National Coffee Day

Are certain people you know always telling you that you drink "too much" coffee - and worse, do they always do so first thing in the morning, before you've had a chance to have your first cup? Well, if you happen to be reading this page and today is September 29, you can tell them all to take a hike, because today is

** NATIONAL COFFEE DAY!! **

Java, Joe, cafe, go juice, bean juice, dessert mud, coffee ... whatever you call it, National Coffee Day is the time to revel in the invention of this marvelous drink. This page gives you 10 ways to celebrate this high-caffeine holiday. So, to all you coffee lovers (and that includes me!): rise and shine, grab a mug of Joe and have fun!

The above image is of a mug sold at zazzle.com.

National Coffee Day (a.k.a. Coffee Day) is celebrated around the world every year on September 29. Although the exact origin of this holiday is not well documented, it dates back to at least 1983 when International Coffee Day (as this holiday is also known) was promoted in Japan by the All Japan Coffee Association. National Coffee Day gradually caught on over the years in different parts of the world, so that now, most countries celebrate this holiday in some form. These days, many businesses offer free coffee or discounts on this day, and National Coffee Day paper greeting cards and e-cards have also become a tradition. In recent years, National Coffee Day has also become a holiday dedicated not only to celebrating and savoring this popular beverage, but also to promoting fair trade coffee and raising awareness of the plight of coffee growers in certain Third World countries.

The above image is of a mug sold at zazzle.com.

There are a number of restaurants and other businesses, including Dunkin' Donuts, 7-Eleven, Krispy Kreme and McDonalds, that have been offering free cups of coffee or discounts (e.g., 2 for 1 specials) on National Coffee Day for years. You may also want to check with your favorite coffee shop to see if it has any specials on this day.

The above image is available as a card at greeting zazzle.com.

Do you prefer regular or decaf?

If you drink 5-10 cups or more of coffee a day, then this giant coffee cup will put your mug to shame and save you many trips to the break room or kitchen. (Of course, you may end up making more trips to the bathroom, and at some point, you might also want to think about switching to decaf.)

When you first lay eyes on this thing, you are sure to do a double take. Yes, this mug is actually shaped like a toilet, believe it or not! This hysterical mug makes a great gag gift for the coffee lover in your life or anyone else you know with a sense of humor. (You might want to think twice before bringing it to work with you, though, especially if you work for an anal retentive boss.)

Design a coffee mug with your own slogan at zazzle.com.

For example, if you normally drink regular coffee, try some Turkish coffee or espresso. If you normally take your coffee black, try a flavored coffee drink such as a Frappuccino or Mocha Latte. Or, if you normally drink instant coffee, try it brewed.

The above image is of a mug sold at zazzle.com.

If you have never heard of Coffee Talk, it is a board game in which the game pieces all have a coffee theme and each player has 45 seconds to write down everything s/he knows about a given topic. When the time is up, each player shares his/her answers and gets a point for every unique answer (i.e., that no other player has yet come up with). If a player has written down something that other players have challenged, s/he can put down a Sugar Packet card to make his/her answer count. To change topics, a player can put down a Creamer card.

The main objective of Coffee Talk is to score as many points as possible. Players keep score by moving their coffee beans up and down their coffee cups. The first player to reach the top wins.

Here's something you can try at home. If you love Starbucks and want to save some money, then make your own coffee drinks. This Starbucks recipe book has many of your favorite drinks, and while not all ingredients may be ones you normally stock at home, they are all available at your local grocery store.

Many years ago, I use to live a block away from a specialty food shop that roasted their own coffee beans which they sold along with other coffee-related items. Every morning, we would wake up to this shop's fragrant coffee aroma, and it was heavenly! For those times when you are not making coffee, you can get that same marvelous aroma by burning coffee-scented candles such as the one featured below.

Remember those old Folgers TV commercials with Mrs. Olson? Although I love coffee, I think that when it comes to Folgers commercials over the years, people either love or hate them. Whether these old commercials bring back fond memories or annoy you, they are definitely an amusing bit of memorabilia.

These "gems" are from ca. the 1960s-1970s and unfortunately, I remember most of them all too well from when I was growing up. If these commercials weren't so offensive, they would almost be laughable. Thankfully, you would never catch the likes of them on TV today. (After all, coffee manufacturers want to sell their products, not turn the public against them.)

I love coffee, but unfortunately, I just found out that it may have a dark side. In my research for this article, I came across something very disturbing that I'd never heard of or known about until now.

"Black Gold" is a documentary released in 2006 about the plight of exploited and desperate Ethiopian coffee farmers who can barely eke out a living despite coffee being a multi-billion dollar industry world-wide. This film documents an Ethiopian coffee producer's journey around the world as he attempts to get a fair price for his coffee farmers co-operative.

Below are a "Black Gold" movie trailer, some videos on the making of this sad and thought-provoking documentary, and a full-length movie video.

For more information, see

blackgoldmovie.com

BBC NEWS | UK | Film highlights coffee industry