[ICD] Coffee Bags for Dummies - Happy International Coffee Day!

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I heard some big news today; it's International Coffee Day (or at least, it was - but what's a late celebration between friends, right?). It is a massive day, equal, some would argue, in importance to New Years Eve or the Queen's Birthday Public Holiday, but it passed without any fanfare that I'm aware. In fact, I wouldn't even have known about it, if I wasn't seeking out my mates @millycf1976 @leaky20 #spillthebeans prompt.

So I can't help but wonder, where did my alignment to coffee come from? Let me paint you a picture; a pretty ordinary family, with parents who owned their own business and were never home, and a brother and sister who were amicable, but basically did their own thing. As we moved into our early teens, we started to indulge in warm beverages which are distinctly adult in nature - of course I'm talking about coffee and tea.

For me then, it was partly about taking sides - my mum was a coffee drinker, and in turn, I became a coffee drinker. My sister on the other hand took after my dad, and became a tea drinker. That's it - that's how it all started. And, despite the simpleness of this little story, there's actually a lot more to it than might meet the eye - because when I drink coffee, I only ever buy the instant coffee that my mum drank, Moconna - and, when I do have tea, I only ever had the Lipton's tea my dad used to drink. This will sound ridiculous, but I was insistent on this point, and my wife just picked up a box of teabags that were on special one week. When I had one, I remember feeling a sense of betrayal to my dad. He's now passed, but I think I will always think of him whenever I encounter a teabag (he used to leave them everywhere, it was disgusting!) - in the same way, coffee will evoke positive feelings about my mum.

Something different then, I thought today I would forego my usual cup of instant, and go for the in-between, of course I'm talking about the coffee bag. It looks like it should make tea, but it makes a cup of coffee. Now - I'm pretty easy going with coffee, and again, my wife picked these up for her work. She moves around sites, unlike me who had a work desk at one site, so while I can have my setup, she needs to be more agile in how she gets her fix. So coffee bags were the answer; now, they're not cheap, but she reckons they're pretty good. I never bothered trying one, figuring, meh. But today, I thought, why not?

It is International Coffee Day afterall! Straight away out of the box, it looks simple enough. I don't mind a Vittoria coffee when I buy one at a cafe, it's a nice blend. Funnily enough I remember reading something about them months ago, being able to take their cafe brand and successfully put it into supermarkets. Perhaps this little bag is all marketing, but it looks delicious! (Perhaps because it's the colour of chocolate!)

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The first step in Coffee Bags for Dummies is this: you tear the packaging where it says 'Tear Here' and voila - it's out. It really does look like a teabag, although the material used to hold it in is thicker than a teabag, which is more paper-like. Perhaps this is why they have such a hefty price tag, this looks like expensive packing to me! I also thought I might encounter my first problem, I have a bloody big cup, and the little rope looked a bit short to me.

But - let me tell you, this was an olfactory experience. The smell was incredible, and I was preparing for an elixer fit for the gods! The smell was strong; aromatic, inviting, warm - all those goods things. I could have kept the bag at my nose for 10 minutes, but I wanted my beverage, so I threw it in the cup!

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But then when you add water, something curious happened. The bag floated. I know what you're thinking, weird, huh? Absolutely. The issues I was having with the short string were really 'fake news'. But, while I had my water in, I noticed the back of the bag had instructions on it. Now - how's this for Coffee-For-Dummies:

  1. Put the coffee bag in your cup
  2. Pour approximately 250mL of near boiling water.
  3. Allow to infuse for 3-5 minutes. Dunk for best results.
  4. Squeeze bag and remove from the cup.

I'll be honest, I feel like if you need these instructions, then you're an idiot who probably shouldn't be allowed near hot water. But as it turns out, I didn't follow them. My cup is about 650mL, so I put in more water, and my impatience meant I didn't infuse for 5 minutes. I also didn't dunk, choosing instead to let it float, then squeeze. Perhaps I should have read the instructions.

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And the end result? It looks exactly like every other cup of coffee I make at home. Voila!
Now - I bet you're wondering about the taste? The smell was amazing, the taste was just fine. If I was honest, it tasted just like my regular instant coffee - perhaps it was because I didn't dunk, or I had too much water, but in the end. It was fine. A fine way to celebrate International Coffee Day! (And, next time, I promise I'll follow the instructions)

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Cover image created in CANVA using free elements, all other photos my own.

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 last year  

Hey Timoty!

A Coffee Bag sounds good as long as it's not Instant[aneously] Poison[ous]...Have you ever tried Drip-on Coffee? Those are amazing like a proper brew 😋
Funnily I grew up drinking tea because tea is the popular beverage (actually the cure all beverage) in Jamaica... but I was never a fan of tea as a kid and I was forced to drink it.
...I would sit and fuss till my tea went cold enough to pour it down my bosom, slide down lower in my chair at the table to hide my soiled clothes and present the empty cup and announce. "I finished my tea."
Years later I found my true love, #coffee

You know what they say; true love conquers all. Although, I find myself sitting in judgement of the grubby kid with soiled clothing. Surely when the laundry was being done there would be stains?

I wanted to get a Drip-Coffee machine, but I'm just not sure of the value of it. I can't remember where I used to use one, must have been a short-term work place when I was very young (I mean, must have been yesterday!) and I really rather enjoyed it. With the POD machine sitting on the counter though, part of the equation is - how many machines do we need?

And, indeed, always a pleasure!
Tim

 last year  

Haha! Whenever they saw stains on my clothes, I was the first one to raise my hand for being clumsy 🤣

No, the drip-on coffee is similar to the coffee bag, but it's better because the design fits over the rim of the cup ... I am typing from mobile, and you're probably already in bed ... I will drop an image later:)

Mornning;yep - you've got me stumped on that one. I've never heard of, or imagined such magic in a coffee scenario! I just googled it - but still looks like options. Is the basic premise, you buy this empty bag, put your own coffee in it, then tip hot water on?

 last year  

it looks like this, and it's sold in the same kind of package as the coffee tea bag that you posted. The difference is that it has a side attachment (like arms) that hangs over the rim of the cup. All you do is pour the water in the bag and the coffee brews... so it's proper coffee and taste just like the coffee from a drip machine of a French press. They might have been invented in Japan or Taiwan, but definitely one of the more advanced Asian countries.

Yep - that looks like one of the images I found and assumed it was the one! So you put ground coffee in it, yea?

 last year  

it comes with the ground coffee... all you need is hot water and a cup :)

How funny! Coffee bag? It just does not seem to have the same ring to it that "tea bag" does. I'm not sure why, but "tea bag" sounds quaint, while "coffee bag" sounds like something you would put on a vacuum to clean up spilled coffee grounds. I'm glad it tasted good!

Thank you for the smiles. I laughed out loud several times while reading this.

I'll be honest, I feel like if you need these instructions, then you're an idiot who probably shouldn't be allowed near hot water.

Also, the thing about your dad leaving tea bags everywhere... "it was disgusting." That cracked me up!

Evening Jayna, how's it going?
Yeah, coffee bags have been around for a while in Australia, but not much demand for them, so limited shelf space. It was a novelty, but I won't be quick to have another one. Not that it was bad, but for the effort, I'd prefer just to spoon in teaspoon of coffee. Same taste, less hassle (and, I find myself thinking sustainably, less waste).

Dad was a tradesperson - he had this old van, and he had the knack of being able to drink from a standard mug as he drove around. He'd have dead tea bags all throughout the van. One day Mum was listening to the radio, I was about 13 or 14 at the time - and she said a caller rang up to laugh about an idiot driving around Sydney in a van - coffee mug in one hand, cigarette in the other, and somehow managing the steering wheel. Mum was sure it must have been Dad, and felt terribly embarrassed.

Anyways, will be seeing you over on that Ink Well prompt tomorrow. I rather like this one ;)

Coffee bag, interesting bro, i trust it tasted as you say bro. Good enough right. Was a good day for a post, i got one out too. How the heck did i miss a weeks worth of Timbros posts, thats the question.

!PIMP

My posts were easy to miss; I took 5 days off trying to figure out how to get a bit more balance in my life. I ended up selling out nearly my entire splinterland card set, put it into hive. Was thinking about just cashing everything out, which is why I went quiet.

In the end, decided I'd stick to the blogging and take an extended break from splinterlands.

Here was part of my math: I sold all my cards for 4500 hive at 0.485, with the 5% shop fee, I need Hive to be 0.51 to be even. If it gets back anywhere from 0.8 to 1.0, I could easily get well ahead - buy back everything I sold for half the price only! Now, there's a win!

Will see how she goes, planning on following the game really closely, so will see how land and tower defense is playing out.

Whaaaaaaaaat. Wow man, thats ok, for real. No lie man, i thought about doing the same thing. Feel like ive thrown 5k at cards, im in debt, value has gone down, and still can hardly stay in gold. Dudes with like 30k value decks just keep whooping my ass lol. Its an option man, glad you made a choice that may benefit your life. Playing takes time, life is short. A break is good, what is life ya know. A solid post pays well, the ccc people have been good to us. Keep it up man, time will tell how things play out.

!BEER

Yea - big call perhaps, but it needed to be made. And, if it works out that I buy back in down the road on an improved hive, will look like a pretty awesome call. The other thing that stuffed me up a bit is that I lost a 10,000 hive delegation which killed my upvote. By putting the 4500 from splinterlands sales into my vote, got me a good amount of it back, along with getting rid of a few of my own delegations. Still, went from 30cents down to 20cents, so need some time to build id back up. I guess the decision in some ways was: powerdown the other 4000 hive I already had and put into splinterlands, or power down splinterlands to put into hive. Felt like I didn't have the ability to split it. In regards to ranked play, I was easily winning in gold league, but wanted to finish in diamond league - and I spent so long at the end of season but couldn't crack 2750. Felt a bit deflated - and it all combined to need a change.

Not that I can complain about that 10,000 loss though, the guy who did the 10k delegation - I've got no idea who he was. I posted a post about becoming a minnow (550 hive) back in February with goal of becoming a dolphin (5500) and then he upvoted post and made the delegation. The guy doesn't post or upvote, but gave a heap of people these delegations. Was weird, but really cool for 8 months. He's currently powering down; he has 93000 hive, so I suppose he might be looking for an exit. Dunno.

Makes sense man. Interesting characters on hive. Some unknown whales about. Ive never had anybody give a big delegation like that, odd that he withdrew suddenly but like you said maybe looking to exit, would seem reasonable that people come and go. Cheers to that and steady growth regardless big guy.


Hey @lordtimoty, here is a little bit of BEER from @captainquack22 for you. Enjoy it!

Do you want to win SOME BEER together with your friends and draw the BEERKING.


You must be killin' it out here!
@captainquack22 just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @lordtimoty.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/1 possible people today.

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Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District

Instant coffee is akin to instant custard, only it’s more of a taboo! It’s like trying to make magic with a fake wand. Coffee bags sound like fun, but I bet they’ve got chicory in them - check ❤️🤗💕☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️

Good morning my stylish friend; I love instant custard?
(You mean, custard you buy and pour right out of a container, yea? - Or, Custard Powder? - on custard, I like making it from powder, although it has been probably 15 years since I've done it, but always found I had to put such an excessive quantity of sugar in to make it sweet enough). How would you do custard?

 last year  

I've never seen coffee bags like that. Looks super handy and a lot less work.
Those instructions are pretty funny. Reminds me of powdered drinks that explain if you want a stronger tasting drink to add less water and if you want a weaker drink to add more water... 😐

Yep - sometimes instructions sure are dumb, right?
I dunno, I guess this is why no one follows them (and then, disaster strikes!!)

 last year  

It's always a pleasure seeing you here 😁

A parody from a fictional book

Funny but cool. 😆 I think I'll be needing that and bring it to school and drink it during break time.

You got me with the title of the coffee for dummies.
I also saw that presentation when I emigrated to Argentina, since in my country Venezuela, coffee either comes in beans or powder.
What I did do when I tried it in a sachet, was to read the instructions before (I'm manic about that) because it seemed to me that if I made it like a tea, it might not come out well...
With coffee you have to experiment, you never know if one might surprise you more than usual.