New Car, Mega Holiday Or Daily Coffee?

You know this, and so do I. Being ‘drugged’ every day is neither legal nor is it advisable but there is no need to be concerned about the former. Trimethylxanthine – 137TX for short – is completely legal. And it is a great money spinner.

Many adults use it daily, some more than others. So much so, that it is for sale just about everywhere, in clubs, schools, shops, places of work . . . .

Why is it so popular and used so frequently? Maybe it is because so many of us rely on it to give us a ‘lift’ and get us going in the morning, and keeps us going when fatigue urges us to give up the task at hand.

We dose ourselves up with between 80-100 milligrams in each cup of coffee, 5 milligrams in a square of dark chocolate, 200-250mg is used for dosing sports people in the hope of enhanced performance. Some even go higher, maybe 300-500mg. A decaffeinated coffee has about the same as a square of dark chocolate, that is to say, 5mg.

Some coffee-drinkers stick to one or two cups a day, others need 5 cups or more. Some drink it neat [black, no sugar] and some add milk or sugar, which slow down its absorption. So you can easily work out that it is not uncommon for a dedicated coffee-drinker to down 500-600mg of trimethylxanthine a day!!

We tend to say "Let's meet for a coffee". At home we prepare coffee in a myriad of ways. Some use the two tiered coffee percolator that cleverly turns the water in the bottom part into steam which is then directed to the top part where the coffee grounds are. Others use an electric contraption that may use coffee grounds in a colander basket or else in small sealed pods. There is even a percolator that is all glass. Again it is made of two parts, so the steam rises to the top part and scalds the coffee grounds, just long enough to get the best taste, without too much bitterness. From production to the store shelf, to the restaurant table, coffee is big business indeed.

Coffee has a most inviting aroma, and personally, I think it is what traps us into the constant need of it. Much like any other drug, it gets a hold and then never lets us go. It is akin to the smell of freshly baked bread. A primeval sort of smell, basic and natural. It speaks to us, enveloping our stressed out being, and beckons us to stop and smell . . . maybe even stop and take a break!

Caffeine Blues, is a highly rated book written by Stephen Cherniske. Cherniske, a nutritional biochemist, claims that people who consume more than 300 milligrams of caffeine per day suffer from caffeinism - [oh dear! ] He states that this is a major contributing factor to heart disease, hypertension, stomach ailments, diabetes and sleep disorders.

In his book, he shows that caffeine is in many over-the-counter medicines, soft drinks and candy. The latter will contribute to the addiction of children to caffeine.

Drinking coffee robs you of a fortune. I could write a whole article just about how you can invest the moneys you spend on a cappuccino in the morning and a latte in the afternoon.

I could dazzle you with interest rates, add graphs and numbers galore that show you the result if you invested the cost of two cups of espresso coffees each day, but I think it is best to keep it simple. Trust me, I got this from those who understand the numbers of compound interest!

There is magic in those words. If you keep adding to it, your deposit keeps growing and growing and even more so when you expose it to the magic of “Compound Interest”. Reminds me of the “Double or Nothing”, except you forgo the “Nothing” and keep the “Double”. Enticing?

Two extra coffees a day [apart from what you have at home], is $9 a day where I live. That would be $45 each working week. If you invest it at 7% for 50 years it would give you $983,639 in compound interest. But who can think that far ahead?

Let us just work on probabilities. Let's say you forgo the daily coffees at work and put that money away for a swish car, a fantastic holiday, or something of that magnitude. You put away that $45 per week away and learn to enjoy instant coffee which will cost you pennies or less when at work.

Putting away $45 per week, at a paltry 5% interest for 5 years will give you $13,262 dollars! Whoa!! What can you picture with over $13,000 in your hands, and still young enough to go wild with it? And the coffee? You still get the odd one here and there, but you don't miss it because you are now trained away from an expensive hobby.

What if you keep it growing for ten years, you ask! Hold your horses. Now that you have $13,000 plus in the bag, you can negotiate a better interest rate with the bank manager. Now, you can play the bank game.

You put the $13,262 in the bank and get 7% for the next five years. Guess what! You will end up with thirty two thousand, seven hundred and sixty one dollars. Wow! Whee!!

Now that you have played the bank game once and won, and you have a lot more to 'lend' to the bank, you can work toward an 8% for . . .say another 5 years and at the end you end up with $63,137. Tell me what would you do with $63 grand smackeroos? Is that enough for a grande finale? You may be able to get the super-car you've admired for so long. It may be the last payment you will need to do before the house-payments stop altogether. Each of those is worthwhile to the one who is going for it. There may be dozens different goals that one can achieve with $63 big ones. Coffee anyone? Yes, thanks so long as it is the odd one here and there that you pay a high price for.

What about one more go?. Say you put your savings down again, for another five years at 8.5%. The bank manager is getting used to this, so s/he will play ball, no doubt. So at the end of those five years you will have the fantastic sum of $110,945. Still in your prime, with plenty of work years ahead; but there is nothing to say you cannot reward yourself at this stage, with a right royal-run around the globe, or maybe there is something you have been eyeing for a long time, Something long, low, sleek and fast, very fast! You've planned well and stuck with it, and you deserve all that you can get out of it. Go ahead, enjoy. . .

These are all very attractive goals, but maybe . . . just maybe, now that you have consistently followed this plan, you would feel very tempted to go further and think of a going the whole hog.

You can then make whoopee when you leave work and finally go to your reward.

Then you can well and truly go bananas on the holiday of a lifetime, and not have to skimp either. Take your loot and play your game one last time. Maybe you decide that since this is your last throw of the dice, you may as well make it worth your while.

You go to the bank manager, with the tidy sum of $110,945 and put it down for ten years IF you can get 9%. [ I am working on today's probabilities, but who knows, in two years time you might be able to get a lot more, and THAT would really make a big difference.]

Have a quick guess at how much you will pocket at the end of that period. You will have a whopping $309,701. All yours, to do with as you wish. Stop for a minute and think what you would do with that kind of tidy sum. I know that if it were me I'd probably blow it all on a luxury cruise . Each one of us has different dreams.

Now, I will ask again. Will you or won’t you give up coffee? It would top Super, it would top pensions, and you could have a regal splash with that kind of money, can’t you? And you will find plenty of books that tell you how to give up coffee, but do you really need them ? You've long given up paying someone else for your coffee.

Now that we are done with the numbers, let’s get back to coffee.

What is good, and what is bad about it?
We will go for the Bad first, and get it out of the way.

Are you getting the feeling that I am a coffee devotee? – That is a polite term for “hooked on coffee”!!.

Known side-effects:-

• Headaches - which nullify any pick-me-up it gives you. Some effect you get from coffee
• palpitations – sensations of your heart pounding and racing.
• promotes reflux – which often creates the burning, painful feeling in your throat and stomach.
• increases levels of cortisol- which can deplete the adrenal glands and predispose you to chronic fatigue
• Leeches ⦁ calcium losses from our bones –which can make bones brittle and prone to breaking.
• caffeine tends to increase urine production, which is often the cause of disturbed sleep.
• often reduces sleep quality-which leaves you tired, despite what is apparently a good night’s sleep.

Then there is this –
Scientists at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research have announced that coffee contains a substance associated with deadly accumulation of visceral fat.
So why do we risk experimenting with 137TX?

It’s cheap, you can get it anywhere, and it is flavorsome. The effects happen quickly, peaking in the bloodstream within about an hour of consumption and then dissipates about four hours after an average dose in most people.

In brief

• Coffee can give you energy.
• Coffee can make you feel good.
• Coffee can rob you of a good investment.
• Coffee can cause health issues.
• Coffee is legal and smells great.

1. A study at the University of Porto, Portugal came out with some very interesting health benefits. One that will resonate with anyone of mature age is that caffeine can be associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer Disease
2. Another study that included over 50,000 women from America concluded that coffee may minimisethe risk of depression.
3. Yet another study of over 2000 men from Finland, also associated coffee intake with less chances of depression
4. According to a study by the West Australian Institute concluded that at low doses chlorogenic acid [also used in the study about visceral fat ]seems to have a positive effect in insulin sensitivity and blood pressure.
5. But this reverses when coffee is consumed in high doses. It then leads to fat accumulation around the organs, and tends to raise blood glucose levels, diabetes type2. The only snag seems to be that this study has so far only been on rats.
6. The latest Harvard study on coffee and health does not offer much in the way of warnings against coffee drinking. This included about 130,000 student volunteers and these were healthy people in their mid-years. They were followed for 18-24 years and yet the conclusion was that coffee drinking does not cause any serious health risks.
7. Psychology Today explains that coffee releases the neurotransmitter dopamine. This leads to pleasant feelings. Is it any wonder that we go for it first thing in the morning? Cocaine and ecstasy also produce that euphoria by acting upon dopamine in the brain. One could say that it is easier to stick to coffee!

I think the aroma of freshly brewed coffee is irresistible to some of us.

Now, for an interesting take on Coffee, I leave you with a video of Gary Wenk at TEDxColumbus

#1.....By Karen.....www.flickr.comphotosmisbehave2352753067

#2....Rich, Dark Coffee-Beans https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

#3.... Coffee Decorated for our pleasure.....by Eric T Gunther https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki

#4.....By L.K......: L.K.https://www.flickr.com/photos/lgkiii/3683858639

#5 ..... By Alayna the Extravagant (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

#6.....Cafe Latte Yummy. . .File:Cafe Latte.jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.org

#7.....https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Peugeot_coffee_grinders#/media/File:Peugeot_coffee_grinder_(2306141796).jpg