Has coffee spawned a new generation?

Surreptitious

fixxxer wrote: »

Butlers do a nicer one and you get a chocolate sweet too

That's true. They do a lovely white chocolate skinny mocha as well.

Paddy Porter

For me the "Coffee Revolution" was seeing loads of 20/30 something women in long black coats hurrying along to somewhere in the IFSC clutching a take away coffee.

I'm sure there was plenty of coffee in whatever office they were going to but the notion of "grabbing a coffee" was beginning to take hold.

The coffee shops began to big up their products "served by skilled Baristas" who in reality were Emma and Jane with a few Hours training.

Worst of all were the knobs who infested Starbucks with their lappys and earpeices spending hours using the free wi-fi.

But hey that's marketing for you -- put about a certain mystique and faux sophistication around a very mundane product and Paddy and Mary will pony up a few extra shillings.

They are doing the same thing with "craft" beer.........

jimmy blevins

Drinking coffee makes me think of Italy or france whiling drinking overpriced muck out of paper cups, USA.

Paddy Porter

jimmy blevins wrote: »

Drinking coffee makes me think of Italy or france whiling drinking overpriced muck out of paper cups, USA.

Eh ? I think you need a coffee mate ?

Penny Tration

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

I like Cappuccinos made with coconut milk.

Don't judge me.

I fcuking hate when people order those. Coconut milk is almost impossible to froth it just turns into bubbles.

Dr Crayfish

It's nice to have a coffee out from time to time. Do yourself a favour though, I used to buy one every day, just an americano, now I just make some in a cafetière in the office. You save about €600 a year and the coffee is nicer and you're not creating rubbish every day for the landfills. No matter how skilled the bloody barista no one should be buying one of these every day, that's a gym membership or your internet paid for monthly if you give it up.

jester77

Just brew your own.

Nothing like walking into the kitchen to the smell of freshly ground beans to give you a morning lift.

I heat up my siphon, watch the magic and coffee is ready in no time, tastes better than what most cafes would sell you. I got an advent calendar last month with different beans from around the world behind each door. The variety out there is amazing.

Giblet

I'm in Portugal a lot, and those boyos know their coffee.
50c for an espresso pretty much anywhere you go, and 9/10 it's amazing!

The coffee revolution here has been going on for quite some time. Craft beers are undergoing a similar revolution in hearts and minds of the people. While there can be a lot of pretentiousness that goes along with it, a rising tide raises all boats as they say, and the quality and variety has improved immensely.

The biggest issue I see is the premium attached to it, whereas in Europe, coffee is cheap as chips, €3 coffee is the norm, and it's still rising. It's still water guys.

meeeeh

I'm an espresso drinker since Iwas very young, wasn't born in Ireland. It's still about 50/50 if you will get something decent or complete muck. That being said I find current coffee trends a bit pretentious. I drink a lot of coffee (about 5 espressos per day) but I find current thrends of buying only organic, artisan blended and locally roasted beans completely over the top. I'm probably just not sophisticated enough although half of those coffee drinkers strike me as someone who did not drink coffee before, then did a course on coffee because it seemed as a cool subject and then started pontificating about blends and which type of coffee brings put the flavour most.

OldGoat

Surreptitious wrote: »

If I had said to someone at 17, do you want to go for coffee, they wouldn't have known what I was talking about.

Pft! Bewley's Cafe, established circa 1900. I have been meeting people in there for coffee since the 70's.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I'm not a big coffee drinker. The smell can sometimes make me nauseous and I wouldn't be mad on drinking it because I believe it plays havoc with ones skin. I may be a little sensitive to caffeine too (possibly because I'm not used to it) because when I drink it, my hands shake and my eyes feel like they're stretched in my head. Not to mention it gives people awful bad breath. If I meet someone for coffee I'll generally just order a mint tea.

Maximus Alexander

I've been drinking coffee since I was a nipper, but true enough back in the day it was from a jar of instant Maxwell House in the press. The 'coffee culture' that has taken hold has been a godsend in that regard as it's become easier and easier to get your hands on a decent cup. Even the filter coffee machines at work are a stark improvement over what I grew up with, and now I've got a little machine at home that gives me a delicious espresso in about 30 seconds.

What a time to be alive...

Billy86

I wouldn't call it becoming Americanised, more that it's just an overall change in culture. I was listening to a US-based podcast a few months ago where they were actually talking about this very same thing, how over there a coffee used to mean a 50c-$1 cheap cup of hot caffeine in a paper cut 20-25 years ago whereas now its all this fancy carry on. I cant get people being into that, I love how much variety we have for food now that we used to not have, but apart from the odd mocha (because chocolate, damnit!) or espresso if I'm a zombie at 8am (hate the taste of the stuff, but it gets the job done) I'm more that happy with a jar of the €2 instant stuff from down in Aldi.

The Canadians have the right idea with Tim Hortons (massive, massive chain over there), $3.35 for about a pint of coffee and a good sized muffin in the morning.

Boom_Bap

I love me a cup of joe so I'm delighted with all the options these days.
I love having a bit of time to sit in a cafe and watch the world go by drinking a nice cup of coffee.

Hesh's Umpire

Giblet wrote: »

I'm in Portugal a lot, and those boyos know their coffee.
50c for an espresso pretty much anywhere you go, and 9/10 it's amazing!

I hear you. I visit Portugal as often as I can afford.
The coffee out there is amazing. Incredibly cheap too.

Dr Crayfish

Hesh's Umpire wrote: »

I hear you. I visit Portugal as often as I can afford.
The coffee out there is amazing. Incredibly cheap too.

I love the branding of that Sicla stuff with the woman dancing

dudara

I quite like Maxwell House and the like. I suppose it the nostalgia factor, or the fact that it's a childhood taste.

I must admit that I don't like the current trends in coffee roasting. The lighter roasts that are in vogue have a flavour that I don't personally like. I find it hard to describe and I avoid a lot of the "hipster" coffee places for that reason. If I do go to any of them, I usually have a heavily milky coffee to manage the taste.

Give me a properly strong espresso made in a bar in Italy, and I'm happy out

Grayson

OldGoat wrote: »

Pft! Bewley's Cafe, established circa 1900. I have been meeting people in there for coffee since the 70's.

If you lived outside grafton st then you didn't have that opportunity.

Growing up in the midlands I can't think of many coffee shops in my home town. There were a couple of cafes in the shopping centres but that was it. Your coffee was limited to the manky drip coffee that they had. Quite often it was instant coffee that was made in bulk and kept in a large burker. I can't remember seeing an espresso machine until years later.

It's not just coffee though. If you went into a place for food there were sandwiches and rolls. We had fairy cakes rather than muffins or cupcakes. Selections of teas didn't exist.
The variety of food and drink on offer has increased massively in the last 20 years.

Tabnabs

While I like the coffee culture that has emerged in Ireland, I can't help but feel that we've missed a trick in not providing good quality brewed coffee. With practically every coffee drink available being espresso based, sometimes it's hard to beat a big mug of filter coffee enjoyed slowly and with good company. What the American's refer to as a 'cup of joe'.

beggars_bush

Go to Vancouver.

every second person walking around with a coffee cup

you haven't lived until you've had a 'shot in the dark'

ford2600

Tabnabs wrote: »

While I like the coffee culture that has emerged in Ireland, I can't help but feel that we've missed a trick in not providing good quality brewed coffee. With practically every coffee drink available being espresso based, sometimes it's hard to beat a big mug of filter coffee enjoyed slowly and with good company. What the American's refer to as a 'cup of joe'.

Filter in Cork do just that.

I spent a month in Tanzania once, miles of coffee plantations; dry get anything other than Maxwell House though.

An ibrik is a nice way to make coffee also

cbyrd

When we were kids we had Maxwell house, a teaspoon of coffee, a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of milk and the one who could keep stirring the longest was a legend, also had a lovely frothy cup of coffee. I would not allow my mentaller kids drink coffee at 8 years old.
Now I have a nespresso machine and make a simple 1.5 shot espresso with number 11/12 strength pods. Just black.

pilly

I've NEVER drunk a coffee, I feel like a freak! When we were younger coffee was the "posh" drink and we never had any in the house except at Christmas so I never took it up. Once was forced to drink a cup and almost puked. Does my head in though that you've to pay almost the same price for a cup of tea which is just a teabag basically.

Viscount Aggro

Daily takeaway coffee and subscription to Sky equates to 8 years as a desk jockey on the work treadmill. I have the article with numbers.
Is it really worth it?

Mellor

Atari Jaguar wrote: »

Coffee is not an American thing. I fcuking despise this ****e, "Americans drink/eat/say/do that, that's just an American thing"

You're completely right coffee is not a American thing.

But the coffee in Ireland is very clearly modelled after American chain coffee, I terms of both the quality, and the size of the cups. The smallest size is still fairly big at any places I've been to. Generally I've found the quality pretty bad since I've been home for Christmas, but maybe I'm going to the wrong places.

blue note

I didn't like tea growing up but took to Maxwell House at about 10. I remember buying a jar of Nescafe Blend 37 while still in primary school because I wanted to try one of the nicer coffees. Then buying a french press at around 13. Now I have a nice coffee set-up.

Because of the increased interest in coffee over the years though the quality has gone up and up. We've gone from instant coffee being the norm in pubs and many hotels to being the rare exception now. Petrol stations used to have those crappy Robert robert capsules and now you can expect freshly ground coffee in them all (and can give out that the quality isn't great, forgetting about what we used to have to put up with in them very recently). And as much as we can give out about the bland coffees of the coffee chains and the likes, we have great little coffee shops springing up all over the place. Coffee angel, 3fe, Nicks - there's loads of them in Dublin. I'm from Tramore and in the city we have portico and the arch. 2 great ones the likes of which being honest I never expected to see in Waterford. And even in Tramore the coffee shops by the beach serve excellent coffee. So as annoying as the coffee generation are, I'm grateful to them for providing me with access to excellent coffee all over the country.

I'm also partial to an occasional cup of tea now too - maybe one a fortnight or so.

whoopsadoodles

Surreptitious wrote: »

Chai Thai Mai

That's tea.....

kfallon

1 spoon of Maxwell House or Nescafé, 2 sugars and a bit of milk! That's when I can be arsed drinking it.
No time for these coffee shops and people walking down to work holding their coffee head high like it's the Olympic Flame.

"Oh I just couldn't start my day without my cappuccino and sprinkles!"

Fúck off ya dopey cúnt!!

murpho999

Where do people get the idea that Coffee is American?

I associate more with Italy and Ethiopia.

Had someone who travelled to Ethiopia bring me back coffee and it was amazing. Huge coffee culture there apparently.

Only thing American about coffee is Starbucks, and their coffee is no way as bad as people make out here.

Other chains, Costa , is British and Insomnia is Irish: so Americanisation there.

Either way, the coffee is a hell of a lot better a than any of the instant rubbish we used to have to put up with in the past.

Graces7

As a small child in Lancashire in the 1940s who hated tea from the start I was an oddity, But they could not cure me

So it has been nescafe and then my mother discovered ground and we had an electric percolater. Blue Mountain and other names come teasingly to mind

A friend in Texas sends me Folgers Singles but I hoard them as I really really prefe Nescafe, always Gold now

Very rarely I enjoy a garage machine coffee,,

But always come back to Nescafe Gold.... Sometimes with sugar, sometimes not,

When I mention this on a big US forum, they cringe.....