Drinking Coffee All the Time

This year, we spent part of winter holiday skiing in the Berkshires. I love the quiet thrill of being on top of the mountain, anticipating the downward descent. I love a brisk sunny day---and I love a good cup of coffee. Turns out the coffee in the ski lodge was not so good. It was black sludge. In contrast, the coffee at the hotel we stay in near Mass Moca was smooth and perfect. It came in a thermos, housed in a corrugated metal lunchbox. I was charmed, but the coffee, was and always has been excellent at Porches. Despite the fact that one cup was amazingly good and the other breathtakingly bad, I drank them both. They served an important purpose. They helped improve my performance. Numerous studies have shown that caffeine enhances sports performance across a wide range of activities, such as running, tennis, and rowing. Effects can last up to an hour. True, coffee is remarkably energizing, but the underlying reason that coffee enhances performance is that caffeine increas

Ni hao! It’s coffee-drinking time! Just as the cool air arrives and finally starts to settle in here in the northeastern United States, we get the awesome news that Starbucks has opened its 500 th café in China! It’s in the international departure hall of the Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3. The president of Starbucks China, Belinda Wong, cites the value of Starbucks as the ability to “serve our customers.” Drinking hot beverages in a spirit of community, whether a standing or transitional community, is universal. John Culver, president Starbucks Asia Pacific speaks to the need to offer the “Starbucks experience to provide the highest quality Arabica coffee, handcrafted beverages, and an exceptional experience one customer at a time.” Fortunately, as people in China drink more coffee, they will also reap the tremendous health resources associated with coffee. Now for the latest coffee-health update: Women who drink at least 4 cups of coffee per day are less li