Coffee vs. (black) Tea (social anthropology)

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EmmaFitzwilliam
EmmaFitzwilliam Posts: 482 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Occasionally I go Out For Tea to a Tea Shop (which makes a bit of an "occasion" out of tea, as opposed to a store which sells only tea, or a shop which offers tea and sandwiches but no ambiance), and when I do, I have no trouble pairing sweets (and, of course, scones) with the tea.

Day to day, however, I find that if I drink tea, apart from a now-past tendency to over-indulge in a certain brand of tea biscuits, I really am not keen to have much in the way of desserts/snacks with the tea.

If I drink coffee, on the other hand, I find that the idea of most desserts/snacks seems more palatable with coffee. And the scones go equally as well with coffee as with tea. :)

Also, since I drink my tea with 1/2 oz milk, and my coffee with 1 oz half and half, I know I'm looking at a 25 calorie differential right off the bat.

Today, I chose the tea over the coffee, both for the 25 calories and because the tea biscuits I currently favor (only 32 calories for two!) go better (to my palate) with coffee than with tea.

Has anyone else observed something similar in their experience?
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Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    No--I drink both coffee and tea black and I never particularly want sweets with either. In fact, one helpful use of coffee for me is when friends get sweets after dinner at a restaurant. I can sip coffee instead. When I pair a beverage with sweets it is coffee that I prefer, though. I think it's all about habit--if coffee for you has traditionally come with a sweet, then it will be hard to break that association. For me, coffee traditionally comes by itself or with breakfast more often or not (I eat savory breakfasts), so no strong sweet association.
  • phantasmagical
    phantasmagical Posts: 66 Member
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    I tend to drink a strong hit of coffee in the morning with stevia (a new development; it used to be cream and as much sugar as I could reasonably justify...and I'm an expert justifier), and then drink tea throughout the day. I rarely pair my tea with anything, but if I do it's usually some kind of cookie.

    Those tea biscuits sound great...what kind are they? :)
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I don't discriminate...if there is caffeine in it, I'll drink it. However I like coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon and at night. I don't like flavored teas or coffee. I like my tea black and my coffee creamy. I don't require anything sugary with either, but I'm most likely to eat something sugary with coffee. Probably because I like sweet breakfast foods from time to time.
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    I use half & half in my coffee (50 grams) and none in my tea. I don't typically have any food with either. Coffee is my morning indulgence and I don't eat breakfast until about an hour later. Tea is either in the late afternoon (black) or in the evening while I wind down from the day (herbal or no caffeine). My little rituals for drinking these beverages don't include food so I don't associate it with them. If your calories permit then rock on and enjoy your scones! :smile:
  • EmmaFitzwilliam
    EmmaFitzwilliam Posts: 482 Member
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    The 16 calorie tea biscuits? I warn you, they're tiny. Like 1 inch by 2 inch rectangle tiny. But at 32 calories for 2, they're just enough of a cookie that 2 satisfies the need. They're called Kedem tea biscuits. I found them in the International aisle of my grocery store, or with the Kosher foods.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    I love tea!
  • awesomewastaken
    awesomewastaken Posts: 92 Member
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    I hardly ever drink coffee. For some reason, as weird as it sounds, it has always made me incredibly sleepy. So now I only have it if I really-really miss the taste and don't have anything important planned. Otherwise it's (green) tea all the way.

    But I've never had a habit of eating something with my beverage (unless I'm having a meal, that's a different story).
  • phantasmagical
    phantasmagical Posts: 66 Member
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    Thank you EmmaFitzwilliam! Sounds perfect. :)
  • moraiwebird
    moraiwebird Posts: 71 Member
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    Tea for me, please! Unless it's bagged. Then coffee.
  • missomgitsica
    missomgitsica Posts: 496 Member
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    I can't eat anything with tea or coffee, I think of the drink as the treat.
  • ShibaEars
    ShibaEars Posts: 3,928 Member
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    I do like to have tea with something sweet. I find it's not drinking the tea that makes me want sweets, but if there are cookies/cake around I will make tea to have with them.
  • EmmaFitzwilliam
    EmmaFitzwilliam Posts: 482 Member
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    It's not really an either/or question. I love both.

    But the idea of donuts and tea, for example, seems weird. Donuts and coffee seems perfectly normal.

    Scones, for me, go with both coffee and tea.

    Cake? Coffee.

    Pie? Maybe tea; definitely coffee.

    Pudding? Neither, most likely.

    Cookies? Coffee.

    Maybe it's American acculturation. There isn't a strong tradition, as far as I know, of cakes or cookies (as opposed to tea biscuits, which are very different!) in Britain, so foods I think of as "not British" don't go with tea (for all that scones go perfectly fine with coffee).
  • grandmamere
    grandmamere Posts: 155 Member
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    Coffee is my thing with 1 tbsp of creamer. I've just stop using sugar since my creamer caramel macchiato (yum) is sweet enough for me. I have decaf with the same creamer for dessert too.... I do love ice tea, especially Starbucks iced green tea smile:
  • rbfdac
    rbfdac Posts: 1,057 Member
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    I have never in my life desired to pair a food with a hot drink. I LOVE coffee and like hot tea, but can count on half a hand how many times I've eaten something with it or dipped it in.
    Maybe it's a Southern American thing, I'm not sure, but we don't often see people eating sweets, or really anything, with their coffee or hot tea. Granted, there's the whole "donuts and coffee" thing, but I don't think I've ever seen anybody do this aside from breakfast time. Coffee is either with breakfast, alongside food and cold drink like orange juice or a drink by itself. Same with tea.
    I usually have a cup of tea or coffee in the evening before bed (decaf) as a relaxing treat.
    It's interesting, the differences you see in cultures.
  • rbfdac
    rbfdac Posts: 1,057 Member
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    missomgitsica wrote: »
    I can't eat anything with tea or coffee, I think of the drink as the treat.

    Just saw this--- my thoughts exactly (as stated in my post above)
  • EmmaFitzwilliam
    EmmaFitzwilliam Posts: 482 Member
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    rbfdac wrote: »
    I have never in my life desired to pair a food with a hot drink. I LOVE coffee and like hot tea, but can count on half a hand how many times I've eaten something with it or dipped it in.
    Maybe it's a Southern American thing, I'm not sure, but we don't often see people eating sweets, or really anything, with their coffee or hot tea.
    (snip)
    It's interesting, the differences you see in cultures.

    Absolutely. Even in different regions within the U.S. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and have lived on the West Coast almost my entire life - I spent 3 years in Britain, and less than two years in Texas (and the first year I was still in school and so not attuned to the coffee/tea:food issue), so I may have a very skewed perspective. In my experience, food isn't dipped or dunked in coffee, per se, but coffee is used more to clear the palate for the next bite.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    EmmaFitzwilliam wrote: »
    It's not really an either/or question. I love both.

    But the idea of donuts and tea, for example, seems weird. Donuts and coffee seems perfectly normal.

    Scones, for me, go with both coffee and tea.

    Cake? Coffee.

    Pie? Maybe tea; definitely coffee.

    Pudding? Neither, most likely.

    Cookies? Coffee.

    Maybe it's American acculturation. There isn't a strong tradition, as far as I know, of cakes or cookies (as opposed to tea biscuits, which are very different!) in Britain, so foods I think of as "not British" don't go with tea (for all that scones go perfectly fine with coffee).
    similar.... I'd add that I'll drink tea with my ice cream- but I prefer my dinner decadent treats with coffee the heavy rich flavor counters the sweetness nicely.
  • FenTiger89
    FenTiger89 Posts: 49 Member
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    I definitely think it's a cultural thing. My mum was English, and we lived there for several years when I was growing up. Coffee - maybe a donut or a breakfast type pastry. If you had (hot) tea, you had biscuits or small slices of cake - Battenburg, sponge cake, etc. Even after living in Georgia for 30 years the same holds true. I've ingrained this into my Michigan-born husband to the point that he expects Rich Tea biscuits with his evening cuppa.
  • EmmaFitzwilliam
    EmmaFitzwilliam Posts: 482 Member
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    Rich tea biscuits were a part of my downfall! I love the Pally's with my tea. Tragically, at 54 calories each, they pack quite a wallop, and worse when you have (as I would) up 3-6 a day. :blush:
  • grandmamere
    grandmamere Posts: 155 Member
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    EmmaFitzwilliam wrote: »
    Rich tea biscuits were a part of my downfall! I love the Pally's with my tea. Tragically, at 54 calories each, they pack quite a wallop, and worse when you have (as I would) up 3-6 a day. :blush:

    It appears that this "habit/ritual" can be maintained on your MFP log. If you love it so much then allot it/them in your meal plan.

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