OTE Coffee Discussion: What’s Your Coffee Strategy?

I offered the following question to the OTE “writers” last week – OTE Writers, here’s a fun exercise: Send me your “Coffee Strategy”. Please answer the following…

1) Do you drink coffee? How much?

2) What is your daily routine?

3) What kind of coffee do you drink?

4) Cream or sugar?

5) Shout-out the best coffee you drink or a cool coffee shop you go to.

6) Bonus #1 - Do you have a Tailgate Coffee strategy?

7) Bonus #2 - Tell us a funny coffee anecdote.

Slack.com lit up like the High Point Solutions Stadium scoreboard when Michigan comes to town. We drink coffee like maniacs (see below) and we love discussing it…And so I ask you, dear OTE reader, join along! Answers in the comment thread please.

HILARY, AND HER THERMOS OF IRISH COFFEE

(1) Yes 1-2 cups per day

(2) Cup of coffee in the morning before work, sometimes coffee in the afternoon at work

(3) Starbucks k-cups in the morning, Starbucks or la colombe in the afternoon

(4) Both

(5) La colombe’s iced lattes are the best

(6) I once did a giant thermos of Irish coffee. That was a good idea. I desperately needed it because this was the same tailgate where some asshole ran over my friend’s grill with his truck. And then we couldn’t grill.

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ALL BLACK GF3 AND THE ELITIST TRAVEL MUG ARMY CLUB

(1) Yes

(2) 5-6 cups daily

(3) Wake up, fire up two pods of Nespresso Envivo Lungo. Drink on the way to work. Use a second Nespresso machine in my office to make two pods of Volluto or Cafeizinho. Enjoy. I'll typically have two more double-pod cups before lunch and then one or two in the afternoon. Especially for a meeting. Nespresso, because I'm an elitist.

(4) GTFOH.

(5) A coffee fizz, which is an espresso drink with sparkling water.

(6) No, I just drink coffee all day. That's not a strategy. That's just life.

(7) Sometimes I make my copilot carry the MBITR radio because the radio pouch on my kit is the perfect size for the coffee travel mug I got in Denmark. It keeps coffee hot for hours so we can land at a laager site and I have hot coffee. Fuck comms. Give me java.

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WHITE SPEED RECEIVER: DRINKING COFFEE AS YOU READ THIS

(1) Yes. A copious amount.

(2) On weekdays I have the timer set for 5:15 so it's ready when I take the dog for her morning walk, then drink a few more gallons at work. On weekends I have one pot, and it's a bonding experience with ToddlerSpeedReceiver as she grinds the beans and pushes the buttons to start the coffee maker.

(3) Caribou Blend from Caribou.

(4) As black as my soul.

(5) When I worked at the U, they had beans shipped in from Porto Rica Importing in New York. It was incredible and I still try to order some Aggie's Blend from time to time when I can.

(6) I like to put a little bit of peppermint schnapps in coffee while tailgating.

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JESSE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM

(1) Yes, so so so much coffee.

(2) I start with two nespresso pods and some hot water, follow that up with about three cups of Chameleon cold brew throughout the day.

(3) Nespresso at home, Chameleon Cold Brew at work, sometimes whatever it is that work has - I think Austin Roasting?

(4) Nope. Black coffee for me.

(5) Archetype coffee in Omaha is the best shop I've been to anywhere. I miss it.

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ANDREW: “COFFEE BLACK, HOLD THE COFFEE, HEAVY ON THE DETROL”

(1) Not really, the bladder's already hyperactive enough without caffeine

(2) Consider starting to drink it so I don't hate my life until 11 am when I fully wake up

(3) When I do drink it, give me the basic - cup of black. No fuss, no frills, it's the DAVE of coffee and we're going to run it whether we have competent run-blocking beans or not

(4) No.

(5) Sounds like overactive spread offense to me. Press the "brew" button, run the DAVE.

(6) If I need caffeine for an early tailgate, I'm usually going for a thermos full of 7&7.

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MNWILDCAT: GETTING HIS Ph. D in JET FUEL COFFEE

(1) Yes, usually 2-3 cups per day. A pot a day if it's Finals Week or I've got a paper coming down the pipeline.

(2) Go get coffee (a) When I walk to the office, and (b) When I hit a wall in the early afternoon. I grab a K-Cup if need be, too. The department got its own Keurig when we moved in a couple years ago, so that's just awesome.

(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFHT_awYcKo

(4) See #3.

(5) Caribou, Iced Northern Light Caramel Latte. Every time. Or a nice Bent Paddle Cold Press Black Ale. That's a damn good beer.

(6) I can do a cup, maybe two, of coffee with Bailey's, but it gets too sweet for me. Easier to dump whiskey in it. Cleans out all the chips and queso I eat, too. A nice Lakefront Fuel Cafe if I've been in Milwaukee and had the change to pick some up. That does remind me, though, that I'm partial to a Diego O'Malley for dessert: Half-Bailey's, half-Kahlua. Milk to taste if you're a wimp.

(7) I think I'm nearing Stage 1 Hypertension. I'm 26. That's funny, right?

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87TOWNIE, JAMAICAN ME CRAZY

(1) Hell yes, I drink coffee.

(2) I'm an old fashioned whole bean, grind em and then brew em kind of guy. I'll drink about 32 ounces before work (2 cups) with a touch of milk and sugar. I'm a bean snob, so I'm always on the lookout for good stuff.

(3) Right now we're drinking Juan Valdez Antioquia my folks brought back from Columbia. Occasionally, in the evening I'll brew some Italian espresso on the stove. (4) I like my espresso with sugar and irish whiskey.

(5) I'm a huge fan of a Canadian chain of coffee shops called Cafe Artigiano. The one in Vancouver, right around the corner from the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is my spot.

(6) I was spoiled in my 20's, because I worked with a woman from Jamaica. Super fun to go dancing with, she also introduced me to Blue Mountain coffee. Not the shitty blends we get here, but real Jamaican stuff. Tiny beans that produce the most heavenly cup of coffee on the planet.

(7) Years ago, I was sitting on a sailboat in Key West harbor early in the morning. The lobster boats wake you up around dawn every morning. So I got up and made coffee. I was sitting at the table in the galley in just my shorts, when I heard the deep thrum of a big boat coming into the harbor. As the wake hit my little sailboat, we heeled way over and stuff on the table began to slide my way...sugar bowl, milk, and coffee. I snagged the milk in one hand and the sugar in the other. Ha...but I forgot the most important cup on the table. My coffee teetered on the edge of the table and then tipped into my lap. Holy hell was that hot! I jumped up, yanking off my scalding shorts as I hopped up the gangway and over the side into the harbor water to cool me off.

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AY AND HIS SMACKDOWN STRATEGY

(1) COFFEE! I usually drink one or two cups each day.

(2) I usually don't get my first cup until after lunch, when I hit a wall. Then maybe another after dinner if it's going to be a late night.

(3) Starbucks K-cups usually, but I'll also routinely drink Dunkin' iced coffee, especially during the summer. Their dark roast iced is pretty dope.

(4) Black. So black. Unless it's iced coffee and then I'll add a tiny bit of skim milk. Now that everyone has cold brew, though, that's becoming less necessary.

(5) Bagel Buffet in Secaucus has the best coffee around me. If I'm free on Sunday morning, I'll grab an egg and cheese sandwich, a bagel for the girlfriend, and drink coffee while setting my fantasy lineup. So good.

(6) My only strategy is to drink coffee late enough so I can stay up and watch wrestling after the girlfriend has gone to bed but don't drink it so late that I can't sleep.

(7) It's weird that I didn't drink coffee until after I finished undergrad but now I can't imagine life without it.

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BIG RED TWO CUPS PER DAY

(1) I love coffee, although I'm a latecomer to the coffee game, only arriving during grad school. I probably only drink 1-2 cups a day though, as I drink all beverages annoyingly slowly.

(2) In the warmer months, I brew a big pitcher of cold brew and it lasts me about a week. Once it gets cold enough that drinking it is no longer appealing, I switch over to the Mr. Coffee drip coffee grind. I like iced coffee better though.

(3) My current favorite is the Nebraska Blend from The Mill in downtown Lincoln. It's smooth and though it has undertones of chocolate and Irish cream, it's not cloying like some flavored coffees can be.

(4) I like a little 1% milk splashed in there.

(5) Lincoln has a surprisingly good coffee shop scene, so if you're visiting for a game, you should definitely check it out, especially since 2/3 I mention here are walkable near the stadium. A good coffee shop, IMO, should have 1) good coffee, 2) ample seating and table space, 3) a few comfy chairs for convo and table space, 4) decent music, and 5) that "vibe" that you just don't get in a Starbucks. Scientific, I know.

a) The Mill (Lincoln, NE)--An old standby in the Haymarket, this is my favorite. Their coffee is great (I love their iced coffee) and they roast it. It has a ton of seating, indoor and outdoor.

b) The Coffee House (Lincoln, NE)--I spent a lot of time pretending to do homework at CoHo in college. Good coffee and definitely has that college town coffee place feel to it.

c) Cultiva Coffee (Lincoln, NE)--a newcomer to Lincoln, their coffee is good, but I like the other two better. But they have locations in underserved locations in the city (like UNL's East Campus) and that's handy.

d) Ithaca Coffee Company (Ithaca, NY)--less relevant to this site, but this is one of my favorites. Amazing coffee. They also sell cheese and chocolate in the store. Oh, and there's a beer store and bar in the back of the place as well. It's every single thing you could ever want to consume in one place. I wrote like 70% of my dissertation at Ithaca Coffee.

(6) We don't really tailgate at Nebraska, so no. But for earlier games, I often pick up some iced coffee at The Mill on my way to the stadium.

(7) Pumpkin Spice Lattes are way overrated. They are, at best, mediocre.