1557 Anyone Want More Coffee?

1557 Anyone Want More Coffee?

Sure, thanks. Black, no sugar, no cream. Coffee is the lifeblood of creativity, second only to pure alcohol.

But wait.  There’s more. Coffee is bad for you.  It makes your heart race.  It deprives you of sleep. It raises your cholesterol.  All of this is proven scientific fact, ably demonstrated in a host of peer reviewed studies.

Oh... but wait.  There’s STILL more.  Coffee is good for you. It prolongs life, fights cancer and deflects dementia.  All of this is proven scientific fact, ably demonstrated in a host of peer reviewed studies.

Which peer are you fishing from?

It may be that different kinds or strengths of coffee affect different people in different ways.  There are those of us whose blood pressure doesn’t rise, who don’t have heart attacks, whose cholesterol is normal and who aren’t sleep deprived regardless of when we drink, how much we drink and what we do or don’t put into it.

But there also are those of us who get palpitations just by entering a 7-11 or walking on the Starbucks Side of the Street. If you can find a street where they aren’t on both sides.

Here’s a radical idea:  If coffee affects you badly, don’t drink it.  If you detect benefits, do.

There are some peer reviewed studies that are universal: Whipped cream in your coffee is not a weight loss chemical.  Sugar in your coffee isn’t, either.  But some artificial sweeteners can scramble your brain waves.

If you don’t like the taste of coffee in the raw… here’s that radical idea again: don’t drink it.  No one actually needs caffeine.  Or put something in it that hides the taste but doesn’t scramble your brain waves or make you fatter.

Now that you’ve absorbed this unreviewed point of view, come down on the side of the drinkers and decided “X” cups a day are fine, how do you best make it?

Some basics: light roasts are stronger than medium or dark but don’t taste it. If it’s real, Sumatra is stronger than anything else except certain “breakfast blends.”

Coffee from K-cups and similar give you no control over strength and are really really expensive. Plus they have a kind of plastic-y aftertaste.

French Press and stovetop percolators are great if you have the time. But if you’re a big or impatient drinker, you probably don’t have the time.

For automatic drip makers, those with thermal pots cause fewer fires, but the coffee tastes like the bumper of a 1947 Dodge.  (For those of you who have never tasted 1940s, bumpers, take the word of those who have.)

You don’t need a built-in timer.  You don’t need a clock. The simple, straight-forward plug and play machines give you the most control and the least that can go wrong.  

Few last more than a year, no matter the cost.  Replacing one for 20 bucks is more cost efficient than replacing one for any higher amount.  And when you throw the old one out, you don’t feel like you’re parting with a good friend.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2015