Over a cup of coffee

A Cafe Coffee Day advertisement says " You can say a lot over coffee......". On being googled, "coffee" yields 206,000,000 results, which establishes the fact that a lot has indeed been said about coffee, if not over it.

The search also downloads a page on my screen which informs me that Cafe Coffee Day has 789 outlets in 105 cities and has been adjudged the "Best Exclusive Brand Retailer". What is it in a cup of coffee, I wonder, which makes it such a hot topic for discussion? Intrigued, I continue my search.

The National Geographic website tells me that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia by a goatherd named Kaldi in ca. 800 A.D. Once, while on a round with his goats, Kaldi noticed his animals hopping from one shrub to another and picking on some unfamiliar red berries. Their unusual excitement at the fag end of the day told Kaldi that something was up. As soon as he realised this, Kaldi plucked a few of these fruits and gobbled them up. And lo! in a while, he too was jumping around the bush with his flock. That is the story behind the effect of caffeine on a goatherd and his goats.

Caffeine is an alkaloid which acts as a stimulant on the human Central Nervous System. It is bitter to taste and white in colour. As a psychoactive substance, caffeine keeps our brain alert and prevents drowsiness. It can change the way our brain functions and alter our moods, perceptions, consciousness and behaviour. That is why we crave for a cup of coffee when we are down and out.

The most expensive coffee comes from the island of Indonesia and is known as Kopi Luwak. Kopi Luwak is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and excreted by the common palm civet, an animal which resembles the weasel. "Kopi" is coffee for the Indonesians and "Luwak" is the local name of the civet. The unique flavour of Kopi Luwak and its not-so-bitter taste fetches it a price of up to $600 a pound and up to $50 per cup.

No discussion on coffee would perhaps be complete without Starbucks. The Starbucks Coffee Company was born in 1971, with the first store opening in Pike Place Market, Chicago. Named after the first mate in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Starbucks is the world's leading retailer and roaster of branded coffee. On its current menu board, Starbucks displays names such as Arabian Mocha Sanani, Bella Vista F.W. Tres Rios Costa, Rica, Brazil Ipanema Bourbon and a host of others. I wonder what it would cost me to say a lot over coffee.