memebag

Full city roast: It's a medium roast. Coffee beans are like popcorn, with some water trapped inside that makes them expand, only they "pop" twice. Full city is after all of the beans have "popped" the first time, and are about to start the second "pop" (called a "crack" in coffee roasting lingo). Second crack gets into dark and espresso roasts, and the flavor of the beans becomes overpowered by the flavor of the roast.

I'm not disrespected by anything anyone drinks. My coffee taste evolved over time, in tiny steps. Well, buying a home coffee roaster was kind of a bigger step. But over decades of drinking coffee with breakfast, I've found my favorite kind of beans, my favorite roast, my favorite brew method, etc., and it's not too time consuming or expensive. About twenty five cents per cup (green beans are cheaper than roasted beans), and about thirty minutes of time each week monitoring the roast, which I can do while I read a book).

Coffee beans are the seed or pit of a fruit, called a coffee cherry. The cherry flesh has to be removed from the bean. Most coffee is made with a "wet process", where the cherry is soaked in water, then crushed between rollers to split the cherry from the bean. Ethiopian coffee uses the dry process. They spread the cherries on a rack and leave them in the sun to dry. While drying, the juices of the cherry soak into the bean, giving it tart flavors like lemon, cherry, strawberry and blueberry. They aren't overpowering or artificial, just hints on top of the base coffee notes. It was a revelation the first time I experienced a medium roast, natural process Ethiopian coffee.

Sir Richard Francis Burton, the legendary 19th century British explorer, wrote about the wonders of coffee from Harrar in Ethiopia. It's where coffee was first domesticated, so they know what they're doing.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

I got new docs today with this new address for Adventure of the Seas on 11/14:

Texas Pier Terminal Texas Cruise Ship Terminal of Galveston
Island - Pier 10
1402 Harborside Drive Galveston, Texas 77550

27 minutes ago, drjohn4 said:

Same as >95% of other water venues in the US.

And that's why I only swim in my own pool.

My daily coffee is either Sidamo Guji or Ethiopian Harrar, both natural process, bought as whole, green beans. I roast them in batches of 12 ounces (just to full city roast, just as first crack dies down) so the roasted beans are always between 2 and 12 days old, stored in special containers that allow them to outgas CO2. I grind them immediately before brewing. My water is a consistent 212F, and my drip brewer simulates a pour-over. It's the best coffee in the world.

I fully expect to hate the coffee on my first cruise, much as I hate coffee almost everywhere except my house.

I'm sailing on Adventure of the Seas out of Galveston on 11/14/2022. I got my documents today, and they say we are boarding at terminal 2, which seems to be the old terminal. I was hoping we were using the new one.

2 hours ago, Zacharius said:

 

9 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

None can deny it.

An island is land that is surrounded by water. That makes all the land on earth “islands”. A peninsula of an island is still part of an island.

36 minutes ago, mistertomatohead said:

If I could get 200 points for a free cruise with just being down $100 that's very lucky to me.

At 1 point per $5 bet, with a payout of 85% (found via a Google search), it would cost an average of $150 to get 200 points via slot machines.

I'm sailing on Adventure in 56 days. If the worst that happens is a stray shrimp tail, moldy display food, and staff who don't seem phased by that, I'm OK.

If you're properly camouflaged, how can they even tell you are there?

11 hours ago, Al Miller said:

They need to figure out a better way to reward table players. Seems you only get credit for money you initially exchange for chips. Like if you buy in for $100, hit for $500 but end up playing it all back out in the same session, you only get credit for the $100 toward points. You do that at slots, you get credit for playing all $600. You are better off always quitting when you get a little bit ahead at tables, exchanging for cash, and then buying back in if you want to maximize points from table games. Big Pain in the butt IMO.

That's all true, but I bet they make more from slots players. They may not want to encourage table play.

15 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

When you hit 2,500 points you need to notify the casino host and they’ll sticker your card and you get free drinks in the casino for the remainder of your cruise.

Do you not get free drinks while gambling in the casino anyway?

I just got back from a trip to Las Vegas and discovered the same thing about desert air.

3 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

Slow your roll, all this means is Cafe Promenade will be using Starbucks beans.  If you want a Starbucks Machiatto or Frappuccino, you still need to go to the Starbucks kiosk, and those are not included in your drink package.

And Starbucks coffee beans are not something to get excited about. They are notorious for roasting all the flavor out of them.

This is fascinating. I love reading health inspection reports for local restaurants.

Does anyone know why there aren't any RCI reports on that site after the pandemic? February 2020 is the most recent one I can find.

2 hours ago, BB1 said:

Quick question.  What has happened to the Uber rates from the cruise  terminal?  I see $240 to go to Hobby and $320 to go to Bush . Why so high and will  this persist? It doesn't seem to be a good option anymore.

It depends on when you are going, Lyft and Uber raise prices when demand is high. Right now (10:30 on a Sunday morning), Lyft charges between $50-$200 to get to Hobby. $50 is standby, $200 is premium deluxe. Lots of options around $100.

39 minutes ago, Squid said:

I don't follow the logic in your response. 

At any point of any day currently, you could 'maybe infect' someone.  

In western society we are back to normal, with few exceptions such as hospitals and medical facilities, where a mask is now thrown-on out of courtesy more than the belief it'll stop you infecting anyone.   

Once you have your vaccine and boosters, it's as good as it's going to get, and it doesn't matter if you share a sauna with the unvaccinated.  The risk is on them, not you.  

However, if I was an insurance company I wouldn't cover anyone who hadn't been jabbed, certainly not for cruising.  

 

Guilt, the emotional response, may not be logical.

It's true, we are all potential vectors all the time. But going on a multi-day cruise is different from other activities. The evidence right now suggests omicron BA.4 and BA.5 are eluding some of the antibodies produced by the current vaccines, so just being up to date on your shots may not mean much right now.

Given that, I want to know if I'm carrying Covid before I get on a cruise. I don't want to infect other people, and would feel very bad if I did.

For a November Adventure of the Seas five night cruise, I bought the DBP plus VOOM for $89/guest/day during the July 4th sale.

I just checked and that's still the price, after the July 4th sale ended.

10 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

What's your source on that?

https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/98632

13 minutes ago, danv3 said:

To question #1, yes, just as I "roll the dice" every day when I go to work, Target, etc.  

To #2, no, if I was not feeling sick, boarded the cruise, and then later found out that I was infectious, I would not feel guilty.  

If I decided not to test, not knowing would be my fault. I would definitely feel guilty.

38 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

I would not feel guilty if I went on a cruise feeling perfectly healthy.

About 60% of the spread of Covid-19 comes from people without any symptoms. Maybe you didn't know that. Now that you do, you know that a 15 minute test can let you know if you're infected, and the US government is making a lot of those tests available for free. So there's no reason to go by how you feel.

35 minutes ago, danv3 said:

I'm legitimately confused/amazed that nearly 30% of people claim that they would voluntarily test themselves for an infection, at cost to themselves and risking their entire vacation, when not required to do so and not experiencing symptoms.  

So you would roll the dice and maybe infect other people just so you could go on vacation? You wouldn’t feel horribly guilty if you found out later that you may have been the vector?

14 minutes ago, starbrat said:

Do you test yourself before you fly or before you go the Disney World or before you walk into a concert or your stay t your hotel. No! Wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious? The reality is No no one tests these days for it. Only cruising is being harassed and its absurd! We should not have to test to get on a boat!  if you don't have to test to get in a tiny airplane and sit like sardines for a few hours with recirculated air. We should not have to test to go on a cruise. 

That depends. If we're in the middle of a big outbreak, like we are with omicrom BA.5 right now, and I'm going to be indoors, close to a lot of people, then yes, I will test myself. I don't know if I'm contagious without a test, since Covid-19 can be asymptomatic.

I don't want to harm other people.

9 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

If I am feeling healthy, not really.

I never used to test myself for any other diseases/illnesses just to see if I had them, not sure why I would want to with this one going forward.

Because it's a pandemic on a scale not seen since 1918 and has killed over 6 million people.

14 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It’s not bad if I was driving to the port. But link in air+hotel, I find it stressful having to cancel all that at the last minute.

I should clarify that it’s not the testing itself that I find stressful, it is the possibility of testing positive two days before. 

This is the bit I don't understand.

Regardless of the cruise line policy, wouldn't you cancel if you were contagious? And wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious?

5 hours ago, CharmMicah68 said:

If you are someone that WON'T cruise if RCCL drops VAX Mandates and Testing protocols/restrictions....what metrics with the virus or conditions would have to exist for you to be comfortable with NO COVID protocols/restrictions?

If sailing out of Galveston, I would feel safe if this viral load percent was below 5% and steady. Right now it’s 843% and rising.

Houston Wastewater Viral Load