Any Coffee Lovers???

[alanint]

Here in Miami I can get the best coffee on almost any street corner.

Starbucks and other trendy purveyors of syrup, ('cause it certainly ain't coffee!) have never done well in this town.

We serve REAL coffee here!

[GySgt1811]

Originally Posted by alanint

Here in Miami I can get the best coffee on almost any street corner.

Starbucks and other trendy purveyors of syrup, ('cause it certainly ain't coffee!) have never done well in this town.

We serve REAL coffee here!

Alanint,

One day in 1991 in "Guest Worker Camp 15" (this was about 4 weeks after the cuttin' and slicin' had stopped, I was Battalion OD. (Yes, a Gunnery Sergeant as Battalion OD! Long Story, but I digress.)
A young Latino Corporal from Miami was my Bn orderly. At Taps he pulled out a small metal coffee making device shaped like a fat hourglass. He filled the bottom portion with water and the top portion he filled with a ground coffee his Mama had sent him. It was dark and it was ground as fine as snuff. He screwed that whole contrivance together and placed it over a Sterno stove. When it finished doing its thing he poured each of us a small portion in a demitasse (?) cup and added enough canned condensed milk to bring it to the top. We drank it slow while discussing his brand new baby daughter, Margaret, whom he had not met yet. We finished the coffee and he rolled into his f4rtsack and went fast asleep. I hopped into the OD's Hummer and "toured the Battalion area" for the entire rest of the night! I don't think I slept for the next two days. But, I digress. That coffee (Cuban Expresso?) was absolutely the best I've ever had!

I think I would visit Miami just for the coffee. (Gosh, I guess "Margaret" must be about 23 now!)

Gunny John

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by GySgt1811

...I was Battalion OD. (Yes, a Gunnery Sergeant as Battalion OD!

This was common on Okinawa in 1971. We didn't have enough officers (lieutenants) so SSGT's and GYSGT's stood OD. My LT somehow got the idea that when he was OD I would be happy to be the Duty Driver, and spend the night driving him all over the battalion. Duty Drivers never got ANY sleep. Post inspections, picking up msgs at BnHQ, officers mail call & individual letter delivery (they got two mail calls to our one), picking up midrats at the mess hall, manning the radio/phone (call ins every hour)...Duty Driver sucked the big Juan!!!

Demi-tasse sized coffee...Never had any; but I keep seeing TV news and TV show depictions of Iraqi & Afghani civilians drinking these Barbie-doll-sized cups of coffee and wondering how they keep from just chugging them non-stop until they get 12 or 16 ounces worth...

[GySgt1811]

Originally Posted by alanint

Thanks, Gunny!!

You were treated to the famous "colada", which is served all day, usually in those tini plastic cups hospitals hand you with pills in them, if you are out on the street.
A larger Styrofoam cup is usually sold with a number of tini cups for sharing in your workplace. Someone always brings one in when the pm is dragging. A nice cultural tradition that brings a workplace together!

Alanint,

Do you know what kind of coffee they use?

On a trip to Italy a few years ago Pat and I wandered into a small neighborhood hardware store and, among the wondrous miniature machine tools I found one of the Coffee Makers the Corporal had used in Saudi. In bad Italian and worse English the store clerk (Great guy, but I digress...) explained how to use it without blowing up the stove. I just now went upstairs, dug out the machine, ground up some 8 o'Clock beans 'till they looked like snuff and made me two oz. of the evil brew. Half ' n Half to the top and I'm drinking it now even as we speak. It's great! But not as good as the Mid-night Cuban Expresso of so many years ago. (But, nothing ever will be. Right?)

"Duty Drivers never got ANY sleep. Post inspections, picking up msgs at BnHQ, officers mail call & individual letter delivery (they got two mail calls to our one), picking up midrats at the mess hall, manning the radio/phone (call ins every hour)...Duty Driver sucked the big Juan!!!"

Ain't it the truth! You know, Sheep, we must be twin sons of different mothers. But then most GI snuffies are, right John and Ron? Like my Dad told me once toward the end of his life (Top Turret Gunner, B-24, 50 Missions, Foggia), Son, (he always called me son, when he wasn't calling me something else, but I digress) he said, I wouldn't take a million bucks for the memories I have of those days... but I wouldn't give you a @#$%&$* nickel to do them over again."

The very best to all,

Gunny John

PS. I just finished my cuppa "Kubano" joe and now I have this urge to unbolt the doors from my little long-suffering Escape and "tour the Battalion area."

[Dick Herman]

I LIKE coffee strong, hot, black with no sugar. Years ago after we closed the local watering hole we went to my buddies house for coffee. His family was up watching TV. The coffee was an Italian blend that was rich in flavor, full bodied and ever so strong. When I started my third full sized cup my friends family where afraid that my heart would stop.

I wish that I knew what blend that coffee was.

[GySgt1811]

Originally Posted by Dick Herman

I LIKE coffee strong, hot, black with no sugar. Years ago after we closed the local watering hole we went to my buddies house for coffee. His family was up watching TV. The coffee was an Italian blend that was rich in flavor, full bodied and ever so strong. When I started my third full sized cup my friends family where afraid that my heart would stop.

I wish that I knew what blend that coffee was.

Dick,

I wonder if it was "Illy?" That's the great Italian brand that's ubiquitous over there. I like it, and it can be orderd off the Internet.

Gunny John

[GySgt1811]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

"N-E-S-T-L-E-S...Nestles makes the very best...Choc-late!... <snap!>"...

Or the way I taught my little brothers (And got a whippin' for it!)

"N E S T L E... Nestle's makes you wanna Pee...Choc-late."

Tee Hee

Gunny John

PS. Yes, don't forget the "snap!." That was Farfel's jaws locking shut.

[GySgt1811]

Originally Posted by alanint

Gunny, Cafe Pilon is usually what is served in Miami. Made locally. If it's not available locally, you might be able to find it online. Make sure it is the "Expresso" grind!

http://www.cafepilon.com/en/

One online source:

https://www.javacabana.com/Catalog.c...?aid=JBING2013

Thanks, Alan, I just ordered 2 lbs. of bean espresso!

(Com' oooon Train!)

Guns