Probably the worst coffee I ever regularly drank was Navy coffee and especially shipboard coffee. The Navy brags about having the best food in the U.S. military services. Although I can't say the food was James Beard competitive, I was a young guy with a large appetite and found the dining more than acceptable, with dependably large breakfasts if requested. Even aboard ship where everything started out from the "reefer," refrigerator/freezer. However, the coffee was dependably the worst. I made it from time to time. It was often hours (and hours) old, probably cut with material other than coffee, cheap beans stored poorly and somewhat stale, and always watery and weak tasting despite the acidic hook. You could taste the metallic sour afterglow of a thousand pots. However, coffee was the drug of choice for the midnight to eight watch, zero to eight hundred military time. I weighed so little when I got out, that when I gained ten pounds, it was not noticeable. Four years on my feet or waiting to be summoned to the next watch.
