For the hundredth time that day, Aggie (not her real name) fought the urge to go to the office kitchen and make herself a cup of delicious, hot coffee. As a nocturnal person, she swore that coffee wakes her up and keeps her awake the whole day.
Luckily, none of her officemates are coffee drinkers so the temptation is bearable. For the past years, Aggie has developed the habit of drinking eight to 10 cups of coffee a day, hot or cold. Her coffee maker at home works full time, and she finds it necessary to stop by a drive through to order coffee. She has a coffee mug on her table and sachets of three-in-one coffee in her bag and in her drawer.
She knows all the coffee joints in her city and she can give you directions and descriptions without batting an eyelash.
Lately, Aggie decided to fight a battle against the habit by reducing her dosage, until she can eventually remove coffee from her system. She did not like the obvious side effects she had been feeling for some time. No matter how hard she tried to ignore, the effects were there — anxiety, headaches, insomnia, nausea, abnormal heartbeat, restlessness, and even diarrhea.
She had succeeded to go down to five cups a day during the past weeks, then two. It was her first day of abstinence, and she could not stop fidgeting in her seat. Something was lacking and her system knows it. She knew that if she gave in, the battle was lost.
Pacing back and forth for the nth time, Aggie finally took 10 fatal steps that took her to the kitchen and commit the mistake of making herself a mug of the sweetest smelling coffee she thought she ever tasted for a long time.
The battle was over, and the next day, Aggie picked up her regular “perking” routine.
Aggie is just one of the thousands of others in the world who is addicted to coffee.
Different individuals have different coffee habits. Most people drink a cup in the morning to wake up. Others have coffee during breaks, while some drink coffee in the afternoon. Others drink coffee in the morning, noon, afternoon, evening and every other hour.
No magic beverage
An article published in the New York Daily News last June stated that contrary to what thousands believe in, coffee does not possess any magical power that give you morning jolt.
The article, based on a study conducted by researchers from the Britain’s Bristol University said that the energy and jolt that you feel (or thought that you feel) after drinking a cup of coffee “was actually the body’s return to a normal state after a night of caffeine withdrawal.”
To prove it, the study showed that people who don’t drink coffee or have no caffeine intake wakes up and becomes alert in the morning without coffee.
About 52 percent of Americans aged 18 years old and above drink coffee every morning, on top of the 30 percent of the population drinks coffee occasionally. The average consumption of US coffee drinkers in about 3.1 cups a day.
Dubbed as the second most popular drink in the world next to water, coffee is the leading source of caffeine in the United States.
Men and women drink coffee for different reasons. Men drink coffee mostly to help them get their job done while most women drink coffee to make them feel relaxed. No matter what your reason is, if you do it more than you should, it becomes a daily habit that could make you an addict for life.
Several articles featured in various publications for the past years states that drinking one to three cups of coffee daily helps cut the risk of type 2 diabetes, and that there are plenty of health benefits you can get from it.
How deep are you into the coffee habit? You can get out if you want to. The choice is yours.
Quick Coffee Facts
• Coffee is the most popular beverage worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed each year.
• Only 20% of harvested coffee beans are considered to be a premium bean of the highest quality.
• Coffee is grown commercially in over 45 countries around the world.
• Coffee represents 75% of all the caffeine consumed in the United States.
• On average, coffee drinkers will spend $164.71 per year on coffee.
• Nearly 52% of Americans over 18 years of age drink coffee every day. This represents over 100 million daily drinkers.
• The average price for an espresso based drink is $2.45
• The average price for brewed coffee is $1.38.
• Men drink as much coffee as women; each consuming an average of 1.6 cups per day.
• 65% of all coffee is consumed during breakfast hours, 30% between meals, 5% with other meals.
• 35% of coffee drinkers prefer black coffee, 60% prefer to add sugar and/or cream.
• The United States imports in excess of $4 Billion worth of coffee per year.
• Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee per day making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world.
Source: http://www.espressoforums.com
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