Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with coffee and drink

Alternate drink to coffee/tea?

zobot — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:16:10 -0800

I want to find a replacement for coffee and tea for a morning kick drink. My stomach is having problems with acid, especially from coffee and tea. I abandoned coffee and even though I like it, I am thinking about giving up tea (at least for a while). I'm looking for some ideas for alternative drinks that would help me get going in the morning. The tricky thing is some of the alternatives probably have a lot of acid too. I do sometimes try to get going by doing something physical, like a run or a bike ride, but often I just don't have the time in the morning

In search of coffee on the cape

pretzel — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:30:17 -0800

I'm looking for a good cup of coffee on Cape Cod. I'm staying this week in Dennisport, and due to a lack of knowledge of the area (and cape cod in general - this is only my 2nd time here), I havent found a good, independent coffee shop. There are, of course, Dunkin Donuts shops every 1/4 mile along Rt 28, if you're into that sort of thing, but I was hoping for something, well, not Dunkin Donuts!

Oh, btw, I'm in Dennisport, but anything in Harwich / Dennis / Yarmouth would work for me. Thanks!

Cooling hot drinks fast?

mphuie — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:08:27 -0800

Iced tea without the ice. Any special techniques for cooling hot liquids fast without diluting? My favorite summer drink is cold honey green tea.

However, I hate having to brewing the tea stronger and adding extra honey to offset all the ice I put in the glass. Also, my ice from my fridge is not filtered so doesn't taste that great when its melted in the tea. (I don't mind it for keeping cold drinks cold.)

Does any one have any special gadgets or techniques to cooling tea without diluting it and without the long wait? Doesn't have to be able to cool a whole pitcher, 1 or 2 servings would be great.

I was thinking some contraption of copper tubing in a ice water bath or even keeping a cookie sheet in the freezer.

Good diet-friendly caffeinated drinks?

sprocket87 — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:23:42 -0800

Any good diet-friendly caffeinated beverages out there? Looking for something convenient, cheap, and low/no-cal/sugar. Does anyone have any recommendations for a caffeinated beverage with which to start my day? I love a good cup of coffee but my hectic schedule makes it difficult to homebrew daily. I don't have the time to stop for coffee daily, and frankly I don't want to pay the premium for coffee from a shop.

I'm planning on entirely eliminating pop and sugary drinks from my diet, so I'll be drinking just bottled water throughout the day. I'll make one exception for my morning kickstart, but I'd like something sugarfree or at least low-cal/low-sugar if possible. It does need to be caffeinated however, and the more kick the better!

I love Red Bull and I'm sure Red Bull Sugarfree would satisfy me, but $20/case of 12 is a bit too rich for my blood. Forget anything labeled Starbucks, as it's equivalently overpriced. The cheaper the better!

Finally, I need something convenient. If I don't have time to brew my own pitcher of French Press (or kettle of hot tea), I'd like to be able to just grab a bottle or a can from the fridge and down it in the car during my commute.

So, what miracle beverages can you recommend? Thanks for the help, [wired] MeFites!

Caffeine, Taste & Sleep

Gyan — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 16:54:39 -0800

Two caffeine-related questions regarding its effect on taste and sleep. I like the 'sharp' taste of colas like Coke/Pepsi. Is that a function of the caffeine or that of a pressurised carbonated liquid? What I really want to know is are there colas that present the same sort of sharpness without stimulants in them?

Which brings me to the next question: if you're a regular drinker of caffeine(three cans every two days, hardly any coffee) and you consume caffeine, say, 2-3 hrs before sleep, will that affect your ability to sleep? So far I believed it did. But yesterday, I had a Coke 90 mins before bedtime and I don't recall greater difficulty in falling asleep. So, I'm guessing that my tolerance to caffeine took care of that. Is the sleep-interference due to caffeine's effect on the autonomic nervous system or does it depend on psychoactivity?