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Other/Mixed To Drink Coffee or Not To Drink Coffee. That is the Question.

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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I learned to drink coffee as a little kid, I don't think I was ten years old yet. With my frequent visits to my grandmother, I learned to drink it black, as I preferred the smooth texture, if you catch my drift. As a child and teenager, the times for coffee were well regulated, like a cup or two every two hours, up until late night. It's just the way around here.

Strangely enough, the older I've become, which luckily isn't that old yet, I've grown to drink less and less of coffee. I rarely brew a pot for myself. If I visit someone, I always drink a couple of cups of coffee. If I take my car to a mechanic, I drink coffee. I typically drink coffee almost always whenever it's available. But I don't make it for myself. My wife rarely brews any either, so I rarely drink it at home. I enjoy the taste and drinking the coffee is a nice ritual, but it's nothing I really long for.

Coffee, in normal amounts, is a mild stimulant to me. Of course, drinking a pot while eating a cake is sure to give me a bit of a high both in caffeine and sugar. But I haven't ever found any major effects from coffee, like keeping me awake better, for better or for worse. I don't get easier through a graveyard shift with coffee, but I can go to sleep well after some cups. I've tried drinking coffee or taking some caffeine pills before a workout if I've been really tired. The effect is modest at best.

I suppose all that makes me an oddball. But I'm happy with how it goes. Even if I don't get big benefits from coffee, I don't get headaches when I'm without it.
 
@Antti, individual reactions to coffee vary quite a bit. Mine are like yours - if I don't have it, I'm fine, but if I have it, I enjoy it, and it doesn't keep me from going to sleep.

In our house, we roast our own coffee and use what is called a "super-auto" espresso machine - push a button, and you get a cup of coffee. We drink a "lungo", something between an espresso and an American coffee.

-S-
 
I only drink coffee while fasting, which is all day. If I have more than 2 cups I get a little anxious. Maybe fasting amplifies the affect?
 
I have a similar experience as @Antti and @Steve Freides. I can easily go to sleep after drinking coffee, I hast enjoy drinking it.

Down here at Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay we drink something called "mate":

images.jpg

You pour hot water directly inside and then suction it with the metal stray.

We drink it really hot and bitter, unless somebody decides to ruin it with sugar, which is a risky move as you will lose everybody's respect. It's a very strong stimulant, I might have trouble sleeping at night after drinking it in the morning.
 
@Oscar, I drink Yerba Mate. Here, it’s sold in bags like tea. I believe it’s the same thing as what you described.

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@Steve Freides yes, that's it. "Yerba" is the herb that goes inside, and "mate" is what we call the recepient, which is usually done emptying some kind of pumpkin. The herb is usually called "Yerba mate". Do you drink it with hot or cold water? Paraguayans drink it with cold water and put some mint and other herbs and its really refreshing
 
Yes that seems to be it. That one is mixed with mint, the way Paraguayans drink it. Try it as an iced tea with no sugar, it should be good
 
@Oscar, I don't usually sweeten coffee or tea, especially tea. (Sometimes coffee, late afternoon or evening but not before as a rule.)

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That Mate drink looks really interesting. I've never tried it. I should give it a shot. I think I've seen teabags of it in the stores. I wonder if that stuff is any good, or if there is something particular to look for. What do you think, @Oscar ?
 
@Antti and also @Steve Freides , if you manage to buy Yerba mate in loose leaf form, instead of teabags, it tastes completely different. You could buy this Uruguayan yerba (funny to read that it doesn't ship to Argentina):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004...=8AZFG014KZ2HPD5CNBWB&dpPl=1&dpID=81xY77RFkpL

You'd have to put the yerba in a glass and then drink it with some kind of straw (like the phot i posted above). You pour a little water in the recepient and drink. Then a little more and drink. And that goes on until you drank about 1 liter.

Drinking it this way is completely different. If you drink it in teabags. In teabags it tastes like a tea kind of bitter. The other way is very hot, strong and bitter and warms your spirit.

EDIT: This is what the straw looks like, to avoid the leaf being suctioned

hqdefault.jpg
 
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@Oscar, very interesting. FWIW, the mate in tea bags warms me up just fine - it feels like it has a good amount of caffeine in it.

While looking at the amazon page you gave a link to, it shows quite a few other mate's - I'm guessing they're from different places, but any light you could shed on this subject would be appreciated.

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@Steve Freides, a lot of yerbas appear if you look for "yerba" in Amazon. Many are local Argentinean and Uruguayan well known yerbas, while others are fancy producers from other places. To be honest, yerba here is a very basic and cheap product of daily consumption, so I have never tried any fancy yerba from somewhere else. I would suggest you try one of these, which are popular in Argentina. Then, if you like it, you can experiment with some of the other fancy brands, some claim to be organic and the like.

These yerbas below are popular in Argentina:

https://www.amazon.com/Taragui-Yerba-Mate-Palo-2-2lbs/dp/B005EERG4K/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1511921462&sr=8-5&keywords=yerba&refinements=p_89:Cruz+de+Malta|Taragui|Rosamonte|Canarias|Nobleza+Gaucha&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/YERBA-MATE-CRUZ-MALTA-2-2lb/dp/B00E3UI0SC/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1511921462&sr=8-1&keywords=yerba&refinements=p_89:Cruz+de+Malta|Taragui|Rosamonte|Canarias|Nobleza+Gaucha


This one below is a Uruguayan yerba that can wake the dead, to the point that this same producers started offering a softer alternative, that comes in a green package, instead of the typical yellow. In Uruguay, if you have a bad hangover and didnt sleep much, its common to say "I´ll have to drink the yellow yerba today"

https://www.amazon.com/Canarias-Yerba-Mate-2-2-lb/dp/B004OUN1PS/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1511921462&sr=8-2&keywords=yerba&refinements=p_89:Cruz+de+Malta|Taragui|Rosamonte|Canarias|Nobleza+Gaucha

BTW if you want to buy the metallic straw, its called "bombilla":

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...s&field-keywords=bombilla&rh=i:aps,k:bombilla
 
Interesting that the one I've been drinking makes no mention of the origin of the yerba mate. I guess it's just for us Americans ...

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I finally bought myself some Mate yesterday. It's the loose leaf version. It appears that a Finnish importer brings it from Italy, or that it comes to Finland through Italy, even if the origin is elsewhere. The package doesn't say anything about the origins, but does say how it's predominantly used in South America.

The Finnish instructions tell me to put a teaspoon of the herbs in 2dl of water at 80 degrees Celsius and let it simmer for seven minutes. @Oscar , does this sound right? Is the single teaspoonful OK for a single 2dl serving or can it be used again? You mention in an earlier post that one should add more water at some point.

I don't have the special straw. I thought I'd put the leaves in a stainless steel infuser.
 
@Antti, cheers with my morning mate

upload_2017-12-21_11-10-4.png

For you to have an idea, this recepient holds about 15 teaspoons of yerba, and we drink it during the morning with about 1 litre of water. So that´s about 0.66 dl per teaspoon. I would suggest you try it like this the first time, err on the strong side, because the appeal of the drink is its bitterness and strength. Letting it rest for about 7 minutes should be about right, but it might be cold when you drink it. Better to drink it hot. Maybe use water a bit higher than 80 degrees, just before boiling point.
 
@Antti, cheers with my morning mate

View attachment 4692

For you to have an idea, this recepient holds about 15 teaspoons of yerba, and we drink it during the morning with about 1 litre of water. So that´s about 0.66 dl per teaspoon. I would suggest you try it like this the first time, err on the strong side, because the appeal of the drink is its bitterness and strength. Letting it rest for about 7 minutes should be about right, but it might be cold when you drink it. Better to drink it hot. Maybe use water a bit higher than 80 degrees, just before boiling point.

15 teaspoons? That's a lot. The package I bought has 60 grams in it. I don't think I'd get many sets of 15 teaspoons out of it.

Are your yerba leaves fresh or dried? I wonder if we have the same stuff.
 
15 teaspoons? That's a lot. The package I bought has 60 grams in it. I don't think I'd get many sets of 15 teaspoons out of it.

Are your yerba leaves fresh or dried? I wonder if we have the same stuff.

Here the Yerba is dried. This is what it looks like

20171222_103809.jpg

You can try it as suggested by the package and sea how it goes. Here, yerba is sold in packages of 1 kg and a typical serving is of about 50 g. 50 g would fill the recepient I showed you yesterday, which is probably about 150 cc.
 
By way of comparison, the yerba I drink comes in bags like tea, and each bag contains only 2 grams of the herb. (A package of 24 bags has a net weight of 48 grams.)

-S-
 
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