Chicago: Totally hands-free!!!

unless i want to live with a constant headache and have a hole in my stomach, nonstop coffee is a bad idea. i just think the "you're a pussy for drinking decaf" thing is sort of ridiculous. if anything, those people who can live without caffeine at all have more internal fortitude than i do -- i need coffee to teach my morning classes. needing/requiring a substance in order to survive/perform is more wimpy than being self-sufficient, no?

I don't drink coffee b/c my stomach can't handle it and I don't like being all wound up. Sometimes I wish I liked it because it would be useful, but in those situations I can choke down a Red Bull or a Coke or something.

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/preservation/training/handling/hands.gif

These hands are pink.

I don't really get decaf but also I never drink more than two cups per day (one big one in the morning, sometimes a second in the afternoon).

Part of me is curious to see if I could reintroduce coffee into my system slowly, so as not to have such an intense reaction to it, and part of me is sort of glad that I don't "need" it. I only really miss it when a) I smell other people's cups and b) when I'm feeling creatively bankrupt.

Not that the concept of decaf is completely appalling to me. But it was just not something I think any of us would ever consider that we might have. To my (our) ears it was like he said "How about a double no-foam latte."

I mostly drink coffee when I'm feeling fuzzy or tired, which is usually in the morning and after lunch. It's pretty rare that I get wound up from it.

Jenny mentioned to me that she has taken to drinking tea in the afternoon since it is a pick-me-up, but it is not so jarring. I might try that.

Coffee never tastes as good as it smells.

I am a tea fanatic in the winter.

Why don't you start watching cricket too.

xpost

It's not as jarring as football.

I am totally overcaffeinated right now. I drank some coffee that had been sitting in the pot cooking since like 6:30 and I think it had gotten superconcentrated somehow and now I'm headachey and wired.

I hated getting decaf when my mom would insist upon it because most diners don't have a fresh pot of decaf, since most people drink regular. So it would always be gross.

Jesse, iirc you waged an all-out war on tea last year! It went like "tea is stupid and gross" or something like that. ;)

I remember this because we have already had this conversation at least once.

/convo police

nb I actually work with dudes who have tea time and watch cricket. :>

I'm going to guess they're Indian/Pakistani rather than British.

Jenny and I were talking about this. She said that tea importers should use as their tagline "Tea: It's Not So Bad."

It's not what I would like to drink, but sometimes I need a lift in the PM and coffee is too much. A Diet Coke would be my top choice, but if I don't have one, then tea might do.

glad to see you have come around

Ginger tea rules.

A winter staple:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TMAWPZY5L._AA280_PIbundle-6,TopRight,0,0_AA280_SH20_.jpg

I'm not saying I like it, but it's one effective means of delivering caffeine. Not that I think it's vile, either. But I am going to have to plead the Jaymc Defense on this one: I just don't get it.

Except iced tea, exp. Thai iced tea!

Speaking of iced tea--wtf is up restaurants not serving just PLAIN unflavored BLACK tea in their iced tea? I hate the fucking tropical tea they have all gone to. We have it at Catch and it's perfumey.

It took me nearly two years but I finally found a tea I love, the Assam Two Leaves and a Bud.

Jesse (and others), you should go to Tea Gschwendner sometime. There's one at State/Division and another at Halsted/Webster. I think they're the only two shops in North America, though. Kr used to work there.

I'm going to guess they're Indian/Pakistani rather than British.

Indian, yeah

(+ the Americans they've converted to their strange Anglo customs)

I like tea a lot, but I don't think of it as an alternative to coffee. Coffee is what you drink in the morning or at breakfast. Tea is what you drink when it's cold outside or when you want to relax.

Tea is totally normal. Tea with milk, however, is LOL FORINN.

Tea tastes better when you have a special tea set to drink it out of and special decanters for sugar and cream. Also ginger lemon creme cookies. MMMMMMMMm.

Yeah, I'm not a caffeinated tea fan myself.

Do you have a recipe for those cookies?

Oh wow, I was just telling a story about some of the Indian dudes I hung with in college having a weekend cricket tournament/drinkathon with a bunch of people from the UW-Madison Indian student's association. It was fucking crazy, but cricket is v. dull if you're not drinking with your friends.

oh no, i just buy them in the box. they're like ginger lemon oreos. i would never bother to make my own oreos.
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/4187C6VWM9L._SL160_.jpg

I've said it before and I'll say it again. WHY the F do cab companies need to know so much information? They were PO'ed at me because I didn't know this woman's name (she's in a meeting at our office) or where she's going (somewhere in the loop). Bastards.

xpost. Those look lovely.

http://www.darefoods.com/images/cookies/creme_lemon_us_thumbnail.gif

nom nom nom

amanda, do you ever read the smitten kitchen blog? she has a recipe for homemade oreos that sound awesome.

no, i don't really read any cooking blogs
should i?

Ok. That blog is exciting.

I think you might like hers!

tea with milk is the only way to drink it

http://smittenkitchen.com/

I had tea w/ soy milk after lunch. It was delicious. Who wouldn't want to drink black tea with milk? Assholes?

I called a cab to the Clipper the other night and it was stolen from me. The bartender came out and said, "No, I need that cab because there's a guy inside who's been waiting for an hour." Then he went in to get the guy, but the guy wasn't ready. So he had the cabbie start the meter. It was MY cab!

So then I called again and waited again 4-ever. Then I stole someone else's cab.

I drank tea with milk and sugar all the time in the UK and maybe for a few months after I got back, but I haven't since. I'd say it was a "when in Rome" situation, except I never drank tea at all before I went there.

I don't think I've ever tried it! (but I'm not knockin' it) Does it taste more chai-like?

Wait, that does make it a "when in Rome" situation, never mind.

omg apple sambuca cake YUM

tea with milk is one of my favorite afternoon diversions/rewards

i do not get it today, however, because i am not done grading these quizzes.

I used to have a strong, strong aversion to hot drinks (and liquids in general, thus my partial aversion to soup), but when I'm working an office job I like them. But for walking around or waiting tables I get way overheated. I almost never get hot coffee from Starbucks.

I did not know that tea w/ milk was considered unusual/foreign until a few years ago -- that is the only way to drink it at my house. Milk and sugar, both. Without milk it seems insubstantial to me, SUSPICIOUSLY like flavored water. Somehow the milk makes it a whole other creature to my mouth!