How do you like your tea? Or coffee? Almond milk or soy, sir? Two sugars, ma'am?

[Xray the Enforcer]

If I'm at home, it's either black tea (currently drinking Yorkshire Gold) with milk, or coffee with milk. If I'm traveling, I'll give the local preparation a whirl -- in lots of places in Latin America, they put sugar in their coffee, and that's how I'll drink it when I'm there (even when I don't really enjoy the combo of coffee + sugar for taste and also physiological reasons). Especially while I'm on assignment -- nothing will kill a source's willingness to talk to you faster than by being a snob. 

[The Mance]

I only drink coffee.  Strong and black, from a French press.  I use close to double the rec'd grounds and at a very fine grind, and I let them steep for as long as time allows.  On work mornings this is usually +/- ten minutes, but other days I'll sometimes forget all about the existence of my brewing coffee for an hour or more.  In a cruel twist of irony, sometimes it can be very difficult to make my morning coffee....before I've had my morning coffee.  My fav screw-up is dumping the fresh grounds into the kettle of boiling water.

Also, I've been using the same favorite mug for over 25 years and will be legitimately affected when/if it is ever lost or broken.  I rescued it from behind a wall panel near the fireplace where someone had stashed it next to an ashtray of MJ roaches in the break lounge of the soon to be demolished Ski Patrol shack in Taos Ski Valley.  I take my mug with me on road trips and overnight visits, but never on airplanes for fear of losing it.  My kids tease that they promise to bury it with me if it should outlast me in this world.  I tell them, "Nooo!  You must find a good home for it!"  The Mug must endure! 

  

[Deedles]

Black tea, milk, no sugar. Strong, mash the tea bag. Probably 5-6 cups a day at work. I have a keep cup in there so it’s always hot. 

 

At home, I’m utterly addicted to a Chai. It’s fine when working as I only drink it at the weekends, but as I’m currently on mat leave, those 5-6 cups a day will be of this. Well worth it. Brew for 5 minutes, splash of milk.

 

If visiting my parents / friends, Irish breakfast tea is the default. I’m more than happy to have a coffee with some milk though.

 

We also have a coffee machine. I’m partial to a cappuccino on weekend mornings, typically with a brioche or croissant. 

 

Oddly, location /water is definitely a factor in my drinking habits. My chai tastes different else where do I wont drink it. I also don’t like tea abroad so default to coffee then.

[Larry of the Lawn]

2 hours ago, The Mance said:

I only drink coffee.  Strong and black, from a French press.  I use close to double the rec'd grounds and at a very fine grind, and I let them steep for as long as time allows.  On work mornings this is usually +/- ten minutes, but other days I'll sometimes forget all about the existence of my brewing coffee for an hour or more.  In a cruel twist of irony, sometimes it can be very difficult to make my morning coffee....before I've had my morning coffee.  My fav screw-up is dumping the fresh grounds into the kettle of boiling water.

Also, I've been using the same favorite mug for over 25 years and will be legitimately affected when/if it is ever lost or broken.  I rescued it from behind a wall panel near the fireplace where someone had stashed it next to an ashtray of MJ roaches in the break lounge of the soon to be demolished Ski Patrol shack in Taos Ski Valley.  I take my mug with me on road trips and overnight visits, but never on airplanes for fear of losing it.  My kids tease that they promise to bury it with me if it should outlast me in this world.  I tell them, "Nooo!  You must find a good home for it!"  The Mug must endure! 

  

When I work the top booth of the chairlift in the winter my coffee is a matter of life or death.  I bring up a 32 oz thermos of black coffee and a 16 oz one with a splash of milk.  I drink the smaller one and about half the larger one but usually dish out a couple small cups to friends, patrol, or snowmakers who come by.  I keep a creamer and sugar for guests in a lockable box to keep the mice out.  Where you're up there for 9-10 hours with no break the coffee is clutch.

I've brought my backpacking stove and french press up a few times (pour-over would be way too much work) but it's not really worth the hassle of bringing a larger backpack and having to clean up or pack out the grounds. 

I don't partake of any MJ on the clock  but most of my coworkers do - there are similar roach receptacles to your mugstashed around the upper slopes. I'm sure that mug has a storied history from even before it came into your life.  I wish you and your mug many more years of restorative coffee experiences.

[LongRider]

2 hours ago, The Mance said:

Also, I've been using the same favorite mug for over 25 years and will be legitimately affected when/if it is ever lost or broken.  

The favorite mug is the Bomb!  I haven't been able to keep one for 25 years tho, how I envy you.  

My current favorite is one that is very similar to my last favorite, which I inadvertently dropped and broke when I missed the counter.  Devastated!!  I couldn't let it go so I glued it back together then put it on display. 

When I saw my current mug, a near twin, I swooned then ponied up cash and have been happy ever  since.  Long live our favorite mugs!

[Liffguard]

3 hours ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

If I'm at home, it's either black tea (currently drinking Yorkshire Gold) with milk

Oh god, Yorkshire Gold is so good. I won't make builders' tea with anything else nowadays.

[DireWolfSpirit]

3 hours ago, The Mance said:

 I rescued it from behind a wall panel near the fireplace where someone had stashed it next to an ashtray of MJ roaches in the break lounge of the soon to be demolished Ski Patrol shack in Taos Ski Valley.  

This is awesome.

[Myshkin]

I drink a lot of coffee. Like a whole lot. Generally I make pour over, 3 cups at a time into a thermos. I know pour over is real trendy these days, but this is how my dad always made it and for me it’s just how coffee is made. The most important thing to remember when making coffee is that it is a science, not an art, and it all starts with proper measurements. 1 slightly rounded coffee scoop (2 tablespoons) of coffee beans for every 8 ounces of water. For pour over get a medium grind on the beans and get the water to just below boiling. And don’t just start pouring water on the grounds, first use a little of the water to wet the grounds, and when you add more water pour down the sides of the cone to make sure that any coffee that floated up gets back into the mix. As for how to take your coffee, that really depends on what beans you use. Milk is used to cut acidity, so if you’re using a high acidity coffee like yirgachaffe you’re probably gonna want a little milk, but if you’re drinking something low acidity like Indian Malabar you can skip it. If you want to sweeten it, go for it, I won’t judge you, I sweeten my afternoon coffee. 

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

English breakfast. Pour boiling water onto teabag, brew for 3-5 minutes, remove teabag, add milk. I also have half a teaspoon of sugar but that’s only because I lack moral integrity.

[Iskaral Pust]

Plain green tea if earlier in the day, or plain mint tea after dinner.  Occasionally some plain jasmine tea if I’m served it at a restaurant when I ordered green tea. 

Black/breakfast tea is too bitter for me, and coffee is far too bitter and acidic. 

[Meera of Tarth]

I like green, red and white tea. Without sugar nor milk, preferably cold (summer).

However, I tend to drink more infusions without theine such as rooibos, flavoured rooibos (strawberry) or rooibos with cinnamon, amognst many others.

I don't drink coffee because I don't like the taste of it, but the few times I do, I drink it with milk because I prefer the taste of it with milk. Cappuccino style, with a lot of foam...

I prefer chocolate with milk, though.

[Yukle]

12 hours ago, Hereward said:

 

TEA BAG?!

PHILISTINE!

If you're lazy enough to use tea bags, yeah the tea goes in second.

Gosh that was a pisser!

[Yukle]

8 hours ago, The Mance said:

I take my mug with me on road trips and overnight visits, but never on airplanes for fear of losing it.  My kids tease that they promise to bury it with me if it should outlast me in this world.  I tell them, "Nooo!  You must find a good home for it!"  The Mug must endure! 

What does your mug look like inside? Mine is just about solid brown inside.  There's an extremely noticeable band where the brown stops and the original white (I think) of the inside goes to the remainder of the top.

Also the paint has worn away in a clear semi-circle from where my lips normally touch.

I actually have two such mugs, a work one and a home one. I drink tea from a mug, not a cup, which some people say is wrong. Those people are wrong. My husband once scrubbed the inside of my cup for me so it was pretty much sparkling a few years ago. He did it when he was trying to help because I was pregnant and too tired to do anything and upset with everything about the world. When I found out what he'd done I'm pretty sure I cried.

Home mug is nearing 10 years, I think. I got it when I was beginning university. Work mug is much more recent, that was my gift to myself to procrastinate writing my masters.  

5 hours ago, LongRider said:

When I saw my current mug, a near twin, I swooned then ponied up cash and have been happy ever  since.  Long live our favorite mugs!

WOO! ALL HAIL FAVE MUGS!

[The Mance]

6 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

I don't partake of any MJ on the clock  but most of my coworkers do - there are similar roach receptacles to your mugstashed around the upper slopes. I'm sure that mug has a storied history from even before it came into your life.  I wish you and your mug many more years of restorative coffee experiences.

I’ve certainly enjoyed my time with it so far.  I try to treat it with care, but without obsessing too much about potential loss.  Its a weird balance at times.  As I said, I won’t take it on a plane, but I do take it out in the canoe….which, I dunno how that works in my head.  I guess, I don’t want to lose it to something as random as baggage handlers, but whats the point of having a favorite mug if you can’t risk it in a canoe in the early morning fog.

But ya, french presses (what do they call them in France?) can be convenient or a real PITA depending on where you’re using them.  Overall, though, I prefer them to anything else, and I keep several of them scattered about my home range.

5 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

This is awesome.

Thanks.  I’ve always been inclined to reuse/repurpose/recycle objects or materials etc in my personal and professional life.  So as much as the appearance and utility of the mug appeals to my aesthetics, I do put a lot of value in the finding and rescuing of the mug as well.

27 minutes ago, Yukle said:

What does your mug look like inside? Mine is just about solid brown inside.  There's an extremely noticeable band where the brown stops and the original white (I think) of the inside goes to the remainder of the top.

My mug is still in essentially perfect condition.  No visible signs of wear, chips, or discoloration whatsoever.  I’m pretty sure its commercially produced, and not like hand crafted or whatev, though there are no manufacture stamps or markings on the bottom, and I really don’t know enough about ceramics or pottery to say for sure.  Also, it's dishwasher safe, though I can't remember the last time I washed it.  I generally just rinse the sludge out of the bottom and refill.

[LongRider]

3 hours ago, Yukle said:

WOO! ALL HAIL FAVE MUGS!

My current fave is four years old, so I found it in 2014. My other mug was an completion award for a 50 mile endurance ride and I received that in 2002.  It broke about 2012, so it had a good run.  Those mugs are both black so I can't see if the inside is stained, but hopefully so, as I rarely wash them, just rinse them out a bit.  Funny how some get so attached to our mugs, our preciouss.

[Yukle]

18 hours ago, mankytoes said:

 This is why you guys still need the monarchy. 

I drink, I guess what you call "black tea"? We just call it tea. With a drop of milk. Just a drop. Not too much. And no sugar. Nice and strong, mash the teabag a bit with the spoon. 

Lulz!  The first line made me laugh.

If you have a teabag, tea goes in first. But civilised people use tea pots and then the milk goes in first. I suppose you can have sugar if you like... you don't, but others do. But then, why not just have Coke if you want sweetened brown water?

And yeah, we call black tea just tea, too. But green tea is still pretty common in Melbourne, so it's worth differentiating at times. Green tea with milk at all is illegal. And if it's not, then it should be.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Strong tea, milk, no sugar.

[mormont]

English breakfast tea with milk, no sugar, is my staple: several cups each day. Milk in first, always, water just off boiling. Not too much milk. Once or twice a week, I'll have an Earl Grey instead, usually on Sunday mornings. I used to drink it more regularly but now like to keep it for weekends. 

I take more milk in instant coffee, of which I might drink only one mug per day, sometimes two, sometimes none. Might have a latte sometimes instead.

Fruit teas I drink in the evening and sometimes in the afternoon, with a little honey. 

I have a favourite mug for the fruit tea: it's very large, white with a slim, double silver band around the outside. Picked it up in a charity shop about six or seven years back. In a pinch I have a backup mug that my kids bought me with a dolphin design. Would never use either of those for regular tea or coffee or anything else but the fruit tea. It just wouldn't seem right. 

[HexMachina]

Yorkshire tea of a morning, Black, no sugar, leave the teabag in while I drink it so the dregs are nice and strong. Same again throughout the day - this includes at work, because one of the perks of hotel work is they stock Yorkshire tea!

Around 5 (3.30 if I am on evening shift) I have a black filter coffee, no sugar. 

Any time after 7.30 I will have green tea with a slice of lemon in, or a fruit tea of any variety. 

Special mugs - I have one that @KidDisaster got me for SS which I use for my green tea or fruit tea. Everything else goes in one of four from a stacking set my mam bought. Same one every time though (they aren’t matching mugs, they are different patterns and colours so I can’t differentiate)

[davos]

I almost always drink loose-leaf teas.  Generally, but not always, black teas.  Always without any sweeteners or dairy.  My most frequent cup is Darjeeling.   I also really enjoy a good Assam or Earl Grey.  I generally also have some random green teas around for when I am drinking more to relax than for a pick-me-up.  

I never drink coffee.   Despite repeated attempts I just don't like it and can't bring myself to tolerate it.   The only way I will generally take it is with so much sugar and cream that I might as well just get a Mt Dew.  Its frustrating as coffee is ubiquitous, generally available fairly inexpensively in this country, and is an effective stimulant.  I guess I will also occasionally have things like frappes, which aren't really coffee but very sweet beverages with some coffee in them.