Tea or Coffee?

[Samox24]

Do you have a preference when you wake up in the morning?

I always love a coffee first thing and then drink tea the rest of the day! Hubby starts with coffee and continues with coffee

Perhaps like me you like to start with one and then drink the other or?

Perhaps you do not drink either and prefer something else?

Which teas do you prefer?

I personally love English Breakfast tea in the morning and mint tea in the afternoon
I also prefer my English Breakfast tea with cold milk, I usually find when I travel the milk gets served to me warm even though I ask for it to be cold. I also am not a fan of Lipton Tea but love Twinings. I also love the dried fruit teas from China, I enjoyed going in the various tea shops in Shanghai and choosing.

Which coffee do you prefer?

I discovered my favourite whilst travelling in Jamaica, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and the hair raising ascent up the mountain was quite something! I also love Kona Coffee from Kona, Hawaii. When I am out and about I tend to order a Cafetière and I also love a Cafetière in the morning or a Latte Macchiato.

The view once we reached the top of the hair raising road in the Blue Mountains looking back towards Kingston, Jamaica

Have you ever tried an unusual tea or coffee?

See the photo below for my first ever coffee with beetroot in whilst visiting Gouda!

A “Pinky Coffee” I tried yesterday whilst in Gouda, in the Netherlands, apparently it had beetroot in it… a first for me!

… and my coffee at the moment whilst writing this!

Please share any and everything!!

[Harris2]

I can’t say I’d go to the extremes you did to get good coffee. No mountain roads for me! How was the beetroot coffee? We used to get freshly ground dutch coffee brought back for us, and I loved the flavor. Strong but not bitter.

My morning go-to is tea, now that I’m no longer working a 9-5 job. Any tea will do. If it is brown in color, it gets some milk or cream added. If it’s a fruit tea, just plain. But I think it’s more about the ritual of holding a cup and contemplating my day, than it is about what I’m drinking.

[Debbie-L]

I am a coffee drinker (of course, I am an American…LOL) and I love great coffee, but I am a snob about what I drink. A THS sitter came to our home a few years ago and brought his own coffee and pot. I thought it was odd since we told him we had coffee, coffee pot, etc., so we asked why he drug it all the way to our home. He explained he was hooked on Nespresso and now couldn’t drink any other coffee out of any of coffee dispenser. Thought he was a little extreme but he made us both a cup and…well…we were hooked! We put the Nespresso Coffee System on our Christmas list, received it from our kids, and have been exclusive since then (except if we are out of town visiting friends or family). My husband even drug it to Florida with us this past Christmas so we could use it in the AIRBNB’s we were staying in.

We have tried different pods and found the Bianco Forte and Mexico pods are our favorite.

[Angela_L]

TEA, TEA, TEA!! …… It’s like my Amex card “I never leave home without it!!” Whenever I travel I take a supply and I’ve found I can get my brand in the US at World Markets … so tea withdrawal is never a problem

I’m not sophisticated about my tea … in the UK we refer to strong tea as “Builders Tea” and that is exactly how I like mine. I probably drink far too much (I take it with milk and sugar) and that’s probably what keeps me going into the early hours.

Although I also need a kettle because there is no way to make a good cup of tea without boiling the water, “nearly” is simply not good enough.

Image source: teadog.com

teadog.com - Tea from Tea Companies Across the World

[Samox24]

@Harris2 I have to say the beetroot tea was pleasantly surprising, I rather enjoyed it!
… and yes definitely a ritual thing!

[Genevere]

2 mugs of Scottish blend tea and one smaller cup of coffee every morning when I wake up and a plate of porridge with fruit on top.

[Samox24]

@Angela_L I’m definitely with you on that one, needing a kettle. It must boil and reach the correct temperature! I am amazed at how many places around the world do not have kettles. In many cases it’s just been a saucepan provided to boil the water but it’s just not the same. … my biggest issue though is when I am given warm milk instead of cold milk with my tea!! …yuk!! … Oh and I love Yorkshire Gold too!

[Debbie]

Yorkshire tea is the best @Angela_L ! I will never forget the expression on my husband’s face when he first visited my home town of York and was served a cup of strong northern tea. He genuinely thought he’d been given coffee by mistake!

[Carla]

@Debbie This happened exactly the same to my American husband when we housesat in Yorkshire. But he decided that he loved it and has found a shop in the USA that stocks it.

[Debbie]

@Carla my husband also now loves Yorkshire tea!

[Kelly]

I’m a tea person but as @Angela_L will tell you there isn’t much “builders tea” in my house. I’m a fan of mostly green tea but I drink a variety of black tea in the mornings and herbal in the afternoons. I’m super sensitive to caffeine so a little bit goes a long way for me. I also enjoy any type of tea lattes. Some of the best tea i’ve had was in SE Asia (especially in Vietnam) and the middle east. My husband and I don’t own a coffee machine since we don’t drink it but we do enjoy sampling coffee on our travels and enjoy bringing it back to our coffee consuming family members. Their favorites that we’ve brought back from the coffee farms are Kauai, Kona, Maui, Colombian and Guatemalan coffees. We also tried the famous Luwak Coffee when we were on Bali…and it was surprising you really could taste the difference. Maybe @Carla has had a similar experience with the Luwak coffee?

@Samox24 Now we’ll have to go to Jamaica and try their coffee!

[Julie_A]

Coffeeeeeeeee!!! This cup of Joe was from my last THS sit with sweet Casey

I do enjoy a warm cup of tea when I’m feeling under the weather.

[Carla]

@Julie-Moderator This picture is awesome!

[Carla]

Just like you, I am caffeine free as sadly sensitive, so no coffee for me in Bali! Some green tea and herbal teas. Oh, and Chaga mushroom makes a great coffee alternative.

[Samox24]

@Debbie I love this!

[Samox24]

@Julie_A such a lovely photo!

[Cosley]

Cowboy (boiled) coffee: In the 70 year old enamel pot …heaping scoops (3) of your favorite blend (fresh ground Grizzly Claw by Kicking Horse Coffee), 2 egg shells crushed, pinch of salt …bring to a slow rolling boil for just a minute. Let sit and settle (drip of cold water settles the grounds), pour and then sit with your favorite dog …coffee in one hand and the dog brush in the other …whilst listening to your favorite morning radio.

[Samox24]

Hello @Cosley and welcome to the Community Forum

Thank you for sharing…
Wow! … this coffee sounds amazing! … and what a great photo!

[Lokstar]

We always drink coffee first thing (in bed) and then I revert to tea from breakfast onwards and hubby stays on coffee.
Later in the day we both drink herbal teas- favourite being Peppermint, Chamomile & Rooibosh.
I’m with you @Angela_L, a true Brit, love my strong tea with milk (no sugar) and Yorkshire is THE best! I used to be a PG Tips girl but last year discovered Yorkshire is even better!
I usually stock up on tea bags whenever I am UK but last time forgot and I ran out of supplies- in India! Home of tea! I love a real Indian chai made properly- spicy and sweet- but finding a Yorkshire teabag equivilant in India? Impossible! And I have spent years in India so speak from experience- always bring your own teabags to India!! You can buy loose leaf black tea everywhere but all the good strong tea- in tea bags- go straight to the UK market!!

@Debbie-L We too are the types of sitters who take our Italian expresso pot (Mocha pot) literally all around the world with us! Hosts always try to show us how to operate their (usually complicated!) coffee machines but we just whip out our coffee pot and hope that they don’t have an induction stove as it often doesn’t work on them- at least not the cheaper ones! And if we can’t make coffee…one unhappy hubby! We even, when housesitting in the UK with a car, carry our own mini gas stove, for exactly those kind of emergencies!!
We are always in search for the best coffee everywhere. Current favourite is from Lidl UK!! Excellent price too! We’re not snobs with brands- its all about the taste!

[Foldor13]

Hi there, I like black coffee with gingerbread syrup first thing in the morning, and then either Earl Grey tea or Earl Grey Rooibos tea during the day, with an occasional chai latte thrown in if I’m out and about