Tag: coffee

When you walk into your favorite coffee place in the morning, I doubt that the first thing on your mind is, "How are the coffee bean plantations doing today?" If you are a true coffee aficionado, you may know that your preferred beans come from Columbia or Nicaragua, but you probably don’t worry much about the well-being of the coffee growers.

But companies such as Starbucks, Keurig Green Mountain, Illycaffe and others who rely on coffee beans for their very existence and continued growth, do. Coffee plantations world-wide have been experiencing unusual fluctuations in heat, rain and other environmental factors, which impact the available supply of beans for—guess what—your cup of joe! And those companies are investing boots-on-the-ground, as well as substantial funds, to help local coffee-growers find solutions to their issues.

Food can bring people together making them feel either welcome or alienated. If you want to know what someone is really like, share a meal together. Many are able to hide behind carefully chosen words or rehearsed facial gestures, but the proverb, you are what you eat, expresses a basic truth about human nature.

First, food choices contain the ingredients of core values—soul food. Second, food and mood correlate highly. Third, changing what you eat can transform habits in other activities of daily living. Therefore if you are trying to improve your marriage and all the verbiage is not working, try changing the menu!

So you live paycheck to paycheck with little left for anything but the necessities? Welcome to the real world. For many married couples, counting the days to payday is a way of life. The notion of saving for a rainy day seems far-fetched. The good news is that’s probably more perception than reality.

If couples plan and stick to a budget, in most cases they can live comfortably and have funds on hand for uncertain times when income is reduced or interrupted.

Women already know they need to cut back on coffee during pregnancy, if not sooner, to lower the risk of miscarriages; but a new study suggests the men in their lives need to limit caffeine too.

Pregnant women who had more than two caffeinated drinks a day while trying to conceive had a 74 percent higher risk of miscarriage than their peers who drank less coffee, tea, soda and energy drinks, the study found.

Weekdays and weekends are always good times to enjoy a steaming cup of coffee, a signature smoothie or glass of juice—especially when shared with the one you love. Even when you are flying solo at the coffee shop, keeping your coffee shop manners in check will assure you are welcome back.

1. WiFi is not free: If you are visiting a coffee shop so your wife can have her favorite pastry and coffee and your motive is to catch up on some work, make sure the pastry is not from your own kitchen and you are not there solely to use their free WiFi. At the very least, order a cup of coffee and pretend you are there to enjoy the coffee shop ambience. Setting up shop at a table and bringing your own breakfast pastry and coffee from home is rude. The coffee shop owner would appreciate your patronage, along with your wife and laptop computer.