[No.6]

Regular coffee and tea is already roasted. Green tea is not. I don't have all the chemistry on-hand but the upshot is the first minute or two releases the best of the tea and additional steeping gets further into the tea leaves and releases bitter-tasting chemicals.

If you use good hot but not boiling water, and only steep for 1-2 minutes, you should get a sweet-tasting tea, not bitter. Even grocery store (Meijer, here) green tea suffices; it's not necessary to go buy some ridiculously expensive tea.

I don't think you really steep coffee for 5 minutes unless you leave it in one of those french press things? Normally the water drips through the coffee and that's the last the water sees of the grounds. Percolators, I think, recycle the water through the grounds ... but I always found percolated coffee very bitter, at least if it's been perking for a couple hours (!)

There are good health benefits to burnt, er, regular tea (less than green). Even coffee has its benefits (lower diabetes risk, less risk of colon cancer, improved cognitive function (duh), less risk of Parkinson's, physical endurance) -- in moderation!

No need to panic and go vegan health nut, just live sanely - that's my non-medical opinion.

[Robert A Cook PE]

No, no. Any brew times exceeding 30 seconds are excessive.

Coffee goes through the filter, total travel time of perhaps 10-15 seconds, then drips out the bottom into the pot.

If you have a good pot (one that turns off the drain outlet when you remove the coffee pot), then you can start drinking coffee within 20 seconds of pushing the brew button.

Now, after the coffee drains into the pot, THEN it may sit in the pot on the warmer for 2-3 hours, or until the pot is drained and refilled (20-45 minutes usually), but no new coffee is generated.

You haven't been in a engineer's field office or construction site lately, have you? 8<) Now, THAT stuff is strong!