...The Way I Like My Coffee

I don't know whoever started the saying about liking their men the way they like their coffee, but I get it. I like my coffee the way I like my life: dark roast, light roast, and all the toasty roasts in between. It's been more dark than light lately, but that's all right.

Not using sugar or flavored creamer in my coffee was only possible because of a particular coffee brand. For the past couple of years, I have so wanted to learn to enjoy plain black coffee. Black coffee (instead of the sugary, heavily-creamed stuff) has a lot of potential benefits:

• It's low (or no) calorie, free of fat and cholesterol.
• Can be a good source of antioxidants (check my post on ORAC values and if you're a data wonk, check this article. ) The ORAC value for coffee is in the 15,000 to 17,000 range, according to this source. I have not yet looked into the Cascara Powder from coffee.
• "Possibly effective" for digestion, diabetes, gallstones and other issues. You should also always keep in mind the way any ingested item could interact with your medications.

I won't get into all the other debatable claims about weight loss, cancer-curbing, memory-boosting, artery-cleansing, etc. Some of those claims have studies behind them and some are potentially true for some or most people.

As I said, I've had to learn to drink black coffee. A lot of people have the opinions I used to: coffee is not made to drink black, it's too harsh-tasting and... just blecch! What I know now is that it's all about roast, grind, and brewing method. I started drinking Luzianne brand black because it's mellower-tasting the darks roasts I always liked. Now I have discovered 2 other brands:

First one I tried

Number 2

I got the Caribou from Hy-vee for just over 5 bucks for the 12-oz bag. The taste is mild enough to drink black, but I wasn't impressed by the bland flavor. It will do for when I run out of my other coffees.

It is lighter than my Luzianne and Cafe du Monde dark roasts.

Caribou
I heightened the contrast so you can tell it's not
much lighter than the Cafe du Monde or Luzianne dark roasts

The Kicking Horse brand is from Amazon and was 10 bucks for the 10-oz bag. Crazy. I really wanted to kick my own horse for splurging on this one. Except... It's kind of yummy. It's not dollar-per-ounce-yummy but it's nice. The one negative about this one (other than that price) is that I like it better with at least a drop or two of creamer. Minus creamer, it's got a very slightly and pleasantly woody taste; with a touch of creamer, it gets all smoky and toasty-tasting. Yeah, so, nto helping me in the calorie department.

Kicking Horse
is very finely ground too

When it's time to get more coffee, I think I am going to try one that is light roast but has a touch of chocolate. I think I can do anything as long as chocolate is involved.

Overall, if my opinion matters, I would recommend the Kicking Horse Hola (for those who can afford it). The Caribou is a Nope for me because Luzianne is just as good black and is a better coffee all around.

That's my coffee post for now. I will update when I've had the chance to try more flavors/brands.

Peace
--Free

*I do NOT get paid as an affiliate for any of the links in this post

Coffee and Comfort Zones

I can sometimes be such as ass. And it's always to my own detriment.

Ever since I first heard about the Keto craze and all the other low-carb diets, I have wished to be able to drink black coffee. I'm not kidding when I say that my daily saturation of sweetened coffee is where most of my unnecessary calories come from. Coffee is a necessity, yes, but all the sugar in my flavored creamers is pure indulgence. Not only do those creamers turn a simple cup of coffee into a dessert but they are starting to take a chunk out of my grocery budget.

The look, the feel - all hits a little close to home!

I love, love, love my coffee. And not just any coffee. For the past couple of years, I've grown more attached to coffee enhanced with chicory. Coffee can be good for you. Chicory can be good for you. There is nothing good for your body (outside of your tastebuds) about heavily sweetened coffee creamers. However, I have always had a hard time drinking plain, black, unsweetened coffee. I've never even liked coffee with sugar if it was also without cream.  For a while, when doing Keto and OMAD, I tried to convince myself that I could do the black coffee thing but... Ugh. I think that McDonald's had the only coffee that I could gag down - if I absolutely had to - without the sugary creamers. But now...

Okay, this is where I explain how I can be such an obstinate ass. I get set in my ways and think that I must never change. Never, ever. Because I am always right. Always. Until I am wrong.

A while back, I heard of Luzianne coffee with chicory. At the time, I couldn't find it for an affordable price. Then the other week, I finally ran across some in Amazon's Prime Pantry. It was so affordable that I got 2 bags just in case the price was a fluke.

Now all the Amazon customer reviews for the coffee just ranted and raved about how delicious it was. Other customers swore by it because they claimed that it was better than any other coffee, that it was their preferred brand, and that it was so strong without being bitter, and blah blah blah. I fell for the hype and was thrilled to place the order. I just about assaulted the UPS driver when he made the delivery.

The last time I was so excited to make coffee was after not being able to drink any for a 36-hour fast (and refused to have the allowed had black coffee). I brewed up the first pot like a junkie setting up a fix. I could tell right away that the Luzianne wasn't going to be as strong as Cafe Du Monde or French Market brands (which are both the same, I'm sure) and I got a little worried.

Of course, I added my sweetened creamer and... Nope. I was not impressed at all. In my opinion, the brew was much too weak. It looked like a very weak cup of tea. With the other brands, adding creamer gives a nice mellowed out cocoa-frost kind of shade. With the Luzianne, the tiniest bit of cream turned the coffee the shade of Almond milk. Just whited out all the color and all the flavor. Nasty, nasty.

I tried making a slightly stronger brew, and then a third even stronger brew. The color deepened a little but the creamer still killed all the coffee flavor. I burned through over 5 scoops (about a tablespoon and a half each) of ground coffee before I gave up. I tossed the bag of Luzianne in the fridge and made myself a cup of reliable Cafe Du Monde.


Once I got my usual java fix, I wrote a 3-star review on Amazon for the Luzianne coffee. I  complained about how weak the coffee was. I didn't say (though I may have implied it) that the other reviewers were wimps who had no idea what "strong" coffee is. And I made up my mind to give the coffee to my sister-in-law. She's kind of a coffee wimp.

Before I could give the coffee away, a neighbor stopped by for a chat. She, too, is a coffee wimp. I made her a cup of the Luzianne and continued drinking my mug of the good stuff. As soon as my neighbor sipped her coffee she was kind of wowed and asked me what kind it was. (She's had some of my nuclear brew before and I've had to water it down for her since.) I told her that I didn't like the Luzianne because it wasn't strong enough and she said that it probably was meant to be drunk black. I ended up giving her the rest of the opened bag since she liked it so much.

I couldn't quit thinking about what my neighbor said about drinking the Luzianne black. That was the one thing I had not tried when I was doing my taste test. So I brewed up a cup.

Listen. This coffee is goooood. It's so good that cream and sugar only ruin it. I think I like this coffee plain more than I like my other coffee with the creamer. No, that's a lie, but I do like it almost as much as the calorific coffee. By the way, I did go back and amend my Amazon review (so I'm not a total ass).

Drinking Luzianne coffee black makes me appreciate why some people only drink their coffee black. This coffee is kind of amazing. For the first time in my life, I on purpose made and drank black coffee all day. It's been two days now and I have only had my dessert coffee once.

I am excited about this. When I was doing Keto and OMAD (and trying to go 16 and 18 hours between meals), coffee was the thing that tripped me up every time. The rule was that you could have all the black coffee you wanted in between meals.  All the BLACK COFFEE. I would make it up to almost 15 hours before I got cranky and needed my java fix so I'd cheat. Now that I'm trying to cut back on sugars by using the miracle berry, I've been doing well with everything except my coffee - because coffee with lemon is just nasty.

I love the idea of getting the health benefits (and caffeine kick) from coffee without all those calories. On a normal day, I usually make a 16-ounce mug of coffee and add at least 5 tablespoons of the sweet creamer. That's over 170 of the most useless calories in my world. Crazy delicious but also just crazy.

Just imagine if all the coffee I drink in a day is good for me, right? Understand that I can go through two of my big mugs in a day. If I don't feel well, I can do three. My mug keeps the coffee hot for so long that those two helpings get me from early in the morning until late at night.

One thing I have to mention though about coffee with chicory: do not forget the laxative effect. For some reason, when I drink the Luzianne coffee black, the laxative properties are way stronger than when I drink my other coffee with the cream. I know that the chicory has an "emptying" effect but I've never experienced it with the other brands so I assume this has to do with the sugary additives I was using. I'm just guessing but... I have warned you so be careful.

Peace
--Free

Because it's a blast from somebody's past

& it mentions coffee

**REVIEW** French Market & Cafe Du Monde Chicory Coffee

In the last post, I talked about chicory (and its benefits) and bulletproof coffee. In this post, I want to review 2 brands of chicory coffees.

First up, is this French Market brand from Walmart:

This is a great price($4.98/12oz can) but it's not to be found in all stores (like my local Walmart) so I have to order it from the online site. Amazon has it at a slightly higher price.

The color and smell are wonderful and a little bit of this goes a long way. I had to remember that for a couple of reasons. For one thing, even without adding anything, this chicory coffee does have calories (10 for every 2 tablespoons). That is because of the chicory. Also, the chicory has a laxative effect. The first time I used the coffee, I made it strong thinking it would be like regular coffee It's much richer and just a little bit goes a long, long way. When I brew this coffee now, I use 1 full tablespoon for every 1.5 cups of water and I get a very strong brew.

By the way, when I opened the can and saw the coffee grounds, I was reminded of the roasted chicory root I used to buy in Anchorage.

I was disappointed by the Monterey Bay Spice Company chicory root I recently tried:

To be honest, I have not yet tried this one but when I do, I will do a review.

Let me mention something I found interesting about French Market Coffee. The brand is from Reily Foods Company but the name "French Market" does make one think of Cafe Du Monde - which is the more famous chicory coffee brand. Keep that in mind.

Reily Foods covers several brand products you might recognize. This includes the Luzianne Tea which I see in stores all the time.

As for the Cafe Du Monde:

Notice that, like the French Market brand, Cafe Du Monde also has a non-chicory French roast. The French Roast cans look quite a bit alike - both in purple cans and all. Interesting. Of course, taste is the main thing, so let's talk Cafe Du Monde.

These pics compare the look of the grind from both brands:

When I brewed the Cafe Du Monde, I used the same 1 tablespoon to 1.5 cups of water recipe. The taste?

Both coffees are rich and 'deep' with flavor, but I have to say that the Cafe Du Monde is a bit smoother and richer in taste. I can find the 15oz can for $10.79 on Amazon ($12.99 on Walmart).

While there is a slight difference between the two brands, it's not enough to make me buy one over the other due to a slight price variation. There are some things that make a difference for online purchase:

•  Walmart.com and Amazon have both brands.
• On Amazon, I could currently only find French Market as a Prime Pantry purchase. I don't liek Pantry purchases because you have to fill a 'cart' to qualify. The Cafe Du Monde was available with non-Prime but free shipping for 1 can; a 2-can purchase was Prime. Now that I know I like the coffee, I would use that option.
• On Walmart, the shipping was very unstable this time. In spite of the 2-day shipping on my order, I ended up waiting until Sept 5th (Wed.) for things I ordered on Aug 31st (Fri). Even allowing for the weekend, that was 3 additional days. I found out that they hadn't even shipped my order right away. Also, Walmart's online system of tracking orders does not always reflect the correct information. My Aug 31st order was shown on their page as "expected to arrive" Sept 1st. Unless they are using drones, no one is that fast yet.
• My local Hy-Vee has the French Market chicory coffee and they deliver. That means I can add that brand to my usual monthly grocery order since Hy-Vee is where I get my perishable items.

So, yeah, you have to kind of shop around to find a good chicory coffee. If you are lucky enough to have a local health food store (I have to check mine), you might be able to just get some decent chicory root.

Peace
--Free

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