How Do You Like Your Coffee?

If you spend any amount of time listening to The Riley & Scot Show (and we hope you do), you know that we are true coffee lovers. Part of it might be the getting up at 3 o'clock in the morning, but, to be honest, we'd be pouring it down regardless of our work shift.

We are not alone in our adoration of all things coffee. From USA Today:

About 83 percent of adults drink coffee in the U.S., the world's biggest consumer of the beverage, up from 78 percent a year earlier, according to the National Coffee Association's 2013 online survey. That's an average of three cups a day per person, or 587 million cups. The only weak spot: volatile young drinkers, who last year drank less coffee.

 

Young punks. They need to get with the program.

Coffee has become more than just a shot of caffeine. It's a $30 billion-a-year national industry, a foodie fixation, an affordable luxury, a boost of disease-fighting antioxidants, a versatile ingredient, an intoxicating aroma and a beverage that brings people together.

"We've gone from drinking mass-produced coffee to specialty coffee. People today are more educated about coffee than ever before. They know where it's grown and how it's roasted," said Matt Poole, owner of Giant Coffee, a downtown Phoenix shop that pours single-origin coffee roasted in San Francisco.

"They want coffee to taste exactly how they like it."

Not only that, but think of the health benefits:

Experts credit coffee's new-found image as healthy for driving up sales. Coffee, caffeinated or decaffeinated, may help extend the lives of people who drink it daily, according to researchers at the National Cancer Institute.

Men who drank two to three cups a day had a 10 percent chance of outliving those who drank no coffee, while women had a 13 percent advantage, according to the 2012 study.

Other research suggests coffee lowers the risk of diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

 

From ABC News:

As always, a big thank you to Meg's Daily Grind, the official coffee sponsor of The Riley & Scot Show.