It's summertime in the Philippines and it's just too hot to drink coffee (hot coffee) except for when it's before 9 am. Only someone more insane than I would any drink any kind of coffee other than iced coffee after that hour of the day.

I switched from hot coffee to iced tea and plain ice water when the weather started to become unbearably hot. Lukewarm water, or even chilled water from the dispenser, just doesn't cut it.

Does Hot Coffee Cool You Down?

If you listen and believe some of the old-timers, it does. It really doesn't. It makes you sweat (perspire) and air blowing against the sweat is what cools you down. What happens if you're already sweating? It does nothing for you at all, except make you feel hotter than you already are.

If you're already hot and you drink hot coffee, you're going to sweat profusely. Sweating causes dehydration and sweating profusely can cause you to dehydrate faster than you may realize. That's a dangerous situation to be in, regardless of what you drink.

Iced Tea and Iced Coffee

In some places, iced coffee is preferred over iced tea. The Philippines is not such a place. Iced tea (with lemon) is served in every restaurant I've been to here. Iced coffee is never served (but you can buy it in the stores).

I don't know about anyone else, but iced coffee just doesn't work like iced tea. Iced tea cools me down quick. Perhaps it's because I drink it faster than I can drink ice water. I can't do that with iced coffee and as expensive as iced coffee is, I really wouldn't want to do that anyway.

I still have an iced tea maker sitting in the kitchen that I haven't used even once. I still have jars of instant Nestea in the cabinet and I won't be using the iced tea maker until those jars are empty. I still don't have any teabags either. I'm sure I'll be doing the iced tea making thing when the instant tea runs out. That is, if summer continues to drag on like it did last year.

Iced Tea instead of Ice Water

I have never been able to drink ice water quickly, although my wife can guzzle a glass of it without stopping. I don't know why I'm any different. I can drink iced tea like that, but not ice water.

Ice water would be considered healthier, but if I want to cool down, nothing works better or faster than iced tea. I've tried it with fruit juices and other things and still go back to drinking iced tea.

(Image source: The Myth of Perfection: If You Want to Live, You Have to Grow at Totalpossibility)

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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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