In my youth, I drank lots of tea (just regular old Lipton) with sugar. Plus Pepsi and root beer, sometimes Dr. Pepper. As I got older it was more soda than anything else, which I eventually converted to diet (in my 20s). I also started drinking coffee in my late teens, though not with any regularity, maybe if we went to breakfast or something, or McDonald’s if I was driving somewhere (back when it was so hot it was still drinkable an hour later!). (This is before there were Starbucks on nearly every corner; coffee shops were diners and cafes.)
As I got older I started brewing coffee at home and drinking lots of those gallon jugs of Arizona tea, refrigerated and over ice, of course. By then I didn’t drink hot tea as much; primarily when I had a cold as it was more soothing on a sore throat than coffee (and this is still the case). In my 40s I started drinking more and more water and weaned off the diet sodas and added Starbucks to the coffee mix. Coffee was a staple with some creamer and sweetener; in my 50s I weaned off those additives and just drink black coffee. (Curiously, at least to me, once I went to black coffee I found I liked it
stronger than when I adulterated it.) Today I drink water and coffee, a lot of water and probably too much coffee.
What prompted the post today in resurrecting this old thread was that I’ve been sick for about ten days and my throat finally felt up to some coffee. That first cup after ten days was really, really tasty.
And every time I’ve ever seen this thread it always reminded me of a routine Paul Reiser did long ago (around the time of “Mad About You”), and I went and found it on YouTube for my friends here.