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Comment by rcarmo | Hacker News Reader

I switched back from coffee to tea.

Partly because we have "real coffee" here in Portugal (expresso, a cultural import from the Italians via the Cimbalino series of coffee shop hardware, IIRC), partly because a long mug is better suited to winter, and partly because I am back working 90% with British folk, to the extent where we can compare blends...

But, overall, it suits me better. Takes longer to drink, does not mess with my stomach in the mornings, and smells great.

(Mind you, we do not consider American-style coffee to be "coffee" in the strictest sense of the word, because it's too processed/diluted/mixed).

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> (Mind you, we do not consider American-style coffee to be "coffee" in the strictest sense of the word, because it's too processed/diluted/mixed).

Out of curiosity, what exactly do you mean by "American-style coffee"? Are you referring to something you would get at Starbucks, or are you referring to the quality of the coffee beans used to make it?

American-style "coffee" is harshly roasted at high temperatures and then ground to a powder in a destructive processing machine. Finally, it is diluted with water and even mixed with sugar to make it more palatable.

Europeans prefer to chew on a few green coffee beans throughout the day as a long-lasting source of clean, non-jittery, all-natural energy.

The US coffee tradition is both not very strong and made without pressure (drip/filter.) Most places use espresso level pressure even on larger weaker coffees. The stovetop moka is still typical for occasional coffee drinkers and is lower pressure, but still made stronger than drip coffee.

If you add an equal quantity of hot water to an espresso that is the European cafe attempt at emulating an American coffee, but it still has different taste because of the pressure.

I don't think Europe is as obsessed with aribica beans, robusta is common and actually quite good. In drip coffee, arabica is really the only thing drinkable or the closest to drinkable depending on your perspective.

American coffee is diluted whereas in most other places I know it's not.

It's worth noting that "American" styles like v60 pour-overs, chemex, and cold brew iced coffee often have more caffeine per typical serving than traditional espresso drinks.

I recently got a coffee-grinder for Christmas so it’s my morning treat. Even though, I love the caffeine buzz, I try to drink only tea in the afternoon and I concur with the longer drinking being more enjoyable.

I’m currently experimenting with different blends of black tea and decreasing the amount of milk (as is tradition in Ireland) so that I can taste the tea better. I find that I can develop a taste for any decent tea leaf (or coffee bean).

I'm on the look for a nice coffee grinder. Can you recommend yours, and are you happy to share brand and model if so?

My other half got me a De'Longhi Burr Coffee Grinder [1] as a Christmas gift (after I had been dropping not-so-subtle hints that I was thinking of buying a burr grinder [2] for coffee). Previously, I had used a blade grinder but the problem with those is that they do not "grind" the coffee evenly (produce a mixture of fine and coarse particles).

I can't compare the De'Longhi with any other burr grinder but the results are similar to those of the shop that I get my coffee from. Its one downside is that the minimum grind quantity is too much coffee for one person so I try to time it for when my wife will share the coffee with me. The whole point of grinding your own is that you can then brew the coffee at its freshest.

So far, I've been enjoying the results of having freshly ground coffee. Best of luck with your own grinding.

[1] https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/products/coffee-and-espresso/...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr_mill

Fantastic, thank you!

what do you mean by "american-style coffee"? as an american, coffee to me means drip coffee, which is more "diluted" i suppose but is certainly not more processed or "mixed" than espresso. most american coffee is not sweet starbucks drinks.

"American" coffee in europe usually refers to drip coffee.

Note though than in Northern Europe "coffee" means generally drip coffee, and you need to specify espresso/cappuccino/etc for the Southern variants.

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