Drinks questions for Drew and Monte

[Robusto]

Drew - What was your tea, and where do you get it from, please?

Monte - I've looked for 'Blue Mountain' coffee that you have recommended. I presume it's Jamaican. Where do you buy it, please?

[Drewmidorn]

Bewleys Irish Breakfast! You can get it online and sometimes it turns up in Waitrose and the like. Its easy to get in Ireland! lol and Funnily enough its the only decent tea bag i could get in the states. Not ridiculously expensive. Its just a really tasty version of English Breakfast tea.

[Robusto]

I'll look in Waitrose next time, Drew. I had a look round Sainsbury's in my town last night but nothing.

I left with a box of Twinings 1706 (strong traditional tasting tea) and am drinking a mug now. It doesn't come anywhere near their Assam (which beats all the other mass-produced bags hands down in my mouth).

I love Assam with or without a Havana. Preferably with, of course.

I shall hunt your recommendation, mate. It's very rock n roll.

[Deano]

Guys look for Brewhaha Earl Grey - think Waitrose have started to stock up on it. It's a perfect Early Grey for a cigar.

[Robusto]

I'll try that on your recommendation, mate. I've always found Earl Grey too perfumed for my taste as a drink on its own, but I've never tried drinking Earl Grey with a Havana.

I've got some Earl Grey tea bags in the cupboard. Sainsbury's, I think. I might try a couple of cups with a PUNCH PUNCH before I go off to set up for our function gig later this afternoon.

A new taste sensation.

[Montesmoke]

Drew - What was your tea, and where do you get it from, please?

Monte - I've looked for 'Blue Mountain' coffee that you have recommended. I presume it's Jamaican. Where do you buy it, please?

Hi Bry i used to buy from a small shop in sutton, they have now closed down, but you can get it online do a U.K. google search (Blue Mountain)
yes its jamaican.
Even try Ebay i think they do it on there.

Regards
Monte

[Robusto]

Thanks, Monte. I will look that up.

Deano - I had a mug of Earl Grey with my Punch Punch and it was a great pairing. I was surprised because I never drink Earl Grey because of the powerful taste of bergamot in it.

I shall keep exploring tea combinations. The Earl Grey seemed to cleanse my tastebuds and enhance the taste of the cigar.

Assam always works for me in a very different way. It is - I think - closer to the taste of a good Havana cigar. It is a strong, dusky tea and seems to amplify the taste of a good strong smoke rather than cleanse the palette (sp?).

I'm not very good at describing tastes like this, but I do like to try different combinations.

I love experimenting like this. It's civilised, and it confirms my love for good stogies.

I was recently asked to proof read and critique a young guy's first attempt at fiction writing through a musicians' forum I contribute to. It was a pleasure - and actually a privilege to be asked.

I write about cigars on that site whenever smoking is discussed, and particularly when folk have a pop at smokers. I "declare" my opinions loudly on that forum.

I suggested meeting up for a pint so I could give him his script back, and he has asked me to introduce him to smoking cigars when we meet for the first time. He isn't a smoker, but because I've written about cigars quite a bit, he wants me to give him a sort of "teach in" about cigars and get him going on them!

I was a bit surprised, but flattered. I will eventually report back about this surreal herf!

I'm quite pleased to be getting another muso mate off the cigarettes and on to cigars. The chap I'm thinking about here came round last week and we both smoked a D4. He was in seventh heaven and is going to be a card-carring cigar man soon, I feel sure.

I feel a quiet duty to get smoker mates into the real leaf lol.

[Olls]

Hey Robusto,

As you know I'm a bit of a coffee fiend so I thought I'd just chime in on the Blue Mountain (JBM)...

I get my coffee from a couple of great online suppliers - Has Bean Coffee and James' Gourmet Coffee - you'll find them if you do a Google search and I'd happily recommend either of them. I know that Has Bean definitely has JBM and I would guess that James' does too. Has Bean roast to-order and James' batch roast so your coffee is never more than a couple of days old when it arrives.

The key to great coffee is to use fresh beans, say within two weeks of roasting, ideally, and to grind the beans fresh for each cup. So if you're ever looking to massively improve the quality of your coffee then invest in a good burr grinder. I got my brother one of the Dualit ones for Christmas for about ?50 which is a good starting point.

I've only ever had JBM once because it's pricey and not good for espresso (which is what I mainly drink); it's a very delicate, subtle coffee so I'm not sure it would be ideal with a cigar (but then, I don't know that much about cigars). I had some Ethiopian Harrar with my R&J Short Churchill on Friday and it went down very well - it's got some really nice winey/dark chocolate flavours in there.

Sorry but I do tend to go off on one when it comes to coffee so I hope it was useful. I'm far from an expert but if you have any coffee questions then fire away and I'll do my best.

Olls.

[Robusto]

Olls

That is really helpful. Thank you!

I know some freshly ground coffees go wonderfully with a good cigar, and I shall note your suggestions for ones I haven't tried for future reference.

It's great that we share ideas like this. Even if I don't order straight away, I will come back to posts like this. Especially when it's holiday time again from my day job.

Really appreciated, mate.

[Olls]

No probs, you're welcome.

Much like you and your quest to convert your cigarette smoking friends I'm always happy to extoll the virtues of quality coffee, or anything really.

[shed17]

An interesting and rare coffe is the civet cat one, cannot remember it proper name.

Very expensive and quite light. I bought it just to try after I read about the beans

[Olls]

You're thinking of something called Kopi Luwak - the raw coffee cherries are eaten by Civet Cats and processed naturally through their digestive systems. It's hugely expensive because the droppings all have to be collected by hand to get the beans.

By all accounts it's not a great coffee - the Cats aren't that discerning and will eat any kind of coffee, good or bad! Good novelty value, though.

There's a similar coffee produced by the Jacu Bird in Brazil and the quality is supposed to be better because the birds will live on a particular farm and therefore only eat that coffee.

[Wildwood]

Great.

Does anyone remember SmokieJoe's poo picking escapades in darkest Devon...seems this sort of thing is going on worldwide. I had no idea.

I will look at my children's nappies in a new light!!

Wildwood

[shed17]

You're thinking of something called Kopi Luwak - the raw coffee cherries are eaten by Civet Cats and processed naturally through their digestive systems. It's hugely expensive because the droppings all have to be collected by hand to get the beans.

By all accounts it's not a great coffee - the Cats aren't that discerning and will eat any kind of coffee, good or bad! Good novelty value, though.

There's a similar coffee produced by the Jacu Bird in Brazil and the quality is supposed to be better because the birds will live on a particular farm and therefore only eat that coffee.

Thats the name!

Expensive and not something that I have bought again.