Coffee has many different effects in people. I have drunk coffee since 5 years old or sooner just like everyone in my family. For me coffee has always been relaxing and makes me sleepy. For one of my friends it produces diarrhea.

A glass of cold water on the rocks, or taking a nap and waking up just before falling in deep sleep is the best way for me to stay productive

A question for the Americans -- on American TV, I always see people in diners being served drip coffee and being asked if they'd like cream with it. Earlier in the thread L.Spiro used the term "Creamed coffee" to refer to "white" coffee.

What is this? Do you really put cream in your coffee? Maybe we have a different definition of what cream is?
The main choices in Australian supermarkets are:

• "cream" is like milk, but thicker, sweeter and fattier. You'd never drink it by itself, but you use it for cooking, and serve it with desert (e.g. apple pie with cream poured over it).
• Thickened cream is the same, but fattier, and is what you'd use for whipping.
• Double-cream is super fatty, not at all a liquid any more, great served with cake.
• Sour cream has a thicker consistency than thickened cream and is used in cooking or as a sour condiment.
• Milk is what you drink (alone, or with flavoured powders dissolved), what you pour on breakfast cereals, and what you put in your coffee.

For instant coffee or drip coffee, you'd just pour in a small amount of plain milk. For espresso, you'd ideally heat the milk with a steam wand, giving it a better texture and taste, and turning some portion of it into a foam.

I tried using regular "cream" in my coffee once after hearing Americans talk about it, and this just resulted in a milky coffee with a layer of separated fat floating on top (like a milky coffee with melted butter). I've experimented with mixing about 10% cream with 90% milk, and it works well. Do you have special "coffee cream" that's very thin and milky like this?

For one of my friends it produces diarrhea.

I'm surprised no one mentioned poop effects yet
Studies have shown that it doesn't quite have a laxative effect, but that in a certain percentage of people, it actually simulates the bowel muscles within about 15 minutes of consumption, which can help in "keeping you regular". However, due to it's dehydrating effects, it can also cause the opposite condition - constipation!

It's funny you should say that. I was quite excited about moving to Melbourne, as I've been in love with coffee for decades and had always heard that Melbourne was great for coffee.
I was very disappointed that it took me over a year to find a place that made good consistent coffee, and living and working in the CBD, I was able to try one or two different places a day.

At least you can try a different coffee place each day! There's a lot of choice when it comes to cafes, and most of them have pretty decent baristas, so there's a lot of competition that keeps the price down. $2.50 for a good cappuccino is a world apart from the $4 weak-espresso-and-burnt-milk "cappuccino" I used to get when working in the Sydney suburbs
And there's endless places to get large quantities of freshly roasted beans for cheap too! Or snobby places to get expensive speciality beans if you're into that kind of thing.

When I was with Big Ant, their office was right above Degraves Street / Centre place, which had some consistent baristas.

After, I thought about what he said and I bought 1 or 2 cans of coffee and drank them all at once. Shots are always more powerful than slowly drinking.
And then I slept at the office for about 1 hour anyway.

That's not a good idea.
Drinking 1 or 2 beers reduces inhibition and promotes social conversation... so downing 10 beers at once should make you a conversational master! In reality it makes you slur your words, act primitively and lose consciousness
IMHO to promote alertness, you should maintain a low dose of caffeine in your system. The effect will also be very mild, so you may not even notice depending on your tolerance.
If you have a very high and sudden dose of caffeine, you'll feel weird for a little while (acute forms of the overdose symptoms), and then you'll "crash" with an onset of mental fatigue.

As for taste, I imagine that the Japanese canned coffee is probably on par with instant coffee... I wasn't game to try it when I had the chance
If you ever visit someone who has their own espresso/steam machine and they offer to make you a coffee, give it a go to see if you enjoy the taste.

-=[ Caffeine Prayer ]=- 7/99

(
) (
____.....(.-------)-......____
.--"""` ) ( `"""--..
.-'``'|`--..__ ) __..--`|
/ .--.| ``"""----.............----"""`` |
/ / | Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze. |
| | | It maketh me to wake in green pastures: |
| | | It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses. |
| | | It restoreth my buzz. It leadeth me in the |
| | | paths of consciousness for its name's sake. |
\ \ | Yea, though I walk through the valley of the|
`\ `\ | shadow of addiction, I will fear no Equal. |
`. `\| For thou art with me. Thy cream and thy |
/ /| sugar, they comfort me. Thou preparest a |
_/ / | carafe before me in the presence of The |
jgs (__/ | Starbucks. Thou anointest my day with pep. |
| My mug runneth over. Surely richness and |
_..---""`\ taste shall follow me all the days of my /`""---.._
.-' \ life, and I will dwell in the House of / '-.
: `-.__ Mocha forever. Amen __.-' :
: )``"""-----.........-----"""``( :
'._ `"---.....____ ____.....---"` _.'
\""--..__ ````` __..--""/
'._ ```"""-----.......___________.......-----"""``` _.'
`"""----....,,________ ________,,....----""""`
`"""----"""`