This reminds me of "The Suit is Back" phenomena pg expressed in his submarine essay. I see so many articles that say coffee is healthy that it actually makes me question it more.
First its bad for you, then its good - I wish they would make up their mind!<p>I actually don't like the taste of coffee, which makes me a bit of a weirdo apparently, but I believe you can get your caffeine hit from tea instead (or red bull if your really brave!) - but I tend to avoid those too. I would hate to think that I need a hit of caffeine through the day just to keep me awake.<p>Feel sleepy in the mornings? Goto the gym before work.<p>Feel sleepy in the afternoon - go for a walk or get away from your desk for a while. I always find those two things wake me up better than anything else.
i worked a barista for a year at yahoo hq when i was much younger. they gave out free espresso drinks (how i wish my fortune 100 company would do the same) and other stuff so there were always customers waiting to get their morning go-juice.<p>the problem was that the heavy drinkers became extremely dependent on caffeine to function properly. some would literally shake from having deprived of coffee while others would tell me to low-fat milk when mixing their caramel machiattos with whipped cream because they want to lose weight.<p>i myself never touch coffee products.
It seems like, excepting for artificial foods like twinkies, doritos, coke, etc, there's a trend toward stronger-flavor being more nutritious. I'm thinking of coffee, broccoli, liver, chocolate, red wine, and even produce. Modern-day produce is sold by the pound and bloated with water, unless it's organic. I notice, probably because of this, organic produce has a stronger taste. I remember an NPR program discussing how, per pound, produce is less nutritious now than 50 years ago.
In a related topic, it seems that pulsed microwaves (such as GSM signals) increase the blood-brain barrier permeability. Could that explain their cognitive effects? Could caffeine protect from GSM hazards?