LinustheBold: I lived in Europe for some years as an adult - Italy, Germany, and England - so my coffee heritage is mixed; back in the Dark Days of my college years, here in the U.S. we perked our coffee, which was expected to be brown and powdery in the bag and brown and boiled into submission in the cup. A few weeks in France and then a couple of years in Italy put an end to that for me; some years later the rest of America caught up. I don't get the flavored-coffee thing, but as long as I can have coffee-tasting coffee, I don't really worry about what goes in other cups.

The most confusing coffee experience I ever had was a few years back when I visited my brother in Australia (he's back in Brooklyn now). Aussie coffee is a mix of styles, and everything has different names. I was trying to buy a sack of ground French press coffee for the kitchen (after I inhaled what their stocks) and had a pretty hilarious runaround with the coffee-shop girl before we could figure out what I was talking about, complete with diagrams and sound effects and mimed "now I'm making the coffee" gestures - "Oh!" she cried, as I did an elaborate skit about pushing the press down. "Plunger! You want a Plunger grind!"

Eventually I settled on long black as my coffee style, but it always set uneasily. "Can I get milk in that?" I asked, uncertainly. "Sure," said the barista. "Long black with milk." "Really?" I asked. "Yes, sure, why?" She was puzzled. "But now it's not black any more, is it?"

marianne: Tea has been mentioned. I like green tea with nothing added. Not the kind in the little dunk bags. I use the leaves. I've never found it in a super-market, so I need to order it or get it at a specialty store.

cjrgreen: We're spoiled when it comes to tea. The local grocer is Persian, his community buys the best tea in huge quantities, and they have a whole aisle of tea to choose from, mostly Indian. I'll get some gunpowder green tea, a bunch of mint, sticks of rock candy, and make green tea Moroccan style. Another thing I picked up a liking for in Spain. Yum.

Random_Coffee: This is an excellent thread. Coffee is my favorite drink, and I have been drinking it heavily since I was 12.

Random_Coffee: A friend once poured soda in my coffee, it was good for about 30 seconds, but after that it was bad, not recommended :P I do not add anything to my coffee, no milk, no soda, just black coffee.

Random_Coffee: ... A friend once poured soda in my coffee, it was good for about 30 seconds, but after that it was bad, not recommended :P