No descaler this morning ... though looking at the size of the lumps of limescale that I'm picking out of my teeth, I might go and add some to the next cup.
The coffee here sucks SO MUCH. It's not even free. I pay 3 pounds a month for the privilege of topping up the toxins every few minutes with Nestlé's cheapest excuse for coffee. Liberal spoonfuls of sugar do, however, help the medicine go down.
I keep meaning to buy my own and bring it in... maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow.
I've heard a lot of people saying this; their place of work used to have decent coffee available and is now going for Nestlé RatShit Blend, or close equivalent. Cost-cutting, I guess.
Last place I worked which had coffee-making facilities other than in the form of caffeine_fairy had a machine which dispensed what was allegedly Gold Blend. Good gods, it was unpleasant. The other alternatives were soup (invariably foul and watery), hot chocolate (invariably watery but often the best of a bad bunch), what passed for tea in the Heart of Gold vending machine sense (before Arthur Dent gave it a good talking to), or whatever you brought in for yourself. I seem to recall I drank a reasonable amount of fruit tea; I may have been on one of my irregular attempts to drink less caffeine...
I don't think we ever had decent coffee. I asked if they could buy FairTrade coffee instead of Mud Blend, and was told "no, it's too expensive".
I should have protested more, but I didn't. There doesn't seem much point now, as we're moving office in a month, and there will be different coffee facilities there.
I think I like where I work. We get free just about drinkable coffee, nice hot chocolate and vile tea from machines; but we also have a terrace cafe downstairs which do lattes and cappucinos and espressos and various good teas, mostly fair trade. Hmm I shouldn't brag should I? (The danish pastries are to die for.)
Can you get just hot water? I've got a kettle in my office, but even if I didn't I could fill the cafetiere from the boiler in the technicians' common room just down the corridor. I have to wash it out and so on, but I'd far rather drink proper coffee than instant.
Well, yeah, but if ICBA to bring real coffee and make my own, then ICBA to bring my own instant, and as it is I haven't even got that far. I am lazy and disorganised.
Besides, if I drank real coffee at the rate I drink the instant muck, I'd probably be dead. Which, on consideration, might be no bad thing.
I've just poured half a mugful of coffee into a mug half full of lime squash. Still drank it, and I think I now have an idea what your coffee/descaler cocktail must have tasted like.
I'm still trying to decide whether or not the descaler was an improvement on the Gold Blend.
We had a kettle at my previous orkplace which always smelt and tasted of rancid TCP. It was a new kettle, and at first everybody said "oh, it's just the new plastic, it wears off after the first few uses", but after a month it was still so bad that I could tell from the smell as the coffee was brought to my desk (we took it in turns to do tea-rounds) if that kettle had been used. I think they threw it away in the end.
I have just eaten one of those Fruit Salad lollies; it didn't go too well with the half of Old Peculier I had for lunch, and I dread to think what effect it will have on the coffee I'm about to go and make.
My coffee machine cost about £1100 ex-VAT (it's the same as the one at the Carlton). We sell coffee at 50p to staff, and about £1.20 to customers. Each day we take about £5 inc VAT on coffee (i.e. we don't sell very many to customers).
Annual ex-VAT income is therefore £1553. We spend £240/year on coffee beans. This means that the cost of the expensive machine has been paid inside a year.
Depending on the number of people sharing the machine, these figures may not work out for you: after all, £3/month isn't very much at all. Would it be worth people paying rather more for coffee in order to have much better coffee?
(I know that in at least one research group at the CL the answer is "yes" and they have a similar machine. It's probably shared between at least 20 people, though.)
I just got back from Finland, where they drink *coffee with cardamom in*. Discovering this was the highlight of an otherwise boring trip, so I brought some back to scare visitors with. Yay for strange coffee.
Coffee with cardamom is great. I thought it was a Turkish thing though? Or maybe Lebanese? Never heard it associated with Finland... still, they're weird over there. :-)
Had it with cinnamon (quite good), but never with cardamom.
Said Nile, sipping his Ritazza House Filter Blend: this week its Java/Sumatra. I've given up on the sludge dispenser, and now I'm recaffeinated by the Staff Caff on the eighth floor.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 01:43 am (UTC)The coffee here sucks SO MUCH. It's not even free. I pay 3 pounds a month for the privilege of topping up the toxins every few minutes with Nestlé's cheapest excuse for coffee. Liberal spoonfuls of sugar do, however, help the medicine go down.
I keep meaning to buy my own and bring it in... maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 01:49 am (UTC)Last place I worked which had coffee-making facilities other than in the form of
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 03:54 am (UTC)I should have protested more, but I didn't. There doesn't seem much point now, as we're moving office in a month, and there will be different coffee facilities there.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 10:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 02:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 03:56 am (UTC)Well, yeah, but if ICBA to bring real coffee and make my own, then ICBA to bring my own instant, and as it is I haven't even got that far. I am lazy and disorganised.
Besides, if I drank real coffee at the rate I drink the instant muck, I'd probably be dead. Which, on consideration, might be no bad thing.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 05:19 am (UTC)I've just poured half a mugful of coffee into a mug half full of lime squash. Still drank it, and I think I now have an idea what your coffee/descaler cocktail must have tasted like.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:09 am (UTC)We had a kettle at my previous orkplace which always smelt and tasted of rancid TCP. It was a new kettle, and at first everybody said "oh, it's just the new plastic, it wears off after the first few uses", but after a month it was still so bad that I could tell from the smell as the coffee was brought to my desk (we took it in turns to do tea-rounds) if that kettle had been used. I think they threw it away in the end.
I have just eaten one of those Fruit Salad lollies; it didn't go too well with the half of Old Peculier I had for lunch, and I dread to think what effect it will have on the coffee I'm about to go and make.
Coffee economics
Date: 2004-09-08 04:41 am (UTC)Annual ex-VAT income is therefore £1553. We spend £240/year on coffee beans. This means that the cost of the expensive machine has been paid inside a year.
Depending on the number of people sharing the machine, these figures may not work out for you: after all, £3/month isn't very much at all. Would it be worth people paying rather more for coffee in order to have much better coffee?
(I know that in at least one research group at the CL the answer is "yes" and they have a similar machine. It's probably shared between at least 20 people, though.)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 05:37 am (UTC)- C.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:11 am (UTC)(Mmmm, Turkish coffee. Chewy. Nice.)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:17 am (UTC)Had it with cinnamon (quite good), but never with cardamom.
Said Nile, sipping his Ritazza House Filter Blend: this week its Java/Sumatra. I've given up on the sludge dispenser, and now I'm recaffeinated by the Staff Caff on the eighth floor.