Tag: drinks

Decaf Coffee

I used to call decaf “what’s the point” coffee … because the whole point of my coffee consumption was staying awake on as little sleep as possible. Since I’ve cut back on work hours (a.k.a. set some boundaries), I had stopped drinking coffee. But I really like good coffee. So I got a bag of decaffeinated coffee from the grocery store. Strange experience from the last time I got a bag of coffee — now, half of the coffee section is Starbucks which I don’t much care for, at least 3/4 of the remaining bags were ground … which struck me as strange because the whole bean coffee is going to keep much better. And there was only one whole bean decaf option — a $22 bag that seemed like a lot of money for a pound of coffee. If we use this whole bag, I’ll probably buy a bag of whole bean decaf online.

Switchel (a.k.a. haymaker’s punch)

We made switchel today — it’s a quick drink to cook up, but it takes a while to cool off. A couple of cups of water in a pot, add in a cup of maple syrup and 1/2 cup of grated ginger (we used a large microplane grater). Simmered it for ten minutes, then pulled out the ginger pulp and drained it into the pot. More water was added to make one gallon of water, and a cup of apple cider vinegar was added. This cooled it off enough that it could be transferred into a container and refrigerator. When serving, we add extra water because it’s a little powerful and not well balanced. Next time, I think we’ll use the same ingredients but get close to 2 gallons of water.