When it's a hot day here in the tropics, I usually drink iced tea during the day. I make just enough with my Hamilton Beach iced tea maker (which is really just a tea brewer with a pitcher you can add ice to) to finish off by the end of the day. Very recently, I started drinking homemade iced coffee instead of iced tea.

I like iced coffee.

Over the past week, I had all of my upper teeth extracted. I have been in no position to make anything for myself until today.

After the first batch of teeth were pulled, and I needed something cold to drink, my wife made me iced coffee instead of iced tea because we were out of tea bags. She stirred sugar and instant coffee into half a cup of hot water and then added cold water and ice cubes.

I was surprised that I liked ice cold coffee. My wife continued to make me iced coffee until a couple of evenings ago when I fried my computer keyboard. Afterward, I couldn't bring myself to ask her for more. I was too embarrassed by my own stupidity. That's when I started making my own.

Better than store-bought iced coffee.

Although it's only a temporary thing because I like hot coffee better than iced coffee (but my gums can't take it right now), I find making iced coffee at home to be easy and quick. There's no need to stock up on iced coffee in a can or a bottle… ever.

You could argue that the cold coffee sold by Starbucks is better, but I can't agree with you. I've tasted so many brands of cold coffee (which isn't really iced coffee anyway) over the years, going back to 1987 in Japan, that I can only remember a few brands which weren't worth buying.

Well, I don't need to buy any iced coffee at all anymore.

Similar Posts:

• Iced Tea — When It's Too Hot to Drink Coffee
• Coffee or Tea, Hot or Cold, But No Soda For Me
• When Good Tea Turns Bad — Bad Tasting Tea
• How to Make Iced Tea
• Keeping Hot Coffee Hot with a Thermos Bottle

Before I say anything else, I'm going to let you know that I really like chocolate-covered coffee beans. Unfortunately, chocolate-covered coffee beans don't like me at all. I'll tell you my story in a minute.

About Chocolate-Covered Coffee Beans

The name of this blog is "Coffee, Tea and Me". When I chose the name, I used a modified version of a popular phrase of the 1970s: "Coffee, tea or me?" Afterwards, I realized there are shops in shopping malls and other places named similarly that specialize in various coffee and tea products.

I haven't seen a shop like that in years, but then again, I haven't been looking for any. That's where I bought some chocolate-covered coffee beans in 1996. They kind of look like another popular candy, "M&Ms". Other than the flavor of coffee, you might mistake them for one of the specialized versions of M&Ms, like when they use almonds instead of peanuts.

Acid Reflux and Me

After a co-worker offered me a couple of chocolate-covered coffee beans that he'd bought (at the same place I bought them), I bought a batch myself. While I was at work the next day, I ate about eight of them, forgetting what they were (mistaking them for M&Ms, naturally). You can call me an idiot anytime you like. Anyway, heartburn hit me like a ton of bricks. I needed heartburn relief and I needed it fast. I went to a doctor and it was then that I found out that I had acid reflux disease.

I suffered from chronic heartburn for years, but I didn't know that I also had acid reflux disease for years. It all but destroyed my teeth, occurring mostly when I slept. In 2005, a friend suggested I use vinegar for heartburn. I was skeptical, but I tried it and it worked. I've only had to use vinegar once since then, in 2006, and haven't had any reoccurring bouts of heartburn since. No heartburn of any kind, in fact, and I think that's amazing.

Heartburn Risks

I love coffee (hot or cold), coffee-flavored candies, coffee cake, chocolate-covered coffee beans and just about anything you can think of that has coffee in it or tastes like coffee. When it comes to chocolate-covered coffee beans, however, I'm afraid I'll probably never touch them again. Nothing else has ever triggered heartburn like that — not before the incident and not since.

As much as I love coffee products, I'd rather be heartburn-free than enjoy even a minute's pleasure with chocolate-covered coffee beans. Believe it or not, I haven't suffered from one bout of heartburn since April or May of 2006 (and it was very mild heartburn).

On second thought, if I can even find chocolate-covered coffee beans locally, I might try a couple just to see if my acid reflux problem is a thing of the past.

Similar Posts:

• Coffee and Your Health – Good to the Last Drop
• Nescafé Protect – Green Coffee Beans Combined with Regular Coffee Beans
• It All Starts with Espresso in US Coffee Shops
• A Tale of Gourmet Coffee Beans
• The Many Kinds of Coffee