evaporate in the vapors and caffeine is one of them. The longer the beans roast, the more caffeine

goes up the chimney.

An average 10-ounce (300-ml) cup of coffee has 175 milligrams of caffeine, a same-size

cup of tea about 65, a cup of instant coffee about 95 milligrams. A 10-ounce (300-ml) cup of cocoa

contains only 20 milligram of caffeine. For comparison, a 12-ounce (355-ml) can of cola has 50

milligrams.

More than just a drink

The whole process of grinding, brewing, waiting, pouring, and finally taking the first

delightful sip of the freshly brewed coffee, including the anticipation that starts with the first aroma-

rich sniff as the grinder begins to work at the beans, is a ritual for many. For a true coffee fan, it is

comparable to a Chinese tea-drinking ceremony.

Arabs, for instance, have a centuries-old ceremony of coffee drinking, including pulverizing

the black-roasted beans in a mortar. The Turks grind their beans in a tall brass coffee grinder (they

call it kahve degirmeni). Maybe we would get more from our coffee breaks if we did more than

pour the stale brew from the office coffee machine into a disposable plastic cup and sip it at our

desks. Or, even worse, get the coffee from a machine.

Other countries have their coffee rituals, too. Each visitor to a corporate office in Brazil, for

example, is served a tiny cup of dark, very strong brew, something similar to espresso but not quite

as dark-roasted, freshly prepared by the secretary. She (almost always a she) brings as many of the

little filled cups into the office as the number of people present. Everyone takes a cup (it would be

an insult not to) and drains it in a two or three swallows. Sipping is impolite, too. The fresh coffee is

always heavenly. The secretary is back in a minute to collect the cups and discretely disappears.

The ritual is the same when you arrive at an oil-drilling rig a hundred kilometers from the

nearest Brazilian city, but instead of a secretary, the cook carefully brews the coffee, using a funnel-

shaped cloth filter that he meticulously washes after each use. The coffee is as delicious, as scalding

hot, as rich and jet black as in any city office, in spite of the primitive set-up and surroundings.

Italians drink their coffee most of the time as espresso or one of its close cousins. They drink

many tiny cups a day, each freshly prepared, starting first thing in the morning.

The French drink espresso, too, but they prefer larger cups, roasts somewhat lighter than the

soot-black Italian ones, and add hot milk. For breakfast, the French take their usually sweetened

café-au-lait in a large bowl, like a two-handled cereal bowl. They pour it in the bowl and add small

chunks of freshly-baked, crusty hard rolls or brioche just back from the bakery. The pieces of bread

soak up the wonderful hot brew, turning the content that looks something like a hot coffee-based

cereal mush, but taste nothing like any hot cereal you know, yet they eat it with a spoon, like we do

oatmeal. When the bread pieces are gone, they sip any remaining coffee directly from the bowl.

They also love their croissants dunked into their coffee with similar affection.

Asians are mainly tea drinkers. The coffee they serve is mediocre by Western standards,

even though coffee growing conditions are prime in the tropical parts of the Far and Middle East,

especially in Indonesia. When they do drink coffee, it is weak and highly diluted with their favorite,

sweetened condensed milk from a can. Exceptions are former French-occupied areas such as

Vietnam where coffee is dark and strong.

In many places in Asia the brand name Nescafe is used interchangeably with the word

coffee. When you order coffee in a restaurant in Malaysia, for instance, you will generally get

Nescafe instant coffee with plenty of condensed milk already added. Even in private homes the

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