Sure I have. Just if you're drinking out of such a bottle, you tend not to recall the details of the related evening.

And often wake up with questions such as 'Where am I?' 'What happened?' and 'Why am I in a bathtub filled with ice?'

Here's how it breaks down: Generally speaking, the Americans view beef as two ends of a spectrum, where on one side there is tenderness/preparation, and the other side is ease of preparation. The most tender and flavorful cuts of beef also tend to be the ones that take the longest to prepare, as they have much more harder fat or connective tissue, or come from a muscle that gets a lot of work. The basic axiom is fat=flavor. As a result, they must be cooked for a long time to turn them into melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. Think of a stew that has been simmering all day, or short ribs that have been braised for a few hours.

On the other side of the spectrum, cuts without a lot of fat or connective tissue (think a strip steak or sirloin) can be quickly cooked and remain tender enough to eat, but don't have near the flavor of the slow-cooked types of beef. Also, the longer you cook them, the tougher they become, because the muscle fibers contract quickly and don't have the collegens and fats to break them down.

Therefore, in this country, our culture has told us that quick cooking is primary, THEN you go for flavor. This is why the tenderloin is so popular, because it is a very lean piece of meat, but is super tender because it is a muscle that doesn't get much of any use by the animal. Flavor is pretty good, especially in Prime grade, but IMHO does not hold a candle to really good slow cooked meat. I'll take braised or BBQ any day of the week.

As for the preparation, honestly, its not that big of a deal. A trained chef can break down a whole tenderloin, including the silverskin, in about 15 - 20 minutes. The chain was originally a butchers cut (the cuts that the butcher would keep for himself), because its not a single piece that can be turned into steaks. They make some of the most amazing cheesesteaks, though.

My god! Alton Brown, you play Shadowrun?

In my campaign that failed, the major Mr. Johnson decided to reward some 'Runners with some Megalodon that he caught himself when "He needed to make himself scarce from Seattle for a bit".

A few games before that, they met on the docks, to see him boarding a big fishing ship that was loading depth charges.

He's also been in my stories, and describes one of his "Hunting Rifles" explicitly, a Holland & Holland Double-Rifle in .600 Nitro Express.

No, but I did go through culinary school before that episode aired, so I pretty much knew it all anyway.

When I eat out I one always hit every restraunt that worth hitting and tend to only eat that I couldn't cook my self. Unless some on else is paying or its some guys party I cant be a git then.


I would have to say in that situation I'd raise my voice. Then I'm that kind of person not a mega rich follow the trends type.

It depend's chain wise coffee varryies but I've been in places at least for me an expresso addict that chain coffee is nearly always better. Still coffee chains in the UK don't seam to charge much more that other places of quaility they just up the cost of everything bar the coffee by 100-200% I'm talking £3-5 for a shit sandwich.

Coffee is tricky because of freshness issues at every step. Green beans last a few months, once roasted they are best withing a about a month, once ground they are best withing 20 minutes, and of course every one knows how brewed coffee goes bad fairly quick. My brother works in a coffee shop (read total coffee snob: occupational hazard) and they really do try to use it up after a month. Thy take the old beans, grind them up and put them in cold water over night to cold brew the beans to make chilled espresso drinks. It is a cool way to use up any coffee beans you need to get rid of. Tastes good. There are so many ways to make the coffee too. French press tastes grate because of sub boiling water temp and longish brewing time (4-5 minutes). Espresso of course is very different and requires special equipment. Plus there are a tun of verities. People go on about the all the different after tastes. I can't taste them but I do notice a difference in bitterness, and sourness between different kinds. But fun fact 1 in 4 people have more taste buds than the rest of us. So maybe some people really can tell the difference. But you definitely can't taste the subtle flavors if you put any sugar or cream in the coffee, which is fine. Sugar and cream is delicious. Also I honestly think star bucks coffee tastes weak (Frag it. Am I a coffee snob?).

I drink Coffee without addatives almost exclusively, there is a serious difference between Colombian, Sumatra, Costa Rican and Kenyan

Even within Kona, there is a big difference between the good stuff and the cheaper stuff.

Yeah when looking for a coffee, not for a caffeine fix. I tend to use the sent of the coffee places as a guide. You can tell if they are fresh roasted ect or how old also long as its not a starbucks they pipe in a lot of places some wired coffee smell. No you're not a coffee snob you are on the same par as me someone who knows enough and can tell by taste what you like. Though tbh I wouldn't mind more coffee snob knowledge.

Best coffee I've ever had is at Pilot. The worst by far, Starbucks.

My theory is truckers want coffee with maybe some cream and sugar. Coffee house goers seem to order more creams sugars and other flavorings than actual coffee, so when the coffee is week old and burned to a crisp from sitting in the pot too long and someone not knowing the difference between roasting and burning. Least that's what I've noticed from when I was in college and tried starbucks thinking if all they do is coffee it must be good; and traveling too much.

Psh. There's tons of coffee worse than Starbucks.

Three words: Jamacian Blue Mountain.

I'm not taking out a personal loan to buy coffee.

Agreed but the worse coffee that is sold as quality I'd have to say is Starbucks. I'm partal to what ever beans Costa use for expresso though that's also due the the proximity of a Costa on my way any place.

Besides, *now* the trendy thing is pre-digested, post-shat coffee. Who knows what it'll be next.

stale 3 day old re heated crap?

I know the type they're talking about. Kopi Luwak, an Indonesian coffee brewed from the partially digested beans that civet cats eat and poop back out. The partial digestive enzymes apparently really bring out the flavor.

Whoever is marketing this is a genius! Why? because people are buying it! I wish I was awesome enough to sell people actual crap to consume.

Honestly star bucks probably tastes weak because that IS what most people like. Coffee is to bitter for many people. Also the funky flavored coffees do taste good, like candy, but I like candy. Who doesn't like candy?

Also I don't get the bad stuff enough to know the good from the bad.
Also I don't drink the good stuff all that often. Bad for your heart you know.


Some one already is. And they are selling it for $100-$600 a pound.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak


Also I know someone who tried to buy "moose poop in a bag from Alaska" there were multiple bids on ebay and he lost to some other guy who really wanted his moose poop. I don't know what he wanted to do with it but one can make ridiculous speculations. It is funner that way.

That's the stuff, Doc. Good times.

Indeed, Badmoodguy88. People buy it because they *like* it. People also *like* McDonalds.

I don't like candy. I like coffee. I know I'm a sick individual; I blame math and physics.

The beer line raises my hackles. Beers have just as much variation as cheese. Perhaps more simply by including the Belgians.


BlueMax

Random Coffee fact, it's not a bean at all, it's the pit of a coffee fruit. Starts round and splits in half while being roasted. The Coffee plant grows wildly in North East Africa and Yemen, everywhere else that grows coffee has had plants originally from those places transplanted.

You may now spend Karma to improve your Knowledge: Coffee Skill by 1

you should now sepuku.

A few comments from someone who roasts coffee

Green beans can last up to two years fresh, If you have the right natural environment. Think cool, steady coastal fog and so on. (Testing has shown that vacuum bags and freezing can take greens to 4 years , or
longer. Test in progress) If you way way way inland, then you may be screwed.

Coffee Varietals are just like Wine. Region, farm, time of harvest. Roasting varietals, called single origin in some aspects of the trade, is a trip. There is a certain Guatemalan farm whose coffee oscillates from deep choco flabor to roasted nut. We get beans from them every year and our customers can't believe its the same farm ( they still like it)

@Stevebugge. Not all beans split. Look up Peaberry. Some coffee nuts claim they taste very different but to others, its just a visual defect.

About Starbucks: Some of their coffees aren't that bad... the thing is nobody orders coffee. They offer one of those fat and sugar drinks with hints of caffeine in the background.

As for the old bean tricks, I say: Mocha, latte and so on. If you are burying the flavor, use the old baggy beans.

BlueMax

Tanzanian Peaberry is one of my favorites, but it's propensity for not splitting is something of an anomaly I believe and also the result in a lot of cases of harvesting the immature fruit accounting for it's generally milder flavor and softer acidity in relation to say Keyan AA

What scale do you roast on? Personjal Use, Boutique Commerical, Starbucks uses Drones so we know it's not that large (unless you're actually an AI)

*Summons force 9 beast spirit with an unusual optional power.*
"Greeting noble beast I am honored by your presence"
"What great task have you summoned me to perform?"
"Eat this bag full of ripe coffee beans."
"Coffee beans?! But am the mightiest of beasts!!"
"Exactly, if the Asian palm civet can do it then so can you! We'll sell the crap for ¥1000 a pound easy."
-20 minutes later-
*a glowing one foot tall pile of beans with it's own mana warp*
"Excellent!" *deranged laughter*

And I thought a Ganger eating a bunch of Blueberry Magical Refined Reagents was a bad idea...

I love how this derailed. From soy to enchanted spirit crap....
I'm sure some some is selling refined coffee beans. They'll have a following too rare expenceive and magic wtf more to the rich need?

You know, some folks just might go after edible Magic Reagents because they're "Magically Delicious".

You know that that needs?
to be posted like this:
You know, some folks just might go after edible Magic Reagents because they're "Magically Delicious".

that, and a more aggressive wilderness. When one have birds that can grab whole cattle, things start to get complicated and expensive to maintain.

yea, sure, one could hunt them to extinction, but then there is the militant environmentalists to deal with. The ones that can whistle up a air spirit that can drop a tornado in places where such a thing was unheard of before the awakening (heck, the real life near-militants on both sides of the norwegian wolf issue worries me sometimes). End result is that if you want range fed cattle, you better be willing and able to maintain a small army to protect them.

Heh. Whoever told you that was either pulling your leg or trying to purchase filet mignon off of you for cheap . It's actually the most expensive cut of meat you can buy here (with picanha being a close second).

Out of that list Boutique commercial. Its just hard to get a variety of light roasted beans. Even here at the port for 90% of the worlds specialty beans. Sad really.

But my customers are happy, we love what we roast and well, its fun.
Order of 30 lbs a month.

Starbucks has some great people who learned from Mr. Peet. What did they learn? if you roast it to ash, you can buy crappy beans.
Funny thing though, that wasn't what Mr. Peet was teaching.

BlueMax

Yeah, a lot of Brown's stuff a good coook already knows but he's fun.

I agreed with the sentiment that the VITAS and Euro-wars had so drastically reduced the population that we wouldn't be doing with out food, soy and krill are standards from the dystopian cyberpunk which SR sprang from and it seems to be a beloved hold over.

Some of the more tender cuts of meat, like fillet mignon, are not necessarily the most tastey.

As for the idea of overhead adding to food costs, supposedly, again per Bourdain, the mark up on food is really slim, the big money is made on the drinks.

Quoted for Truth... this is so right!!! I personally do not actually like Filet Mignon... I know, that might make me wierd, but there you go...

It's telling when they have to wrap it in bacon to make it sell.

Everything is better with bacon. Even dark chocolate.

DOUBLE POST NOOOOOOOOOO

Psh. Don't like it? Or don't prefer it above other cuts? ;D
Anyway, I'll take your filets if you guys are too good for them. Hehehe.

When it comes to flavor, I prefer Ox tail. You just have to be ready to put the hours into it.

In game, its all about the Stuffer Shack. My characters never plan on living that long anyway.

BlueMax

at the end point perhaps. but there is a chain at work, and if the input is expensive (because of time pr amount, risk and resource requirements) it will register higher up, no matter what markup the end restaurant would like to put on it.

My apologies. I meant in terms of cost differences there isn't much. I can get excellent microbrews for maybe a buck more than the lesser stuff. So obviously I can go for the good stuff more often when its available. Beer is kinda odd that way, unlike other things with huge variations in price, the cost difference between good stuff and bad stuff, isn't very much. I don't have to pay 10, 15, 30+ bucks a pint to get a really good beer.

There's probably several factors in lay there. In my opinion the most prevalents are two :

- beer still has an image of a poorman's drink, something the food snob wouldn't be caught dead drinking - it's prole stuff at least image-wise.
- it can't be stored and aged like wine, which curbs the costs down : storing a bottle for 50 years gets expensive.

Cheaper ingredients and bigger batches/higher production volume. I don't think it's the 'poor man's/no snobs' thing, in general.

I wouldn't mind trying a Sink the Bismarck.

I used to work at the Caffe Appassionato at Fishermans Terminal back in the late 90's when Dan Donahoe was still the head roaster, very good coffee and a nice variety of light & Dark Blends and Varietals. Since Vita hired Dan away the newer blends & roasts haven't been quite as inspired but the quality is still good.

The limited edition and reserve micros are staring to get up there though, this past winter I saw several 22 oz. limited edition beers north of $10 each. There is a yawning gulf between the prices of plebian beer (Thin Yellow Brewed by the Millions of Barrels) and Craft & Micro Brews, you can frequently buy a halfrack of the plebian beer for less than a 6 pack of a good microbrew. Of course in Washington state our strange liquor laws may be really distorting the market too.

I think US Laws prevent that. Seeing as you're drinking polluted water, really.

I mean, even Canadian Light Beer would be considered "Malt Liquor" under US Laws. And we don't even have that high an alcohol content!

Really depends on the brewery type now, the laws loosened up a lot in the late 80's. The Big Breweries haven't changed because their business madel; is based on mass producing flavorless beer at a low cost. The regional craft & microbrews offer some beers that are very high alcohol, some varieties stronger than 10% Alcohol by Volume. Malt Liquor is more of a branding gimmick now.