You Find the Greatest Things

Came across a link this morning that is geared to help those of us who write and read in coffee shops.

It is a web site that plays a background sound of a coffee house murmur.

I am using it right now as I write this- and it's working. I feel like I've gone to my favorite Caribou Coffee.

It is called Coffitivity. (Link)

On their site they point out that it is hard to be creative in either quiet or noisy conditions. They provide:

the mix of calm and commotion in an environment like a coffee house [that] is proven to be just what you need to get those creative juices flowing.

Maybe in those too quiet place we get too easily distracted by our own thoughts and don't stay on track. I know my ADD does that to me all the (squirrel!) time. The theory that I have heard- and agree with- is that the background noise, or my music on my headphones, etc- becomes a magnet for the ADD attitude and allows the brain to stay focused on what it is doing.
Their tag

Coffitivity
Enough noise to work.

I don't know if that is really how it works, but I know it works.

The problem with Coffitivity, though, is that I have to brew my own coffee.

Oh- and so far I haven't heard the espresso machine, either.

Coffee and Writing- Like Horse and Carriage

When you write in a coffee shop, 

you enjoy the coffee stains in your Moleskine journal!

From Sunday afternoon at Caribou Coffee.

Don't Bring Me Down

This is a real bummer. Studies in England, according to Yahoo! News Wednesday have indicated that caffeine addicts do not get a boost from their morning cup o' Joe. The "perceived" boost is actually the medicating of the downer that is caffeine withdrawal. In essence it is only bringing them back to a normal level of alertness and not a higher level. All they are doing is overcoming the fatigue of acute withdrawal.

Now it would be natural to think, then, that if one would just stop caffeine, one wouldn't be as tired in the morning and then one wouldn't need the caffeine boost.

What a horrible thought.

But spoken like a true addict.

Caribou on Fast Company & More

It's my favorite coffee shop. It has real coffee and lots of other stuff. It has, above all, coffee that doesn't taste burnt and bitter. It is Caribou Coffee, based right here in good, old Minnesota. They are the 2nd largest coffee shop chain in the country, admittedly way behind that Seattle-based one.

Well, Fast Company website had a post Tuesday about Caribou's image makeover. Here are the new cups with a new logo and font and fun. They have a good sense of humor and that down-home kind of atmosphere in their redesign that fits many of their stores.

Hmm, maybe it's time for some.

Then you find news on the Health Day Website where you discover that a series of reports were given at American Heart Association conferences in SF that:

Coffee Is Generally Heart-Friendly
But it may be linked to a slight rise in high blood pressure, researchers say

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Sunday Morning Coffee

Straight Dope Chicago on Friday started a two part series on coffee. In this first one they review the rudiments of coffee- and make no mistake- coffee is interesting.

Three basic things they learned:

• Coffee is complicated
• Coffee is best drunk black
• Coffee is easy to mess up.

Overall, good coffee has unsuspected subtleties.

I think I'll stop and get a Caribou on my way to church this morning.

A Fun Video

Click on

In Praise of Coffee

to go to a video by my friend John in North Carolina for Holy Hilarity Sunday at his church last week. We Moravians certainly will add this song to our next hymnal.

Finally, Good News in the Food and Drink Column

It was nothing short of invigorating to read the following the other day:

ScienceDaily (Jun. 17, 2008) — A new study has good news for coffee drinkers: Regular coffee drinking (up to 6 cups per day) is not associated with increased deaths in either men or women. In fact, both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption is associated with a somewhat smaller rate of death from heart disease.

Maybe we have finally found the true elixir of life.

And that is something that I can drink to.