Coffee, Tea or Wine? And a story to share

[mikotyk]

While all of us are sitting at Tom’s imaginary table, I was wondering what everyone would be drinking? Those of us in America seem to be very fond of coffee while people in England and Europe seem to love their tea, although there are those of us in America who prefers tea to coffee. Then, of course, there is wine, which I think everyone loves.

I spent a lot of time in the US Navy (nearly half my life) where we would drink coffee by the gallon and it is made so strong that you could stick a spoon in it and it would stand straight up.

This brings me to my sea story.

I was once deployed aboard a destroyer-tender (which is basically a floating gas station with a garage for repairs) called the USS Yellowstone. We were coming home from a long deployment to both the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. As the ship’s only weather forecaster, it was my job to prepare the morning briefing for the Captain. One particular Sunday morning as I slowly dragged myself up the ship’s ladder to the chart house behind the bridge, I happened to see Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Walsh coming off of the bridge. CWO Walsh had been in the Navy for nearly 30 years. He was as crusty as a crab and I fully believe that there was more salt in this man’s veins than there was in the sea. Popeye is a cartoon character but if he were a real person, CWO Walsh would be him. The man even walked slightly bow legged. As I approached the door to the chart house the most awful smell hit my nose. At first, I thought that the smell might have been CWO Walsh (who wasn’t particularly fond of bathing and who always smelled of fuel oil – even in his civilian clothes) but I was wrong. Apparently, somebody had left the coffee pot on the burner behind the bridge on all night and the coffee in it had burned in the pot. It was an incredibly foul smell. As I held my nose, I walked past CWO Walsh and said hello to him. He gave a gruff “hey there weather guesser, what’s new?” as he went to the coffee burner and picked up the pot. To my horror, CWO Walsh then proceeded to pour this oily, black foul smelling concoction into his very brown stained mug (which may have been as old as CWO Walsh). As the last of it oozed into his cup a large clump fell into it and splashed the mixture over its side and onto the deck. I gagged as I watched this and warned CWO Walsh, “You aren’t going to drink that, are you sir?” He nodded his head and said, “Hell yes. It puts hair on your ----“ as he then proceeded to down the entire mug of black gunk right there in front of me. After he was done, he smiled and said, “tastes good” and then he turned and walked back onto the bridge.

I haven’t drank a cup of coffee ever since.

[biddenden_sue]

What a wonderfully horrific story! I wonder what CWO Walsh is doing now, or if he has gone to that great coffee pot in the sky!

Yes, indeed, if I were sitting at Tom's table, I would be sipping tea, although I will indulge in a glass of dry white wine after the hour of 4pm (never before).

I do like coffee, but only extravagant coffee house concoctions like a single shot vanilla latte with cinnamon sprinkled on top, so I rarely drink coffee at home, because we don't have a decent enough coffee maker to satisfy my tastes! My absolute favourite indulgence is a Christmas special served at Starbucks - their Gingerbread Latte - I go weak at the knees just thinking about it. YUMMY!

I wish I had an equally enthralling tale to tell, but I don't, so I'll pass the tea pot to the next person and await the next post in this thread with interest.

[madgoth]

It will always be water for me. I don't have to have trendy bottled water, or flavored water, but I do like it cold. Tap water chilled in the fridge is how I normally go about it.

I do like coffee and iced tea. Hot tea sometimes. I want to love beer and wine etc., but it puts me to sleep. I will indulge in an occasional margarita, but I am usually sorry afterwards.

[tracy]

:D its got to be coffee for me dont like tea.and with melloew birds coffee when i go to see tom and i stay in a hotel i have to take my melloew birds with me and long life skimmed milk as i dont like any other .as for alcoholic drink it has to be barcardy and coke. it use to be cider. i like lambrusco but it has to be my b and c

[dustybird]

Well, for me it's unsweet ice tea in the summer and English Breakfast tea in the winter. And it"s Bill Miller unsweet tea being from San Antionio. But the best drink is hot tea in the winter and I can never make as good as I had it in England...I don't drink wine dustybird

There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. ...

[Mouser]

Ew! Why do some guys have to eat or drink disgusting things to show how tough they are? Well, it does make a good story.

I drink mocha. That is, I have some coffee with my hot chocolate! I make my own as I am too cheap, er thrifty to buy fancy ones. I can only have one or my anxieties flare.

If it's hot, cool water or a good lemonade do the trick. And a good lemonade is tart and made from real lemons.

I don't care for wines that are too dry or too sweet. Red wines make me flush. My favorites are White Zinfandel and a good German Riesling. Yum and good for when the anxieties are acting up.

[mikotyk]

[quote="Mouser"]Ew! Why do some guys have to eat or drink disgusting things to show how tough they are? Well, it does make a good story. :D [/quote]

You have me on this one. I saw my wife eat a squid once which I consider a brave thing to do. You'd never see me eat one of those. I'm not sure why men do some of the things we do. It might be a primitive desire to outdo our fellow males to win the hand of some maiden or could it just be a lack of bloodflow to the brain? Personally, there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity and we males cross it quite often.