There are very few things more therapeutic morning a cup of coffee (and even less you can write in a magazine like that). The smell and taste and the very act of preparation are all part of a ritual that is inseparable from the "morning" for billions of people worldwide. Many say they could not start the day without it. Some consider it a drug which they depend. Many try to avoid the same way alcoholics trying to avoid alcohol. There are many myths associated with, and many claims made about the second most traded commodity in the world, but what is the truth? Is it good for you or bad for you? (We're still talking coffee by the way.)
I do not know. I like two or three cups a day on average, I guess. I just did a quick search on and as usual there is evidence to support what you want to believe. Some sites say that if you drink 100 cups of coffee a day, it could kill you. I suspect the same thing for a lot of fluids. Some websites say there are health benefits associated with coffee consumption, even claiming that regular consumption can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia in old age. I do not remember what others have said. My rule is "everything in moderation".
There are certainly many connoisseurial nonsense surrounding the coffee, though. Just a few years I'm in Turin, Italy with a friend who lived there and we had just finished a wonderful dinner and a great bottle of red wine made locally in a restaurant that exists only on warm evenings summer (the tables are set in a space that is free parking during the day). As I leaned back in my chair, my belt designed to contain dramatically increased my scope, my host asked me if I'd like a coffee. It was a very calm and gentle summer evening and there was no music, so when I said, "Cappuccino please," all our other guests heard. The place instantly fell completely silent and every head turned my way -. A loud fart could not have created a more dramatic reaction
My host repeated the word as a question, "Cappuccino?" Apparently, in Italy it is only supposed to drink coffee with milk in the morning. I wonder what the Italians are the Starbucks menu.
There are people who take the connoisseurism coffee at ridiculous levels. Most people know about Kopi Luwak (Luwak coffee) which is made from coffee berries (yes, coffee is not a bean bay) which were first passed through the digestive system of a civet Asian palm tree, a kind of mongoose-like creature found in Sumatra and locally known as a luwak. Apparently this discernment crams animals every night only the best coffee berries then poops on the core (which looks like a bean, why we call it that). Farmers then collect crap, extract the "beans" and make coffee. Then they sell to the gullible nutters worldwide.
If you need more proof that it is absolutely absurd elitist to the gullible wannabe connoisseurs consider Canadian businessman living very smart in Thailand has now developed and is apparently the selling what he calls "Black Ivory Coffee". You can be ahead of me here, after spotting the index in the name. Yes, it went better than Kopi Luwak, and he has an army of young Thai men chasing elephants coffee-berry-chomping around with bowls trying to catch it clean digestive system of the elephant rejected so that he can sell it to people who probably believe that shit mongoose is for wimps. (I suppose there is the considerable danger of money associated with a profession that requires daily run behind a mad elephant-caffeine, especially for those working the morning shift. I know very well the effect my first coffee of the day on me.)
If you want to drink coffee with milk in the morning, I'm behind you. If you want to drink white wine with your steak, I'm behind you. If you want to drink something that came out from behind an animal, I think you should be behind bars (I do not care how good it taste). Why not just eat the berries yourself and squat on your own coffee grinder every morning? Cut out the middle man.