I stopped for coffee.
Some say I need the caffeine to start.
After my walk, I turned my steps toward the local coffee shop. (The name is withheld so I cannot be accused of promoting a particular merchant, but for the curious of mind, the sobriquet on the sign is the combination of a fixed luminous point in the sky and male deers tilting antlers in the woods.) I walked into the shop of celestial stags and ordered one of my favorite caffeinated beverages: “Full strength, please. No decaf today.”
In a normal – if somewhat shaky – year, the average USA American consumes 1,204.5 eight-ounce cups of coffee. If this average “Joe” or “Jane” were to purchase those small cups of java at the home shop of the cosmic ungulates, the cost to our wired consumers would be $1,987 each. Wow! You can see why coffee purveyors are pouring out onto every corner.
Even then, the US is not at the top of the coffee-bean list. The folks up Finland way consume more coffee per year than any other country. Sweden is second. Those two northern neighbors are in a warm race in their cool climes for the #1 spot at the hot espresso bar. After the lands of the midnight sun, France, Germany, Italy and Canada harbor the most coffee drinkers. USA sippers find themselves in the second tier. From the number of new sun-object ruminants locations being constructed in US strip malls and town centers, the Scandinavians should quickly lift another cup of that dark and lovely beverage if they are to maintain the place of merit as the possessors of most increased metabolic rates on the planet.
Yes, the caffeine in coffee increases the subject’s metabolic rate, as well as lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The other positive effects are increased attention, alertness and decreased fatigue – which is why I stopped for my boost under the sign of the aquatic female.
The past week has been quite the time and good reason for an energizing beverage.
On Valentine’s Day, last Friday, our newest grandchild, a beautiful baby girl, was born! Fanfare, Clapping, Loud Shouting. Before the joyous birth, we had the other grandkids in groups for about a week. I compare this to juggling kittens on a moving train while trying to do the laundry, because you really can’t think of anything else and you really don’t know what you’re doing – or, at least, I didn’t, and that’s for sure. But, eventually, the train stopped, the kittens jumped over us and the piles of soiled clothes, and ran to the hospital to be with the new baby and the happy parents — while we sighed and slumped in amazement and awe: “She’s so pretty, don’t you think?” “I do.”
And, and you can cap that with her little stocking cap, we have been doing all the things you do to move into a new home. A place we have had our eyes on for some time came free at the same time the new baby opened her eyes with a cry for attention. Paperwork and grandkiddenwurk have made for tiring and very fun times.
Which is why I was worn and in search of a stimulating beverage as I pulled the money from my running shorts and plopped the coins down on the counter.
“Coffee, please!”
Coffee is the most sought-after source of caffeine in the USA. In my country, coffee is the most consumed beverage, after water — of course. For the average American, 67.2 milligrams of the person’s daily consumption of 131.9 milligrams of caffeine come from coffee – that’s 51% of the daily dose from the hot filtered water of the dried beans of the coffee bush. The other sources of caffeine are about evenly split between tea, carbonated beverages and other beverages. From the numbers, It’s almost all fluidized drinks that harbor the stimulating caffeine-compound. Food only accounts for 2.3 milligrams a day, about 2% of the caffeine entering the human bloodstream in a single day.
“Food! Who eats caffeine? Another cup of ‘Joe,’ if you please.”
Oh, by the way, “caffeine” is a French word for made-from-the-coffee-bean. And, French chemists claim to have first isolated the jittery chemical 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, which to the rest of us, who aren’t chemists, means CAFFEINE! Thank you, France. But, don’t try to order a pour of 1,3,7-trimethyxanthine, unless you want a blank smile in return and nothing in your cup.
Stick with coffee. It’ simpler and so to the point.
So, I said to myself, as I sipped my coffee, “It has been a good week: My favorite hot beverage, a happy smiling baby and a new place to prop my feet as I sit back and thank Ms. Bright-In-The-Night-Sky A-Few-Dollars-More for a quiet and refreshing break.”
Stop by and say hello.
It is a pleasant place to prognosticate with friends.
I know you won’t get lost, because I know you know the name of the shop.
Grandpa Jim