"Coffee Cure" By Barry Smith

I have coffee issues, and thanks to science, they are only getting worse.

A couple years ago, the first thing I would do after waking up would be to make a cup of coffee and immediately sit down and type out an entire page on my manual typewriter. An entire page of whatever came to mind, no rules, no parameters. Just as a little exercise.
Coffee is my Muse and my destroyer. Coffee is my inspiration and my perspiration and will drive me to premature expiration. There are those who claim to love the ritual of the morning cup of coffee, but they have nothing on me. Satanists would be shocked by the amount of ritual I have built up around my a.m. fix.
And shower also with Natural handcrafted Coffee Soap



I'm a coffee snob, a coffee connoisseur and a coffee whore. I have a French press encrusted with bean-shaped jewels. I have ended friendships upon discovering 7-Eleven coffee cups in their car. I have asked strangers for just one sip of their Joe. I've got it bad. I've published no less than a dozen coffee-centric columns, drawn countless doodles of coffee cups, and am not embarrassed to be seen in a Starbucks.
I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with coffee for the past 5 years that would warrant a People magazine cover story. And with each turn of the roller coaster I have made a big deal about it to anyone within earshot, including the person selling me the coffee at the time.

And now, just as I am absolutely and finally done with the bean (I mean it this time), I see the headlines, "Coffee May Prevent Liver Cancer."

What? NO! Don't you dare prevent cancer!

Seems the Japanese have done a 10 year study showing that 1-2 cups of coffee a day cuts in half the chances of getting the most common form of liver cancer.

OK, I remember those TV commercials in the 1980s, the ones where Cecily Tyson claimed that coffee gives you "serenity." Ha! Are we talking about the same thing? Serenity? Not if you do it right, Cecily.

But that's advertising. You expect to be lied to. But this new claim is not "Juan Valdez sez: Coffee prevents cancer. Drink up." This is science.

I thought science was supposed to help, and now here it is giving me the green light to get all jacked up again. "Drink coffee, Barry, your liver will thank you." Yeah, but my kidneys will kick my ass. And there's two of them and only one of me.

The study did show that going past the two-cup mark actually starts to INCREASE the liver cancer risk, but I don't need a third cup to be a jerk.

Just as I'm starting to get things under control, just as I'm beginning to be a good person, to quell the ravenous coffee desire, closing in on the twelfth step, about to silence that little whining voice that says, "Coffee makes you happy and interesting," then I get a bunch of statistics thrown in my face.

What next? Research proves that sarcasm increases penis size? Ten year study reveals that masturbation raises your IQ? Procrastination doubles the lifespan of laboratory rats, study shows. Frequent napping promotes hair growth. Research reveals pot smoking chimpanzees more attractive to the opposite sex.

I have no choice. Science has spoken. And the kettle is boiling.


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