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.

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I'm preparing to buy a new coffee maker in order to save money on my electric bill. That may sound a bit strange from a person who's been drinking instant coffee for more than three years already. How could I possibly save money by buying a coffee maker that requires electricity in order to operate? Believe it or not, the hot water dispenser that I use to make hot coffee uses more electricity than a coffee maker ever will.

My Electric Bill

There are two items at my house that are sucking up the juice: My hot water dispenser and my hot water tank. The reason is because the heating elements are constantly on (unless I'm a victim of yet another weekly power outage).

I know these two items are the primary culprits because the only other things I have on constantly in my house is my refrigerator and my PC. When I bought the hot water dispenser, my electric bill jumped up by about $20 USD per month. That's just too expensive, in my opinion, for the convenience of a ready supply of hot drinking water.

There is one other way to heat the bottled water and that's by using the microwave oven, but that kind of defeats the money-saving idea. The tap water gets pretty hot, if I let it run for a couple of minutes, but there's no telling what kind of nasties are in it along with the water. No thanks, but I prefer the safety of the bottled water I buy (at about $4.00/200 pesos for 25 gallons, I might add).

Sorry, but I won't sacrifice a hot shower for anything. Not even to save a few more bucks.

Which Coffee Maker or Coffee Maker Brand

There is one other reason I want to buy a new coffee maker: I'm tired of drinking instant coffee. I'm tired of making it by the cup and I'm tired of forgetting how many spoons I put in (when interrupted by relatives) the cup. Not only that, but a couple of in-laws leech instant coffee from me on a regular basis.

A small, 4-cup coffee maker just won't do. I can polish that off within an hour of waking up in the morning. I don't fancy myself making more than two 8 or 12-cup pots of coffee per day. With carafes of those sizes, my in-laws can steal some of my coffee each day and it won't interfere with my daily routine.

Now, I live in the Philippines. I've been to most of the stores where coffee makers are sold and I've seen some Japanese brands as well as American brands, but I didn't see any Mr. Coffee. It doesn't matter, because I prefer buying a Cuisinart coffee maker and I think that's a brand I spotted at the SM Mall in San Fernando, Pampanga the last time I was there. I probably wouldn't have to go that far again (about 50 kilometers) and can probably find one locally, but I doubt the local stores carry Cuisinart coffee maker accessories such as replacement lids and filters.

Back in 1988, I gave a Cuisinart coffee maker to a fellow US Marine at Christmas time because he drank more "lifer juice" than I ever did. When I left that base in 1992, he was still using it and it still worked like it did when it was new. In contrast, I had a GE coffee maker that bit the dust within four months during that same period. I don't remember what brand I bought to replace it with, but I spent more money on it than I probably should have.

Checking Review Sites and Prices

I wouldn't be doing this if I was in the US. In the Philippines, however, I have to check prices before going on any kind of specific shopping run because I know what gimmicks the sales people pull. One of my nephews worked at a local appliance store and the way the sales associates made more than their paltry wage was to jack up the prices (no prices tags on the items).

To be forewarned is to be forearmed, or something like that. So I headed over to TestFreaks, a site I'm already familiar with, and checked out the Cuisinart coffee makers. After selecting the model I want, the Cuisinart DTC-975 (because of the thermal carafe), I headed over to PriceGrabber.com to get a feel for the median price. It appears I can expect to pay between $60 and $90 USD for it.

The Filipino Art of Haggling

I don't know if I'll be able to get that exact coffee maker model. It depends on import stocks. I'll still get a similar model, with a thermal carafe, for around the same price or even less. I learned the Filipino art of haggling from my wife and I'm getting pretty good at it.

The secret is to buy multiple items. When I do that, and haggle along the way, I usually get the prices knocked down for each item. I live on a fixed income and every dollar (or peso) counts. As the expression goes, a penny saved is a penny earned.

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A couple of weeks ago, I was having trouble sleeping. I have never had any sleeping disorders to speak of, so I thought that maybe switching to decaffeinated coffee would help me get back to sleeping the way I normally do, like a log.

Like many things in my life, I was wrong. The difference between regular coffee and decaffeinated coffee has had absolutely no effect on my sleep pattern.

Caffeine Fears

As I've previously mentioned, the caffeine in coffee has never had an effect on me. Drinking decaffeinated coffee for the past couple of weeks has proven it to me. I'm still having trouble sleeping, but I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that I have the head cold from hell, picked up from one of my nieces who picked it up at school. Unfortunately, the only way to avoid something like that is to become a hermit (not a bad idea).

You might think the real reason for my switch would be to avoid the caffeine curve. Sorry, but I don't believe that crap for a moment. The real reason is exactly as I stated. I needed to prove to myself that caffeine really doesn't have any effect on me and I did.

The only fear I had when I switched is that I would have caffeine withdrawals (headaches or freaking out) like the coffee withdrawals I had when I was forced to stop drinking coffee (I was deployed and we just didn't have any. I freaked out.). Anyway, I didn't have any withdrawals at all.

Discriminating Taste

Although I don't own a coffee maker, I drink a lot of coffee. It's all instant coffee. Even though both the regular and decaffeinated coffees I've been drinking are both instant, they are of the same brand. I can tell the difference in the taste. The decaffeinated version doesn't taste as good as the regular. With me and coffee, it's all about the taste, not the caffeine.

I like brewed coffee so much more than instant and I plan to buy a coffee maker of some kind in the near future. I have no idea what kind I'll be able to find here in the Philippines, so I may have to get one shipped in. In the meantime, and when I go grocery shopping again, I'll be buying regular instant coffee.

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I have had the debate time and time again over the validity of my coffee as compared to other friends' coffee. Yes, I add sugar and creamer, but that is how I like to have my coffee, much like some people prefer butter on their toast or salt and pepper on their dinner. Drinking coffee without any added ingredients can be commendable but the debate remains over what is the "true" way in which to drink coffee.

Discovered in the 9th century in Ethiopia, coffee spread throughout the North African world, infiltrating the Muslim culture until the 15th century when it was spread to the rest of Europe and on to the Americas. In many African cultures, such as those in Yemen and Ethiopia, coffee had an important role in many religious ceremonies and was therefore banned from secular consumption. The original coffee drinkers drank the coffee straight from the beans (the "pure" form), without any of the fancy additives which we now add, and was thought to counteract many stomach illnesses. While coffee did not experience the boom in North America that it did upon initial introduction in Europe, the demand grew during the Revolutionary War mostly due to the reduced availability of tea during this time. The American taste for coffee grew during the Civil War as increases in brewing technology led to a better tasting quality for everyone. This in turn led to coffee becoming the everyday commodity which we now know it to be.

Coffee users have since discovered a myriad of ways in which to prepare the beverage, from the traditional "black" coffee, to coffee with milk or cream, even iced coffee. Espresso-based coffee is even another way that was created in a shot form, or in a watered-down style of café américano. Milk can additionally be added to this drink to make a café latte, or equal parts of steamed milk and milk froth can make a cappuccino, or even a bit of hot foamed milk on top creates a caffé macchiato. Instant coffee has also become incredibly popular throughout the modern world for those coffee drinkers who do not wish to prepare their own. This increase in particular coffee use has also procured an increase in coffee shops throughout the world as well, with many Starbucks-esque shops which serve customers who want their coffee prepared with a certain flavor or added ingredients. This evolution from the early coffee drinkers who simply drank the "bunnu" fruit in Africa has been an amazing transition; most Americans today cannot fathom drinking coffee straight from its original source, especially without the specialized drinks they have now learned to love.

In the end, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to drink coffee, but if you want to debate over the methods, the original way to drink coffee was the preferred "black" way, although even Civil War Americans liked to add their milk to the mix. Coffee has become a staple of modern day society and many people now could not function without the caffeine it provides to their day, which is the main reason why this cash crop will never drop in value.

This post was contributed by Meredith Walker, who writes about the online nursing programs. She welcomes your feedback at MeredithWalker1983 at gmail.com

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Although a lot of Filipinos seem to like the San Mig 3-in-1 coffee products, I don't. Of course, I'm not Filipino either.

In an attempt to be a bit adventurous with my coffee-drinking routine, I tried two different varieties of the San Mig 3-in-1 coffee, the original and mild flavors.

Ingredients of San Mig 3-in-1 Coffee

There are more varieties of the coffee than I can think of right now, but they also include the sugar-free versions. There's even a 2-in-1 version that leaves something out and I think it's the coffee creamer.

The regular 3-in-1 flavors include coffee, non-dairy creamer and sugar. I didn't keep the packages long enough to check the proportions, but maybe I should have.

The Taste Test

I don't know what it was that I didn't like about the coffee, but it wasn't the fact that it was instant coffee. I drink instant coffee at home and brewed coffee when I'm at a restaurant and I don't see a difference in taste in that regard.

My first thought was that it would taste better without the non-dairy creamer since I drink my coffee without any creamer normally. It could have been that there wasn't enough coffee in proportion to the other ingredients, but I wasn't willing to add more coffee to see if that was the case. It definitely wasn't the sugar because I don't make my own coffee very sweet.

Regardless, I couldn't drink either of the varieties I taste-tested.

My Relatives Love It

Minus one packet in each box (and each box was less than a single US dollar), I gave them to my in-laws. Within two days, both boxes of the San Mig 3-in-1 boxes were used and discarded. It was almost like they were starving for coffee.

I have a more discriminating taste than my relatives, obviously. I'll tell you one thing for sure: I would rather give up coffee than drink this stuff if I had no other choices. Call me fickle.

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You're probably scratching your head and asking yourself "What the heck is Postum?" It would be more appropriate to ask yourself "What the heck WAS Postum?"

I originally wrote this article in February of 2007 and placed it on my main site. Little did I know at the time that Kraft Foods would be discontinuing the production of Postum in the fall of 2007. Although the article drew quite a few visitors then, and received a few comments, I believe it's better suited to be archived on this site instead of my main site because this site is about coffee and that one is not. Simple enough right? Anyway, this is the first of two articles I'll be moving over here. Enough with the explanation and on with the story — bear in mind that it was written in February of 2007:

My One and Only Experience with Postum

Earlier today, I mentioned to my son how I was tricked into trying Postum, sometime in 1977 or 1978. One morning, I was looking to make myself a cup of coffee, but there was no coffee brewed yet, and there wasn't any instant coffee in the house. One of my sisters offered to make some coffee for me. I left and returned in about an hour and she handed me a cup. My mouth, my tongue and my mind were all prepared for the soothing taste of fresh coffee. When I took a sip from the cup, I was mentally and physically assaulted by a taste that was completely foreign to me. After complaining with a loud "Yuck!" and asking what was wrong with the coffee, she confessed that she had made a cup of Postum instead because there wasn't any coffee roast in the house either. I left to get coffee from a local restaurant. That was the last time I ever saw Postum in my life.

According to Wikipedia and other confirming websites, Postum is a cereal beverage invented by Charles William Post (founder of Post, Texas) in 1895 and marketed as a coffee substitute. Yes, the same Post that makes breakfast cereal. It's still sold to this day, but you won't find it in many supermarkets. Unlike decaffeinated coffee, Postum is naturally caffeine free, consisting of mostly wheat and molasses. After visiting a few websites and stopping at one in particular (Jeff Werner) and reading the comments, it seems there are some near-fanatical lovers of Postum. I may have actually liked it, had my sister prepared it the right way.

While Postum is made of grain and other innocuous stuff, it contains more carbohydrates than coffee, especially after you doctor it up with other sweeteners and creamers. Coffee, on the other hand, can cause problems for some people. It you drink too much at a time, you can get severe heartburn. That leads me to my next post, so I won't expound on it here.

They don't sell Postum here in the Philippines. I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse.

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I don't hide the fact that Nescafé Classic is my favorite instant coffee product. I buy two or three jars of it every month (except this month because it was out of stock). A couple of months ago, I noticed an advertisement on one of the jars I'd purchased. It didn't say a whole lot — the new product mentioned wasn't on the shelves yet.

Nescafé Protect

The new product is called "Nescafé Protect". I must not have paid attention to the label I looked at, at the time, because I only remember the "body partner" phrase. Since the store (Royal Subic) was out of Nescafé Classic, I ended up getting two jars of Nescafé Gold and one jar of Nescafé Protect. The jar of Nescafé Protect was half the size of the Nescafé Gold (in milliliters). I bought it simply to give it my exclusive (ha!) taste test, being the coffee fanatic that I am.

Nescafé Protect combines green coffee beans with regular coffee beans and is purported to have three times the amount of antioxidants as green tea. I don't really like green tea (I prefer black), so I can't say anything about that. According to their promotional material, regular coffee has twice the amount of antioxidants as green tea while Nescafé Protect has three times the amount. Would I be any healthier by switching to Nescafé Protect as my regular coffee choice? I don't know and I don't care.

The Nescafé Protect Taste Test

According to the promotional information, Nescafé Protect tastes like high quality regular coffee, making a smooth, mild and balanced cup with a fruity note. I didn't detect the fruity note, thankfully, because I don't like the flavor of fruit with either my coffee or my tea. On a side note, I always buy unsweetened Nestea (not the decaffeinated evil twin) as my instant tea product. I couldn't even find tea bags in the store this time (out of stock as well).

Does the taste warrant a switch? No. In fact, I like the taste of Nescafé Classic better. I have yet to taste the Nescafé Gold that I bought, but I suspect it will taste almost exactly like Nescafé Classic.

All Things Nestlé

I may sound like the poster child for the Nestlé Corporation based in the US, but I'm really not. It's just that Nestlé makes so many products used by consumers around the world. The Nestlé Corporation has subsidiaries in several countries, including the Philippines and Switzerland. The Nescafé coffees that I buy are manufactured by Nestlé Philippines while the Nestea jars that I buy say Nestlé Switzerland.

Nestlé makes other products you may be familiar with, but may not readily associate with them. In fact the old "Qwik" was change to "Nesquik" in order to emphasize the Nestlé brand. Heck, even the rabbit got a makeover.

Chances are, if you do the grocery shopping on a regular basis, you'll spot Nestlé products all over the place. I'm not even talking about the coffee and tea products. You can see breakfast cereals, dairy products, ice cream and a whole lot more.

It's no wonder I have a bunch of Nestlé products in my house. The products are everywhere.

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I normally don't recycle pictures to use on multiple articles, but I really have to make an exception when it comes to coffee beans. There only so many ways to present them and hunting down new photographs is a chore in itself. Anyway, that's obviously not what this article is about. No, I just wanted to throw out some things about coffee beans that some people aren't aware of.

Coffee Beans are NOT Beans

When my 23-year old son doesn't know that coffee beans aren't real beans, it's time to mention it over and over again and as often as possible. People who aren't familiar with the history of the coffee plants, especially young people, take way too much for granted by the way things are called.

Coffee beans start out as berries on the coffee plants. They're then dried and the seeds, the part that people call the beans, are removed and dried before heading off on their next stop in the journey from the plant to your stomach.

Roasted Coffee Beans

From what I've seen, most coffee beans sold AS coffee beans in supermarkets and other such places are roasted beforehand. What I mean to say is that you usually can't find coffee beans that haven't been roasted yet. I know raw coffee beans are available; otherwise coffee roasters wouldn't be available to the general public.

I don't trust my cooking skills, much less any kind of roasting skills. I could screw up barbecued hot dogs. No, I will always leave that step of the process to others.

Coffee Grounds

I really don't have any idea why ground coffee is called "coffee grounds". I guess it was coined by some unimaginative per person way back when. I would call it coffee flakes or coffee powder (I've actually heard "coffee powder" used and it's even on some instant coffee labels), but never coffee grounds.

In most supermarkets, heck even in most supermarkets in the Philippines (where I live — no, I'm not a Filipino before anyone asks me yet again), you can buy coffee beans that only need to be ground up to be used. Usually, one or more coffee grinders are available nearby, including generic bags to put the results in.

Although coffee grinders are available for home use, it's still another area step in the process that I'll gladly leave to someone else. I won't use a coffee grinder to grind coffee beans at the market and I won't grind them at home. It's just way too easy to get coffee that only needs one step from the container to the cup and I'm basically a lazy person when it comes to doing things for myself.

There is a special kind of coffee bean that I can't seem to find here in the Philippines, that I'm really fond of, but I'm not going to mention it yet. I'll save that for my next article. After reading all that I wrote above, can you guess what I'm going to be writing about? Hint: They're sold at places that have the same title as this blog (or a slight variation of using "or" instead of "and").

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