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Karen N.'s avatar

You have two Moka pots! One for yourself and one for company. 💕

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Faith Current's avatar

If Thoreau had Moka pots, instead of chairs he'd have had one for solitude, two for company and three for community...

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Oleg Kagan's avatar

It does end up that way, yes. 🙂

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Faith Current's avatar

It is your coffee discussion that draws my comment this go-round. Starting with, alas, I've discovered that as much as I like (not love, it's just a beverage after all and I try to save the word "love" for richer things) coffee, it makes me nauseous so it's off limits.

I substitute tea, which thanks to the good people of Liverpool, I have finally learned how to make a decent cup of.

And on one long late night at the Dallas airport just about a month ago, I ordered my usual, "earl grey with milk, please". to which the barista replied, "do you want the milk regular or steamed?" This is not an option I'd ever been presented with before, or even considered. I've always liked that I stood apart from the whole frou-frou coffee culture BS in which grown adults ordered essentially children's drinks that were so elaborate it took more time to order and prepare them than to drink them. None of that for me.

But I was bored and tired and my flight was late, so I said, "steamed" just to see what happened. One sip and my first thought was, "what is this elixir you've made for me, dear barista? and how do I replicate it at home because I do not, as a rule frequent coffee shops, even if the nearest one wasn't a full 45 minutes from my house)

Five minutes later, I'm sitting at the little molded plastic table ordering a milk steamer/frother an amazon so that it's waiting for me when I get home.

The times when I was satisfied with "Earl grey with milk" are now the Before Times. How did I ever get along without steamed milk in my tea? sigh...

To make it worse, I've now become one of Those people. On the way back from my trip, at a different coffee shop at a different airport, I ordered my tea.

"Earl Grey with steamed milk."

"So you want a chai latte?"

"No, I want Earl Grey with steamed milk."

"Okay, a latte."

"No, Earl Grey with steamed milk."

This exchange lasted for several more iterations until the clerk seemed to get it and I paid and moved on, after exchanging a smile with the man behind me who said to me, "Your frustration was palpable. I feel your pain."

A few minutes later I was presented with... Earl grey with no milk.

Sigh.

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Oleg Kagan's avatar

That's quite a journey to what actually does seem to end with an Earl Grey Latte 😉. Though there are all kinds of technicalities that make me wonder. Is it still a latte if the espresso is substituted with Earl Grey? Why would the barista default to Chai rather than just throwing a teabag I to boiling water and adding steamed milk. It's easy enough. What is Chai, really? I'm always confused because in Russian chai just means tea. So in that case, the barista was right: Chai Latte...but what kind of chai? Earl Grey.

I grew up drinking tea and no coffee at all. Maybe I'll go back to it someday, decaffeinated Earl Grey isn't hard to find.

By the way, a lo-fi way to replicate the frothiness of steamed milk is to heat the milk, put it into a French press, and beat it to hell. I've done it occasionally at home.

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Karen N.'s avatar

Won't you risk breaking your French press? I have a stainless-steel manual milk frother that does the job beautifully. They come in different sizes too!

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Oleg Kagan's avatar

It hasn't yet. The French Press is small but sturdy. Frothing the milk keeps it within it's normal range of motion, just more spirited motion.

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Faith Current's avatar

No, no, see, that was the problem and I'm still mystified as to how anyone could think chai, which I also enjoy, don't get me wrong, and Earl Grey. They are entirely different beverages. Chai has all kinds of spices in it, and is definitely not Earl Grey, which only has bergamot and hopefully good quality black tea.

And it's also not a latte, which would have had much more milk in it than the regular amount. If anything, it was more of a London Fog.

As to your alternate method, that all sounds like way too much effort.... but the milk steamer/frother... just pour it in and push the button. Much better!

Oh for chrissake, I'm now sounding like one of Those People again. Sigh....

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Karen N.'s avatar

Oomph.

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Jack Krown's avatar

I have only recently discovered heating my milk before pouring in my coffee. Result: I now drink more milk with my coffee. A lot more. How did I ever survive those 40 years with ice cold milk in my (once) hot coffee??

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Faith Current's avatar

Right. And I have now migrated to more milk as well, which is problematic but inevitable, because the milk steamer/frother, even at the minimum level, makes too much for a single cup. And since this is the only thing I use milk for, and I don't want to waste it... it becomes a latte by technological default.

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Oleg Kagan's avatar

You know, I don't usually put milk in my own coffee and when I make coffee for my wife I hadn't thought of heating it. I usually just bring the carton from fridge to table. It does have an aura of luxury, though, and I'm going to do it next time.

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Jack Krown's avatar

Hmmm. I don’t know about clothing companies getting too creative (or restless?) with their products, but what I do know is this. Prosciutto with spices--uh huh. Me too. I’ll have that. And rather than a meat pie with a lemon, just give me lemon pie!

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Oleg Kagan's avatar

Lemon pie is good, but have you ever had olive oil lemon cake? If not, you should.

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Dan's avatar

'I will show up at the CEOs house with no pants and over-water all the plants! Don’t try me, I practice on my balcony every morning!'

Wait... you pee on your plants every morning?

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Oleg Kagan's avatar

Would they live longer if I did??

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