No One Cards

I was at the Daily Grind just a few minutes ago for my afternoon fix, and there was a small sign on the side of the quick-cup-of-coffee register: NO ONE CARDS AT THIS REGISTER Of course they were referring to the One Card, but in my uncaffeinated state I seriously thought for a moment that they were saying that they don’t check IDs. As if they were sticking it to.. Read More

This is your anterior cingulate cortex on coffee

Good news for all us coffee addicts: Coffee Boosts Short Term Memory, from MedPage Today …functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) detected significant activity in the brain’s memory centers 20 minutes after the men consumed 100 mg of caffeine… …the fMRI scan detected activity in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, which is responsible for some short-term memory functions. Now I’m going to go grab myself a cup. If I.. Read More

Java Man

Recently I’ve been reading some of Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker essays. One of them that I particularly enjoyed is this one, Java Man, a review of the book The World of Caffeine, by Weinberg & Bealer. I’m totally going to read this now. “It is not extravagant to claim that it was in these gathering spots [coffeehouses] that the art of conversation became the basis of a new literary style.. Read More

Food as social statement

I was at the Daily Grind earlier today and they’ve started carrying Aceh Relief Blend. (“For every pound of Relief Blend we sell, we will donate $1.00 to the fund.”) I of course had to have it, and I’m happy to report that it’s very tasty. More important, though, it got me thinking, could you eat and drink nothing but food where a portion of the cost goes to some.. Read More

Decaf Librarians

Decaf Librarian’s Blend A flavorful blend of Indonesian, African, and Central American beans, the Librarian’s Blend is named for that person who always told you to keep quiet when you were studying. This blend is representative of the soul of the librarian: steady, reassuring, and always there with that slight edge of eccentricity. It has a bold base with a bit of sparkle. Here’s to good reading. Personally, this librarian.. Read More