Confessions of a coffee connoisseur

My name is Eliza Stinneford and I am an addict.

My drug of choice? Coffee. It’s a beverage that’s always there for me when I need comfort or a pick-me-up. I need it like I need sleep, although sometimes it even takes the place of this necessity.

What is it about this dark beauty that I find so appealing? I suppose it could be the earthy cloud rising from every cup that brings me back to the mornings of my childhood and memories of that ‘grownup’ drink my parents cradled in their hands.

I can still remember the first time I showed up at high school with my travel mug of the wicked brew.

Silly as it seems now, I felt so grown up. And that’s how the addiction started.
For the longest time I can remember not actually liking the taste of coffee but, like so many flavors do as we grow up, it grew on me.

The addiction really solidified itself when I worked a summer job and trained to be a barista. I would come home at night talking a mile a minute, after downing shot after shot of espresso and that’s when they told me I had had enough (naturally, I ignored their warnings).

I’m not the only one suffering from this Arabica addition.

According to a study conducted by the National Coffee Association and the Specialty Coffee Association of America in 2000, 54 percent of Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee every day.

Of the percentage, just over 18 percent drink coffee beverages such as lattés or café mochas.

One would think with more than half of the population coming together over a common cup we would be more united in our coffee consumption, but every cup is as unique as the person who drinks it.

I suppose I could get all analytical now and describe how the way a person takes their coffee is a reflection of their personality but that would get very boring very quickly. What I can say is that as adamant as some people are about the type of coffee they drink, many do not actually know how it came to be. I can assure you, the friend who feels the need to brag once a week at breakfast about how he only drinks a good dark roast and he always takes it black does not know that the beans have been roasted longer and therefore the acidity and “bite” of the coffee actually decline while the bitterness of the bean is brought out during the browning process.

This same person probably also doesn’t know the addition of milk or cream to coffee provides proteins which bind with the tannins (the molecular compounds that cause your mouth to feel dry or cottony, like when biting into an unripe banana) and therefore reducing the bitterness of the coffee, making it more palatable for some such as yours truly.

The 9.7 pounds of coffee consumed by each American every year (which I believe I do my fair share of) is made up of two different types of beans: Arabica beans from Ethiopia and Sudan primarily and Robusta beans which prefer the hotter, humid environment of West Africa. Both beans serve their purpose depending on what you’re looking for in your morning...mid-morning…lunchtime…mid-afternoon...before dinner… after dinner cup (see I told you I had a problem).

If you’re going for the flavor factor, Arabica is your girl, widely known for her complex and balanced palate. But if it’s a good wake up kick that you’re looking for, Robusta’s got your back, with 2.5 percent of the dry bean weight being caffeine as opposed to the measly 1.5 percent in Arabica beans. That comes out to roughly 115 milligrams of caffeine per five oz cup of brewed coffee.

Doing the math now in my head, that means I consume far more caffeine than I care to admit here. I think I need help.

Eliza Stinneford can be contacted at estinneford@keeneequinox.com.

In a Nutshell is a student-written column and should in no way be taken as expert advice.