Is Coffee Good for You?

Starbucks Coffee Cup

Coffee in Different Countries

Italy:
Italy is known as the coffee capital of the world. There is no culture as absolutely obsessed with coffee as the Italians. Milan and Rome in particular are considered global coffee hubs, and both cities are lined with coffee shops. In Rome, breakfast often consists of "Cappuccino e Cornetto" which translates to Cappuccino and Croissant, and in Milan, Cappuccino e Brioche/Croissant. If you want your croissant without jam or condiments, in Rome you would ask for "Cornetto Simplice" and in Milan "Vueto".[2] Italians prefer Arabica beans, but blend them often with Robusta beans. Arabica is favored for it's full flavor and low caffeine content. Italian roasts are low oil. [2] One standard Italian greeting among friends is "prendiam un caffe?" which means "Fancy a coffee?". Italian coffee culture adheres to several rules which are intentionally complicated. [3]


Finland:
Finland has the highest consumption of coffee per captia per year, at 12kg per individual. That's 5 cups per person per day. The fins even have a constitutional law which dictates that each workplace has an allotted coffee drinking break time. [4] The Finnish prefer lighter roast coffees, which are highest in caffeine content. [5]


Russia:
Moscow is the city with the most expensive coffee in the world, at 9$ per cup. This is  


UNITED STATES:
The United States imports about $4Billion worth of Coffee per year. They consume approximately 400 million cups of coffee per day. 31% of coffee-drinks sold are espresso-based, the rest are brewed. The average consumption in America of coffee-per-day is 3.5 cups per capita.[7] 40% 2011 of 18-24 year olds drink coffee, which is up from 31% in 2010. 54% of adults 25-39 drink coffee regularly, up from 44% in 2010. 37% of coffee consumed in America is gourmet coffee, which means that quality is still integral to coffee-drinkers regardless of fiscal crises. [8]


Resources:
[1]http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/coffee.asp
[2]http://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/coffee-culture-italy/
[3]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/italy/6246202/Italian-coffee-culture-a-guide.html
[4]http://www.nectareal.com/finnish-coffee-culture/
[5]http://www.uta.fi/FAST/FIN/GEN/to-coffe.html
[6]http://www.weirdlyodd.com/10-most-expensive-cities-in-the-world/
[7]http://www.e-importz.com/Support/specialty_coffee.htm
[8]http://www.scaa.org/

Culture & Coffee: No Starbucks in Italy?

If it weren’t for Italy, Starbucks might not exist. After all, it was on a business trip to Milan in 1983 that Howard Schultz had the revelation on which he built his global empire. At the time, Starbucks was a coffee roaster—it didn’t own a single cafe—and Schultz was its marketing director. In a book published after the company had become an international behemoth, Schultz described how he set out one morning, sipping espressos at the cafes near his hotel. By afternoon he had sampled his way to the Piazza del Duomo, home to Milan’s famous Gothic cathedral. The large square was “almost literally lined” with coffee shops, he wrote. The air was alive with the sound of opera and the smell of roasting chestnuts. Schultz noted “the light banter of political debate and the chatter of kids in school uniforms” and watched as retirees and mothers with children made small talk with the baristas behind the counters.

It was at this point that Schultz, no doubt heavily caffeinated, was seized by inspiration. Most Americans were still drinking their coffee at diners, in restaurants, or at the kitchen table; Italians had made cafes part of their community. Coffee didn’t have to be just a drink, he realized. It could be an experience. The opportunity was enormous, and Starbucks, by limiting itself to roasting, was in danger of missing it. “It was like an epiphany,” Schultz recalled in his book. “It was so immediate and physical that I was shaking.”

Nearly 30 years later, the insights Schultz brought home have not only spread deep into American culture but gained millions of adherents worldwide. From the first few cafes that Schultz opened in Seattle, the chain has expanded into some 11,000 locations in the U.S. The company, which declined to comment for this article, has 925 outlets in Japan, 730 in the U.K., 314 in Mexico. Starbucks has stores in, among other places, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. On Jan. 30, Starbucks announced that it will open its first outlet in India later this year.

But there’s no Starbucks in the Piazza del Duomo, the site of Schultz’s epiphany. Nor is there an outlet anywhere else in Milan, or indeed, in all of Italy. At a time when Starbucks views global expansion as the key to future growth—and when it is virtually impossible to walk through a major European city without stumbling onto a Starbucks—the company has no presence whatsoever in the country that inspired its founding.

This was not Howard Schultz’s plan. “I am interested eventually in Italy and France,” he said in 2002, as the company was in the first stages of its international expansion. Two years later, Starbucks had branches in Paris and Lyon—but not in Rome or Milan. “We want to go to Italy,” Schultz told Kai Ryssdal, host of public radio’sMarketplace, in 2006. “We’re just—we haven’t looked at it as seriously as we had other markets, but at some point we will go.”

“You afraid a little bit?” asked Ryssdal.

“I don’t think we’re afraid,” said Schultz. “I just don’t think we’re—it has not been as high on the radar because other markets are bigger in scope and offer more potential, but we will go to Italy.”

Six years later, Italy remains the mountain Schultz has yet to climb. The country might not mean much from a pure business perspective; while Italians love their coffee, the market for it is famously crowded and fragmented. But what Italy does represent is the height of coffee culture, the gold standard against which all others are measured. As such, the country represents a reputational risk. There’s only so long the company can sit on the sidelines before Ryssdal’s question to Schultz will start to resonate. When it comes to competing in Italy, what is Starbucks afraid of?

http://mobile.businessweek.com/magazine/grounds-zero-a-starbucksfree-italy-02092012.html

Coffee Consumption per Country per Capita

Coffee: An extraordinary energizer

Since the 1600s when coffee was introduced first into the pharmacies and then the coffeehouses of Europe, users have marveled at its ability to simulate the brain. Initially, it was considered so powerful and hazardous to mental sensibilities that only physicians could dispense it and some wanted it banned for common folk. Today millions of people use coffee to pep up and feel better, and its drug-like effects on the brain are undisputed.

New scientific probes of caffeine activity in the brain find that it is an odd type stimulant. It suppresses "down" brain chemicals instead of releasing "up" chemicals. According to researchers, caffeine works because of its fluky chemicals resemblance to a brain substance called adenosine, secreted by nerve endings to put the brakes on brain cell activity. Caffeine, masquerading as a adenosine, and keeping it from dampening brain cell activity. Thus brain cells remain in a state of excitability. Further, only a little caffeine has an effect. The caffeine in a couple of cups of coffee can knock out half of the brain's adenosine receptors for a couple of hours, say experts. This means it takes only a little caffeine to put your brain on alert, so numerous refills are needless.

pharmacological effects of coffee

Habitual moderate coffee intake does not represent a health hazard. Caffeine reduces fatigue, improves concentration (leading to decreased reaction times and increased speed of calculations in tests) and improves motor tasks. In contrast to the amphetamines, caffeine does not cause euphoria, stereotyped behaviours or psychoses but there is little evidence of an acute withdrawal syndrome (possibly a mild irritability and headache). 

In large doses, caffeine can be mutagenic and teratogenic in animals but there effects have not been seen in humans. 

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Pharmacology for health professionals

Bronwen Bryant - Kathleen Knights

Unit 4 . Drugs affecting the central nervous system P.434