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Wellness Wednesday for November 16, 2022

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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In this post, @Walterodim confessed to his coffee and whiskey habits, which got me wondering:


How does The Motte enjoy its coffee and whiskey?


Coffee

I prefer buying fancy, freshly-roasted light roast beans and doing a pour over in a Chemex. I grind my beans in a DeLonghi grinder (middle of the road quality wise), put the grounds in an unbleached paper filter that has been rinsed to remove the papery taste, and then pour hot water (slightly cooler than boiling) from a gooseneck kettle over the grounds. Then I drink the coffee black, in silence, while it's still piping hot.

These days I've moved to a place where I can't get good beans at an affordable price, so I often get mediocre stuff and put a splash of milk in it to take the edge off of some of the less appealing flavors.

Occasionally, on Saturday morning or during holidays, I'll make myself an Irish coffee. I make a cup of coffee, add a shot and a half of Tullamore D.E.W. Irish whiskey, whip some cold cream with a cheap little milk foamer, and then pour the cream over the back of the spoon so that it settles on top of the coffee. These days, since it's autumn, sometimes I'll sprinkle a bit of brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the cream. It's a nice little treat for a lazy morning.


Whiskey

Ah, the water of life. I prefer Irish whiskey and Tennessee whiskey. I usually have a bottle of Red Breast 12 for sipping, Tullamore for mixing (or for my second glass), and then Four Roses as a "multipurpose whiskey." I like to drink my whiskey neat with a small splash of water. I used to make old fashioneds, but I don't feel that they're much of an improvement over just drinking the whiskey neat (and I'm lazy).

When it gets cold, I like to make a nice hot toddy with some cheaper whiskey. I boil some water, pour it in a mug, stir in a bit of lemon juice and honey and add a shot or two of whiskey. I like to use a covered Miir mug because it prevents the drink from cooling down too quickly as I sip it. This is one of my favorite winter drinks.

I'm not too picky with coffee. I'll sometimes add almond milk/honey.

I enjoy Rebel Yell for whiskey, although I do like Irish. Know any good relatively cheap Irish whiskey?

Tullamore is not bad, about $20 a bottle where I live. Writer's Tears is also pretty good and not much more expensive. I don't like Jameson, I think it's overpriced and just rides on name recognition like Jack Daniels.

I wouldn't really go cheaper than that since below that grade of whiskey the quality really drops off and you start to get really flat, boring, and/or astringent stuff. We probably have some whiskey snobs floating around here who could give some more interesting recommendations.

Hmm didn't realize Tullamore was so cheap I'll check it out.

Tullamore Dew was my favorite in grad school. The store by my apartment stocked it on my recommendation, actually. The owner hadn't heard of it, but since I was asking for it by name he asked if it was a great whiskey; my response was "no, but it's a good whiskey at a great price". Since those days my wallet has gotten fatter and so have I, so optimizing price-per-volume isn't as important, but I'll probably get some again one of these days for sentimental reasons.