Coffee? or Tea? - LOH Contest #279

This week, Ladies of Hive Community Contest #279 poses two questions /prompts crafted by Hive account@elizabethbit. Because of heritage of where I was born and raised, I simply could not leave question two unanswered. Read on to learn more!

𝙳𝙸𝚂𝙲𝙻𝙰𝙸𝙼𝙴𝚁: 𝙰𝚜 𝚌𝚘-𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜𝙾𝚏𝙷𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝙰𝚍𝚖𝚒𝚗, 𝙸 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚘𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗 '𝙷𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗' 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚣𝚎. 𝙼𝚢 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎.

I love starting every morning with a nice, hot cup of coffee. Beginning the day with any beverage other than coffee just doesn't quite "feel right," somehow, although I do it occasionally. Although I said "cup" in that first sentence, I actually drink my coffee from mugs most of the time because they hold more than cups, so I don't have to make as many trips to the coffee maker! I have standard eight-ounce cups that match my set of dishes, but my random collection of "one off" mugs gets far more use.

My collection of mugs came from various sources, but my favorites were bought by me from thrift (secondhand merchandise, operated by a charity) stores. One that is very fun to use (and one of my largest, too) is the quirky, bohemian style mug, shown above, filled with steaming coffee on the edge of my sink.

Most days, I set up my automatic drip coffee maker (nothing fancy, just a cheap one) the night before. It has a feature to turn itself on each morning by a programmable time, so waiting for coffee is seldom a thing (unless I wake up earlier than intended). I simply pour some water into the tank each night, deposit ground coffee in the basket, and press the button to auto-start the next morning. Easy-peasy for the win!

When I was a child, I loved the smell of coffee and often begged my mother to have some. She always believed coffee to be an "adult beverage" for some reason, and usually declined my requests. Two or three times a year, though, she relented and let me have a half-cup — yes, a half of a CUP, not a mug! — and prepared it for me with a little sugar and a splash of milk, the same way she liked it. It was so heavenly! So, that is how I prefer my coffee today, with a little sweetener to cut the inherent bitterness of the coffee, and a little creaminess from half-and-half. 😊

I've used many different brands of coffee over the years, including Folgers™, Maxwell House™, and many others, usually a reputable brand that happened to be "on sale" at the store at the time. One of my favorites, though, and the one I've been drinking the past few years has the odd name CHOCK FULL O'NUTS™. A gentleman named William Black opened a small chain of nut shops in New York City, which later turned into lunch counters during the Great Depression. He sold a sandwich and a cup of coffee for five cents, and patrons loved the coffee so much, the brand eventually became available for purchase in stores. _[source] Hence, the name! 😁 I became aware of the brand in the 1980s while visiting a friend's family, and that's the brand they used (it was so good, I asked about it!). The brand's "original roast" is quite good, but their "gourmet roast" is even better!

So, yeah, a hot cuppa coffee in the morning from one of my mugs, and I sip on the leftover coffee from the pot most of the morning and into the afternoon until the pot is empty! After the warmer-plate under the carafe turns off after a couple of hours (a safety feature), I am happy to drink the coffee at room-temperature, unless there's a lot of coffee left and I turn the warmer back on for a couple hours. That very first cup should be hot, though! Warming a cup of coffee in the microwave is gross, though, don't do that... yuk! 😝

^{~ image by Qwen-Image AI, courtesy of PEAKD ~}

Now, let's talk tea...

Now, with all that above talk about coffee, one might think it's my favorite over tea, but not necessarily so! 😉

In the part of the world where I live, single cups of hot tea are definitely consumed by many people, including me, occasionally. Stores near me are full of various offerings, from simple black tea, to Earl Grey, chamomile, peppermint, orange, and countless other varieties. BUT, one of the predominant staples here is iced tea, usually brewed by the pitcher and chilled before drinking. It's available in almost all restaurants in the US, as is hot tea, coffee, and the ubiquitous carbonated beverages.

In some parts of the country — (particularly the north, it seems) — tea is brewed by the pitcher and left unsweetened. However, unsweetened tea after it has cooled loses it's ability to dissolve sugar or artificial sweetener, regardless of how much stirring, coaxing, and praying is done over the glass.

Down here in THE SOUTH, we quickly learned to add the sweetener of choice while the tea is brewing (or very shortly thereafter) before it has cooled. It doesn't take rocket science, folks, to make the wonderful and delicious invention that we Southerners call SWEET TEA! boom! 💥

Now, before passing judgement, common sense will tell ya that the type of sweetener and the quantity of sweetener can both be varied to individual tastes. So, make it the way you, or your family, likes it best. Don't like refined, white sugar? Fine, use raw cane sugar, instead! Don't like sugar at all? Fine, use one of the artificial sweetners, instead! Don't like artificial? Fine, use honey, instead! Vegan and don't use honey? Fine, use agave nectar or Stevia, both derived from plants! And for people who think "sweet tea" is always too sweet, just use less of whatever sweetener you prefer. It's so easy, and life is too short for unsweetened tea! 😂

As with coffee, I've used many brands over the years. As a child, I remember my parents usually bought Tetley™ brand tea, and it had a cute elephant on the package that I enjoyed seeing! I've also used Lipton™, JFG™, and others. But the Luzianne™ brand has been the one I've bought the most. Also, they have one variety marked as "Sweet Tea" on the box that already has sweetener in it! It's so convenient! Since I make it by the pitcher, I buy the "family size" bags and put three of them into a pot of filtered water on the stove. The burner is set to the lowest possible setting and I let it gently simmer for one hour, then turn the burner off. I put that brewed tea into my one-gallon pitcher with cool, filtered water, then place it in the fridge.

There is a jug of sweet tea in my refrigerator at all times. And since it has been well-chilled in the fridge, I seldom put ice in it. Once the pot of coffee has been consumed each day, I switch to sweet tea for the late afternoon and evenings. And a glass of chilled tea in the morning is almost as good as coffee, especially if the coffee maker is on the fritz, there's no electricity, or whatever.

So, hot coffee is my favorite in the mornings, but chilled tea is my fave in the evenings. And, if I had to pick just one of those to drink all the time without the possibility of drinking the other, tea would be my choice, if it is sweetened before it cools.