one overnight in London, plus the week traveling across Ireland, involved overnight stays in B&B-type establishments where every proprietor was anxious to demonstrate to us "Yanks" that they knew how to make good coffee.

And, indeed, every morning's brew proved to be more than passable (and some were downright excellent). I would have been glad to "do as the Romans" and stick with tea as a morning wakeup, but took the coffee to be polite. Never regretted it; had to wait til afternoon to experience nice cups of tea at, well, teatime...

I can't name a single specific "worst" cup of coffee. I generally dislike instant, but my real pet peeve is non-dairy creamer. I'll use it anyway when unavoidable, finding it just barely preferable to black, but will go to lengths (including paying extra for a glass of milk) to include a shot of real dairy product.

My normal preference is cream-no-sugar, but when faced with the prospect of imbibing nasty chalky powder-cream, I will sometimes resort to sugar to kill the aftertaste.

10 Mar 11 - 06:22 PM (#3111349)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Allen in Oz

This is a story about a cup of tea but it could equally have applied to coffee.

In the very early 1960s I worked with on old chap who had been in the Australian Army in Palestine during the First World War.

At one point a steam train pulled in where the soldiers were stationed and the Aussie diggers were dying for a cup of tea.

So they used the boiling water fron the steam train and proceeded to drink their tea.

My old mate said that he had had some bad cups of tea in his time but this was a bad as it could get !


Allen in Oz

10 Mar 11 - 07:12 PM (#3111363)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Bert

Eliza, I thought the same way the first time I tasted Turkish coffee, But after having to drink a lot of it in the Middle East (Just to be polite) I got to like it.

Allen in Oz. That reminds me of one time in a Youth Hostel when one of our gang made tea with the water that the eggs had been boiled in.

10 Mar 11 - 08:39 PM (#3111385)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Allen in Oz

Bert

It is hard to know which is worst really ...albumen or rust !

Best wishes

AD

10 Mar 11 - 09:01 PM (#3111392)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: artbrooks

My parents had a neighbor who served with the British army in North Africa. He refused to drink coffee, and insisted that the mark of a good cuppa tea was whether or not a spoon would stand up straight in it...from all of the sugar.

11 Mar 11 - 06:36 AM (#3111558)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Grishka

Allen, you have won so far: Bushell's coffee brewed with water containing rust and traces of machine oil. Easily tops all first-australian grub of grubs - as a tall tale to be told while enjoying a billy brewed with fresh source water.

Grishka (spent a couple of years down under, learned to appreciate McDonald's coffee there)

11 Mar 11 - 06:40 AM (#3111563)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Allan C.

I have discovered that, after I have deciphered the shop's lingo with regard to size and style of coffee and place my order, my hackles rise when they ask: What flavor, vanilla, hazelnut or mocha? I have to keep myself from shouting, "What flavor? COFFEE flavor, you idiot!"

11 Mar 11 - 07:43 AM (#3111608)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Patsy

The coffee that used to be served in MacDonalds was so atrocious that it looked and tasted just like hot dish water. It's bad enough eating the unhealthy stuff and then to add a bad coffee, yuck. I could have had a cold drink with the meal menu but it was in the middle of winter and this particular MacDonalds was a bit remote and quite a long chilly walk home. The coffee I've been told is getting better....apparently.

11 Mar 11 - 08:16 AM (#3111648)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Noreen

Narrowly escaped one last summer in Iraklion, Crete where I asked for a coffee at a nice little sidestreet café. The waitress, deducing I was a tourist and English too, with a bright smile said "Nescafé?"

The real stuff was much nicer :)

11 Mar 11 - 09:45 AM (#3111707)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Bee-dubya-ell

Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: lefthanded guitar - PM
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 02:47 PM

Starbucks I don't know WHY that vile stuff is so popular

I have a theory that Starbucks brews their coffee to a strength that works well as a base for the various coffee-flavored concoctions they sell. It's not meant to be drunk straight-up. It's meant to be adulterated until all resemblance to its original fresh-from-the-pot state has vanished. Drinking a large (or whatever Starbuckese for "large" is) "black coffee" will result in a four-hour bout of intolerable indigestion.

And olddude, all Folgers coffees are not the same. My wife and I have become addicted to their "Black Silk" blend. Compared to it, their "Classic Roast" and similar blends taste like weak dishwater.

11 Mar 11 - 01:28 PM (#3111819)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Dave MacKenzie

Can the demise of Borders Book Shops be attributed to their awarding the coffee shop franchise to Starbucks? That's when I stopped going for a coffee and a browse.

11 Mar 11 - 01:45 PM (#3111834)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: VirginiaTam

best coffee Whittards St Augustin Columbian.... it is wonderful.

worst... out of those cafevend dispensers. you select your little sachet and plug it into the maker and it is squirted or extruded through hot water into a plastic cup.

Ugh! Tastes like what the contents of an ashtray and cat piss would smell of, if you mixed them together.

11 Mar 11 - 04:11 PM (#3111911)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Dave MacKenzie

You find that you can get used to the smell of cat piss.....

11 Mar 11 - 04:14 PM (#3111913)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

I agree that Starbucks is pretty awful...too high-priced...and downright pretentious as well. But I never drink their coffee anyway. I have tea if I go there (and I hardly ever do).

11 Mar 11 - 04:36 PM (#3111928)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Dave MacKenzie

I haven't been in a Starbuck's since the day I discovered they'd taken over the Borders' franchise.

11 Mar 11 - 04:38 PM (#3111929)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

Did they? Christ! I thought it was just a partnership or something.

11 Mar 11 - 04:44 PM (#3111931)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: MartinRyan

Heard Paulo Tullio, an Italian food critic living in Ireland for many years, talking about the problem of getting decent espresso in Ireland, this evening. "Imagine if you (an Irishman) went into a pub, asked for a pint of Guinness - and it arrived with no head on it! What would you do?"

Regards

11 Mar 11 - 04:50 PM (#3111936)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

I would blame Henry the VIIIth for it.

11 Mar 11 - 05:38 PM (#3111963)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: PoppaGator

Starbucks has the in-store cafe franchise for Barnes and Noble bookstores, which are not going out of business, as well as Borders, which is downsizing many of their sites.

I am pretty well persuaded by the theory that Starbucks' coffee is "designed" to be mixed and sweetened to death for all those prissy sissified concoctions, not primarily for the (much less profitable) basic cup of coffee. Makes a lot of sense.

11 Mar 11 - 06:43 PM (#3111998)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: RangerSteve

The 7-11 in Lakehurst NJ. (7-11 is a convenience store chain in the U.S.) - their coffee is usually good, but this one store had what was possibly the worst coffee in the world. I was on my way to a job installing thermal windows at a housing development construction site, and I figured there'd be another place to get something to wash the taste out of my mouth, but there wasn't. I tasted bad coffee all day. 25 years later, I still remember that stuff when I drive by that particular store. It was that bad.

11 Mar 11 - 07:16 PM (#3112011)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Don Firth

Starbucks? Not bad, actually. I've drunk a lot of the stuff. Dark roast, brewed strong. If you like your coffee strong and you don't mind it to taking the enamel off your teeth, it's good stuff. Maybe that's why lots of people go for lattés. Cut it a bit. I prefer my coffee straight.

I learned about good coffee as a student at the University of Washington. No, not that slop at the Student Union Building cafeteria. From a Turkish exchange student I knew. He brewed it strong and flavorful. He said that most Americans don't know what good coffee is and opt for dishwater instead. If you want a cup of coffee, drink drink a cup of coffee.

I live in Seattle. Not to say that there are quite a few Starbucks' in this city, but I went into a Starbucks a few weeks ago and before I placed my order, I decided to go the men's room. Damned if there wasn't a Starbucks in there, too!

I posted this on some thread here maybe three years ago, but for your amusement and amazement, I thought I'd post it again, here. For the memoir/autobio I'm writing (folk music scene in Seattle in the 1950s and 60s, and up until now if I don't run out of steam), I did a bit of research on coffeehouses (big venue for singers of folk songs during that time) and came up with what I thought was some interesting stuff. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and prop up your feet.
    As early as Homer, there were stories of a black and bitter brew that had the power to endow increased alertness on those who drank it, but it was not until much later that the details of the discovery of coffee comes into sharper focus.
    One of the many legends that surround the discovery of this universal solvent of intellectuality and sociability holds that sometime in the 9th century, in the part of north Africa now called Ethiopia, a young goat-herd named Kaldi noticed that his goats became particularly alert, frisky, and playful after eating the red berries that grew on certain leafy bushes. Kaldi tried a handful of the berries, and soon found himself experiencing a refreshing lift of spirits and a pleasant sense of heightened awareness. He eagerly recommended the berries to his fellow tribesmen, who subsequently agreed that Kaldi's discovery had indeed been a worthy one.
    News of these wonderful berries spread quickly. Local monks heard of them, tried them, and noticed that the berries had the salutary effect of producing more alertness and less dozing off during prayers. They dried the berries so they could be transported to other monasteries. There, the berries were reconstituted in water. The monks ate the berries and then drank the liquid.
    Coffee berries soon made their way from Ethiopia to the Arabian peninsula where they were first cultivated in what today is the country of Yemen. Coffee then traveled north to Turkey. The Turks were the first to roast the beans. Then they crushed them and boiled them in water. The result was pretty stout stuff, hardly what we today would call gourmet coffee, but it was well on its way. They sometimes added spices to the brew, such as anise, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom.
    Venetian traders carried coffee to the European continent sometime in the 16th century. Once in Europe, enthusiastic imbibers regarded this new beverage as the Elixir of Life and the Invigorator of Thought.
    But, as frequently happens when humankind discovers something pleasurable, there emerged those people whose lips are stiff and whose faces are grim. These unhappy souls declared coffee to be "the beverage of infidels" and "the Drink of the Devil." Some members of the Catholic Church called for Pope Clement VIII to ban it. Consider their dismay when instead, the Pontiff, wide awake and alert because he'd already had his morning coffee, blessed it and declared it a truly Christian beverage.
    The first coffeehouse in Britain, called "The Angel," opened in 1652, not in London, but in Oxford. This is, perhaps, not surprising. After all, Oxford had been a college town since the 12th century. Soon thereafter, coffeehouses began flourishing in London. They swiftly became gathering spots for artists, poets, and philosophers, along with their disciples and groupies. Since coffee at these establishments cost a penny a cup, coffeehouses became known as "penny universities." James Boswell and Samuel Johnson were two well-known coffeehouse habitués.
    King Charles II considered coffeehouses to be hotbeds of discontent and a breeding ground for revolt, so in 1675 he banned them. This act nearly caused a revolt. The turmoil was so great that eleven days later he rescinded the ban.
    In 1732, Johann Sebastian Bach composed his "Coffee Cantata." The work is an ode to coffee. At the same time, it takes a poke at a movement extant in Germany at the time that sought to forbid women to drink coffee because some people thought it made women sterile.
    In the late sixteen-hundreds coffeehouses made their way to the New World: to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, where they prospered just as they had in England. They were also patronized by musicians, artists, poets and other suspicious and undesirable characters. Such as Tom Paine and Ben Franklin. In fact, when the United States were still "The Colonies," the Continental Congress, in protest against the excessive tax the British levied on tea, declared coffee to be the national drink.
    So when coffeehouses sprang up like mushrooms in the dank undergrowth of the 1950s, they were nothing really new; they were just another phase of a centuries-old tradition. This renaissance spread through the previous sites: New York, Boston, and Philadelphia; then it vaulted across the continent to California, particularly to San Francisco, Berkeley, and Los Angeles.
    Coffeehouses tended to pop up near college campuses. Many of them became hangouts for students, mostly fledgling artists, writers, poets, and musicians. And hordes of chess players. Occasionally someone with a guitar might be quietly strumming away in a corner. Some places discouraged this sort of thing, but many did not. Many coffeehouses had a small stage, and on certain afternoons or evenings, a jazz combo might be trying out a few things. Or a string quartet, composed of student musicians with dreams of Carnegie Hall would hone their performing skills before a live audience by giving an informal recital. Or there might be a poetry reading. Or poetry and jazz. Some places had a more-or-less resident folksinger. Folksingers were not all that common then, but their numbers were rapidly increasing.
    Most coffeehouses didn't serve just coffee. They generally featured a variety of coffees: a demitasse of espresso, strong enough to take the enamel off your teeth and served with a twist of lemon to bring out the flavor(!); a rich and robust Swedish coffee; a dark, French roast; Turkish, thick, rich, and sweet; café au lait; cappuccino, and many others. In addition to these potent potions, the menu included a long list of teas, from English breakfast tea to aromatic brews with strange and exotic names, like "Oolong" and "Darjeeling." There were chocolate libations, from a regular (but very rich) hot chocolate, to café mocha, to mixtures that contained such components as orange rind, cinnamon, and other spices.
    And they often served light meals, such as sandwiches of various kinds (a bit more elaborate than peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese), cheese boards (a variety of cheeses and slices of exotic breads along with fruit, such as orange sections or apple slices), and a variety of exotic pastries, sufficiently elegant to delight the most dissolute of sybarites.

© Copyright 2008, Donald Richard Firth
Fun times! I spent a lot of time singing in coffeehouses back then. No, not the 1600 and 1700s!! In the 1950s and 60s. I the late 1950s and on into the 1960s, some coffeehouses were almost like non-alcoholic night clubs, and actually paid fairly decent money! AND, there is a lot of folk music going on in Seattle's coffeehouses these days.

"Come all ye bold fellers. . . ."

Don Firth

11 Mar 11 - 07:37 PM (#3112023)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Dave MacKenzie

"If you like your coffee strong and you don't mind it to taking the enamel off your teeth"

Definitely not the stuff I've had here. And I'm not sure if Borders in the UK was the same company as in the US.

11 Mar 11 - 09:27 PM (#3112071)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Joe_F

I used to be proud of the badness of the coffee I drank. I would make a big flask of coffee in the coffeemaker & then reheat it every morning till it was gone.

12 Mar 11 - 06:22 AM (#3112205)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Dave MacKenzie

If I made a big flask of coffee, it wouldn't be around for reheating the next morning.

12 Mar 11 - 07:22 AM (#3112229)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Grishka

The following urban legend is told about an Indian scientist named Kulkarni (maybe this one): he used to start his coffee machine but, immersed in his science, forget to switch it off or drink the coffee; next morning he would find it evaporated, so he would pour hot water on the brown crust, stir, and drink it. His students, including a friend of a friend of a friend of mine, named this process "kulkarnization".

12 Mar 11 - 08:49 AM (#3112281)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,mayomick

It depends on the standard you've been used to drinking . For the last three weeks I have been spoiled from drinking good quality stuff in Switzerland . I normally drink the Aldi house brand that somebody mentioned as being particularly bad and am having to get used to it again now. At least it is real coffee .
Camp Coffee - sweetened , liquified and containing as much chicrey as coffee - used to be the very worse . Do they still have it in the UK ?

12 Mar 11 - 09:54 AM (#3112313)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: artbrooks

Starbucks has decent coffee - but I like strong and slightly bitter coffee. I normally drink it at Barnes and Noble, since I like to sit and read and the atmosphere at the Starbucks store is a bit frenetic (too many 16-year-old girls with their $5 lattes). At $1.35 (US) for a fill of my 16oz cup, it is reasonably priced.

BTW, Starbucks never "got the Border's franchise" - at least not in the US. Borders started selling 'Seattle's Best' coffee, a different brand that was bought up at the corporate level by Starbucks, Inc. a few years ago. Not at all the same stuff...some prefer it - I don't.

12 Mar 11 - 10:00 AM (#3112317)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Eliza

Yes, Guest mayomick it's still sold here, but about four years ago they changed the picture on the front as it was too Imperialist and racist (An Indian servant standing with a tray offering his 'master' a cuppa) Now the Indian gentleman is sitting beside a kilted Scotsman enjoying (?) a cuppa with him. The chicory stuff is just as ghastly as ever.

13 Mar 11 - 01:30 PM (#3112971)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: JohnInKansas

If it was bad aback then, just wait:

Cost of coffee soars as climate warms

The New York Times 3/10/2011

Production in Colombia has plunged amid higher temperatures, more rain and the arrival of new diseases.

... ...

In 2006, Colombia produced more than 12 million 132-pound bags of coffee, and set a goal of 17 million for 2014. Last year the yield was nine million bags.

Brands like Maxwell, Yuban and Folgers have increased the retail prices of many grinds by 25 percent or more since the middle of last year in light of tight supply and higher wholesale prices.

Profits of high-end coffee chains like Starbucks and Green Mountain have been eroded. Coffee futures of Arabica, the high-end bean that comes predominantly from Latin America, have risen more than 85 percent since last June, to $2.95 a pound, partly over concerns about supply, extreme weather and future quality, said George Kopp, an analyst at the International Futures Group in Chicago.

... ...

The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation says high fertilizer prices have also dented yields.

But it agrees with a 2009 report from the International Coffee Organization that concluded, "Climatic variability is the main factor responsible for changes in coffee yields all over the world."
Average temperatures in Colombia's coffee regions have risen nearly one degree in 30 years, and in some mountain areas the increase has been double that, says Cenicafé, the national coffee research center. Rain in this area was more than 25 percent above average in the last few years.

At the new, higher temperatures, the plants' buds abort or their fruit ripens too quickly for optimum quality. Heat also brings pests like coffee rust, a devastating fungus that could not survive the previously cool mountain weather.

The heavy rains damage the fragile Arabica blossoms, and the two-week dry spells that prompt the plant to flower and produce beans occur less often, farmers say. Arabica beans take about seven months to mature.

"Half a degree can make a big difference for coffee — it is adapted to a very specific zone," said Néstor Riaño, a specialist in agroclimatology for Cenicafé. "If temperature rises even a bit, the growth is affected, and the plagues and diseases rise."

... ...

Starbucks has already bought enough coffee to last until 2012 ...

John

13 Mar 11 - 05:18 PM (#3113086)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Grishka

John, this means that eventually we may all become Scots(wo)men drinking Camp Coffee! At least we won't have to wear anything underneath ...

13 Mar 11 - 10:12 PM (#3113232)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: JohnInKansas

Grishka -

The forecast of rising prices, and even more so the threat of shortages, impelled me to buy another 18 pounds of coffee on our shopping trip today.

(Of course I do that about once a month anyway. I'm sure glad "she" only drinks about a cup per day, cause I'd be buyin' twice that if I warn't the only one in the house that likes it.)

John

14 Mar 11 - 09:31 AM (#3113450)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Patsy

The 3 in 1 or 2 in 1 individual coffee sachets Kenco or Necafe both are as bad. It has this horrible synthetic aftertaste which I assume must be the creamer and sweetners mixed in but it is not nice.

14 Mar 11 - 03:04 PM (#3113656)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

Try water. It works wonders.

15 Mar 11 - 10:52 AM (#3114183)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Deckman

I well remember when my cousin Aria visited us some years ago from Rovaniemi, Suomi. She brought her own coffee with her. I think she was warned about american coffee. Her coffee came in a red foil "brick." When she stuck a knife in it,it pooshed and inflated it self. The coffee she brewed with it was something to behold: a spoon would stand upright in it. For several weeks after she left, all I had to do to have a "cuppa kavi" (that's Finnspeak) was add water to the cup! bob

15 Mar 11 - 12:04 PM (#3114226)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Patsy

And then there is vending machine coffee.

15 Mar 11 - 12:32 PM (#3114249)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,JUDY FOLKSINGER

Hi Bob - This is the only way I know how to respond to you and Don F. from your query looking for me in 2002. My sister somehow came across your post from that time and just forwarded it to me this morning. Yes I am still in the Florida Keys and singing occasionally but not regularly. Blown away that you would remember and go looking!! We did spend about 10 years diving on Spanish galleons near Ft. Pierce, FL (not the Atocha but those guys are friends of ours and we worked the wreck they found and left to go look for the Atocha off Key West.) Please call my sister Shary who is still in Seattle - you will find her in the phone book under our last name (which you spelled correctly)- our Navy father's listing. She will be glad to give you my contact info and fill you in some on what we have been doing. Sorry to be so vague but I don't want to post personal stuff without making contact. Regards, Judy F.

15 Mar 11 - 12:37 PM (#3114257)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

Vending machine coffee is so bad that it's simply incredible that anyone would pay for it. Try water instead.

15 Mar 11 - 12:40 PM (#3114263)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Deckman

YIPPEEEEE! You're still ALIVE! I'll send yout note off to Don NOW and I'll contact yout sister. Thanks for getting in touch, MUDCAT STRIKES AGAIN! bob(deckman)nelson ... still hiding out in Everett, Washington

15 Mar 11 - 12:44 PM (#3114264)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Micca

It was on the way from the Getaway(my first in 2001) to New York on the New Jersey Parkway, we stopped, (we were both Very tired and hungry), at a Roy Rogers franchise place, They had the WORST doughnuts I had EVER tasted before or since! and the WORST Coffee also!! it was worse than Mellow Birds instant, Vile,

15 Mar 11 - 01:05 PM (#3114280)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Little Hawk

I'll make a note to avoid Roy Rogers franchises.

16 Mar 11 - 12:17 AM (#3114707)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: Deckman

JUDY ... I just talked with you sister and got your e-mail. I'll be sending you a catch-up (ketchup?) note overnight! bob nelson

16 Mar 11 - 08:54 AM (#3114914)
Subject: RE: BS: Worst cup of coffee ever!!!
From: GUEST,Patsy

I know it seems ridiculous to actually spend money on vending machine coffee LH my excuse is that it was instant warmth in an ungodly hour of the morning in freezing cold weather, even the moon was still out.