My affair with coffee started at a fairly young age. I was probably about ten or twelve at the time and my mom asked me if I wanted to try a cup. It was difficult for me to get past the inherent bitterness of coffee, so we mixed it half-and-half with hot chocolate powder. The net result was almost like a mocha, but not really.
Eventually, sometime in my teenage years, I did away with the hot chocolate mix and started having a proper cup of coffee. Like so many other people, I preferred my cup as a double-double (two cream, two sugar) and I stayed with this kind of formulation until partway through my university career. After a while, I just felt the coffee was too sweet, too diluted. And that’s when I switched to one cream and one sugar.
And that’s largely where I’ve stayed with my regular brewed coffee for years. I want to be able to taste the coffee, but I don’t want the bitterness to overwhelm me either. This is partly why I prefer McD’s over Tim’s. The latter just doesn’t taste like coffee to me. I don’t mind a slight “burnt” taste, so long as I can actually taste something aside from the hot water.
But this morning, I made another switch. Looking through the fridge, I had no milk and no cream. So, I brewed up a pot of coffee and just had it black. No cream, no sugar. This certainly isn’t the first time I’ve done this, but it got me thinking: do I even need the cream and sugar in there anymore?
The inherent bitterness of black coffee doesn’t bother me anymore. And if I eschew the cream and sugar, coffee is virtually zero calories. It can help to reduce my snacking, as well as keep me alert (albeit in spurts) throughout the working day. I’ll likely still get the occasional “signature” drink from Starbucks and other coffee shops, but when I’m at home, I’m going to give this black coffee thing a swing for the foreseeable future.
How do you take your coffee? Or are you more of a tea person?
Being diabetic, I don’t use sugar but do use Equal or another artificial sweetener. I also use cream. In a regular cup I use 2 cream, 3 sweeteners, but I have the 2.5 mega cup so double that.
I have never liked black coffee, as you said it is too bitter, except when it was made at my Dad’s house. He was in the Navy where they put salt in the brew to mellow the bitterness because they make it extremely strong on the sub’s he was on. So he continued at home, so his coffee was pretty good black.
I would add that the worst brewed black coffee in the world is made at Starbucks. It is so strong and bitter that I have to triple my additives to make it drinkable. I think that is why they have so many flavors of coffee, to hide the bitterness.
I too have developed quite a habit (and even taste!) for black coffee over the years. I also enjoy a good cup of green tea sometime, as both are equally effective.
And Ray, that’s a good point about Starbucks!
I love coffee, though I am partial to sweet coffees like Mochas.
I switch between White Mochas and Earl Gray Lattes. I always use No-fat milk in them and never us whipped creme etc.
I also like to brew coffee at home. We do use Tim’s but add that no-fat dairy creamers (international delights). I have even hit up black coffee with those flavoured Splenda packets (french vanilla).
We’re getting a new coffee maker at home actually. Which grinds beans so we’ll have to find a new coffee to enjoy 🙂 I’m excited for a bur grinder actually lol
I started drinking coffee in my mid-twenties.
I like my coffee strong and black, with sugar but no cream.