11 comments

  1. Anyone who has worked in a Tactical Operations Center (TOC) is probably familiar with “TOC Coffee.” That’s where they make coffee in one of those big silver percolators and it sits there all day, or sometimes for multiple days, just cooking and burning until it becomes so bitter and nasty that it doubles as paint remover and/or chemical weapons decontaminant.

    But I’d still rather drink that than instant.

    1. Back in my navy days we ran on engine room coffee – take the above recipe, add some #6 bunker oil, float a thin sheen of red lead paint on top and sprinkle some asbestos into the mix for fireproofing. Good stuff.

      1. If you happened to be stationed aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier, JP-5 jet fuel can be used as a handy replacement for bunker fuel. Nothing wakes you up in the morning better than a hot steaming cup of government issue coffee with a light, iridescent sheen of jet fuel dancing in the artificial light of the combat information center (CIC).

        USS Carl Vinson (82-84)
        USS Saratoga (91-94)

  2. For me, it was a decade or so ago. Doctor’s orders. Well, he said to cut down on coffee, so I simply cut it out. I still enjoy coffee vicariously.

  3. Guys,
    I get into the office at 04:45hrs and make a regular and a double coffee, and drink the regular myself – about 3 cups; however, on the weekends or if I am working from home I drink Folgers instant by the cup, usually 2-3.
    As an aside, I once told a Drilling Manager at Kerr McGee: this is such a good company, why is the coffee Community rather than Folgers as God intended – I got some REALLY strange looks, but they forgave me since I am from the Northern Rockies and learned to drink coffee at church,

  4. I would rather think about the good coffee I have had around the world:

    Rome: True and proper espresso.
    Barcelona, Madrid, Merida: Cafe con leche.
    Vienna: Kaffee mit Schlag.
    London: Cafe cortado.
    Paris: Big bowl like cups of heavy, dark, rich, coffee, don’t know what it’s called don’t care, want some.

    North America seems to be generally dreadful, even Mexico, a Spanish derived culture. The worst coffee I ever had in my entire life was in Mexico, a joint called the Super Tacazo in Mazatlan. Ugh.

    1. Having survived truly bad coffee (TOC coffee, that instant swill with vit-C added that used to be in C-rats and the early MRE’s) makes me appreciate good coffee all the more.

      These days, two cups (made with 3 pods each) of Kirkland Pacific Blend in the Keurig, with half and half…

      It’s a big cup 🙂

      But the only emergency I recognized in my emergency department was a broken coffee maker…..

  5. I will suffer 2 days of caffeine withdrawal headaches rather than drink instant.

    And decaf? WTF is WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

    1. “People”?

      Making a big assumption there, no?

      Democrats, or maybe Martians, certainly not people.

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