I’ve been a daily coffee drinker since my college days and if I miss a cup, I get cranky. That's partly the caffeine, but it’s also the ritual of getting the day started with a warm beverage that officially separates you from a night's sleep and directs your brain to move forward. Coffee by itself...not the half soy milk double shot caramel latte with extra whip cream is not only good for clearing the cobwebs, it’s a powerful beverage that has a number of  health benefits. According to WEB MD, “Studies have shown that it may reduce cavities, boost athletic performance, improve moods, and stop headaches — not to mention reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, liver cancer, gallstones, cirrhosis of the liver, and Parkinson’s diseases,” 

According to another web source, the business minded daily report LADDERS, the way you take your morning Joe says a lot about your personality. One study of 2000 coffee drinkers found most who took their coffee on ice were introverts who enjoy traveling. Those of us who take it hot are more outgoing and have a good sense of humor. Which takes its leave when I walk into Starbucks and wait 10 minutes for a simple cup of black coffee because the Latte Ladies and the espresso shot jockeys are keeping Basel the Barista way too busy to just fetch a cup of coffee. 

Starbucks made two marketing decisions which, if it were up to me, would put the ubiquitous chain out of business. They stopped carrying French Roast, my blend of choice and they stopped carrying artificial sweetener, which is my preferred post roast ingredient, Why 86 French Roast but leave Pikes Place, which tastes like the bastard child of Folgers and used Mobil 1. Coffee prices like everything else are heading higher, but coffee is not the place to economize. 

The best bang for the buck and the palate is delivered by a local outfit, Rogers Coffee Company. 2 and a half pounds of whole bean French Roast for about 15 bucks. Used to be a Costco only item, but it’s now offered at the better grocery stores. If I leave California..or should I say when I’ll ask Mr, Rogers to ship it to my new neighborhood, I’m a bit of a coffee snob I suppose. I don’t like a brew that came out of a can and that's served in styrofoam cups, but if I’m not brewing my own, or spending for a premium cup that's what I usually wind up with. 

Drinking that stuff is a last resort, and enough of it can probably cause some of the maladies a good cup of coffee now prevents. Decaf? The beverage equivalent of kissing your sister. As for flavored coffees and lattes, I don’t need an umbrella drink first thing in the morning. Oh, I’m not the only person who takes coffee seriously. Back in the 17th Century, the guy then running the Ottoman Empire would put coffee drinkers to death, believing it was a drug that made people have big ideas, like overthrowing the Emperor. 

Today, coffee is a 2 billion dollar a year commodity, second only to crude oil, although at some greasy spoons and radio newsrooms they are one in the same. Coffee is served in all 50 states, but the coffee bean--which is actually a fruit, is only grown in one--Hawaii, Kona Coffee is pretty good, if you can’t get French Roast.