I can still remember my first kiss with coffee, as if it was yesterday (well in fact I had a reminder just an hour ago). The foam tingling on you upper lip, rich full bodied perfection dancing over your tongue, the sweet caffeinated deliciousness rushing to your brain, a smell so exotic it’s almost intoxicating! There is no denying that bound up in the pleasure of the daily coffee drinking occasion, is the happy anticipation of that therapeutic kick.

Some might see my obsession with coffee as an addiction but I see it as nothing else but a love affair. I can relate with the woman who refused to give up her coffee in Bach’s symphony “Kafee Kanate” as she sings “Ah! How sweet coffee taste! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee.” 

For many years some scientists tried to convince consumers of the hidden dangers of caffeine. They surely are not trustworthy in their opinion because when you think of it, they either never had a good enough cuppa or are trying desperately to stop out of their own convictions. In my experience, trying to abstain a whole day without drinking a cup of coffee, resulted in outright horrible symptoms of withdrawal: headaches, irritability, and drowsiness…Now how can anyone conduct proper research feeling like that? I rest my case.

Coffee addiction seems harmless enough and, unlike others, relatively affordable, freely available, nowhere near as neurotoxic and may I add legal. Despite the bad reputation recent research does prove that drinking coffee provides a wide range of health benefits. Some studies suggest that a few cups of coffee a day may actually help reduce the risk of a number of ailments including diabetes, gallstones, depression and even Parkinson and Alzheimer’s disease.

After all, drinking coffee may not only be beneficial to one’s health, but you would also be boosting the economy, since coffee is the second most commonly traded commodity after oil and the most consumed beverage in the world, with over 400 billion cups consumed each year worldwide. The coffee industry states that 6.7 million tons of coffee were produced annually in 1998 -2000, rising with a projected increase of 7 million tons by 2010, so literally millions of people depend on the coffee industry for their livelihood. So not only do we need coffee to function properly as human beings but the world in general, pretty much needs coffee to survive.

There is enough justification for my presumably addiction as I greet each mug of coffee with the enthusiasm of young love, the only problem is cheap imitations and water dissolving mixes won’t do the trick. Coffee aficionados know the fix you get of freshly roasted coffee has no comparison. Lots of ground coffee from the grocery store contains fillers as well and once you try coffee fresh from a roaster, you’ll realize all the stuff you’ve been drinking as all along wasn’t the real thing.

Proper roasting and blending of coffee beans is at the heart of any coffee success story as the technique dictates the ultimate flavour experience of coffee. Specialty coffees are generally roasted in small batches by hand according coffee company standards. Artisan roasting as an art form in itself, is what most coffee lovers highly appreciate. Roastmasters use sound, sight and smell to determine when the beans are roasted to perfection.

Luckily saving me the time and trouble of finding the best artisan roasters, Coffee Cart made sure that they have sourced the best artisan roasters in town to deliver one’s daily recommended dose to stay healthy and do my part for society by doing what I do best, enjoying the kiss of coffee!