# Coffee **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 24, 2000, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539 "2000-08-24T02:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argeable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Argeable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argeable)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/1 "2000-08-24T02:14:35Z")
Having just read Memoir from Antproof Case I must bring this up. The main character has, among other things, dedicated his life to destroying the human consumption of coffee. Reasoning why coffee is bad: The Renaisance began, more or less, at the beginning of the 16th century. Its cultural accomplishments have never since been matched. It ended around the time coffee was introduced into Europe. Why do you think these feats were never repeated? Humans digest food and move at certain rates. These rates determine our work and sleep schedules. If you introduce coffee, these rates change dramatically. Internal bodilly rythms are screwed up, and suddenly your life changes. Coffee can have terrible effects on one’s body- development of ulcers, premature aging, etc. Who really wants that? In order to reach one’s inner self, one must find an inner peace and calm. Coffee will prevent one from finding that calm. So what? Good question. I will not defend coffee, though I know it does have its uses. Most people don’t really care of the side effects, though. So, I will ask: Do you dopers think coffee should be drunk? Why? Just because you don’t think it \* should\* be drunk doesn’t mean you don’t or won’t drink it though. ---
**Author:** ![Molotov\_Korova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/41988e/32.png) [@Molotov\_Korova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotov_Korova)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/2 "2000-08-24T02:33:46Z")
Coffee should not be drunk regularly. Laced coffee, however, is ok. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/3 "2000-08-24T02:42:39Z")
One vote here for coffee. (What are you, nuts? No coffee? Stop drinking coffee? Get thee behind me, thou dark satanic advocate of food that is “good for you”!) The Renaissance was not that great, me bucko. “It’s cultural accomplishments have never been matched,” and maybe that’s just as well. The Hundred Years War, the Wars of the Roses, doctors practicing medicine by bloodletting with leeches, the whole Protestant Reformation, the complete destruction of American Indian cultures by freebooting imperialists from Spain, England, Holland, France, etc. So even if coffee did bring the whole Renaissance thing to a grinding (heh) halt, what’s the big deal? No great loss. We moved on, as a race, to bigger and better things: Jeffersonian democracy, Model T Fords, polyester, the Internet, and Madonna. Don’t weep for a vanished, coffee-less Paradise. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/4 "2000-08-24T02:45:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Coffee should not be drunk regularly. Exactly. \*\* I \*\* should be. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/5 "2000-08-24T02:46:15Z")
I don’t think coffee should be drunk. I find the intravenous route to be much more efficacious. Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/6 "2000-08-24T02:49:17Z")
Replace “coffee” with “office work” in the OP. _Now_ tell me what we should ban. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/7 "2000-08-24T03:06:50Z")
_Post hoc, ergo propter hoc_ is the fallacy here. Just because something happened before something else, a causation chain is not implied. If you reasoned that way, women getting the vote caused the Cold War. Obviously false. ---
**Author:** ![Phil\_15](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Phil\_15](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phil_15)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/8 "2000-08-24T03:25:50Z")
During the same period of time tea, sugar, and tobacco were also introduced. Brewed tea has as much caffine as coffee, the evils of tobacco are well documented, and there is some very interesting data regarding the effects that succrose has on the body and mind (especially in the form of chocolate 🙂 ). Take your pick!!! ---
**Author:** ![Emilee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@Emilee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilee)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/9 "2000-08-24T03:34:07Z")
I work in a coffee shop, and I drink my fair share, so maybe I’m biased. I don’t like the idea of weird chemicals in my system, but caffiene isn’t so bad. I did a paper on caffiene for my chemistry class a few months ago, and I found that there are no strong associations between caffiene and any diseases. So there 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/10 "2000-08-24T03:34:45Z")
COFFEE. 1. A jealous god. It giveth and taketh away. It has the power to energize and refresh, but if you abuse its power, it takes revenge. Like Eos’ mortal lover Tithonus in Greek myth, who was given eternal life but not eternal youth and grew older until he became a grasshopper, coffee gives its abusers sleeplessness without energy. 2. The engine of the world economy. In terms of economic importance, it rivals oil on world commodity markets and is almost as strategic. The globalized economy is apparently built on ignoring humans’ natural sleep cycles in favour of jittery wakefulness. See SIESTA. -from _[Defined Opinions](http://www.crosswinds.net/~montrealais/art/defined/index.html)_, by Matthew McLauchlin ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/11 "2000-08-24T04:21:11Z")
All things in moderation. Remember that and you will go far. ---
**Author:** ![Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/12 "2000-08-24T04:52:31Z")
I’m 15 and have never drunk coffee, but my friends do. Will it really make me stop growing? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/13 "2000-08-24T05:01:25Z")
I started drinking coffee at age 15, and I’m 6’1" and 165 lbs with size 13 shoes. Make of this what you will. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/14 "2000-08-24T05:06:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Emilee \* > **there are no strong associations between caffiene and any diseases.** Now **that’s** something to aspire to. BTW, I hope you all are buying fair-trade coffee. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/15 "2000-08-24T05:49:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*The Renaissance was not that great, me bucko. “It’s cultural accomplishments have never been matched,” and maybe that’s just as well. The Hundred Years War, the Wars of the Roses, doctors practicing medicine by bloodletting with leeches, the whole Protestant Reformation, the complete destruction of American Indian cultures by freebooting imperialists from Spain, England, Holland, France, etc. So even if coffee did bring the whole Renaissance thing to a grinding (heh) halt, what’s the big deal? \*\* Not very familiar with your histry, are you? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/16 "2000-08-24T07:21:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*I started drinking coffee at age 15, and I’m 6’1" and 165 lbs with size 13 shoes. Make of this what you will. \*\* Maybe it made you skinny. I started coffee at 12, and I am 6’1" and a robust 215. ---
**Author:** ![knappy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@knappy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knappy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/17 "2000-08-24T14:06:10Z")
Doctor J: I got this from the guy in front of me in line at Starbuck’s, so it must be true: Coffee (or caffeine) ingested via IV is deadly poisonous. So, please, don’t try this at home or office. * * * One Hubcap Place: The Address for Elegant Wheel Coverings ---
**Author:** ![RussellM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/18 "2000-08-24T14:33:44Z")
> [@](#): > > **Goose** > I’m 15 and have never drunk coffee, but my friends do. Will it really make me stop growing? Sadly, if you have not yet started, it is already too late. You must stay with caffeine-free drinks for the rest of your life. Russell (chain coffee drinker since the 80’s) ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/19 "2000-08-24T14:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > From **Science Magazine** > > The data come from 8004 aging men, 102 of whom have developed Parkinson’s since 1965. Scientists report in the 24 May issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association that non-coffee drinkers were two to three times as likely to get the disease as coffee drinkers. The risk went down fivefold for those who consume seven or more cups a day. That more or less makes me immune to Parkinsons, I guess. 🙂 Tris ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2000, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539/20 "2000-08-24T15:46:32Z")
**Triskadecamus,** This also applies to smoking. I think I’m starting to see a pattern in this… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee/30539.md?page=2)