Coffee – A Loaded Cup, Even Without Cream and Sugar.

I’m almost positive that you are like me in that it’s been pretty hard to hold your eyes open over the last week or so, due to the sleep-inducing weather we’ve been having lately.  How do I combat this lethargy, you ask?

COFFEE



Oh, the brown sludgy delicious nectar of the awake and ready for Monday morning!  And I’m not the only one – in 2009, the average American drank 416 8-ounce cups of coffee!

Luckily, science has found some other health benefits to drinking coffee, other than the fact that it keeps you going.  For instance, coffee contains a large amount of antioxidants, which help protect the body from free radicals, which mess with cells, causing them to react abnormally, which can lead to cancer and blood vessel disease.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not endorsing you to go out and become a coffee addict or anything, because coffee does have some negative health effects, such as:

• raising blood pressure
• contains acids that can make heart burn worse

Not to mention the fact that, according to this Pittsburgh Post Gazette article, the price of a pound of coffee has more than doubled, because of rising transportation costs (oil and gas) and more and more people all over the world wanting more and more this most loved good.  The demand has grown so high that reports have been made about people stealing coffee beans at incoming ports, and stripping coffee trees of their beans illegally.  Coffee pirates!  Can you imagine?!?

Some of the poorest areas in the world are the largest producers of coffee beans, like Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.  Who fights for those farmers to get their fair share of the coffee profits?  It’s a tricky situation for sure, one that the Fair Trade Movement attempts to address.

I sure hope this post hasn’t hindered your enjoyment of your next cup o’ joe, but did give you pause.  If you’d like more information, take a look at one of these titles from the library!
















Sources Cited

(All Available in the internet or through a library database!)

“Health Benefits of Coffee – WebMD.” WebMD – Better Information. Better Health. Web. 20 May 2011. <http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/coffee-new-health-food?page=2&gt;.

Shannon, Seth W. “Economic stimulation: the history and hope of coffee in development.” Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems 18.1 (Wntr 2009): 169(28). Academic OneFile. Gale. CARNEGIE LIBRARY OF PITTSBURGH-EIN. 20 May 2011

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