Italians consume over 14 billion espresso drinks each year (!) making the country’s coffee intake the highest in the world.
That’s A LOT of caffeine.
Read MoreBe Polite To Your Waiter In France Or You Might Be Charged More!
Have you found coffee in France to be incredibly overpriced? Was your last meal outrageously expensive? It might be because of how you asked for it.
Read MoreReads For The Road: Starbucked by Taylor Clark
Written by Taylor Clark — a guy who has NOTHING to do with the company itself — Starbucked tells the tale of how Starbucks began.
If you are a supporter of the mom-and-pop, unique cafe around the corner, and make it your life’s goal to avoid the seven Starbucks store that exist in one city block, you might be surprised that Starbucks was started by a few guys who were doing the same thing.
These guys were living in an era before major coffee chains, and when “American Coffee” would have taken paint off the wall. Not only that, the idea of the “cafe” where you could read, study, or visit with friends didn’t even exist.
Fascinated by a specialty coffee shop that popped up where they were living, they started asking questions, doing some research and developing (what was at the time) a very ambitious business.
Combining his own investigations with witty observation, Clark tells the story of how the coffeehouse culture changed everyday life in North America and — as much as we hate to admit it — Starbucks led the way.
Give it a read, you might look at the green mermaid a bit differently if you do!
On my last visit to Oahu, I ended up at a University Men’s Volleyball Game and, before sitting down, was handed a long, slim green leaf. I was told it was a “Ti Leaf” and I was supposed to use it to cheer for the team.
What are these leaves, you ask, and why do ti leaves in Hawaii make an appearance at major sports events?