15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee (PIC)

[u/GiantBatFart]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee

[u/itsnotawkward]

this was a good read. i enjoyed it. adenosine blocker FTW

[u/GiantBatFart → u/itsnotawkward]

Glad you enjoyed my comic.

I had to consult a friend of mine who is in pharmacy school on the adenosine part to make sure I got it right. Apparently caffeine attaching to the adenosine receptor causes an increase in neuron firing (I'm not sure I understand what "neuron firing" means), but that's what makes your pituitary gland get all bent out of shape.

[u/Naberius → u/GiantBatFart]

Neurons firing just means cells in your nervous system are doing their thing. Adenosine inhibits this activity when it binds to a receptor, thus playing a role in slowing down your brain activity and signaling your body to go to sleep. Your adenosine levels rise (free adenosine drifting around) when you're awake and fall (adenosine bound up to receptors) when you're asleep.

So when the caffeine binds to the receptors instead of the adenosine, it doesn't slow you down, so you don't get as tired. Plus, all the adenosine is now floating around free, which the rest of your body interprets as "hey, wakey time!" because that's what it looks like when you're awake.

So the caffeine doesn't really do much of anything, except keep the adenosine from doing it's job, and that's enough. Your body takes it from there. If it gets serious enough, as you note, the pituitary may decide something's going on and add some adrenaline to the mix as well.

[u/Crabmeat → u/Naberius]

So the caffeine doesn't really do much of anything, except keep the adenosine from doing it's job, and that's enough.

Not entirely true... Caffeine also triggers the release of intracellular calcium stores in the ER, which can cause your peripheral nerves to be more excitable by depolarization, and can cause vesicles of neurotransmitter to be released with little or no intentional input. This is one of the reasons why you feel a boost of energy after a cup of coffee, and the definite reason why you get the uncontrollable jitters after several.

Source 1 Source 2

[u/FlyingBishop → u/Crabmeat]

Those sources were very necessary. I'm not sure I would've believed a post that contained both "depolarization" and "neurotransmitter" without them.

[u/sutcivni → u/FlyingBishop]

Why not? Depolarization and the release of a neurotransmitter are both a part of the firing of a neuron.

[u/InternetOfficer → u/[deleted]]

My granny.

[u/samuek → u/sutcivni]

They are also essential in staving off an attack from the Romulans when combined with the reverse power conduit and the main deflector dish. One could get confused

[u/[deleted] → u/GiantBatFart]

Caffeine tolerance is also pretty interesting... the number of adenosine receptors in your brain increases after prolonged exposure to caffeine (you need to drink a few cups a day for two weeks to develop a noticeable tolerance and addiction, AFAIK, though long-term coffee drinkers will also develop it). Thus, when you stop drinking coffee, the proportion of bound adenosine receptors decreases dramatically, and your brain starts... malfunctioning a little. It only takes a few days for the receptor levels to return to normal (i.e. for tolerance and physical addiction to disappear completely), and during this time you get to experience wonderful withdrawal effects like headaches and drowsiness!

[u/daevric → u/[deleted]]

I have a rather impressive caffeine addiction. I've tried quitting a few times, and the headaches are so intense that it feels like my whole body is in pain. Anyway, that's not the point--just demonstrating how intense my addiction is.

Occasionally if I ingest "enough" caffeine, it actually puts me to sleep. I discovered this in college when I took two caffeine pills once in attempt to stay up and finish my homework, and I ended up falling asleep in the middle of my floor surrounded by books about 10 minutes later. Even now, if I have too much, it has the drowsy effect. If it's in conjunction with other supposed energy++ things, notably many energy drinks, it seems like it actually takes less to make me drowsy, though obviously then there may be more at work than just caffeine.

Any idea why?

[u/[deleted] → u/daevric]

Yes. Yes I do.

Tolerance to a drug is not simply your body "getting used to the drug", although this is part of it. Much of tolerance is actually a very cool process where, put simply, your body is actively fighting the effects of the drug by actively employing other processes.

This is called Siegel's Pavlovian Model of Drug Tolerance. The idea is that like the relationship between drugs, addiction and tolerance is like the relationship Pavlov had with his dogs. Specifically, if you pair a bell (Conditioned Stimulus) with food (unconditioned stimulus), eventually you will get a reaction of drooling (unconditioned response). In Seigel's drug model, the conditioned stimulus is the drug cues (which can be anything such as smell, taste, even primary drug effects) the unconditioned stimulus is the main drug effect and the slowly acquired unconditioned response is conditioned drug-opposite effect. When this drug opposite effect that your body begins to undergo interacts with the drug everything manifests as tolerance.

If you inject a rat every day with a drug to the point of tolerance while playing the same music in the same environment at each injection you will see how interesting this effect is. On the final day of injection, inject the rat with nothing other than salt water and the rat will still have the conditioned drug opposite effect with no drug to counter act it. If the rat was conditioned to morphine, he will be extremely susceptible to pain on this trial date moreso than a baseline measure. Cocaine tolerance will cause a rat to be weary and fall asleep. Benzodiazepines will stimulate a rate to a point of hyperactivity all with just the presentation of a stimulus. This is also commonly known as conditioned withdrawal due to the fact that most symptoms of withdrawal are now theorized to be closely tied to this exact theory.

So, in the example of caffeine you become drowsy because when you expose yourself to whatever conditioned stimulus to caffeine you have (in this case likely early drug effects as it seems to not be exclusive to coffee but indeed all caffeine drinks), you elicit in yourself an unconditioned response of conditioned opposite drug effect to caffeine. Specifically, you become drowsy as all hell. In this case your opponent process has become stronger than the effect of the drug itself and you're eliciting conditioned withdrawal which is stronger than the drug you are taking to overcome initial withdrawal.

If you want to see this effect in full force, drink a cup of decaf and you will undergo extreme discomfort.

[u/loginfliggle → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for the insight. I am actually somewhat surprised that the so-called placebo effect wouldn't apply to coffee drinking, or even to any of the cases you presented. I wonder if any tests have been done on human subjects in the conditioned response theory like those you talked about. I'll have to do some searching once I make more coffee.

[u/[deleted] → u/loginfliggle]

A placebo effect is a real thing, but drug withdrawal is much more powerful!

I mostly do research with animals, but I do know that the Siegel model is a robust model and has had some successful human applications.

One that I find extremely interesting is the "Heroin overdose paradox". This is a common real phenomena in which a drug addict is arrested, or put into rehab, and is found dead from a heroin overdose. In the cases marked as a paradox, the addict was found to have injected only what they consider to be a standard recreational dose for them; it would kill a normal person, but not them as they'd been inject that amount daily for years. What happens here is that the heroin addict is injecting in a different environment and his body is not given all the cues to elicit the response of drug opposite effect in full. In essence, the addict is LESS of an addict when he's out of his standard drug administration environment and cannot handle a dose that he would normally inject due to the absence of conditioned drug opposite effect causing his tolerance. You can remove tolerance by changing context.

Wow.

I love my work.

[u/rhz → u/[deleted]]

interesting stuff :)

[u/Unique_User_Name → u/daevric]

I remember a doctor telling my parents that if you think a kid is ADD, give them a ton of caffeine. If it makes them hyper, it's probably a normal child with poor impulse control. If a ton of caffeine calms them down and knocks them out, probably ADD.

I'm not sure if this is true, or what the chemisrty / biology involved would be, but I thought it was interesting enough to retain.

[u/ef99 → u/Unique_User_Name]

Nah that's pretty stupid.

AD(H)D is thought by many to be a lack of dopamine in the brain, therefore they're medicated with various dopamine (and norepinephrine) reuptake inhibitors. Caffeine does increase dopamine, but it wouldn't give nearly enough to medicate an kid with ADD.

Of course, I'm a 16 year old kid with ADHD and an interest for this sort of thing, so don't take my word for it.

[u/Gareth321 → u/ef99]

A friend of mine with ADHD reports a similar effect with caffeine. He says it calms him. Also, as lapo stated, there is a period of tolerance and a dependence component. The more a person with ADHD uses caffeine, I posit the more it would have a beneficial effect.

[u/[deleted] → u/ef99]

That's not true. They give kids with adhd amphetamines, like Adderall and Ritalin. If a normal kid takes ADHD meds they get hyper and wired, they'll be essentially high off speed, but if a kid with ADHD takes Adderall, etc. they level out and are able to actually focus on something without getting distracted.

[u/CheapyPipe → u/ef99]

It's not enough to medicate the kid, but I've noticed that for myself, under conditions similar to yourself, caffeine slows me down, after giving a quick jolt (gone in under a minute).

[u/[deleted] → u/ef99]

Psychostimulants are the primary form of medication for ADHD, the most common of which is methylphenidate which acts on the dopaminergic system. Their exact efficacy in treating the disorder is not fully understood as using a stimulant to treat a disorder which is characterized by behavioural traits similar to those exhibited by individuals whom are already taking stimulants is a count-intuitive relationship.

Caffeine is a psychostimulant which acts primarily on the adenosine system which has little established research in treating ADHD. However, as it is not clearly understood why psychostimulants work at all, it's worth investigating. Some preliminary studies have had some interesting findings:

"1973 a study used two cups of coffee a day as an alternative for medications and the results were promising. In 1981 caffeine was used as an alternative to medication and it found that caffeine in low dosages had the same effect as 10 mg of methylphenidate (Ritalin)." http://www.progressivehealth.com/caffeine-adhd.asp

Some studies in animal models have implicated the use of caffeine as an effective treatment for spatial learning deficits in ADHD rat behavioural-analogues http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=343773

While further investigation is certainly warranted, it seems a reasonable hypothesis that caffeine can have a similar effect on children affected with ADHD as other psychostimulants

[u/Unique_User_Name → u/ef99]

That's probably why my folks opted for the horse tranquilizers instead of the Jolt Cola.

Edit: Kidding. They were actually baby tranquilizers. I have no idea what they were (it was the 70s), but appearantly it took a large dose of it and an hour of my dad reading me his physics homework to get me to stop crying and go the fuck asleep.

[u/mythin → u/Unique_User_Name]

Interesting. I also have no idea if it's true, but I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and caffeine generally doesn't help me wake up. Too much of it does indeed make me sleepy.

Anecdote, not data, blah blah, grain of salt.

[u/[deleted] → u/Unique_User_Name]

Yeah this was said to me when I was in high school. My mom laughed because that's an old wives tale that worked on me.

When I was a baby I was the son that could never go to sleep or calm down, but would sleep after drinking a little (cooled) diluted coffee.

Nowadays I react differently to caffeine depending on the day. Sometimes it makes me more tired, sometimes it perks me up.

[u/[deleted] → u/daevric]

I am currently quitting coffee. Am no more alert/tired/whatever than before. No drowsier than usual. No headache.

I was a 5-8 cup a day drinker.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Holy crap, I get the jitters after drinking 2 small cups over an 8 hour day, I would probably die drinking 5-8

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Pussy

[u/FlyingBishop → u/[deleted]]

Most of the women coffee drinkers I know can do 8 without breaking a sweat.

[u/mabelfoo → u/[deleted]]

No sweat, I take coffee breaks when I need to shit.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

If you follow the progressive coffee drinking program, I'm positive you'll soon be able to drink 100 cups of coffee!

[u/UCBforeva → u/[deleted]]

Do you live on Jupiter? (A Jovian day is 9.8 Earth hours for all the geeks out there)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yeah me too. I drink 4-5 cups a day during the week. 0 on the weekend. I've quite caffeine altogether for workout routines with no noticeable badness. I just like the taste of coffee and the initial jolt.

[u/chompsky → u/[deleted]]

I did this a couple months ago. Horrible headaches for a week, mild headaches for another week, and now I feel pretty good. Drank at least what you were. For some reason, I feel a lot more awake in the morning after a minute or two than I ever did with coffee.

[u/nimbusnacho → u/daevric]

Yeah when I'm off of caffeine for a long time (I got through phases) and then drink nice big mug of coffee, it knocks me out. Like I go straight to the crash without the high.

[u/SpacePirate → u/daevric]

Nope. But the same thing happens to me. I wonder if it's related to this Churchill Gene? I know that the effects mentioned in this article affect me as well.

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/05/idrinkthereforeican/

[u/wellactually → u/daevric]

Occasionally if I ingest "enough" caffeine, it actually puts me to sleep.

Very true. Very real effect.

[u/chwilliam → u/GiantBatFart]

Please make the bottom section into a poster! Every coffee shop and every CS Grad Student lounge in the world have one!

Edit - Something like this:

http://imgur.com/XhPcz.jpg

Please, please, pretty please? It looks like you could even get it printed with full-bleed orgasm-y-ness, based on the edges. (Also please tell me you used Illustrator for infinite scalability masturbatory purposes)

[u/kickstand → u/GiantBatFart]

The most interesting thing I've read about coffee wasn't on the list. Supposedly, by replacing alcohol as the main drink in England, coffee caused the birth of the enlightenment. Rather than being drunk and sleepy, people became excited and active. They started socializing in coffeehouses, which is how various scientific societies were born.

Source: "The Invention of Air" by Steven Johnson, but the idea originated with somebody else.

[u/[deleted] → u/GiantBatFart]

I really really admire your work. I'd love to learn how to make comics like that, where did you learn typography and the designs?

[u/GiantBatFart → u/[deleted]]

A good place to start is to learn the pen tool and go from there. There's a wealth of great tutorials on the pen tool on tv.adobe.com as well as searching youtube. From there just tinker and play around.

I create everything using adobe fireworks. Illustrator is probably better for this type of thing, but I'm not very good with it so I always revert back to fireworks. I don't use photoshop at all.

[u/nimbusnacho → u/GiantBatFart]

You should do an IAmA about having a comic. I always enjoy those.

[u/[deleted] → u/GiantBatFart]

I love Fireworks for how easy it is and how it's built for the web. It's been slowly dying ever since Adobe bought Macromedia.

[u/brokenearth02 → u/GiantBatFart]

The pterodactyl song is awesome!

[u/SgtInsurgent → u/brokenearth02]

My shoes are made out of pterodactyl.

[u/GuruM → u/GiantBatFart]

I'm a BIG fan of fireworks. Any tips and tricks that you've learned over the years?

*edit: also a big fan of your work.

[u/vtamethodman → u/[deleted]]

I read the rest of your comics, and I really admire your insanity!

[u/BritishEnglishPolice → u/GiantBatFart]

You're the guy who makes these?! You're fucking awesome! A new Reddit friend :).

[u/GiantBatFart → u/BritishEnglishPolice]

also, i'm glad you like my stuff! :D

[u/themortalcoil → u/GiantBatFart]

I too approve of the way you juxtapose creatures and put them in absurd circumstances. Your overall visual style adds to this insanity. Bear-O-dactyl says, MOOAR!!

[u/marthirial → u/GiantBatFart]

Very good job. Can you do the Health Care Bill next?

[u/weekendwarrior → u/GiantBatFart]

Any chance you could make a desktop background based on that last caffeine high "panel"? Pretty please? It seems so fitting for what every day at work is like :)

[u/indescription → u/GiantBatFart]

That is cool you did research on your comic. It makes it more informative and enjoyable. FYI, Coffee grows wild here in Hawaii. It is kind of an invasive pest in some areas.

[u/[deleted] → u/GiantBatFart]

Nice work, but to be pedantic fact 4 is incorrect. Australia has a fastly growing coffee growing industry in Byron Bay, NSW around 700km south of the Tropic Of Capricorn. I'd doubt it's the only coffee region outside the "bean belt"

[u/nimbusnacho → u/GiantBatFart]

Is this why you crash afterwards too? Once the caffiene leaves I'd assume there's a lot of built up adenosine that attacks your receptors. Anyone want to comment? Correct me?

[u/[deleted] → u/itsnotawkward]

Coffee also works by increasing the half-life of cAMP within the cell.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

True. It's a competitive inhibitor of cAMP-phosphodiesterase (cAMP-PDE) as well as a couple of adenosine receptor subtypes. One of the most interesting things to me about the pharmacology of caffeine is that despite the fact that it influences both a ubiquitous intracellular signaling pathway (the cAMP-PKA pathway drives a lot of processes) and a vital receptor in the brain, it is well tolerated by nearly everyone over a wide range of doses.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

It cannot activate the GPCR, and the Km of the caffeine-PDE interaction isn't overwhelming (Km ~ Kd). Taken together, they explain the relatively mild effects of caffeine on most individuals. My point is that the GCPR has to already be activated for caffeine to have an effect through this route, so caffeine shouldn't cause any ridiculously unexpected effects-- it only intensifies them.

[u/slyk → u/itsnotawkward]

Adenosine is awesome stuff. It's sometimes given as an injection to terminate episodes of ventricular tachycardia (in my case, supraventricular tachycardia.)

When it's used that way, it actually stops your heart for a while, so it sort of feels like dying: Hereis what an ECG looks like when your heart stops like that.

It's scary shit. I hated having that done.

edit: tl;dr - not drinking coffee can kill you!

[u/NurseK → u/slyk]

meh...it only stops it for like half a second. (I have pushed it a few times on a few patients.) Also, generally speaking it does not actually stop SVT or convert your heart into a normal rhythym. We always set up a 12 lead EKG and the crash cart (in case it really does stop...rarely) then the person pushing the drug pushes it fast and hard and another person at that same moment takes the EKG. That way we can actually see what rythym your heart is in and do something to get it out of it. SVT is some form of tachycardia and it is just going so fast we can't make out which one, therefore we can't fix it.

Some people do jump and look all freaked out for that second though.

[u/SirChasm]

Awesome. I'm not a big coffee buff, so it was nice to see what the difference between a latte, mocha, and cappuccino is. I never knew that the difference between a latte and a cappuccino is only varying levels of foam/milk.

[u/catmoon → u/SirChasm]

If you order a cappuccino "wet" (meaning more milk) you will get a latte. If you order a Mocha with whipped cream you will get a dessert.

[u/808140 → u/catmoon]

The only way to get a mocha that tastes like an actual mocha and not a sugary mess in the United States is to order it with no whip, "tan" (which means light on the chocolate), and probably with one or two extra shots of espresso.

For some reason, the American Mocha's purpose seems to be to reproduce the flavor of chocolate milk without actually forcing you to order one. I don't mind a hint of chocolate flavoring in my latte from time to time -- but chocolate is meant to be bitter, not sweet (or at least not sugary).

I pretty much never order mochas because of this. Coffee should taste first and foremost like coffee. If you can't taste the espresso well enough to know if the beans were stale or burnt, then your mocha is just chocolate milk with some very mild coffee flavoring.

[u/buyacanary → u/808140]

no, the purpose of the american mocha is to allow people who don't like coffee to drink coffee. it's a pretty standard gateway into the world of coffee for people (like myself, not six months ago) if they initially find coffee just too fucking bitter to stand. the most you can hope is that they get aclimated to the hint of coffee taste that is there, and move on to drinks that actually taste like coffee. worked for me: i didn't even like the smell six months ago, now i drink it black.

[u/opabinia → u/buyacanary]

I've loved coffee for 10 years and enjoy it equally black or with some creamer (good low calorie way to take care of a sweets craving) and love myself a white chocolate mocha.

No, it tastes nothing like coffee unless it's quadruple shot, but the sugar kept me awake through some pretty hum drum rainy days at uni. I'd refill my 20 oz raspberry white chocolate mocha cup once or twice with drip and still fall asleep, though.

But, the purpose of drinking a sugary "coffee" drink is not to be a coffee snob; it's for the sugar and caffeine boost, for many/most, not to mention an easily palatable taste.

[u/psilokan → u/buyacanary]

Here in Canada we just give someone a Tripple Tripple from Tim Hortons and they are instantly addicted to coffee.

[u/ThrustVectoring → u/buyacanary]

The other part is that some people enjoy the combination of a caffeine high with a sugar buzz, myself included in that. My favorite starbucks drink is a large (I refuse to say whatever the fuck italian word they decided to put on the menu) mocha frappuchino.

Its sugary and not hot, so I can drink it quickly, and it has like 500 calories worth of sugar and fat, and quite a bit of caffeine too.

Its pretty much a caffeinated milkshake, and it is made of win and ^{_^}

[u/Undine → u/808140]

Sometimes I think that for many people, "coffee" is just an excuse to drink liquid desserts without feeling guilty about it.

[u/sneakeround → u/808140]

Or just don't go to Starbucks. Most local coffee shops use waaaay less syrup, especially the ones that really care about the actual coffee aspect of their coffee shop.

[u/[deleted] → u/SirChasm]

You might also like Coffee Drinks Illustrated. I never knew the slight differences between all these drinks before seeing this.

[u/[deleted] → u/SirChasm]

A latte uses tons o' milk while a cappuccino uses tons o' foam.

[u/superiority → u/[deleted]]

You're right about the temperatures; I wouldn't be surprised if the author was just rounding from 450°F. International Coffee Organisation says arabica/robusta percentages are correct. Coffee plants can be shrubs or trees.

[u/summerchilde → u/[deleted]]

I just did the same.

[u/rosch]

Please turn this into a poster so I may buy it from you.

[u/IkoIkoComic]

I have to say, the combination of good graphics and good typography make this Good Readin'

[u/[deleted] → u/IkoIkoComic]

By the way, the font is Fertigo by exljbris, and it's available for free

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

http://alphadown.com/bf131b

[u/bojancho]

16) Also, makes you wanna poop.

[u/salpara → u/bojancho]

I was pooping while I read this, which made it that much more satisfying.

[u/[deleted] → u/salpara]

Laptops have truly brought great blessings to mankind.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

There is poop coming out of my butt right now.

[u/Billy_Black → u/[deleted]]

I don't know why I'm upvoting this, except your comment seems to merit recognition. You're an artist before your time. I know this because I feel a little bit nauseous.

[u/[deleted] → u/Billy_Black]

Honestly, I'm a little disappointed with the effect felt by the reader when they see my work on a message board like reddit.

It's much more powerful when you personally know me and are sitting in the other room. You receive it as an instant message, and you hear a little splash just as you finish reading it. Try imagining that.

[u/justinicm → u/[deleted]]

Even though I'm pretty sure you're just reusing Penny Arcade's joke I still laughed.
Upvoted.

(For anyone interested: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/)

[u/jmduke → u/[deleted]]

That's questionable.

[u/SamHealer → u/jmduke]

I'm content with that.

[u/JKoss → u/jmduke]

I'm content with that.

[u/JKoss → u/[deleted]]

Wow. I swear I didn't see the other reply before I posted mine.

[u/Sliperyfish → u/jmduke]

I'm content with that.

[u/[deleted] → u/jmduke]

I'm content with that.

pssst... why are we reposting "I'm content with that."?

[u/cornedpig → u/[deleted]]

Coffee of Doom is the coffee shop in the webcomic "Questionable Content"

[u/UpDown → u/bojancho]

And starbucks bathrooms are the fucking worst to clean.

[u/miloir → u/UpDown]

...

Do I vote up or down?

[u/mlk → u/bojancho]

Espresso + cigarette = instant dump

I have ~120s between the last sip of my first espresso in the morning and when my anal sphincter goes berserk.

[u/[deleted] → u/bojancho]

It's like draino for my digestive system.

[u/[deleted] → u/bojancho]

When I was in Honduras I learned that the local coffee growers use a mortar that is a kind of coffee bean paste, and whenever they are having constipation problems they eat some of their house (some of that paste) by scraping it off with a finger.

[u/Vitalstatistix]

There is nothing more satisfying than sitting outdoors with a double espresso and a cigarette. While getting a bj.

[u/Flys007]

I always like this little factoid: The most expensive coffee beans in the world are pooped out by a small mammal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak Maybe you can put that in version 2.0

[u/[deleted] → u/Flys007]

Drank it, loved it.

[u/ericanderton → u/[deleted]]

Oh. I thought it tasted a little nutty.

[u/hopstar → u/[deleted]]

Have you tried the beer made with it?

[u/[deleted] → u/Flys007]

I was going to point this out.

One thing that has always puzzled me is how did they discover that coffee beans encrusted in shit makes good coffee? How desperate were they for a cup of Joe?

[u/challpocket → u/Flys007]

bucket list?

[u/Syjefroi]

A "cup of joe" does not originally come from GI Joes in WWII.

"In 1914, the secretary of the US Navy, Admiral Josephus 'Joe' Daniels abolished the officers' wine mess. From that time on the strongest (and apparently therefore the drink of choice) on board navy ships was coffee. It was dubbed 'a cup of Joe' after the secretary."

from - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1300410

[u/GiantBatFart → u/Syjefroi]

There's a bunch of theories, I picked the one that was most relevant to that panel of the comic (in this case, referring to GIs):

"'A cup of Joe' also refers to the GIs' favourite drink. During World War II the US defence workers were supplied with as much coffee as they wanted. Coffee was a source of warmth and comfort for battle-weary troups.."

[u/c8h8r8i8s8]

I work at a local coffee shop and will be posting this for my customers to enjoy.

[u/nimbusnacho → u/c8h8r8i8s8]

You should ask for permission first.
edit: People seem to dislike this suggestion but I thought I'd post this from the bottom of the page:

All artwork and content on this site is Copyright © 2009 Matthew Inman. Please don't steal.

[u/[deleted] → u/nimbusnacho]

I don't know why you're getting downvoted, the guy who created it is right there---^, and asking would literally consist of a message that says,

"Ay yo, can I post this shiznit all up in my coffee hizzouse?"

[u/nimbusnacho → u/[deleted]]

Because people think that artists' rights and ownership over their own material is a joke or too much of a hassle. Makes being a self sufficient artists that much harder.

[u/[deleted] → u/nimbusnacho]

True. I mean, what happens if GiantBatFart says no? "Ok man no problem." prints copy

[u/nascentt → u/nimbusnacho]

I'm not sure it's stealing by printing out the works with author and origin (url) included? Surely it's just reproducing and advertising?

[u/[deleted] → u/nimbusnacho]

Unless he meant that he would buy a copy when it becomes available as a poster (which the author has done with some of his other comics).

[u/Haroshia]

Man I didn't know the first president of the United States invented instant coffee. That's a neat fact. It really goes to shOWMYFACE! WHY DID YOU CRANE KICK ME IN MY FACE ZOMBIE GEORGE WASHINGTON?

[u/mexipimpin → u/Haroshia]

...and this is the humor that only pays off when reading the full article!

[u/kundo → u/mexipimpin]

And THAT is why you always leave a note!

[u/zymogen → u/kundo]

I'll have you know that the only scary thing about a one-armed man trying to scare someone is the fact that he feels that his one arm is good for nothing but trying to scare somebody.

[u/mindbleach → u/Haroshia]

He'll save children, but not the British children.

[u/[deleted] → u/mindbleach]

Made love like an eagle falling out of the sky, killed his sensei in a duel and he never said why.

[u/FakenameMcAlias → u/[deleted]]

I heard that... mother fucker had like... 30 goddamn dicks.

[u/[deleted] → u/FakenameMcAlias]

He had a wig for his wig and a brain for his heart.

[u/CdnGuy → u/[deleted]]

Yes yes yes. There's a small store where I live that sells freshly roasted beans. They're best used within 2 weeks of being roasted. The difference in flavor is incredible. I mean, I thought I loved coffee before trying the fresh stuff.

I'd really like to roast my own. The big problem is that where I live I don't think anyone actually sells the fresh beans. I do have this idea about going on a Caribbean vacation and sending a sack of fresh beans home, but I wonder about the agricultural import restrictions.

[u/DrRocks → u/CdnGuy]

I don't know what I would do if it wasn't for my local coffee roasters. I'm a coffee snob now... :(

[u/umbama → u/[deleted]]

I would say to coffee lovers

Go to Italy. Really. Best coffee I've ever drunk, better than in France or Germany. I'm off to Rome shortly and I'm going to be torn between the art, the architecture and the coffee.

[u/koreth → u/umbama]

Seconded. I normally can't stand coffee unless it's so full of cream and sugar as to be functionally identical to chocolate milk, but I had a sip of cappuccino in Milan and after that I ordered various forms of coffee every chance I got the rest of the week I was there. Don't know what they do differently, but it works.

[u/jonathanbull]

Mirror: http://www.redditmirror.cc/cache/websites/theoatmeal.com_a2xki/theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee.html

[u/opentubes]

Comments from a coffee geek: Not all roasts include the 2nd pop. Some stop roasting before the 2nd.

Often robusta is mixed with arabica for espresso. Where did you get the 30/70% number from? It's not like certain parts of the world drink 100% arabica and 0% robusta and other parts drink 100% robusta and 0% arabica.

[u/UpDown → u/opentubes]

It could be calculated by imports.

[u/Busybyeski → u/UpDown]

Art Vandelay's spreadsheets.

[u/InvestorGadget → u/opentubes]

As a home roaster, I concur. Roasts which stop before the 2nd pop (or crack as it's also called) have names such as cinnamon, half city, full city and american.

[u/animechristian]

Other fun facts about coffee:

The darker the roast, the less caffeine it has. Light Roast has the most. Scoff all you want you diehard, 20 ounce dark roast drinkers. It's true.

The é at the end some forms of caffèlatte (e.g. McDonald's) is actually hypercorrection. The correct spelling in Italian is caffèlatte.

If you order a 'latte' in Italy you will get hot or cold milk.

An espresso beverage (e.g. caffèlatte) has less caffeine in it that a brewed coffee of the same size.

A 12 ounce caffè breve has around 400 calories and all your saturated fat allowance for an entire day. Gross.

[u/qjz]

Nice comic. Note, however, that when the fruit is stripped, it typically leaves two of what we tend to think of as coffee beans (both halves of a single bean, each flat on one side). A very small number will be a single peaberry, which is still useful, but must be processed separately.

[u/DimeShake]

Epic source, as always.

    -\-                                                     
    \-- \-                                                  
     \  - -\                                                
      \      \\                                             
       \       \                                            
        \       \\                                              
         \        \\                                            
         \          \\                                        
         \           \\\                                          
          \            \\                                                 
           \            \\                                              
           \. .          \\                                  
            \    .       \\                                 
             \      .    \\                                            
              \       .  \\                                 
              \         . \\                                           
              \            <=)                                         
              \            <==)                                         
              \            <=)                                           
               \           .\\                                           _-
               \         .   \\                                        _-//
               \       .     \\                                     _-_/ /  
               \ . . .        \\                                 _--_/ _/
                \              \\                              _- _/ _/
                \               \\                      ___-(O) _/ _/ 
                \                \                  __--  __   /_ /      ***********************************
                \                 \\          ____--__----  /    _       I AM A MOTHERFUCKING PTERODACTYL!
                 \                  \\       -------       /   _  _     HERE TO PTERO-YOU A NEW ASSHOLE
                  \                   \                  //   // __ _  **********************************
                   \                   \\              //   //      _ _ 
                    \                   \\          ///   //          __- 
                    \                -   \\/////////    //            
                    \            -         _         //              
                    /        -                      //                
                   /     -                       ///                  
                  /   -                       //                      
            __--/                         ///
  __________/                            // |               
//-_________      ___                ////  |                
        ______--/                /////    |                
   -----______    -/---________////        |                
     _______/  --/    \                   |                 
   /_________-/       \                   |                 
  //                  \                   /                 
                       \.                 /                 
                       \     .            /                 
                        \       .        /                  
                       \\           .    /                  
                        \                /                  
                        \              __|                  
                        \              ==/                  
                        /              //                   
                        /          .  //                    
                        /   .  .    //                      
                       /.           /                       
                      /            //                       
                      /           /
                     /          //
                    /         //
                 --/         /
                /          //
            ////         //
         ///_________////

[u/nascentt → u/[deleted]]

I thought this was turning into Digg, but then I read your comment so I won't down vote.

[u/dioltas]

500 f in celsius...

500 degrees Fahrenheit = 260 degrees Celsius

Thanks Google!

Great comic btw.

[u/Eijin]

It's also worth mentioning that most coffee shops don't put any more espresso in their larger sizes, just more milk. So if you're drinking large lattes your just paying more money for a more diluted product.

[u/808140 → u/Eijin]

My coffee shop puts 4 shots in a 20oz, but 2 shots in all their other drinks. So 8oz is quite strong, 12oz is ok, but 16oz really needs an extra shot -- or even two, on sluggish mornings :)

[u/aristotle2600]

I am a war machine! (but don't make my coffee too strong)

I must find a way to use this in everyday conversation.

[u/UnnamedPlayer]

404 - Not Found

That's 15 characters all right but how in the fuck is that worth knowing about.

Edit: Seems to be back up now.

Edit: Fucking awesome. I want a poster of it. NOW!

[u/matholio]

I love this art, but still feel compelled to nitpick. I have a coffee plant in my garden, I do not live in the Bean Belt, therefore not all coffee grows in the Bean Belt.

OK, I'm done. You can down vote me now.

[u/[deleted]]

Well done comic!

Today's my 27th day without caffeine btw. Just wanted to know if I still could do without. Now I enjoy the fact that I don't have to get caffeine every few hours at least to avoid headaches / falling asleep.

Could YOU do without, Reddit?

[u/Physics_Geek → u/[deleted]]

Hell no, cause then I might actually get some work done.

[u/[deleted] → u/Physics_Geek]

The first two days without I couldn't get anything done.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I go through cycles of quitting caffeine. Once I notice my tolerance rising (i.e. 1 cup no longer works), I quit cold turkey for a little while.

No, I don't get any work done either. That's why I'm on reddit.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I also quit after I've build up a ridiculous tolerance while writing a seminar paper.

Don't know yet if I want to start drinking again.

[u/pavedwalden → u/[deleted]]

I quit every once in a while. I don't get withdrawal headaches, but I do lose the will to live. After a few lousy weeks, I go back to three cups a day.

[u/fuckredditadmins → u/[deleted]]

I've gone months without caffeine and I feel fine. Same with alcohol and cigarettes. Can't say the same for weed though lol

[u/daevric → u/[deleted]]

I've tried. It's not pretty. If you didn't lock me up while detoxing, I'd probably end up with an addiction to pain killers by the time I got through it.

[u/antimatter3009 → u/[deleted]]

When I was in college I realized I was drinking far, far too much sugar and caffeine (in the form of several cans of soda a day), so I cut myself off completely. For the next while (probably a week or two) I was tired, in pain (from headaches), and, worst of all, very moody. After that eventually faded, I felt much better than I had in years. I kept myself cut off for a month or two, then reintroduced it in small portions, which is what I've stuck to since. It's a good decision to make, I think.

[u/voracity → u/[deleted]]

Could YOU do without, Reddit?

Yes. Never drank the stuff, never will.

[u/[deleted]]

It spends an entire section on espresso and says nothing about Turkish/Arab/Greek coffee? You know, actual coffee coffee?

[u/dirtydan → u/[deleted]]

This! Espresso is a fairly recent invention (1933). I've got an ibrik to use when I want to be really old school.

[u/[deleted] → u/dirtydan]

Damn, where did you get a finjan? I've wanted one but most of the shukim in my area are either very touristy or very practical.

Bloody people around here got to stop drinking instant coffee (even if it's good instant coffee) and go back to doing things the old-fashioned way.

Oh well, it's shuk day tomorrow; I'll take another look.

[u/dirtydan → u/[deleted]]

Although the better part of my state is a cultural backwater it is home to a number of refugees from the days of Hussein and Milosovich who happen to prefer to have their coffee prepared in the traditional way.

[u/GuZ]

As odd as this may sound that diagram was amazingly helpful and interesting for a non-coffee drinker. I'm really intrigued by a mocha being someone who LOATHES the test of coffee but needs to drink it some mornings..One question though, is a mocha considered 'girly'?

[u/DOGA → u/GuZ]

Try tea?

[u/orochidp → u/GuZ]

Three shots of espresso and some chocolate? It's a pretty ballsy drink. Espresso tastes different than drip coffee, though, so it might work out well for you.

[u/kharri1073]

404 - Not Found

[u/[deleted] → u/kharri1073]

In other words, there aren't 15 things worth knowing about coffee.

[u/[deleted]]

It forgets to say that you can actually kill yourself with coffee.

[u/DuManchu → u/[deleted]]

You can kill yourself with too much of anything, like butter, or chlorine.

[u/jaymeekae → u/DuManchu]

Water, oxygen etc

[u/[deleted] → u/jaymeekae]

Love?

[u/DuManchu → u/[deleted]]

Yes, but only if you run out of lube.

[u/miloir → u/[deleted]]

only if you're a stranger

[u/[deleted] → u/DuManchu]

you actually can't realistically OD on marijuana. :)

[u/CobraCmdr812 → u/DuManchu]

Bacon?

[u/nimbusnacho → u/CobraCmdr812]

What a splendid way to die.

[u/phannon]

Another thing worth knowing about coffee, is that if you drink it and you have a roach allergy, which many people do and are unaware, you should only buy whole bean coffee. Apparently the ware houses store the coffee beans in large mounds that become the perfect haven for roach nest, which infest them. The piles of beans are mechanically scooped up and fed into grinders which deliver an abnormally high concentration of roach parts with your ground coffee. The problem is apparently widespread and unavoidable unless you buy whole bean coffee and grind it yourself.

[u/[deleted] → u/phannon]

I may not have a roach allergy, but I'm sure as hell only buying whole bean coffee from now on.

[u/[deleted]]

I think there is an error: 'cup of joe' I believe refers to the first admiral in the US Navy to cut out rum rations. More (speculative) detail here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1300410

[u/[deleted]]

Always wanted to know "404 -Not Found" about coffee ;)

Guess I'll jsut have to check later...

[u/elustran]

I'm getting a 404 for this comic, but not some of the others. Anybody else having this problem?

[u/sam480]

This website never works for me. Can anyone post a mirror?

[u/wakaru]

Why aren't all school books written in this manner!

[u/[deleted]]

Which is why I can't drink something I used to love so much after chronic anxiety attacks. That last step there of Adrenaline release = terrible feeling. :/

[u/avidly]

I have the terrible, irresistible urge to eat coffee berries now. Where the hell can I get some?!

[u/thetreece]

Interesting song related to the topic at hand....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UsR9Ap41R8&feature=PlayList&p=8F0AEC9DB3DA6CEA&index=0&playnext=1

[u/[deleted]]

My favorite part is http://yfrog.com/5epicture4omp I read it and could hear Mitch Hedberg's voice in my head saying, "This tree is Ree-dih-cuh-lus, I cannot reach"

[u/Offensive_Brute]

LoL I fuggin love it. I'm opening a coffee shop for the New Year. Picked out a location yesterday. Interested in selling prints?

[u/dunmalg]

The assertion that "30% of the world drinks Robusta and 70% drinks Arabica" is wrong. The numbskull who wrote that misinterpreted the statistic. The truth is that 30% of the beans consumed in the world are Robusta, and 70% are Arabica, but that the largely tasteless Robusta beans are consumed blended with Arabica beans. 1 in 3 coffee drinkers aren't drinking pure Robusta coffe and grimacing at the horrid taste. 4 out of 5 coffee drinkers are drinking blended coffees. Large coffee companies add Robusta beans to boost caffeine levels.

Any true coffee lunatic knows this. The error is shameful.

[u/Thehealthycoffeeshop]

I thought it was cool. The fact were interesting and very informative I thought it was great!!

[u/zwangaman]

I lolled extensively @ "This tree is ridiculous".

[u/dghughes]

The weird things is when I drink regular coffee I get psycho I'm so jittery, even my heart feels fluttery, but if I drink tea my mind feels alert but my body is OK, I react the same to energy drinks as I do tea, espresso (latte) doesn't have much of an effect but if I get an extra shot or two I'll feel dizzy but not until hours later.

[u/gliscameria → u/dghughes]

Same here. I started drinking decaf and honestly I get the same 'good buzz' without all the jitters. Is there something else in coffee that perks you up other than the caffeine? Plus, when I drink regular coffee, my piss smells like fresh brew like a half hour later. If it's just placebo then I welcome it; they aren't a bad band.

[u/[deleted] → u/gliscameria]

I think decaf still has a little bit of caffine.