I'm a new coffee drinker. Advice, please?
 

I read if you douse your coffee with cream and sugar the quality of the beans doesn't matter. True?

How do you make your coffee? And, why that method?

I almost always drink mine black. None of the taste of the blend gets covered up.

MillerMan, are you able to tell the difference between Folgers and Starbucks?

I just use a coffee maker. I have used a pot.
The quality of the beans does matter. Even though I do use cream and sugar. Sometimes even add hot chocolate to it.
Folgers is good. Most others I don't care for at all. Some cheap ones are disgusting. They must be using the coffee plant instead of the beans. I'm not joking.
One inexpensive one I like as much or more than Folgers is; McDaniel's Coffee Co. ... Colombian Blend.

McDaniels? Thanks for the tip. I'll check 'em out. Do you know if they use Arabica beans (as if I can taste the difference)?

Yes, 100% Arabica.
I've found their strongest coffee to be a bit much. Their Colombian blend I really like. It's a tad stronger than Folgers Dark.
I understand what you mean. You can taste the difference. I can. I like these Arabica.
Like I said before. Most others I don't like.

I'm also a fairly new coffee drinker, being in my 20s and having graduated uni. Never depended on it for school though. Now I drink a mug every 1 or 2 days before working out. Have a basic coffee maker at home and I'm currently on a bag of Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla. I just cover the bottom of the filter with a thin layer of coffee powder for 1 mug (more than that and it gets bitter). I make a mug, with about 80% coffee, 20% whole milk, and 1-1.5 teaspoons of sugar. Btw, 1 teaspoon of sugar = 4g of sugar, so it's not bad if you're somewhat physically active.

Easily. They taste nothing alike to me.

Actually, Cuts Off Prius, ALL sugar is REALLY bad for one's health. When I finish off my expensive agave sweetener, I'm switching to Xylitol, which not only sweetens but some research suggests it may have positive health effects, too.

This will open your eyes about the health effects of sugar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

When I finish off my gift bag of beans, I'm gonna try the cheapest coffee possible to see if I can taste any difference.

I noticed a relatively expensive bag of beans yields a lot of coffee cups. Makes me realize that Starbucks is WAY over-priced. US$1 at McDonald's sounds fair, but US$5 at Starbucks just doesn't pencil-out with me.