Plan B Forum

As they are so hard, they are also eaten by first soaking them in sweet tea.

MajGenl.Meade wrote:Gob, is it good or bad form to dunk one's knob in coffee or tea?

Thank you

Gob wrote:Good form to dunk in tea, it's always bad form to drink coffee.

“No,” Arthur said, “look, it’s very, very simple….  All I want.…  is a cup of tea.  You are going to make one for me.  Now keep quiet and listen.”

And he sat.  He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, he told it about Ceylon.  He told it about broad leaves drying in the sun.  He told it about silver teapots.  He told it about summer afternoons on the lawn.  He told it about putting the milk in before the tea so it wouldn’t get scalded.  He even told it (briefly) about the East India Trading Company.

“So that’s it, is it?” said the Nutri-Matic when he had finished.

“Yes,” said Arthur.  “That is what I want.”

“You want the taste of dried leaves boiled in water?”

“Er, yes.  With milk.”

“Squirted out of a cow?”

“Well in a manner of speaking, I suppose.…”

“I’m going to need some help with this one.”

it's always bad form to drink coffee.

We drink twice as much coffee as tea: the nation's favourite drink is under threat as tea consumption falls 19 per cent since 2010

Tea is under serious threat as the nation’s favourite hot drink.

Outside the home, Britons are now drinking almost two and a half cups of coffee for every one of tea – 2.1billion versus 874million annually.

The expansion of chains such as Starbucks and Costa is testament to the rise of caffeine. Tea consumption, meanwhile, has fallen 19 per cent since 2010.

Speciality coffees – such as Americanos and cappuccinos – dominate the market, with brewed or filtered versions comprising only 23 per cent of sales.

Cappuccinos, which cost as much as £3, are the clear number one. Some 486million were sold last year, a rise of 12 per cent on 2012.

The Americano saw the fastest growth, of 33 per cent, taking the total cups sold to 431million, perhaps because it tends to be cheaper.

The figures, published by researchers NPD, show sales of espresso are up 31 per cent to 99million a year.

By contrast, sales of traditional brewed coffee fell 20 per cent. Britain’s coffee consumption ranks third among the ‘Big Five’ European markets. Italy tops the table with 4.78billion cups a year ahead of France at 2.27billion. Germany gets through 1.93billion cups while Spain drinks 1.77billion.

Britain stands out because it is the only market where coffee consumption away from the home has grown in the past five years. Muriel Illig, of NPD, said tea’s status as the national drink was at risk. ‘As coffee climbs then tea is teetering – it really needs to fight back,’ she said.

‘The share of tea in a country famed for its love of this beverage has slipped significantly and the thirst for speciality coffees completely swamps demand for speciality teas.

There’s no quenching our thirst for the three most popular speciality coffees – cappuccino, latte and Americano – and those three account for around two thirds of all the coffee we buy away from home.’

Tea has been a feature of national life since the 1700s and subsequently through the 1800s when it arrived under sail from China on tea clippers like the Cutty Sark.

1. Coffee Can Delay the Onset of Alzheimer’s

Studies show that caffeine and coffee can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s, even in seniors who already have some form of mild dementia. Research shows that caffeine blocks inflammation in the brain, specifically adenosine receptors, which can start a chain reaction that begins the mind’s cognitive decline.

Coffee can have such a positive effect on inflammation in the brain, that adults over the age of 65 who had higher levels of caffeine in their blood, were found to avoid or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Neuroscientist Chuanhai Cao, said of the study: “These intriguing results suggest that older adults with mild memory impairment who drink moderate levels of coffee – about three cups a day – will not convert to Alzheimer’s disease or at least will experience a substantial delay before converting to Alzheimer’s.”

Big RR wrote:For the life of me I cannot understand the popularity of café Americano, which is really just watered down espresso. To me, the attraction of espresso is that it is a bold and strong cup of coffee, rather than water it down, why not just drink regular brewed coffee?

Lord Jim wrote: So when you move back to the UK, be sure to stop off for a refreshing Americano while you're out shopping for bargains on Black Friday...

For the life of me I cannot understand the popularity of café Americano, which is really just watered down espresso.

rubato wrote:A demitasse of espresso jug of cheap wine is just the thing to finish off a nice lunch in France. Where lunch is so important that it is considered a national treasure.


yrs,
rubato