Quick question for Americans!

Feathil
Feathil Posts: 162 Member
in Chit-Chat
This is a silly question, but in the way that jelly is jam and cilantro is coriander, I've been wondering.

When you say you put cream in your coffee, is it actually cream?? Or is it milk?
In coffee chains it's sometimes an option to put whipped cream on top, but I assumed that was with ice coffees or fancy concoctions, but it's been bugging me... does coffee and cream always really mean cream?
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Replies

  • jessicae1aine
    jessicae1aine Posts: 885
    A lot of people use creamER in place, which is a thinned-out, frequently flavored version of cream - or is sometimes non-dairy in it's entirety. I don't drink coffee, myself.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    It means anything other than black. So "cream" can cover fat free skim milk all the way up to half and half which is practically cream.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I used flavored creamers - my favorite: http://www.coffee-mate.com/Products/italian-sweet-creme.aspx#7fe43966-07cf-465b-82ec-51c7f1d4c0c0
  • crrc78
    crrc78 Posts: 207 Member
    my parents are huge coffee drinkers (i've never had a cup in my life), but they always ask for MILK instead of Cream... in general, it seems like any sort of lightener is referred to as cream, but if you don't actually want cream, you need to specify what you do want. I ordered an iced coffee at dunkin the other day for my husband and said "milk and sugar" and they responded "milk? not cream?"... I guess Americans are so indulgent that they assume the worst.
  • EmCarroll1990
    EmCarroll1990 Posts: 2,832 Member
    Yes it does. Cream means cream and milk means milk.

    Oh, but this is coming all the way from Canada.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    No, coffee with cream does not always mean cream. I usually tell them what I want in my coffee instead of trying to guess what is in what they make. I don't get the whipped cream either. I just want my coffee!
  • Jugie12
    Jugie12 Posts: 282 Member
    Cream would refer to actual cream, as far as I am concerned. I prefer low-fat milk if I need it. Generally, I use a powdered "creamer."
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,788 Member
    At work, it's non-dairy creamer. On the weekends, at home, many times it is Whisky and Irish Cream.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    Jam and jelly are not the same thing.
  • mariposa224
    mariposa224 Posts: 1,241 Member
    In the US, it really does seem to refer to any sort of lightener, as others have said. If you actually want milk, though, as some have also said, you should ask for milk. :smile:
  • CandeesLand
    CandeesLand Posts: 200
    When I want milk in my coffee I ask for that. When I use flavored creamer, I call it creamer or coffee creamer. I almost never use actual cream (1/2 and 1/2, whipping cream, etc) in my coffee, but if I did, I would ask for it. But I'm from Wisconsin, the dairy state, and we care about these things. :wink:
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,021 Member
    If you have 2 containers of half and half, does it make a whole?:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

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  • RobinShay
    RobinShay Posts: 53 Member
    There is also "Half and half" half cream and half milk. I use that.
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
    Cream can mean creamer, half and half, milk or evaporated milk.

    "Do you want cream?"
    "yes"
    "what kind?"
    "Milk!"

    silly yanks.
  • jeanholly
    jeanholly Posts: 12 Member
    I always have to specify milk when I don't want cream. Seems to me that most places automatically serve cream or those little creamers.
  • tamiehelt
    tamiehelt Posts: 8 Member
    As an American, my impression is that it is anything other than black; cream, milk or non-dairy creamer. I say 'with cream and sugar' but typically use milk rather than 'cream'.
  • skinnybearlyndsay
    skinnybearlyndsay Posts: 798 Member
    Jam and jelly are not the same thing.

    ^^this. Here, jam is more fruit-based while jelly has fruit in it but has a jello-like consistency and is more processed (for the most part) than jam.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    jam and jelly are not the same thing:

    In jelly, the fruit comes in the form of fruit juice.
    In jam, the fruit comes in the form of fruit pulp or crushed fruit (and is less stiff than jelly as a result).
    In preserves, the fruit comes in the form of chunks in a syrup or a jam.


    For my coffee: cream is cream (and can come in heavy or whipping), half and half is half and half, milk is milk (and can come in whole some low fat % or fat free. Whipping cream is made from taking a beater and whipping whipping cream (although you can make it from heavy cream, and you can also make it using a pressurized can but beating the **** out of it is the best consistency).
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    It means anything other than black. So "cream" can cover fat free skim milk all the way up to half and half which is practically cream.

    And some people put actual cream in it. And some have whipped cream on top. And some like their coffee Irish, which means a different kind of cream. :-)
  • ZugTheMegasaurus
    ZugTheMegasaurus Posts: 801 Member
    It's generally shorthand for anything that's used as a lightener in the coffee. I used to work in coffee shops and a request for cream had to be followed up with the question, "What kind?"

    And it's funny, your point about jam vs. jelly has been the source of many arguments between my boyfriend and myself. I'll say something like, "Do you want jelly on your toast?" and he'll respond, "Eew, no, I want jam." At which point my head starts spinning around and I start shooting blood out of my ears and screaming, "THEY'RE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME THING AND YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. DO YOU WANT A CONCOCTION OF CANNED BOILED FRUIT PRESERVED WITH SUGAR SMEARED ON YOUR TOASTED BREAD OR NOT?" Seriously, I can't tell the difference; does it really matter? :laugh:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    You might enjoy this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/583230-english-to-usa-translations?hl=english+to+american
  • blonde71
    blonde71 Posts: 955 Member
    It means anything other than black. So "cream" can cover fat free skim milk all the way up to half and half which is practically cream.

    ^^^^This. "Cream" is just a generic term, that's all.
  • felice03
    felice03 Posts: 2,644 Member
    Jam and jelly are not the same thing.

    this! thank you!
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
    I don't know anyone who uses actual CREAM but I do use creamer. Non-dairy flavored substitute...
  • rileamoyer
    rileamoyer Posts: 2,412 Member
    All of the above and it may even depend on the part of the country you are in. :wink:
  • Briski1411
    Briski1411 Posts: 296 Member
    :tongue: This is the concensus, and I completly agree. Cream in coffee is anything but Black coffee. Whether it is dairy, liguid, or powdered, powdered sugar, regular sugar or even whip cream, whipped milk. I don't care how you do it just lighten that coffee up make it sweet and then add some extra caffine i.e. expreso.:drinker: I like my coffee like I like my women Light and sweet!! :laugh:
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    I guess it really depends on the area you are from.

    Cream does NOT mean "any kind of lightener".
    Cream means CREAM. At coffee shops, you say cream and you get cream, no questions asked. It's actually "light cream", 30 cals per tablespoon, mostly fat.
    If you want half and half, you say that.
    If you want whole milk, say that.
    If you want skim, say that.
    Do NOT expect to be asked "what kind".... if you say cream and meant skim milk, you are in for a surprise!
    And if you want whipped cream on top of something, you say "with whipped cream on top", or you don't get it....it is SIMPLE, people!!!

    why do some places make it so difficult?
  • asaw00
    asaw00 Posts: 1,904 Member
    I guess it really depends on the area you are from.

    Cream does NOT mean "any kind of lightener".
    Cream means CREAM. At coffee shops, you say cream and you get cream, no questions asked. It's actually "light cream", 30 cals per tablespoon, mostly fat.
    If you want half and half, you say that.
    If you want whole milk, say that.
    If you want skim, say that.
    Do NOT expect to be asked "what kind".... if you say cream and meant skim milk, you are in for a surprise!
    And if you want whipped cream on top of something, you say "with whipped cream on top", or you don't get it....it is SIMPLE, people!!!





    ***like****
    why do some places make it so difficult?
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    Jam and jelly are not the same thing.

    I think the OP was referring to Jam in the English usage, in which case it is pretty much the same as Jelly in American English.
  • Feathil
    Feathil Posts: 162 Member
    Yeah, I'm from Ireland. Only place I ever heard about peanut butter and jelly was from Barney, and the idea of it creeped me the hell out!

    TKiUf.jpg

    Anyway, WOW. Cream seems like the kind of thing we'd only see in a restaurant on holiday, so it's like once a year thing. I thought half-and-half was about the percentage fat of a milk, somewhere between full and skimmed. And I have no clue what a creamer is! Haha. Amazing. When American chains come into Ireland, the main difference is having a hundred choices that you have to rattle off for your order :D

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