What type of coffee are you drinking?

[Griz882]

Honestly? No. We have a lot of "coffee" ivents in everyday life but the coffee here is mostly shitty mix from secondary European distributors, even if it advertised as "100% Arabica", "mild robusta", "original Paris taste" - almost everything is trash. Definitely the second best coffee I've tasted was the espresso in Italy. The best one - in Istanbul. Well, not so bad one was on the bridge of USS Mount Whitney during her port call in Kiel, Germany, several years ago.
Of course we have Starbucks, MD, BK, KFC coffee but have you ever met a person who dares to call that paper/plastic taste "good"?

Tea is another matter. There are four meals in Russian Navy aday, midrats aside: morning tea, dinner, supper and evening tea - those are official names. No breakfast, just morning tea - tea, white bread, butter, sometimes jam (I preferred cherry one) and shokolade, cheese, everything just like in that fucking old England except milk (powder and canned milk might be asked but of little use). Same with evening tea. Black one, of course, no green and fruit tea in the Russian Navy. Strong, black, hot, sweet. A tea.
Same color as brandy, btw. It's useful when you stand JOOW beyond the Polar circle at winter. Just breathe by nose to avoid OOD interest. Or offer him a cup - it usually works;-)
Tea is everywhere here. In a fastfood courts, where coffee is usually instant or sour, the tea could be quite great.

So if you are coffee maniac and want to visit Russia, bring your coffee in a luggage.

But if you visit Ukraine, especially Western part, or Lithuania - well, they'll prepare a COFFEE! Mild beans, slightly touched by fire, milled manually, boiled with a drop of honey and a leaf of apple tree - deadly tasty!

Best, most favored, tea in Russia? Liptons?

 

[Gonzo08]

Follow on question for the gang: how do you prepare your coffee?

My current favorite is a breville espresso maker we got for Xmas last year. That freed up the bonavita drip maker to go to the office at work (where it still sits all alone). Ive also used a French press a lot. I have a moka but haven't played with it enough to get really good at it. I've never personally done pour over but have enjoyed it at one of the local coffee spots (St Inies for the SOMD folks).

French press at home, or my personal assistant known as "SDO" if I'm at the squadron.

I've heard so many good things about the aeropress though that I might pick one up.

 

[OscarMyers]

French press at home, or my personal assistant known as "SDO" if I'm at the squadron.

I've heard so many good things about the aeropress though that I might pick one up.

They make a metal drop in filter that replaces the consumable paper ones thats worth picking up.

 

[Gonzo08]

They make a metal drop in filter that replaces the consumable paper ones thats worth picking up.

If you're talking about the french press filter, it came with a metal one which was nice. They even sent a 2nd in the box as a back-up.

 

[Renegade One]

But yes, a tea pot with a bottle of brandy and slised lemon are the signs of a ready wardroom 24/7. Though formally forbidden just like in USN, alcohol is widespread within Russian Navy. Mostly brandy, since vodka is melting human attention sharply, and thus vodka is mostly Army toy.

 

[OscarMyers]

If you're talking about the french press filter, it came with a metal one which was nice. They even sent a 2nd in the box as a back-up.

The Aeropress. It usually uses paper filters, but you can get a metal one that I like better then the paper.

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

Best, most favored, tea in Russia? Liptons?

No, Greenfield black now. In Soviet times it was Indian black of Three Elephants trademark, yet in Imperial times a lot of tea originated from Persia. But now it's Greenfield. A lot of it in the middle price segment, almost everywhere. Lipton too, but mostly bagged one, which is same as instant coffee, "ersatz", we call instant coffee and bagged tea "Gestapo gift". When Nazis tried to oganize the collabs on seizured USSR territories during WWII, they offered to peasants instant coffee and enveloped tea as something luxury Poor bastards. People who had tea parties before the war, kinda family events on Saturdays, with handmade backery and big-leaf Persian and Georgean (Stalin homeland) tea, was ironic enough. Maybe Gerries knew the cultures of Western Europe, but here they failed.

 

[Pags]

French press at home, or my personal assistant known as "SDO" if I'm at the squadron.

I've heard so many good things about the aeropress though that I might pick one up.

Aeropress is pretty inexpensive and portable for work, boat, etc. By the time I found out about it I already had enough coffee making methods.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Georgean (Stalin homeland) tea

Is it as good as Georgian wine? I wish I could find that stuff in the States; it was so good. According to the lady who ran the shop in Batumi, I have the same tastes in wine as Comrade Dzhugashvili.

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

So try Rkatsiteli Amber. Georgians make a lot of dry and semidry for almost every village if not every farm has a winery, but they historically drink so-called Orange or Amber wines: white dry wine fermented with red grape pomace. Soviet story goes that Stalin liked this one but actually he rather preferred to offer it to a guests and friends (if a man of such background may have friends).
Alazani valley makes some sort very similar to Californian pinots but a bit sweeter. A lot of sun and pure air of mountains: in Georgia you can make wine from anything.
Tea (black only) is good too but Indian/Ceylonean is still better.

 

[nittany03]

. . . or my personal assistant known as "SDO" if I'm at the squadron.

You either die a hero, or you live long enough to become the villain . . . ?

 

[Gonzo08]

You either die a hero, or you live long enough to become the villain . . . ?

I regret nothing!

 

[Dontcallmegump]

I'm a picky person, and coffee is no exception. I found the one thing I like about the south is chicory in coffee and I've found perfection in this. No pots, presses or booze required (although the last won't hurt.)

Found it for a bargain halfway between perdido and pensacola, been hooked on it since. Maximum tasty for minimum prep and equipment, hot or cold depending on what the weather is inclined for. Hell, it even has all the classic coffee flavors and around the holidays the peppermint can't be beat.

 

[Jim123]

I've heard so many good things about the aeropress though that I might pick one up.

They're pretty slick and they work fast.

I might look for the metal filter insert that @OscarMyers mentioned, although the things come with a bazillion gillion paper filters that aren't much hassle (the paper filter and the grounds all kinda stick together when you're cleaning it, usually they all fall into the trash as one big slug sorta like a sand dollar made out of coffee grounds).

They also take up hardly any space if you travel a lot, kind of the size of a couple of tennis balls but a bit smaller, and you can stuff a few spare filters and a dime bag of grounds inside. The full kit has a bunch of extra silly pieces that you don't really need to bring on travel. You really only need the two main pieces and something to drink out of.

 

[mad dog]