Beverages!
Water is even more of a necessity than food, but we don't give a lot of thought to the various ways we take in water. Obviously the best way is to drink plain water, but most of us drink many other beverages besides water. My favorites are, in descending order, coffee, beer, wine, tea, fruit juice, milk, and soda. And I will discuss each of these in term, in such detail as to bewilder and amaze you. Umm, I mean, it'll be interesting.
Obviously the main factor is taste, but the effect of the drink is also important. Coffee wins on both taste and effect, as I simply love the taste of coffee, but I also find caffeine great when I'm tired. My favorite coffee is Italian coffee, in its various forms depending on my mood and the time of day (espresso is a little strong for waking up in the morning.) Good drip (American) coffee is great too, but it's also far more likely to be terrible, and I only really drink it black. I'd argue that if you add milk and sugar to coffee, it's because you don't want to taste the coffee.
Beer runs a close second when compared to coffee. Drinking a beer in the evening is a great way to relax, and drinking a few with friends is also great fun. Beer is a lot more varied than coffee: there are even some beers that taste like coffee, and beers called "espresso stouts." So while I wouldn't get bored of drinking coffee, I can't try new kinds when I want something new. My problem with beer is that it makes me more tired, and I'm tired often enough that I find coffee much more useful. Besides, I've never puked from drinking too much coffee.
Next on my list is wine, which I also really like, but that I don't drink often. I drink a fair bit of wine at home, where my parents often drink a good wine with dinner. In fact, I think wine is the best accompaniment to most meals, although German cuisine often goes great with a good beer. The fact that it's stronger, in terms of taste and alcohol, and comes in larger bottles than beer makes it good to share with dinner, while beer isn't often shared. (40s are an exception, as drinking a 40 on your own is a cheap and disgusting way to get drunk.) Drinking a bottle of wine on your own is generally a bad idea, as it's a lot to drink and causes bad hangovers.
Tea is the world's favorite drink, consumed around the world be every culture I can think of. The taste of teas varies considerably, with smokey, dark teas like lapsang souchong, lighter, slightly spicy teas like rooibos, herbal teas like chamomile, and fruity teas of all kinds. I find that even given this variety, no tea comes close to replacing coffee as my favorite morning drink, although it's tempting to replace my water consumption with tea. You can drink tea at any time, and unlike coffee where only small quantities are healthy, most teas can be drunk in large quantitites while still being healthy. And if I don't feel like coffee, tea is a great substitute. It's also great just to be able to try all the different kinds of tea that there are, although unfortunately my favorite black tea, Assam, isn't easy to find outside of tea shops. Tea's also great when you're sick, which is why I've had three cups of it today.
Last on the list are fruit juice, milk, and soda, which I rarely drink. Fruit juice is great, since it's healthy and tasty, but I tend to get tired of one kind quite quickly. Milk is also healthy, and fairly tasty, but I disagree with how it's produced, and I get tired of drinking it really quickly. Soda is an interesting case. I very rarely drink soda, although I have friends who drink it all the time. It's not healthy, and I find it has too much sugar and too little caffeine to enjoy its other effects. It's only selling point is taste, and since tastes are established in childhood, I have to wonder why parents don't restrict soda consumption like mine did.
You know, I'm not entirely sure why I write posts like these, categorizing aspects of my life. Obviously, I analyze all kinds of daily phenomena, but I surprise myself with how systematically I describe things that many people don't give a second thought too. Most people think "I hate math" or "I love big dogs, little dogs not so much." They might go on and think "Math is boring and useless" or "coffee is bitter and gross, Pepsi is delicious", but ranking and explaining my beverage choice is something only a scientist would do.
