I love coffee. Not the buzz, but the actual coffee taste. I know, that might be weird to you, especially if coffee is simply a means to get you up and going in the morning. I have purchased dozens of specialty machines. I’ve ground, tamped, pressed, and Keurig’d (did I just invent a word?) coffee.
Lately, I’ve tried to cut down. I struggle with general anxiety disorder (GAD) and everyone I’ve read or talked to has said that caffeine doesn’t help. Still, I need the bean.
I got a kick out of this list of 9 things you should know about coffee.
1. A healthy daily dose of caffeine can be very different depending on who you are.
Don’t I know it. I used to be able to drink a double espresso at 10 pm at night and sleep like a baby. My personal assistant at work can’t have coffee after 11 am, or she’ll be up for weeks.
2. There’s no standard amount of caffeine in each cup of coffee—even within the same brand.
I guess I should have known this, but never really gave it a lot of thought. I just figured if I was drinking equal amounts of coffee from the french press, the caffeine all worked out in the end.
3. Caffeinated beverage manufacturers are not required by the Food and Drug Administration to label how much caffeine is contained in their product.
Not surprised. I don’t believe in the data on labels. It’s about selling me stuff. Labels will contain only as much as needed to get me to buy the product, coffee included.
4. Your grandparents probably drank twice as much coffee as you do.
So, that explains it. Gramma was wired – all day. No wonder she could work so hard for so many hours in any given day.
5. Pro athletes everywhere depend on caffeine—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
…and a lot of other substances, right Lance Armstrong?
6. Keurig cups—those little disposable, single-serve cups of coffee with a special dispenser—are here to stay.
I’m proof of that. Even at $.75 per cup, I’ve dumped plenty of plastic in a few land fills.
7. Mixing caffeine and alcohol hasn’t been proven to be inherently unhealthy. But the resulting behaviors can be dangerous, potentially even fatal.
Translation: “blow your brain apart”. I’ll pass.
8. Caffeine could be way better for us—and also way worse—than we know.
See above. Coffee doesn’t play well with sufferers of GAD.
9. You’re not as much of a coffee buff as you think.
That’s right. While I love drinking it, and appreciating the taste of different types, I’m not that much of a geek. I don’t care a wit about a fruity or smoky tone.
The real issue about coffee is, I still can’t believe I willingly pay $4 or $5 for a cup of it, when my ancestor’s got along with a 3 pound can of Folgers for $6.99 which would last a couple of months. I refuse to look at my bank statements to see how much I spend on the glorious drink.
Somethings about coffee should just be left unknown.