I had a follow-up appointment with my far-too-casual (“Hey, man!”) doctor a few days ago and he told me I should cut down on the amount o’ coffee I ingest daily. Which caused my brow to furrow and stay that way for a long time. Then he told me that the thimble of joe I do drink should always be black. And that did nothing to alleviate the furrowing. What kind of bullshit is this?! I told him I’d work on it, but felt like I should’ve had my fingers crossed behind my back.
I get up every day at 9 am (give or take), and leave for work at 1 pm (more or less). And between those hours I drink coffee. Oh, I don’t guzzle it, but I casually drink it for that particular hunk of the day. And once I stop, I stop. The moment I transition into water or some other cold drink there’s no more coffee. I’m not a coffee-all-day kinda guy. But it’s still probably excessive. It likely adds up to nearly a pot. I know people who drink much more of it than I do, but it doesn’t do much good pointing to other people’s ridiculous choices to excuse your own.
And what’s the deal with recommending I drink it black? I don’t put sugar in it, just a small splash of milk. How could that hurt? Where’s the harm? I should’ve asked him (“Well, my dude, let me explain…”) but subconsciously knew I wouldn’t be taking his advice on that part of it, so I didn’t bother.
So, to summarize, his advice was “one or two” cups per day, black. And so far I’ve eased back on it, but exceed his recommended number. And I’ve 100% rejected the “drink it black” proclamation. I’ll continue the easing back part and over time try to get down to his number. That’s my sincere goal, but we’ll see. At least he’s got me thinking about it, right? I never did before, not really. So, there’s that. …Hello?
Do you drink coffee? What’s your ritual? Are you an all-day ingester, or is it morning only? What do you put in it? Do you turn it into liquefied candy as many people do? I never understood sugar in coffee, but whatever. Tell us about it, tell us about your relationship with coffee. And if you don’t drink it, how do you reanimate at the beginning of the day? Are you going to piss me off and say exercise or somesuch healthiness? Well, have at it. Use the comments.
And I’ll be back soon, very soon.
Have a great day, my friends.
Support us with a monthly $4 donation at Patreon, and get an extra podcast episode every week! We’re also at Venmo (@thewvsr) and PayPal (jeff@thewvsr.com). Thank you, guys!
I get up at 4:30 am. I don’t drink coffee until about 7 am. I usually don’t want it after 10 am. I have a cup or two of ice tea after that (with lemons). And no caffeine after 2 pm. I stopped drinking pop years ago. I don’t put creamer or sugar in coffee. I don’t like it that way. Panera Bread just started a 9 dollar a month unlimited coffee deal. I may go for that.
2-3 cups a day black. I wake up at 6:20 AM, my work day starts at 7:30 am at the Med Center. I only live 2 miles away so I jog, bike or drive if I’m feeling lazy ?
One 20 oz cup between 7:30 and 8:30 am, super strong with lots of milk and sugar. But that’s it for the day.
If I drink any more coffee, especially after about 2 pm, I have very memorable, weird, almost hallucinogenic dreams at night.
Red wine gives me those kinds of dreams. Now, if I drink red wine, I have to slug down a gallon of water and even then it’s a 50-50 chance.
I do. About 12 ounces. I put a teaspoon of unrefined coconut oil and about .5 teaspoon of unsalted butter (grass fed if you got it) and a packet of stevia. I blend it with a hand blender.
3 to 5 big mugs of industrial strength tea with milk per day. No sugar. No caffeine after about 3PM.
Never coffee. Vile stuff. No wonder most people turn it in to “liquefied candy” just to get it down.
Good Afternoon Surf Reporters …
it’s been a long while since I posted a comment but here goes ~
Been drinking coffee since I’ve been a kid. (53 now). Used to be a few cups in the morning with a splash of milk or half n half. Never sugar.
Now it’s black, the more bitter the better and it’s pretty much 10 to 12 cups a day. My work schedule is 9 to 9 and I usually put the cup down mid afternoon.
Once I get home I offset all that caffeine with copious amounts of beer. So the two beverages basically balance each other out. Right? … right.
Absolutely!
I get up at 5:30 AM and I make a very yuppie pot of coffee using the Chemex system where you pour boiling water over the coffee grounds in the filter over the pot. I drink 1-1/2 cups (big mugs – maybe 16 ounces?) with half and half and sugar. I get to work by 8:30 and have 1, maybe 2 eight ounce Keurigs. Once in a blue moon, maybe a cup of tea or another coffee in the afternoon Before we hired these 2 annoying ladies, and if the owners weren’t around, we’d all have “afternoon coffee” which was coffee with either a shot of Baileys or whichever whiskey we were hiding. I miss those days. It was a nice, always welcome break.
Years ago, I used to drink gallons of coffee daily. Even now, when I smell fresh coffee, no matter what time of day, I have to fight the urge to have a cup.
I don’t drink coffee. Tried it once as a kid, grossed me out, never wanted to try it again. But I like a little coffee ice cream, does that count?
I get my caffeine from a Diet Coke every day. Not any better than drinking coffee I’m sure.
I don’t drink coffee too. Quit the same week I quit booze. 1996. Technically 1996 isn’t a week, but my memory card seems to need a thorough rinsing. I’m really close on the year, though.
And I get my caffeine from Diet Pepsi, which I consider a more sophisticated drink than Diet Coke. That’s an opinion. Diet Pepsi DOES taste better than coffee. That’s a fact.
John
I drink one 24oz “venti” size cold brew a day; and sometimes an auxiliary cup of coffee or an energy drink if it’s a slogger of a day. I know it’s way too much; but when you work, go to school, sit in traffic and take care of a house, it keeps me looking alive. I always have a splash of cream; I read somewhere that the fat in cream and milk helps you digest caffeine better and prevents the jitters from over caffeination. So I’m with you on that, Jeff.
I also only drink it in the morning; I actively avoid any caffeine, even green tea, after 5pm.
Make a pot of gourmet (but no special heroics involved) coffee every morning, to split with the Mrs. It gets me one good-sized thermos (or 3 mugs) full. I transitioned to black coffee back in high school, so about 40 years ago. I like coffee that tastes like coffee, beer that tastes like beer, and cigars that taste like cigars. Not a fan of “flavored” anything, even milk.
I agree about the flavored coffees. Just the aroma alone is a turn off like those French vanilla or hazelnut blends. No, not passing my lips.
I love my coffee with half-n-half and when that runs out, Bailey’s Irish Cream (it’s cream, right?). Trouble is the drive to work. 3 DUIs so far and … and you should see me when (and if) I get to work. Singing songs and telling ribald jokes. Yeah, HR doesn’t run fast in our company. If I didn’t own the company, they’d probably fire me.
These days, two large mugs with a tiny splash of milk. Drinking coffee since I was a kid, not gonna stop now. I sure wouldn’t sweat a splash of milk, cream, yeah, that’ll put the weight on the middle.
2-3 cups every morning. Teaspoon of coffeemate powder and teaspoon of sugar. Folgers Columbian at work and Double Diamond Keurig at work (or Dark Magic if out of DD)
I cup in the evening after dinner with a cookie (usually oatmeal raisin). Caffine does absolutely nothing to me. I’ve had 2-3 cups or a whole pot of hot tea before going to bed many times in the past. Sleep easy for 8 hours after.
I just turned 44 and have never been a coffee fan. Once in a while I hit up Starbucks and get one loaded up with crap so it doesn’t really taste like coffee but that’s about it.
I drink 2, maybe 3 cups a weekday, 1-2 weekends. Never after noon. Straight up black, reasonably strong, coffee for the last 35 years. Worked out of office trailers, no cream available and couldn’t stand powdered creamers. Like most black coffee drinkers, I avoid Starbucks like the plague.
Coffee almost every day. Work days I get up and drag myself the 3 minutes to the office at 8:00 am where there is a huge coffee station with all sorts of fancy coffees and the old fashioned pot on a burner. I grab a mug and fill it with the old fashioned stuff and refill until 11:00 am. After that it’s Coke Zero or water until I get home. Once I’m home it’s Wine/Burbon/Water/Coke Zero/Tea.
Starbucks Sumatra ground for a French press. Black, no sugar, no cream. 30 ounces at 7 am every day till 8 am. Then sip on a 20 oz pepsi till 1. Sip on a Mtn Dew till 5 and head home. Smoke a pack of menthols a day. Caffeine and nicotine keep my fat arse moving through the day.
My caffeine intake is in the form of Coke Zero, because if I drink coffee, much as I love it and its immediate effects, I become a monstrously grouchy asshole in the evening.
Coffee for me has to have cream and sweetener. Without those things it is watery black bile.
I’m better off without depending on caffeine. If I stop, after a few days I don’t miss it, and feel just as energized. I get hooked on it because it gives me something to look forward to.
12 cups a day….black. one for each hour I work.
My brother, I’ve always believed that if I wasn’t *abusing* a drug I wasn’t getting its full value. Life is too short for moderation and too long for marriage. Live and be well.
love,
John
Thank you, John! Nothing should ever be in “moderation”!
Just read this short piece on 538 about COVID-19 that is worth reading if you haven’t scared the shit out of yourself yet today.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/flu-comes-back-every-year-will-coronavirus/
The writer ends the piece by asking an epidemiologist whether the COVID-19 infection could become seasonally recurrent. The epidemiologist responds, “Nobody knows. The WHO still says there’s hope we can get this under control.”
What the hell? I guess as long as Pete Townshend is on the case, things will just keep getting better. At the minimum, I suppose, we won’t get fooled again. Pour me another cup of joe.
John
I’ve had brunch a few times at a place called ‘Kindred Cafe and Townshend Bar.’ No idea why Townshend is in the name. But they do have very good coffee.
And thanks for the 538 link; I keep forgetting they exist, and I shouldn’t.
Viruses are living organisms, like humans, whose biggest goal is survival. When they need to for survival, they mutate, much as humans have done for millions of years. So, while the coronavirus has been around for quite a few years, each new mutation behaves differently and must be dealt with differently. We could outlast this one, but you can be sure it will mutate again, we just don’t know how severe that one will be. Bottom line, every virus (SARS, H1N1, MERS, etc) have similar results…people get sick, people get better….except the weak, immuno-compromised, which don’t make it. China has dealt with so many of these. they have it down to a science (pun intended). They isolate everyone for a few weeks and the healthy people defeat the virus and then they resume living. Painful for a few weeks, but we’ll have to suck it up and deal with no sports for a while…and then our president for taking credit for the “great job” he’s done. Hope none of my fellow surfers have to deal with this, but if so, may you come out the other side as good as new!
Mookie, I have five risk factors (age, cardio bypass, back appliances, former smoker, compromised vascular system with AAA repair). Six if you count a bad attitude. I can’t even pray for a new President because I’m agnostic and the lines are down (actually, simultaneously up and down in quantum space, but the reception sucks). That means no sports for a long, long time if it gets me.
At this moment the most dangerous virus is the one in the White House. The Lord knows what he’ll mutate into next, or the Lord can’t know. Quantum agnosticism is tricky.
be well,
John
Yeah John, I’m equally agnostic and also fear the possibility of 4 more years of the ridiculous non-leadership we’ve been enduring. I’m hoping you stay away from your fellow man as much as possible for the next few weeks. Depending on the quality of your nearby fellow men, this may not be much of an ask. I’ve only got an artificial heart valve working against me but I do have to show up each day at a place with 200 people spread out over two buildings. May that last risk factor work in your favor, heh-heh!
Mike
Trump may not be performing perfectly but he’s certainly doing a decent job. If Obama did the EXACT same thing all you Trump-haters would be defending Obama, and you know it. It probably hurts you that Trump has performed so well in so many ways the 3 years. And so many Obama policies just failed.
Mike,
Thanks for the good wishes, and, of course, the same to you and your 200 carriers. I have extra nitrile gloves around the house because I work with antiques from time to time (at the moment, with photos of WWII B-24 Liberator Pacific Theater nose art), and I do the shopping, so I’ve been wearing gloves to the store. I’ve been thinking of switching to a mask and a gun just to shoot over the heads of the people buying 80 rolls of toilet paper. I want to buy 1 package on Wednesday when my social security check comes, and if the cupboard is bare there might be a little spillage in the kitty litter department, just to show the TP hounds what a real “run on the store” looks like. Yep, a bad attitude. Maybe that WILL pull me through.
best,
John
And by the way, I assume an artificial valve is a non-porcine valve. My cardiologist has been telling me that sooner or later I would need a valve replacement. She said, “You should live so long.” She’s from India. I assumed she said that because either she has British English or because she doesn’t have colloquial American English, although I worry that she does have colloquial American English and she knew exactly what she was saying.
Anyway, I understand a little STP will keep the valve from sticking during stressful acceleration. Don’t know where the lube nipple is. I assume that information came with the owners’ manual. I lost mine.
John
Hahaha, actually it’s a bovine valve. It’s relatively new though so my doc suggested I avoid any infections. Not sure if that applies just to bacterial or viral too. I think I’ll treat them both the same.
Mike
I drink coffee. Black, because I like coffee. Generally one or two cups a day, plus one or two shots of espresso.
I drink 1 cup (bout 14 oz) a day before work during the week, but Friday-Sunday it’s 2-3 cups, but always done by 10:30 am or so. Always drink it with half and half. Since the glucose level rose to borderline bad I’ve been using equal with antioxidants in my coffee – that’s the only place I really used processed sugar. Yeah, I know artificial sweeteners have their own demons, and some people like to say they’re worse than sugar, but that’s really not scientifically proven by a consensus of medical professionals. I not only have no problem with flavored coffee, I prefer it. Regular coffee gets real boring in a hurry. Have a Kuerig-type maker, and feel incredibly guilty about putting all that un-recycleable plastic in the earth….but it’s so damn convenient!
Mookie, I buy Intelligent Blend K-Cups that are recyclable. Use a cutter and all is good.
http://intelligentblends.com/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017XLW7I6/ref=twister_B073WHMQ74?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Not trying to make trouble here, Yodler, but my city has discovered that virtually every country in Asia (where we’ve always sent our recyclables) is no longer consistently accepting recyclable plastic. Recycling is really complicated, and I don’t pretend to understand it, but the entire Chinese recycling industry has changed since 2018. They will accept some materials, but rarely plastic. Our local Utility Service is about three months away from no longer picking up ANY recyclables curbside. They will accept most at the landfill, but that’s where most will end up.
It’s looking like what was once the recycling industry is going to be changing into the reuse market over time. Grocery stores in my city no longer provide free bags; you have to bring your own reusable or pay for a paper bag (paper recycling has its own issues these days). [I just read a convincing piece about the correct answer to the question (when it can be asked) “Paper or plastic?” Turns out plastic might be the better choice for most people].
The recycling article on the Intelligent Blends site was written in 2017/2018. I’m sure they were representing the facts accurately as of that time. In any case, I’m not trying to talk you out of your brand; they do look pretty green.
Of course, none of this matters much if we’re going to be murdered in the street by viruses. It might matter to our friends from other species who will survive the pandemic, and who are trying to make a living in the sea or, you know, on the land.
I think that would be Blue Yodel Number 12, but I could be wrong.
John
The problem is still that my town specifically will only accept plastic beverage bottles for recycling. I have always felt that any article with the recycling number on the bottom should be recycled, but apparently the cost of recycling different types of polymers make it less appealing. Can you imagine that, money influencing decisions in America??? But thanks for the heads-up though, you never know what the future may bring, assuming we survive the terrible VIRUS. To paraphrase Allen Iverson…”Virus??? We’re talking virus???”
Oh, Mook, the Iverson was a shot on goal in the corner of the net. The keeper never had a chance. I’m not a hoops guy, so most of my metaphors are EPL.
I can imagine money influencing decisions in America, but this is mostly a case of money influencing decisions in China. They’re only about 20 years from being an incipient capitalist state, and they’re already getting in practice.
So … just as we have a supply chain in constructing/preparing a product, we have a destructive/reconstructive chain in recycling. Unlike the constructive supply chain, in which the cost of harvesting the raw materials is one of the cheapest links (and has been getting cheaper for a couple hundred years), in the destructive/reconstructive chain of recycling, harvesting the raw manufactured material is one of the more expensive links and is getting MORE expensive every year because working conditions and wages are improving in the third world countries in which 80% or so of the recycling takes place. There are other global economic factors at work (e.g., dislike/distrust of the first world by the third world, embodied by the “We won’t be your garbage dump” movement); the same Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysian and Vietnamese companies that accepted dirty plastic recyclables in 2017 are almost unanimously turning them down now at the front gate and sticking first world municipalities and private recycling enterprises (apparently including mob-run “waste management” companies in New York and New Jersey) with the costs associated with shipping unrecycled plastic back to America to be buried in landfills or dumped in the ocean with Jimmy Hoffa.
In short (finally), to expand on my initial reply to the Yodler, some recycling is going to work out. Precious metals harvested and recycled from infotech products (a fairly new recycling industry) and the repurposing/reconstructing of textiles (a three thousand year old industry) are doing just fine. The rag man draws circles up and down the block.
But broadly, the recycling industry is breaking down economically as we move farther away from the industrial economy, navigate the deadly waters of the information economy, and move inexorably toward the bio economy. Our problem is that recycling doesn’t work very well economically, and who the hell is going to subsidize it? Government? Maybe, but not under Republicans, and I’m not sure they’re wrong about this. In the EU, as you probably know, when you purchase a capital item (roughly anything over a couple hundred Euros) you also pay for the disposal or recycling of that item at the time of purchase. So in Europe, buyer pays. It’s too early to know whether that model is feasible.
The first world is moving, I think rather quickly, away from a focus on recycling and toward a focus on reuse/repurposing. This is the way the third world has lived since there was a first world. Oil barrels become musical instruments, bullet casings become jewelry and art, failed churches become community and governmental centers. In the first world, we’ll be, more and more, considering the entire lifecycle of products and anticipating their secondary and tertiary functions at the time of manufacture. Of course, people’s imaginations will always find creative ways to repurpose old coffee cans and plastic jugs and broken turntables and used bowling pins that will be unanticipated by marketing departments. It just requires ingenuity, a genuine need, resourcefulness, and practice. We’re talking practice.
John
Wow, a lot of information in there, some very interesting, some very depressing, but all good to know. Thanks.
Mike
Mook, I didn’t realize I wrote that much. I think I can get it into a traditional 17 syllable Haiku:
What is new is old
Repurpose creates demand
And rebirths the world
John-san
My English Bulldogs name was Virus. Vi Ry, Bowser was a great dog and a boy magnet when I took him to the lake. It was the 70’s.
Can’t drink coffee, within 8 hours i can descibe every loop in my intestines by the pain emitted. i drink Irish breakfast tea …black….in the morning followed by coke zero or pepsi free until i collapse at night. I’ve been a diet coke true believer since ’77 and the beauty of saccharin.
I drink almost no coffee during the week but on the weekends i drink six to eight mugs. Liquid candy. There’s so many exotic flavors. I saw a tabasco flavored creamer the other day.
This statistic may have changed from this morning, but West Virginia was the only state where no cases of Corona Virus were reported. I hope it stays like that. You can go back to wrestling that 80 roll package of toilet paper out of some frail person’s hands at COstco.
What a shit show, eh? At least I’m an introvert (who stocked up on coffee); staying home is what I do best. Godspeed, you guys.
A real GG Allin shitshow, Clue. It would be sort of nice to have a friendly online community about now. People a stay-at-home mom like me could swing with, and tell — you know — dick jokes. But we’re, many of us, stay-at-homes for a half a year or more now. And we’re all in this apart. Hang tough, and don’t forget to laugh.
John