Aha. The coffee trade organization used to promote coffee as "the think drink," which it seems is no mere puffery since US per capita production of bright ideas has declined substantially since the '60s.
Carl
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CB: Did I get the below from here ? - "You are what you eat/drink " vulgar materialist determinism.
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Coffee: Good to the Last Drop?
By Anthony Wild | Thursday, August 04, 2005
While coffee bolstered the emergence of capitalism, the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in our globalized economy is exemplified by the growing inequalities in the coffee trade. In "Coffee: A Dark History," this week's Globalist Bookshelf selection, Anthony Wild argues that coffee has always marched hand in hand with colonialism through the pages of history.
...The effect of caffeine itself ensured that there were always likely to be lively, well-informed debates and intense, original exchanges.The coffee house played a pivotal role in the creation of many of financial institutions. These, in turn, supported the expansionist trading empires that had led to the growth of coffee consumption in the first place.
http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=4703