Dunkin Donuts has crept down as far as South Carolina at least, which will begin improving their coffee standards. If McDonald's uses the same coffee down there that they do up here that will help also. They need it. Gas station coffee in New England is better than good restaurant coffee in the south. I don't get it. I have very, very low standards for coffee. I will gladly drink instant, or day-old, or someone else's coffee. I like my coffee fairly strong, but not crazy strong. (My dad always said that to a Swede there is no such thing as strong coffee, only weak people.) But I actually throw coffee away down south, or don't even bother to order it. Even the hospitable "I'll make you a fresh pot, honey" doesn't seem to cut it.
I understand any place that doesn't want to start investing in chi-chi designer coffees and developing a taste for $5 cups. That's not what I'm talking about. I am referring to simple regular coffee, with no added flavors of mango creme or basmati rice.
My first thought is that they try to stretch the grounds too far, as it is often weak. Someone at church suggested that more intense chlorination may be the culprit.
Either way, y'all have got to get with the program. It's not that hard.
I never drank coffee until Latin America, first as a clean water source and later to keep me awake at 4 a.m. on the rigs.
ReplyDeleteI see no need to spend $4 on Stabucks coffee when you can get many more cups at home for the same.
My caffeine choice is yerba mate- a kilo a month. Coffee is secondary.
Depends on where you are in the South, I suppose. I think Louisiana has fairly good coffee, though the Community brand can get to that crazy strong.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you think coffee is weak anywhere in the South, may I suggest you go west, young man?
Somewhere less than 100 miles east of Albuquerque on I-40, I stopped at a truck stop for coffee. Surely a good strong cup of coffee could get me through the last leg of that 900 mile trip.
Um, no. Not the coffee served at this place. It was slightly colored water.
I made myself a cup of tea there, and made it on to my destination, but I've never had a worse cup of coffee in my life.
One thing I truly miss about New England is Dunkin Donuts: good coffee and good donuts without the Starbucks nose in the air and bitter aftertaste. I'm hoping DD will make it to Nevada eventually.
ReplyDeleteI almost had a nervous breakdown trying to find a cup of coffee at 7am in the Birmingham, AL airport. I discovered later that I could have (even at that hour) bought Starbucks liquer, but not a damn cup of coffee. I'm still bitter about it, and that 3 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI only started drinking coffee about 4 years ago. This is unusual as I am now a 45 year old man. I now enjoy coffee in some quantity. I prefer it strong, but like AVI, am not overly picky about it.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, the consistently strongest cup of coffee I get anywhere is available after our worship service at church. I like my coffee reasonably sweet and fairly light. I have never yet found a cup that eats up sugar like our church coffee. The swedes, I think, look down from on high with grudging approval.
Louisiana coffee is indeed good -it's the chickory they add. Quite a number of years ago I was on an oil exploration rig positioned 66 miles off the coast of New Jersey. It was Mobil's first rig in northern waters and the crew was mostly Cajun. The mess hall on the rig was open 24 hours a day and had two urns of coffee brewing all the time - regular and Cajun. I remember that you could just about cut the Cajun coffee with a knife. Loved it!
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