Sunday, May 27, 2018
Posted in
Health
,|
Life
,|
Products
|
When I was young, I was obsessed with finding the perfect coffee flavoring for milk. I loved the taste of coffee, but I never liked hot drinks, so I assumed that coffee-flavored milk was what I should be drinking. So I tried various coffee-flavored syrups and powders. Autocrat syrup had an artificial taste, and instant coffee didn't dissolve properly because the milk was cold.
Finally -- and this will seem like a no-brainer to my readers -- I figured out that iced coffee was what I really wanted to be drinking. In my last office job in New York City, there was a candy stand that served coffee in the lobby. I found myself going down there and getting iced coffee after iced coffee. Indeed, I spent so much money on iced coffees that it impacted my finances. Eventually I bought my own coffee machine.
I learned a couple things about making good iced coffee, as follows:
-- Use a strong coffee, since the ice will dilute the flavor (even if the coffee starts out cold).
-- Don't use hot coffee. The ice will melt all the faster, and the flavor will be diluted. Make your coffee in advance and let it cool in the fridge.
-- Don't add too much milk. It doesn't take much milk to make coffee taste milky. For reasons I don't fully understand, the taste of milk stands out very prominently in coffee.
-- If you want the full impact of the drink, don't use decaffeinated coffee. Your body feels the impact of the caffeine, and that's what turns coffee from a pleasant-tasting drink into something you must have every day: CAFFEINE ADDICTION!
Having now suggested that you become addicted to caffeine, let me tell you about the drawbacks. The drawbacks of caffeine addiction include insomnia (if you drink caffeine too late in the day) and, worse, migraine headaches. When I was addicted to caffeine, it was from drinking Diet Coke. I didn't realize that I was drinking Diet Coke for the caffeine. Two things triggered my migrains, which always came on the weekends: changes in my sleeping patterns (such as sleeping longer Saturday and Sunday mornings) and stopping the caffeine (I often switched to Diet 7-Up on the weekends).
If you make your iced coffee with decaffeinated coffee, it will still taste good, but you won't crave it like you will if you become addicted to caffeine.
For young people who are reading this, let me make it clear that caffeine is the only substance that you can become addicted to that won't ruin your life. Narcotics, opioids and alcohol are all far worse.
One more thing: If you do become addicted to caffeine, it can take several weeks to get it out of your system. Caffeine is known as a short-acting drug, which it is, but it also a long-acting drug. When I detoxed from Diet Coke, it took two weeks before I stopped feeling the nervous buzz that caffeine gave me. But then, the migraines stopped, and that made it worth it.
Regarding sweeteners, I use aspertame. Sucralose is also good, but I don't use that because it makes my heart palpitations worse. Stevia is no good for sweetening coffee because it doesn't remove coffee's natural bitterness.
Finally -- and this will seem like a no-brainer to my readers -- I figured out that iced coffee was what I really wanted to be drinking. In my last office job in New York City, there was a candy stand that served coffee in the lobby. I found myself going down there and getting iced coffee after iced coffee. Indeed, I spent so much money on iced coffees that it impacted my finances. Eventually I bought my own coffee machine.
I learned a couple things about making good iced coffee, as follows:
-- Use a strong coffee, since the ice will dilute the flavor (even if the coffee starts out cold).
-- Don't use hot coffee. The ice will melt all the faster, and the flavor will be diluted. Make your coffee in advance and let it cool in the fridge.
-- Don't add too much milk. It doesn't take much milk to make coffee taste milky. For reasons I don't fully understand, the taste of milk stands out very prominently in coffee.
-- If you want the full impact of the drink, don't use decaffeinated coffee. Your body feels the impact of the caffeine, and that's what turns coffee from a pleasant-tasting drink into something you must have every day: CAFFEINE ADDICTION!
Having now suggested that you become addicted to caffeine, let me tell you about the drawbacks. The drawbacks of caffeine addiction include insomnia (if you drink caffeine too late in the day) and, worse, migraine headaches. When I was addicted to caffeine, it was from drinking Diet Coke. I didn't realize that I was drinking Diet Coke for the caffeine. Two things triggered my migrains, which always came on the weekends: changes in my sleeping patterns (such as sleeping longer Saturday and Sunday mornings) and stopping the caffeine (I often switched to Diet 7-Up on the weekends).
If you make your iced coffee with decaffeinated coffee, it will still taste good, but you won't crave it like you will if you become addicted to caffeine.
For young people who are reading this, let me make it clear that caffeine is the only substance that you can become addicted to that won't ruin your life. Narcotics, opioids and alcohol are all far worse.
One more thing: If you do become addicted to caffeine, it can take several weeks to get it out of your system. Caffeine is known as a short-acting drug, which it is, but it also a long-acting drug. When I detoxed from Diet Coke, it took two weeks before I stopped feeling the nervous buzz that caffeine gave me. But then, the migraines stopped, and that made it worth it.
Regarding sweeteners, I use aspertame. Sucralose is also good, but I don't use that because it makes my heart palpitations worse. Stevia is no good for sweetening coffee because it doesn't remove coffee's natural bitterness.
0 comments:
Post a Comment