Lifeblood of the industry (coffee of course)

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

oltmannd

I drink too much of whatever is free at work. It's not bad. . . . [snipped - PDN]

Three careers ago that firm supplied free coffee - it was bad.  Those of us who cared at least a little bit figured out it was the cheap Robusta variety; the good stuff is Arabica, as Euclid pointed out above.  It was so bad that instead we got ours on the way in from one of those parking lot kiosk operations called Mocha Mike's - "Start your day on better grounds !".

Best other slogans I've seen:

Astoria, Oregon at a quick-service for cars place about 10 years ago: "Lube and Latte - Leave here refreshed !"

Nearby between Allentown and Emmaus, PA, at a tanning salon and coffee shop: "Wake and Bake".

- Paul North. 

[Deggesty]

wanswheel

Best thing about Maxwell House is the brand is too valuable not to protect. Its owner, Kraft, maintains a certain B+ standard, good enough. The second-best thing for a true addict is such a successful brand is likely to stay available until I drop.

 

Will that be the "last drop?"

I began grinding my own after I forgot to grind, in the store, some beans that I picked up and had to ask my daughter to grind for me a few weeks before my birthday. Her birthday present to me was an electric coffee grinder, which has had many a bean run through it. 

I prefer a small drip coffee maker that heats the  water and then runs it through, using a small cone filter; it is called a "4 cup" maker--but it makes two mugs of coffee. Using that would be one of the nice things about moving back home from assisted living.

[wanswheel]

Best thing about Maxwell House is the brand is too valuable not to protect. Its owner, Kraft, maintains a certain B+ standard, good enough. The second-best thing for a true addict is such a successful brand is likely to stay available until I drop.

[Euclid]

 

 

 

Northeaster,

I have never ground my own, so maybe I should try that.  I never gave coffee quality a thought until about five years ago.  I had been routinely drinking MJB coffee for 20 years, and it exceeded my expectations.  But all of a sudden, it got really harsh and bitter.

Previously, it was really deep and smooth like good Arabica.  Then I went on a coffee testing rampage and found it all to be harsh and bitter.  When that Folgers Black Silk first came out, it was astoundingly good quality, but that did not last.  Now, it is just the best of all the horrible to mediocre coffee brands at the store.  I still have about 100 MJB cans full of nuts and bolts in the basement.    

 

 

 

[northeaster]

Euclid: Amen! I do love my two cups in the morning, I grind by hand my Kenya AA which, to me, is the queen of coffees with an amazing wine like roundness to it but also like to try other varieties from time to time. My favorite waking time is aboard a sleeper when the car attendant has gotten the big old percolater  going and the fragrance of the brew wakes me right up...that is really fine.  Cannot stand Starbucks burned brew and am truly puzzled over its appeal. Coming from a Norwegian seafaring family, I had coffee first thing, coffee at 10 am and coffee at lunch and then at 3 pm and probably when I was much younger, coffee after dinner. Good coffee tastes great straight up and unlike most good things, it is shown to be actually good for you.

[BaltACD]

Convicted One

Ad then there is Kopi Luwak 

Clean, roast and prepare your own?

[Convicted One]

Ad then there is Kopi Luwak 

[ACY Tom]

Mountain Dew: Yes, I drank WAY too much of it during my working years & now I try to avoid it in retirement.

I don't know whether any Amtrak diners still serve the brewed Green Mountain coffee. Green Mountain was the standard for use in 10-cup Grimes Coffee Makers in lounge cars, but I don't know whether that has changed.

Doug Riddell is retired, but still active. Last I heard, I think he was working on a book on the Auto Train. A great guy & a true gentleman.

Tom

[rvos1979]

Paul, you're thinking of Doug Riddell, Tuch never worked for Amtrak, and his tales haven't been published, as far as I know........

[54light15]

The last year or so that I was aboard the U.S.S. Guam, I spent most of my days walking around with a pipe wrench in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. I must have drunk about 30 a day. I would hear constantly from senior petty officers, "Lewis, I need you to...oh, you're having coffee, never mind." I didn't do a hell of a lot of work.

The ship was in the yard in Philly between 1975 and 1976 and there was a coffee shortage in the civilian world. The engine room would be issued a 20-pound can of coffee every week wether we needed it or not. We had about 8 of them in a locker behind the reduction gears and in the course of us being in drydock and yard workers (we called them yardbirds) everywhere, every one of those cans disappeared.

Another time we were anchored off of Lynn Haven inlet in Virginia. The fishing was amazing there when the tide changed. Someone tossed in one of those 20 pound cans with holes in it to see what it would attract. About four big sharks went after it in a kind of coffee frenzy. This was just after "Jaws" came out, we were practically pissing ourselves watching that!

 

I absolutely hate Starchumps coffee! But what a business plan, charge over 4 bucks for a cup of foaming whatever and people line up for it. I once went in one to meet my girlfriend and ordered a large unsweetened iced tea. The guy kept saying "Venty?" Not being fluent in Starbuckanese, I kept saying, "yes, a large unsweetened iced tea, that's right." Eventually he realised I was speaking English and he got me what I ordered. Haven't been back since. Hard to avoid them here since every third store is a Czarbucks. 

[switch7frg]

Does both the Amtrak "Chiefs" still use Green Mtn. coffee?

[Deggesty]

The last few years that I worked, the company provided coffee pots (self-maintained) in various locations in the plant; two were in the cafeteria, and it seemed reasonable to most of us that you could always find coffee in at least one of them. However, some users apparently had no understanding that if you emptied a pot you were expected to start another pot. It was somewhat bothersome to have to start a fresh pot before you could fill your cup.

[Euclid]

Starbucks (and probably other coffee shops) burn the coffee in the roasting process to give it the illusion of rich flavor to those who don’t know any better.  As a coffee shop selling at a premium price to cover the overhead; they have to offer a product that is said to be of a higher quality.

If those coffee shops actually sold the highest quality Arabica coffee, I would stop making coffee at home.  But coffee shops are selling cheap coffee that has been burned to give it flavor.  I have never been able to get even half way through a cup of that stuff.  The flavor of really top quality coffee is so unusual and complex that many people drinking it blindfolded would not be able to identify it as coffee.   

[tree68]

Starbucks ("Charbucks" or "St. Arbucks") is a couple times a year at most - too strong, bitter, and expensive.

My son's former father-in-law was treated to coffee from said emporium by his daughter once.  After figuring out how to order a plain coffee, he took one taste, said "burned," and dumped it out the car window.

convenience store chain called Wawa...

Outstanding sandwich shop, too...

[QUOTE]But after I burped a few times, it "Dawn"-ed on me - the teenage girl who was usually so busy texting had washed the pot with Dawn, but hadn't rinsed it (or only minimally).   [QUOTE]

Tip for those who use commercial-style coffee makers with glass pots:  Several ice cubes and some salt, swirled around the pot, will clean most of the deposits from the inside of the pot...

Our former trainmaster, now retired, was always first at the pot in the ticket office, with a styrofoam cup that he wrote his name on.  I gave him a mug (with "Corrosive" on it), but he wouldn't use it, as he was afraid he'd break it...

[CShaveRR]

Paul, were you frothing at the mouth when you found that out?

I just finished by breakfast drink:  Diet Dew and orange-tangerine juice, proportions vary.

Norris, I most assuredly don't spend my time talking or in the bathroom!  I do, however, get headaches if deprived for any reason.

[smayham]

As an IT guy, I've always ascribed to the theory that we software engineers are merely vectors, turning caffeine into usable code!

[oltmannd]

I drink too much of whatever is free at work. It's not bad.  They have a bean grinder that measures out a pot's worth.  NS supplies the coffee mess unlike Conrail where we had to chip in several dollars a month.  

At home, it usually Dunkin. 

 

[NKP guy]

Murphy Siding

   I have a coworker who downs 4 20oz. Diet Mountain Dew at work, plus one over lunch every day.  Do I need to mention that the only time he stops talking is when he's taking a drink of Dew? 

 

 How many trips to the toilet does he make in a day?

[NKP guy]

   When I was teaching I preached the virtues of coffee drinking to my students as a way to help them stay awake and do what needs to be done (rather like Power Milk Biscuits, promoted on "A Prairie Home Companion").  Not a few told me they didn't drink coffee because they "didn't want to put any drugs in my body."  Funny, they didn't consider beer a drug.  Also, having a baby at age 16 seems a worse thing to do to a young body than having a cup of coffee.  

   Best coffee I ever tasted:  the coffee served steaming hot at about 5 AM on the Great Lakes ore boat I worked on one summer.  The coffee was served in those classic thick white ceramic mugs that I seldom see in restaurants these days.  

   I also recall once, after boarding Amtrak's Three Rivers at Akron in the dead and bitter cold of a winter's night, finding my Attendant had a hot cup of cocoa waiting for me in my roomette.  Delicious and so very welcome as we sped on our way through the cold dark toward Chicago.

[Murphy Siding]

   I have a coworker who downs 4 20oz. Diet Mountain Dew at work, plus one over lunch every day.  Do I need to mention that the only time he stops talking is when he's taking a drink of Dew? 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

mudchicken

[snipped - PDN] . . . Randy: Back in the bad old days, one of my co-worker's standard breakfast fare was a 32 Oz gatorade (gator juice) and a half dozen caked sugar white  mini donuts.

When I worked for a track contractor, the young fellow who I broke in ("mentored") and worked with for about 6 years liked Doritos and chocolate milk for breakfast . . .   Other than that, he was pretty darn good, and had a funny view on things.

- Paul North. 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

D.Carleton

  

Murphy Siding

     I guess I'll have to give up my dream of running off and joining the railroad.  I don't drink tea or coffee. 

 Funny thing; I didn't start drinking coffee until I went railroading.

A guy who was an Amtrak engineer and wrote a column for another railfan magazine - John Tucci, I think he was - once wrote that caffeine is 1 of the 5 food groups for railroaders (others were fat and salt, I forget the rest).

[SALfan]

tree68

Here in the north woods, finding sweet tea used to be a real challenge.  The expansion of the military base a few years ago brought lots of southern transplants, so sweet iced tea is a bit more common.

 

When we lived in the DC area and were headed home (south GA and north FL), we knew we were getting closer to civilization when we could find drinkable sweet iced tea - usually somewhere in NC.

Zug - be glad you never drank my mother's sweet tea.  You could almost stand a spoon up in the stuff.  Three big glasses and you didn't need to drive a car - you could run along beside the cars, and keep up with them.

[n012944]

Tough times in our office, the company up untill a couple of months ago provied Eight O'clock coffee for the dispatchers.  In the current era of watch every penny or Hunter will be able to buy one more share of stock, we are now forced to consume Maxwell House.  Needless to say, many of us have started to bring in our own.  Starbucks Sumatra has been my brew of choice of late.

[mudchicken]

CShaveRR

 Ground coffee smells fine to me.

As for what gets me through, I'm with MC, except that Diet Dew is my poison of choice, and I require about two liters of something per day.

My hero! The CAT is getting a little spooked about some of the similarities?

Randy: Back in the bad old days, one of my co-worker's standard breakfast fare was a 32 Oz gatorade (gator juice) and a half dozen caked sugar white  mini donuts.

 

 

 

[ChuckCobleigh]

zugmann

Stuff we have in our office isn't even fit to be tossed into the ballast. 

Best description of that kind of coffee was, "This is the stuff the pygmies dip their arrows in."

[MidlandMike]

A couple of years ago we were traveling thru Vermont, and we stopped at the classic Waterbury station to take photos.  There was a Green Mountain Coffee flagship coffee shop occupying much of the station, and it was time for a break.  About that time my wife bought a Keurig coffee maker, and Green Mtn. carries the old A&P Eight O'Clock coffee among others.  I generally only drink a cup or two per day, so the Keurig is very convenient, and the variety is a plus.

[rvos1979]

Never aquired a taste for coffee, and blood pressure issues mean I shouldn't have caffeine, so water and Gatorade it is, and the water has to be spring water, I can't stand the taste of mineral water. I usually get the Sam's Club packages for the semi.

I do miss the days of living on the farm, when we drank milk straight out of the bulk tank. To this day, I can't drink less than two percent, anything less tastes like chalk.........

[BaltACD]

Semper Vaporo

I had a co-worker that, when he arrived in the morning, would get his coffee cup and put two heaping teaspoonsfull of instant coffee into it... then go to the office coffee pot, (which the secretary had already perked when she arrived much earlier) and fill his cup with that.  When he returned to his desk he would toss 2 or 3 caffiene pills ("No-Doze" I think) into the cup and stir it with his #2 pencil and GULP it down.  Then do it all again, but the 2nd cup he would sip until about 9 AM when he would have another 2 cups in the same manner, but with fewer caffiene pills.  I never noticed that all that caffiene ever made him "active".

Likely, without all the caffiene, he might have Z lined!

[Semper Vaporo]

I had a co-worker that, when he arrived in the morning, would get his coffee cup and put two heaping teaspoonsfull of instant coffee into it... then go to the office coffee pot, (which the secretary had already perked when she arrived much earlier) and fill his cup with that.  When he returned to his desk he would toss 2 or 3 caffiene pills ("No-Doze" I think) into the cup and stir it with his #2 pencil and GULP it down.  Then do it all again, but the 2nd cup he would sip until about 9 AM when he would have another 2 cups in the same manner, but with fewer caffiene pills.  I never noticed that all that caffiene ever made him "active".