A coffee a day?

It may not keep the doctors away, but some evidence that the brew is good for you is drip-dripping out of the research.

By Marie McCullough, Staff Writer
The Philadelphia Inquirer

Over the centuries, coffee has been cursed for making soldiers undependable, women infertile, peasants rebellious, and worse.

In England in 1674, for example, the anonymous authors of the Women's Petition Against Coffee complained that they were suffering in the bedroom because men were constantly in coffeehouses, slurping that "nauseous Puddle-water":

"That Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish Liquor called COFFEE... has... Eunucht our Husbands... that they are become as Impotent as Age."

Makes you wonder what those guys were putting in their daily grind besides cream and sugar.

The point is, coffee has always been more than a beverage, and its health effects have always been controversial. After all, coffee is chock-full o' the drug 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine - better known as caffeine (even decaf has caf) - plus a wholelatte other chemicals and additives.

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Area children will benefit from Starbucks' grant

By Michelle Hatfield/Staff writer
Lee Central Coast Newspapers

Guadalupe and Santa Maria children are among 30 beneficiaries of $1 million in grant money from coffee giant Starbucks.

The money will help fund learning centers at Los Adobes de Maria II and River View, low-income rental housing complexes run by Peoples' Self-Help Housing.

Called the Starbucks California Giving Program, 30 nonprofits across the state were awarded money and connected to Starbucks employees who will volunteer with each agency. More than 3,000 nonprofits applied for the funding.

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Coffee consumption in India, Mexico may increase by 25 percent

New Delhi

Coffee consumption in India, Indonesia and Mexico may increase by more than 25 percent in the next three years.

According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), these countries, which are among the world's six largest coffee exporters, may replicate the success of a similar advertising campaign in Brazil, to boost its sales in India, Mexico and Indonesia, a UNI reports said here.

The ICO is now working with the governments and institutions in India, Indonesia and Mexico to do something similar, as these three countries are 'traditional coffee-producing nations without a strong coffee-drinking culture'.

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Australian coffee by the numbers

by Dugald Jellie
The Sydney Morning Herald

Finns drink more coffee per capita than anyone else in the world - 11.2kg a year each. Italians consume 5.4kg and the Japanese 3.3kg. Coffee consumption in Australia is 2.4kg and rising, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics research on a beverage that surely sends bean counters crazy.

Nobody truly knows how many cappuccinos, macchiatos, flat whites and, yep, long blacks are served in Sydney on the daily grind, but it's enough to keep us buzzing until midday. Some suggest it's about 1.23 million cups a day (excluding those brewed at home or work, and with a peak in winter), although that's mostly guesswork.

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