My Continued Bumbling Attempts At Making A Proper Cup of Coffee

         This one is about caffeine content of a cup of coffee and megadosing on caffeine by mistake. One side effect that I didn’t expect from being overcaffeinated is that it seemed to hold hunger or appetite at bay for a long time. After all caffeine is a main ingredient of some if not most diet pills.

          I've always been poor at math so I'm not suprised that I have been miscalculating my caffeine intake since I bought my automatic drip coffeemaker a couple of weeks ago. When I drink instant coffee, I usually put a heaping teaspoon into a 22 oz. mug of hot water which is equivalent to 3 1/2 - 6 oz. cups. A heaping teaspoon may contain 100 mg. of caffeine at best. When I brewed my first pot of coffee, I double dosed by using 6 heaping tablespoons of coffee in about 24 oz. of water. For simplicity's sake, let's just say I correctly used 6 flat tablespoons. The normal caffeine content of a cup of coffee is about 100 mg. If I drank the whole 24 oz. pot (which I did), that would be 4 cups x 100 mg. = 400 mg of caffeine. Double dose would make it 800 mg. in one sitting. No wonder I became intoxicated on it! A week later, you'd think I learned my lesson, and in a way, I did. I only used 4 heaping tablespoons. If my calculations are correct, 24 oz. of that would contain roughly 532 mg., still a megadose of caffeine. And of course I was feeling queasy after that one too.
          Another thing I tried on that last pot was adding a pinch of salt to the coffee grounds to cut the bitterness. It didn't seem to make a heck of a lot of difference on the cheap coffee I used. This week, Ralph's grocery store has a special on a can of Don Francisco coffee at $4.00. Is that a good brand, or should I go with Dunkin Donuts coffee which I have a couple of coupons I can use to get the price to 5.99 a bag? I know for sure that Dunkin Donuts coffee is very good but the way I've been bumbling my way around the coffee pot, I don't know if that helps me make a proper cuppa joe. I may be the only person who can make a simple task such as brewing coffee be so complicated. I admit it. My coffee IQ is very poor.

Here are my other two posts about coffee:

Wired on Starbucks

and

Intoxicated on Caffeine (My First Brew)

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Intoxicated on Caffeine (My First Brew)

Last year, I wrote about being wired on Starbucks (http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2011/02/wired-on-starbucks.html), which is still getting a lot of hits on this blog. That is not due to the quality (or lack thereof) of my writing but rather due to the popularity of Starbucks worldwide. This post is about being wired on cheap coffee.

All these years I never felt the need to buy a coffeemaker because I only drank instant coffee at home. A few days ago, the first ever automatic drip coffeemaker – Mr. Coffee, turned  40 years old and that got me interested in finally trying one out. Of course I’ve used those machines before at work but never had one of my own. I was walking around a store and visited the home appliances department and spied some coffeemakers. I checked the prices and they seemed reasonable but I held off for another day due to the want/need debate in my head. I ordered it online at night for pick up the next morning. It was just one of those 5-cup deals. In addition, I also bought a can of coffee called Master Chef which was the cheapest one on the shelves, even cheaper than the store brand. I just wanted to use it as a starting point so I can compare it to the brand names later.

Upon arriving home, I took out and read the instructions, washed the decanter and filter basket and attempted my first home brew. Hmmm, that first cup tasted a little too bitter. I thought I followed the recommended measurements but it turned out too strong due to me not reading the instructions back to back. Instead of measuring the coffee in level tablespoons, I measured them in heaping tablespoons. For one thing, here are some discrepancies: 1 U.S. cup = 8 oz., Master Chef coffee cup measurement = 6 oz., and Mr. Coffee measures it at 5 oz. I could almost feel my hair standing on end just after a few sips. With the heaping tablespoons, I must have taken a hit of at least double the recommended dose. If there is such a thing as caffeine drunk, well, that’s how it felt because I wasn’t only feeling wired, I was also feeling a buzz which lasted for 7 or 8 hours. Much later in the evening, I felt dizzy, nauseated, and lost my appetite. I don’t know if that was related to being overcaffeinated or what, but it felt terrible. I had to force myself to eat some instant noodles late into the night because I hadn’t eaten since noon time. Fortunately I also had some lime soda which helped me burp because I didn’t have any antacids around.

So there you go. That was my body’s reaction to my first home brew of super strength coffee. While the cheap coffee turned out too bitter, I think it would have been okay if my measurements were correct. However since my coffee overdose, I haven't had a cup in two days so I can get decaffeinated and detoxified. 

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