# Java Fiends: Bad coffee or No coffee? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972 "2006-11-18T19:46:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/21 "2006-11-19T08:09:54Z")
I’ll go without bad coffee if there is no coffee. What’s more likely is that I will find mediocre tea. A cup of Lipton is better than no caffeine at all, and much better than bad coffee. But then I’m typically a one-cup-a-day person, two at most, and far being from a caffeine addict. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/22 "2006-11-19T12:55:29Z")
[QUOTE=blondebear] Tim Cahill wrote a book, Road Fever, about an attempt to set a speed record driving from Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay. At one point in the trip, they resorted to handfuls of moistened instant coffee to keep themselves awake. Now, **that** is hardcore. [/QUOTE] When mrAru was in Nuke Power School in Orlando he and his classmates used to eat instant coffee by the spoonfull and wash it down with more coffee, or mountain cew, or coke. Also the Nuke School Cocktail awas a cup of navy midrats coffee with 2 no-doze in it. blargh. me? if I cant get decent coffee, Ill go for red bull, tea or [yuck] mountain dew. Never tried popping caffein tabs before. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/23 "2006-11-19T14:24:36Z")
[QUOTE=jnglmassiv] Hoo-boy.. I’ve drunk the worst of it. I’ve mixed Nescafe with cold water for my fix. It doens’t even begin to dissolve. I’ve drank the icey, filmy leftovers from the previous morning in the bottom of the Mr. Coffee carafe. I’ve had the cold percolated nastiness at church bazaars .in styrofoam cup without benefit of creamer. I’ve picked grounds from my teeth following ‘misbrews’. I’ve even.._choke_..drank Mountain _sob_ Dew when no coffee is available.._runs into bedroom to cry_ [/QUOTE] Once, during a zero-dark-thirty convoy of military trucks, was so tired that I broke open a packet of instant GI coffee from a ration pack - Type 2, style 7 in particular, and quaffed that alternated with swigs of water from a canteen. Did the trick anyway. I actually missed that alleged version of instant coffee as it was very strong. Current issue are wimpy “Taster’s Choice” packets, which do not compare favorably in the caffeine department. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/24 "2006-11-19T14:27:10Z")
No coffee. If only instant is available, I’ll have tea instead. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/25 "2006-11-19T14:48:08Z")
Bad coffee any day. I used to be more of a purist but morphed into a pure caffiene slut over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/26 "2006-11-20T08:10:19Z")
yeah, bad coffee over no coffee any day. I hear that some of the donut shops, and even McDonalds, have very decent coffee these days, but those places just aren’t my idea of a place to relax over a cup. ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/27 "2006-11-20T08:56:35Z")
[QUOTE=Civil Guy] Heck, I’ll even drink the stuff at Starbucks. [/QUOTE] I thought I was in the “no coffee” camp until a recent trip to China where I had Starbucks coffee out of desperation. Three times. Now that’s desparate. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/28 "2006-11-20T11:42:49Z")
My motto as a college student was, “the next best thing to really good coffee, is really **bad** coffee.” I’m not as much of a caffeine fiend as I once was, but my bar for “bad” coffee is set very, very low. Starbucks isn’t even in the same league. ---
**Author:** ![nealybobs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecccb3/32.png) [@nealybobs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nealybobs)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/29 "2006-11-20T12:06:03Z")
i will settle for instant coffee, I grew up on the stuff so its tolerable badness. I’ll drink pretty much any available coffee, mcdonalds, starbucks etc. At work they only have those disgusting vending machine concoctions which i would never ever touch. I either bring in tea or fall back on caffine tablets which work pretty well for me, a barely noticable buzz instead of aching withdrawal. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/30 "2006-11-20T13:45:09Z")
I will drink bad coffee, but not instant. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/31 "2006-11-20T13:48:54Z")
If your answer is “no coffee”, you’re not a “java fiend” in the sense that I understand the term. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/32 "2006-11-20T14:02:13Z")
I’ll do tea before I’ll do bad coffee, and I drink quite a bit of coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/33 "2006-11-20T14:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I’ll do tea before I’ll do bad coffee [/QUOTE] You say that as if tea is a poor substitute for coffee. Coffee is good. Tea is good. ---
**Author:** ![shamrock227](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@shamrock227](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shamrock227)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/34 "2006-11-20T14:26:09Z")
[QUOTE=Civil Guy] Heck, I’ll even drink the stuff at Starbucks. 🙂 … [/QUOTE] I came in here specifically to say that. But then I saw this: > [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Hoo-boy.. > I’ve drunk the worst of it. > I’ve mixed Nescafe with cold water for my fix. It doens’t even begin to dissolve. > I’ve drank the icey, filmy leftovers from the previous morning in the bottom of the Mr. Coffee carafe. > I’ve had the cold percolated nastiness at church bazaars .in styrofoam cup without benefit of creamer. > I’ve picked grounds from my teeth following ‘misbrews’. > I’ve even.._choke_..drank Mountain _sob_ Dew when no coffee is available.._runs into bedroom to cry_ And, I thought I had it bad the times I had to drink instant or nuke last night’s coffee. I guess I don’t know the true meaning of “bad” coffee :eek: ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972/35 "2006-11-20T17:01:26Z")
I go a little nuts without my one or two a day. I need it badly. I take it black (and can’t digest milk) so I can’t mask the taste of vile stuff. I will never drink instant. Never never never. Never. Ugh. In fact I am personally offended if someone offers me “coffee” and means instant. When bad donut shop coffee is all that’s available when I need a fix, I get it for the smell, take a few sips, and then usually forget all about it because I don’t enjoy the taste. It’s all totally unconscious, sometimes I get Tim Hortons (among the best of the bad donut shop coffee) and feel like I’m enjoying it, but will find 3/4 of a cup left in my mug at the end of the day. Whereas a nice Second Cup mocha java will be slurped in fifteen minutes. I have a little french press coffeemaker that isn’t really effective, my brew ends up murky and gritty. I know it’s because I’m too lazy to be as precise as I should be with the grind. I’ll drink that the same way I drink bad donut shop coffee - for a few sips and the smell, and then the rest goes down the drain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/java-fiends-bad-coffee-or-no-coffee/380972.md?page=1)