the chutry experiment

Okay, I was just contemplating how wonderful coffee is. About two minutes ago, I walked into my apartment from working out in the exercise room, and inhaled the lovely faint smell of the coffee I'd brewed and drunk a few hours before. I'm even thinking about making another pot (decaf this time). I have one of those small coffee makers that will only make four "cups," really two mugs, so sometimes I don't get enough.

The aroma of coffee is certainly part of the pleasure for me, but despite these study results, I'll be the first to admit that I probably drink too much coffee. With classes starting on Monday, I've been drinking more coffee than usual to make myself (feel) more alert.

I wish the article compared coffee antioxidant levels with green tea or yerba mate. I drink all three, but the antioxidant buzz around green tea and mate gives me the feeling that I'm drinking something healthy. The main advantage I've found, tho, is that drinking those beverages at night will keep me alert, but I can go to sleep when I'm ready for bed.

FWIW, I brew coffee one cup at a time with a Melitta filter cone. It's easy to clean and my coffee is always fresh.

Coffee is my only vice - I figure as long as I don't drink more than eight cups a day, I'm not overdoing it too much - and it's alway nice to hear that it has pleasant side effects.

I'm so addicted to it, though, that I have to have a cup within ten or twelve hours of my bedtime, or I won't actually be able to sleep. I actually switched to yerba mate at night earlier this summer, but my workload of late has found me turning increasingly to a midnight brew...

...made in a French Press, and using only Equal Exchange coffee beans, of course.

Coffee is my main vice, too. I can usually get just enough buzz froma cup or two at night and not worry about it keeping me awake. I think the evening coffee may actually help me to sleep, too.

The Melitta Filter cone sounds cool. In fact, that might be a good reward for my first month of teaching.

I've had mine since undergrad, but I think it only set me back a few bucks at a regular supermarket (Albertson's in Norman). They're pretty easy to find if you know what to look for.