h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

easy now, deciding on is a big step in itself at this unbobly hour

Drat! I'm running late, and the is probably cold.

cold

nuke it!!!!!

Iced coffee is rather good - but let me make some fresh.


I just remembered that I should have bought some new coffee today I hope I have enough left for my early morning caffeine hit tomorrow.

Do they grow coffee where you are, lanzababy?

No, it is too hot and dry here Paul. We are only 79 miles off the Saharan coast of Africa . Think camels and dry and dusty, sort of Moroccan really.

I just read about coffee growing conditions and the plants need average conditions less hot and much wetter than we get.

But coffee drinking is such and important part of life here, every street and store has its own little coffee shop and the coffee is very cheap. People tend to just stop and drink some, and chat. A good place is the tapas bar in the old harbour - used by the fishermen. The coffee is half the price of that sold in the less interesting tourist bars and you can get a portion of various seafood tapas - depending on the catch that day. They have a tank with lobsters.

The coffee isn't like American coffee, such as St*rbucks, but you can ask for an 'americano' which comes with a bit more water. Otherwise it comes out thick and strong. Usually lots of sugar gets added.

i usually only drink strong and black - this way i never get disappointed if there is no sugar and/or cream/milk around

but when in greece i love the local tradition of serving the coffee with the grounds still in the bottom half of the cup and lots of sugar

on a hot day a hot cup of greek is a divine life saver

Customer: Can I have a coffee, without cream?
Waitress: We have no cream sir - will you take it without milk?


it was sent yesterday by another friend, and it just seemed the right place to add to this conversation

as long as it is not deserved without a proper like raki, cognac, armagnac, calvados...

'carajillo' is what you'd order here then

its a cafe solo (espresso) + brandy.

'deserved'

what i meant was 'served' of course

carajillo, eh? you must remind me of that when i land on lanzarote

Certainly will do Pierce - as long as you remember to remind me in the first place.

will do. i'm not the spanish inquisition

Should I expect them?

nobody else does

the little coffee with the sludge in it is turkish or arabic coffee, the greeks just call it greek coffee out of attitude, same as turkish delight is called cypus delight in some quaters

the coffee is usually heated in a sand tray so the heat goes to all the vesel equally

I suspected as much, Taff. Thanks for telling the truth.

I'm not a fan of strong coffee. When I was in Italy, I coped with the espresso by putting as much milk or cream into it as I could. The Greek restaurants here in Boston serve very thick coffee, and again I have to pump milk into it.

I like French roast and Swiss chocolate almond coffee. Mocha Java is good, too.

when i have not had enough sleep during the day, i commit coffee crime, i have an esspresso pot at home and when i need it to keep me up all night i have the pot full of esspresso in a mug with milk and sugar, talk about caffine O.D.

normally its just a small cup of esspresso and a little sugar

Coffee crime?

It's not a crime if you enjoy it. I just like milder, subtler coffee. Drink all the espresso you want, fixed any way you like.

the best way to drink turkish coffee is with a glass of iced water to acompany it, just rinse your mouth every now and again to remove any grit and clean your palate, so you get the full flavour of the coffee

My favorite way to drink it is with plenty of baklava.