Chairman Mao once said that "power comes from the barrel of a gun". In this day and age, absolute power comes the barrel of a financier's pen, even when they're in a right royal mess like they are now.

And we're all…

So have I. More analysis in my other post.

Could you make us an Imperia-list. Just so we know which ones to avoid.

Is that an imperious demand?

Oooh, the power... :)

Perhaps like this from Steeve Coogan against Top Gear’s lazy racism?

That’s some…

Sheez, yeah, remember the last guy who badmouthed imperia around here? I don't even want to talk about what I did to him. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX3KGEjTXXM

That's some a-grade diss right there.

Yes, she hates it when people badmouth imperia. (By the…

Perhaps like this from Steeve Coogan against Top Gear's lazy racism?

Richard has his tongue so far down the back of Jeremy's trousers he could forge a career as the back end of a pantomime horse. His attempt to foster some Clarkson-like maverick…

It's not *what* we're talking, it's *how* we're talking #easeup

Epic slapdown

Oh dear, someone is not going to be at all pleased with the three posts I’ve got racked up to go live tomorrow morning… Is it OK to “plonk” about such trivia as…

If not soberly ;-)

To see this comment after reading recent posts on Emma's 'Giving me grief' this morning, and what that thread has, and will continue, to mean to me personally, and clearly to others here…

I'm going to choose to celebrate the fact that you found the Internet. Welcome, I think you will enjoy it.

Tell me about it, no really.... don't

Not if you count your own labour... hence instant.
;-)

And I've just been reminded who Nathan Field is (been a while) – thanks Danielle. #asyouwere

(You, uh, see the other threads about terribly 'worthy' things like Egypt and the election and whatnot, right?…

Eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w536Alnon24

Yep. That was my pot of home-grown Jersey Bennies too. Just enough for one meal for one! (Probably too hot in Auckers for them.)

Ah, that would be the Standard Cookbook. I've always found them a bit dry.

It's way worse if you've bought dried chickpeas and soaked them.

part of the family

No I had not. And therefore, given the irrefutable confluence between the two, right down to the checking for pulse, I can categorically claim a priori knowledge, bro.

Don't tell me you haven't read this...

Yes, yes, I’m just trying to ride on the coat tails, but that was so extremely awesome, it is definitely worth a revisit. Perhaps there should be a ‘brag wall of extreme…

OMG, I had also forgotten the genius of Stephen's bourgeois legume croquettes as discussed in the Leguminous Ontology Review! I should have that tattooed on me somewhere so I never lose it again...

Us too. But it was really nice to hear them playing live via bFM when we got home.

Happily agreed. I find it impossible to read food/drink related threads here without thinking of it.

Being in management, I can tell you it’s already too late. Who knew? ;-)

[Did you see that coming?]

I rather think that post might be ultra vires.

Yezbut, perception is reality, so I think,…

When I find out what that means, I'll let you know.

You don't miss it until it's gone.

Cue...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK_IyLEo6o4

Actually, left Laneways before they played as my back started to remind me standing up for 8 hours is for the kids.

Best coffee on the day goes to Monteray stand, one of my favourite little Coffee Lounges from Richmond Road.

Laneways this year truly was a…

It doesn't taste like coffee from a fancy roaster or some a priori conception I have of coffee.

The ability to take toilet breaks at will is highly underrated as a job perk, I've always thought.

Curiously, many of the working class people I know avoid coffee altogether. But their reason is usually that they can't just take a piss any time, the way office folks can.

that's enough to count

The cliche'd English working man would avoid coffee altogether, instant or not.

Ginge should probably switch to tea for extra-bonus-class-awareness points. Milk and four, thanks luv.

Still, it's reassuring to know that we'll still be able to get a hot beverage…

As if in order to be sympathetic to the working class you needed to practice an almost calculated lack of refinement and taste.

John Key is waaaay ahead of you then. Oh and me as well, it would seem.
Once upon a time, somewhere, ladling in a lovin’ spoonful of…

it's all in the tamping..

Shouldn't Ginge be more concerned about nouveau riche ladder-kickers? The differences between "latte liberals" and said ladder-kickers are obvious. To name just one…

But....but...HOW CAN YOU STAND TO TALK ABOUT SUCH TRIVIAL SUBJECTS WHEN THERE ARE WORKERS BEING OPPRESSED!

GOD, YOU BOURGEOIS SCUM MAKE ME…

Ah, so you're one of 'those people', who prefers to take it 'straight'. Not that there's anyhing with that, of course.

Good, basic no-frills. no-nonsense, but enormously satisfying when done right.... :)

From Youtube

(EDIT – linking may or may not work – how does one embed now?)
(EDIT – Oh never mind, same as before then)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wic5Mf06SJ0

Drank a bit of that growing up, I had a cup here at one point and it was quite the olfactory blast from the past. Not bad tasting either.

Amazing. Perhaps weirdly my thought was that if ever I were in a position to build my own house, I'd like Barton to design it. It would be nice to…

Until you drink instant you have no right to be left.

Us and them – yeah that's the universal solution.

Or is that darth? Aaaand, Starwars.

It's the circle of life ;-)

Which was a pretty common coffee additive in Louisiana, because they were poor. OMG, did we just get political?

Sure those MPs can and do sympathise with the poor. Just as the liberals on Public Address do.But you’re not living that situation and giving 10 dollars isn’t going to make such people smile.

Oo, I LOVE it when people lecture me about not understanding poverty! I assume most people…

Tee-worthy
(or is that not political enough either)

There's always chicory.

ETA: When you start looking for social commentary in coffee discussions, well, you can join the dottiness.

Perhaps I'm reading it too literally.

As a short black drinker I'm not sure I like your metaphor..

Amidst making some interesting points, an agitated Gingercrush in the Standard's comments will be relieved that chardonnay socialists have finally conceded the beverage's existence, comrades:

And the left and in particular the liberal left really have no fucking clue about how society works. I was reminded of…

The potential has been there for ages, just that many web designers don't bother – just like accessibility features that are often broken in implementation for no good reason.

Grinding beans, dripping fluids, and using your steaming wand until it's hot and frothy.....

Coat, getting, etc

Yes. It's just that I never saw anyone use it. At least, not in Louisiana or Texas.

I discovered this change the other week, as I have to print to pdf web pages quite a bit for my…

Or add a teaspoonful to a chocolate cake!

There's definitely instant in the supermarket. I don't think it can be solely for the benefit of New Zealanders who buy a tiny jar and keep it around for years so they can make that one Alison Holst biscuit recipe. Though who knows.

(I can't find the…

I'm not made of printer certridge ink! :)

Not really. For non-fair trade coffee, much of the increase in price along the production chain for coffee beans happens at the middlemen who buy the beans from the farmers-they’ll pay them…

No instant? Ouch. When I worked in a corporate environment, I got sick of drip pots and instant, and sick of paying for the good stuff downstairs. A one-cup plunger saved me. Then it enslaved me.

Ugandan LGBT rights activist David Kato has just been murdered after winning a court battle against the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone, which had published the names of numerous LGBT Ugandans. For the last few years, Yoweri Museveni's corrupt regime has…

As opposed to potty drips.

[snorkel]

Hi Stephen. Have also been roasting at home for about 18 months, and there does seem to be a lot of variance in the beans. Trade Aid in Auckland sells green beans, and seem to…

What do the locals make their instant with? :)

I remember the opposite experience of the utter novelty of being asked to join the collective teabreak in the staff cafeteria…

To be fair, electric kettles can be obtained. They just don't seem to be common anywhere that doesn't have a critical mass of foreigners.

To be extra fair, my workplace is perfectly supportive of the afternoon…

As others have said, that was perhaps one of the main things that went over Starbucks corporate heads when they entered this market. The visiting head honcho going on about our roasters being sub-par was also…

One thing I noticed when I began doing it was that US-based web sites raved about how much better home-roasted beans were. My observation is that while I can often get results that are comparable…

The existence of good coffee is one thing, its availability in daily life…

Yes, the Italians make excellent wine, as well. There's a saying amongst wine buffs (or snobs, if you will) that the French export all their good wine and drink…

LOL, and only ask for a short black if you actually want Mike Tyson to bash you up.

When in Rome? Fortunately in Rome, the coffee is really good.

Gimme, or Joe. More so Gimme, but Joe gets extra points for having a nearby puppy shop.

But I will repeat the advice I have given…

It will improve your standard of living to continue that practice.

er that you have to push down against – which can be hard to do. The water is being forced through the grinds as you push down, but the fine grind ‘mats’ together preventing relatively easy passage of water.

I prefer a relatively fine grind in plungers, which gives you…

yeah well... 3 adults in the house, all baristas. Gotta focus on the important stuff in life (and feed the delicious addiction)
;)

Is that actually possible? Could you write me some instructions. I know I should. But. I. Just. Can't. Stop.

Mitsy Starion

Daihatsu make a Sirion which can't ever read as anything other than Sirloin .. which makes me think of BBQ

One of the small joys of the holidays was feeling no need to look at…

Ya big blouse. Drink through the pain!

I mean, what could possibly go wrong...?

I recall the House of Brown being mocked for months on Kiwiblog and others for talking about…

Another Lada owner, eh? Despite numerous attempts to kill it, our Lada went 3 times around the clock. Charmless but seemingly indestructible. I sold it to a grad student, who added another…

Espresso Workshop in Manukua Road does a 'Low-tide Flat White'. Or 'hey, did you run out of milk?' Actually quite nice, as stronger coffee flavour, with the lip-lustre effect of smooth creamy milk.

Here's another coffee name.

Decaf Soy Milk…

Several times between cars I've been sorely tempted just by the name. But I don't really need a van.

What a strange name to give a coffee. It's also a strange name to give to a van, but you can forgive them, they were Japanese, famous for their hilarious choices of Anglo names for…

Starbuck’s down-under foray is the Edsel Espresso

Not quite the right reference. Edsel was a failure of marketing, the car itself was OK.

Whereas in Oz and NZ SB fails because the product is not as good as the competition. That's different from the US where SB is better than…

True, I occasionally use espresso-ground coffee by mistake and that's pretty tough to push down.

That's the place, but the name? Lost. The best Oolong I've ever had. I never knew tea could have such a rich taste. It was expensive, though, about twice the cost of all…

....due to the obsessive snobbery involved with hissing, spitting espresso machines.

I have yet to see a barista/coffee machine operator wearing earmuffs – I dread to think what their hearing will be like in a few years time, many cafes I can't abide for the near industrial levels of noise…

Yeah there's an art to pushing it down. Twisting the filter also works, so long as it's in the direction that tightens the rod – the other…

Yes, slowly....pushing too hard can be dangerous, as Ben has described. I've also heard of one exploding, but then I suspect the person doing the pushing was ignorant about what can happen when you compress water in a…

Yes, down Teed street. Darjeeling? Or Orange, something? Was very good. Now replaced by Bambina coffee shop.

I get that too, but I tend to lift the plunger slightly before pushing again. That seems to unblock the filter a little.

Yup, but if it's pushing back, what option do you have but to push harder? You can push hard but slow...but that puts it under pressure, and what I've usually seen happen is the filter twists, unleashing…

Chapter.

Sympathies. But if you ever find yourself lost and caffeine-depleted in Auckland's…

More ChCh props: I've always had great coffee at Ground Floor cafe in Riccarton Rd. Cornershop Bistro in Sumner is also excellent every time. Was a regular weekend haunt of mine. I've had…

some quick notes before sleep:
went tripping round the globe last year, never stepped foot in a Starbucks while in the US. I was…

...ok, yes, ostracise me, sue me, exile me, cast me aside from the richly dark espresso holes in your heart. But I like it.

And one thing that I, as a Wellington civil servant, who lives and works in the city centre has found, over the…

Also far too violent. It's not OK.

That's one reason I go there – they make coffee while you wait and hence you never have to wait that long. At other cafes (e.g. Fidel's) you can sit down and have a random wait of…

Coffee is not about snobbery, it is about drinking stuff one likes, at a convenient location and possibly socialising.

I live near a small provincial town, population less than 20,000.…

Awesome slogan!

And their earnings appreciation is actually largely being driven from their…

Gabe: Well, Sbucks does not use bad coffee, in fact it is still considered specialty because it is Arabica, meaning it is grown at high elevations, and it is from a single-origin. But, by no means does specialty signify “good coffee.” Sbucks has gotten sooo big that…

Mm. Yerp. My mistake....I was totally focussed on the garlic.

I'd be inclined to put quotes around the word in question. But that's just me....

It goes to show that peer pressure often persists long after high school graduation, and by the adult stage…

I recommended the Kiwi flat white as a compelling promotional tool to Fonterra, five years ago.…

Do you mean Espressoholic? Yes, I'm starting to like it more now, especially since they do a bacon buttie with hollandaise & homemade hash browns. The owners really seem to love what they do, and it really…

I'm liking Midnight Espresso even more now that it has moved to Cuba St. The coffee is consistently good – although I they continue to make you wait for…

That coffee place in Chancery Lane was neat:

Number 17, I think... Opposite the original Media Club.

Did the Victorian (cnr Montreal and Oxford Tce)
do coffee – maybe it was Cona or filter...

and what about Leon Langley's
upstairs next to Ballantyne's in Colombo st

@ Marion O
fair…

I rest Gio's case.

Sheesh, next we'll be calling a spud a potato.

Collins (Australian version) says the same. Also, Wikipedia, at least when I looked.

Oooh yes – bought one under protest one time when I was late for a meeting nearby and desperately needed a coffee fix – and assumed they'd…

Writing that, now I recall I…

Which is a shame, as it's quite tasty.