Poland-Tea or coffee land?

Like most things in the PRL coffee was.... kind of available but often hard to get and definitely taken for granted as something that was always on the shelf.

That's one reason Inka aka 'kawa zbożowa' (grain coffee) was a thing then. To me inka tastes like weak coffee mixed with tea.... but like many poverty foods some developed a taste for it and it's still available.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inka_(drink)

Me too, if I'm not at home using the machine, and even then, sometimes. It's properly brewed that way, and if milk or cream is added, always seems to make even the cheapest coffee taste luxurious.

Coffee here is certainly not a 'posh' thing at all, especially made like that. You'll find 'parzona' coffee being made on every building site.


This is true. Mostly I think imported from Brazil. Poland has a few big coffee roasting plants that were open right through the PRL years. The one in Poznań is huge.

Nope. In times of the most severe crisis of early 1980s, coffee was rationed and even that wasn`t enough to fully satisfy the demand. That is why communists propagated Inka - coffee substitute made from roasted chicory roots.

It is amazing that it is still produced today. Various kinds. E.g., coconut. Amazing. I love capitalism.

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Inka as coffee substitute. Is it vegan? It woul'd be a hit by proper adv. And it is Polish. I like capitalism too. For ex..pl the best sparkling wine i Germany is Rotkäppchen and it is old brand from East Germany.

have you tasted it? Like I said back in #31, it tastes like tea made in a cup with coffee grounds... not a fan.

What about the rest of the time? I know enough older Polish people who remember drinking coffee. They used to buy coffee beans and grind them - and these were just ordinary people, not especially privileged with 'contacts' or buying from the black market.


People didn't regard Inka as any form of coffee.


People often retain a nostalgic affection for the taste of food and drink that they associate with their past.

Another name for it is "kawa zbożowa".... Inka was the most famous brand but there were others too.


It was kind of like meat, sort of available but often hard to find and often saved for special occasions. It wasn't a standard daily drink for many/most people.

According to the Oracle - Mr Atch :)) - he is puzzled by the narrative that coffee was a luxury or in short supply because during his childhood he never observed any shortage of coffee. In his own words 'it was a bog standard thing' routinely drunk in most households. He says that it was always coffee beans put in the grinder and that he never remembers seeing packs of ground coffee. Could it be that ground coffee was a luxury and the 'raw' beans could be purchased? He says he never saw his mother or grandmother without their coffee cups and cigarettes. He says he recalls such things as citrus fruits and chocolate being a rare luxury, but never coffee. He says Inka was not drunk because of coffee shortages but as a kind of 'decaff coffee'. He lived in Mazowieckie. Maybe it's a regional thing?

What decade are we talking about? Is he (are you) older than I'd imagined?

The rest of time was OK and coffee was expensive but available (beans - I remember my parents grinding them in a special mixer from East Germany). I corrected you about early 1980s, before and after the martial law.


Yes.


Yes. Most people didn`t drink 3, 4 cups per day like some do today coz there wasn`t enough coffee and it cost a lot.

Here's something about the coffee roasting plant in Poznan. Opened 1973.
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poznańska_Palarnia_Kawy_"Astra"

Among other things, it says that during the 70s and 80s, Poland roasted 25,000 tonnes of coffee per year, a third of that in Poznan.

Talking about coffee in communist times, one thing should be mentioned - a packet of coffee was an attractive present or even a bribe, sometimes better than real money. When it was unavailable in regular shops, one could buy it for hard currency in Pewex shops which sold foreign goods but Polish ones, too.

One day my parents got a can of foreign Nescafe and later, since my early childhood, I could see that can standing proudly on display in the kitchen. For decades. :):)

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As I was young in communist times in Poland it was usual to drink black tea with sugar and a slice of lemon. Coffee was only good for old people ( over 30...)

What is better the day after? A cup of tea or a mug of coffee?

Always coffee however tea is better for a hangover.

Whaaaaaaat? I thought only I had this figured out.

Darkest of black teas, judicious use of lemon - two cups of - back to work.

I've known people in Warsaw, big drinkers, who use black coffee with lemon juice as a hangover cure.

There is proof, then, for our commonality. Each Pole and each Russian carries within himself a blueprint of the original hard drinking Slav.

I was having On hot tea, one ice tea, one hot, one ice...and so on. My hangovers are a whole day affair :D

Wait a few years and they'll become two day hangovers.

I don't drink much nowadays. Although when I was in Kraków in October I drunk few beers and felt awful the next day

Same.

A couple of beers, occasionally at three at most or I really pay for it later.

Vodka, rarely nowadays and wine only with food.

Anymore I pretty much drink wine or beer only with food (and cook with wine sometimes)

I have vodka only with tatar (disinfectant)

I sip at something stronger (gin or bourbon lately) while watching movies (no more than twice a week usually)

Quality is always better than quantity.


I enjoy a gin and tonic before meals.

It's hard to get slimline tonic (sugar free) in Poland however a decade ago it was hard to get tonic at all.

The same with extra dry vermouth. People's tastes in PŁ tend to be for the sweet stuff.

I sometimes see electric coffee in Poland. A black coffee with brandy in.

It's like Schnaps Kaffee in Switzerland.

Yesterday 37 degrees in the shade. Ice tea takes on a new meaning.

Have you tried sparkling tea?

It's the new non alcoholic alternative to champagne. Fortnums sell it for £18. When I'm back home in Warsaw I might put some tea through the sodastream and then add some booze to make it drinkable.

I prefer Schweppes with eis.

Schweppes what?

Ginger Ale, Tonic, Schweppes Gold?