The world is drinking less coffee while office workers stay home(msn.com)
msn.com
The world is drinking less coffee while office workers stay home
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/the-world-is-drinking-less-coffee-while-office-workers-stay-home/ar-BB16BZzj
20 comments
Wow not me. Probably because my home coffee setup and beans are a lot better than my office.
This, absolutely. The 'Rona shutdown inspired me to buy an old commercial espresso machine (1964 FAEMA E.61) and build out a little home coffee shop in the garage, where I learned to pull shots.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCgeL3dsTzW/?igshid=u06d4u494zyq
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCgeL3dsTzW/?igshid=u06d4u494zyq
Did you set out to buy that particular machine or did you just happen across it? If you don’t mind my asking, how much did it cost? I have so many questions!
Do you have a blog? I’d love to read how all of this came about. What an awesome project. It looks great!
Do you have a blog? I’d love to read how all of this came about. What an awesome project. It looks great!
I would say espresso making at home is an expensive hobby unless you are willing to tolerate variability in the output. A decent stable machine is going to be close to 1k and the really nice home machines starting at 3k. A good grinder is also expensive. I got all the gear (buying stuff used where I could) and I have spent maybe $1500 on components. I love it, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who isn’t willing to put in time to learn and money for decent tools.
I have loved the old FAEMAs for a while and found this one for sale in the Netherlands. It had been restored. Price was around $5500. It turned out to need a bit of work but I finally got it running well and use it every day now. I don't have a blog but I do post coffee pics on Instagram.
https://instagram.com/desertdefender
https://instagram.com/desertdefender
For sure, I bought a Breville Express espresso machine and don't know how I ever lived without it.
I stopped having 4 K-cups a day. Instead I grind and brew my favorite coffee every morning. And then I sit on the patio in the early morning sun and enjoy it. Life’s good!
Right on my coffee game is so strong since the lockdown I think I might need to attend a Coffee Anonymous program right now.
Same: My manual expresso machine at home has always been better than the fully automatic in the office, and I usually have an extra cup because I enjoy it more.
Stocked up on extra beans as well the other day in anticipation of it all going to hell soon in Australia.
Stocked up on extra beans as well the other day in anticipation of it all going to hell soon in Australia.
Likewise. Drinking less tea though, that was the better alternative to bad office coffee.
I'm sitting next to one of those to-go carafe boxes of coffee right now I ordered yesterday. 8-ish cups. It's empty now. RIP.
I drink about 36-cups/day, so this sounds as if I would be really irate if I had that little...
Are you being ironic or do you actually drink that much?
Ummm. Pretty close. 3 pots of coffee - poured over ice - from about 4am ~ 10pm or so? I tend to pretty obsessively sip during coding sessions. Although as I have aged, I have noticed that it might be disrupting my aging sleep patterns, so I may need to start cutting it back. But, in Japan, in my youth, when I was working in semiconductor - people considered it excessive, but not extraordinarily, you know, extraordinary. (I didn't drink or smoke at the time - now I do - so I think the combo is ganging up on my biology's ability to support this scenario)
EDIT: I was thinking about this a bit more... The first pot is 4am~6am, the next is 6am~10am(or so), and the 3rd pot is nursed over the next 12-or-so hours). I guess I am bootstrapping the system pretty hard at the beginning of the day... I haven't done a cost-benefit analysis, or even thought about it much, but looking at this conversation, it might turn out to be more cost-effective to take up meth (just kidding, that stuff sucks. Coffee is smooth).
EDIT: I was thinking about this a bit more... The first pot is 4am~6am, the next is 6am~10am(or so), and the 3rd pot is nursed over the next 12-or-so hours). I guess I am bootstrapping the system pretty hard at the beginning of the day... I haven't done a cost-benefit analysis, or even thought about it much, but looking at this conversation, it might turn out to be more cost-effective to take up meth (just kidding, that stuff sucks. Coffee is smooth).
If it’s tobacco you smoke, that may explain why you prefer more caffeine - nicotine has been proven to reduce the half life of caffeine significantly.
Tangentially, have you considered making cold brew? Cold brew over ice tastes a LOT better than hot coffee poured over ice due to the lower acid content. It’s very easy to make if you have a French press.
Tangentially, have you considered making cold brew? Cold brew over ice tastes a LOT better than hot coffee poured over ice due to the lower acid content. It’s very easy to make if you have a French press.
Definitely more cost effective to find an amphetamine you like, that sounds like a massive amount of caffeine.
How much coffee beans do you use? Perhaps it's not strong and basically flavoured water?
I cannot imagine you're drinking 30+ espresso equivalent per day ... Do let us know as I am curious.
p.s. regardless of potency of the coffee it is excessive intake.
I cannot imagine you're drinking 30+ espresso equivalent per day ... Do let us know as I am curious.
p.s. regardless of potency of the coffee it is excessive intake.
I don't know. Just about a pound/day ground, I guess?
There was a time when my daily intake was 4x 20oz bottles of Jolt Cola and 120+oz of coffee.
Then I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and started CPAP therapy.
Now I drink about half a pot of half-caf a day, more because I like it than because I need it.
Then I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and started CPAP therapy.
Now I drink about half a pot of half-caf a day, more because I like it than because I need it.
I'm moving into your territory, I think. I find that I absolutely love the smell and flavor, but the caffeine is starting to be an irritant as I age. I don't (and never have) like sugary soda drinks, and water is "OK", but boring. I just like sipping on ice-coffee as I work.
I drink a single cup of coffee a day (used to drink two), but love the flavor and taste that I considered drinking decaf the rest of the day. Never got around to doing it, but possible one resolution to this issue. Although decaf still has some caffeine, so I can’t really drink it too late in the day.
Probably lots of tech folk who are getting older fall into this category. I loooove drinking coffee while working, but as I get older it’s giving me pretty bad heartburn. I’ve tried just about every other type of drink as a replacement, but nothing is as good as coffee :(
Cold brew has a lot less acid, and a wonderful flavor.
> Shutdowns for cafes and restaurants -- which typically account for about 25% of demand -- were overwhelming, and it could be a while before things pick up again.
I was originally going to theorize something about office workers having more options to deal with fatigue -- taking a nap, or staring into space (and maybe being less fatigued in general from all the time saved commuting?) -- rather than just drinking coffee and toughing it out at their desks; but in light of this stat, it seems that this is all about how hard cafes & restaurants have been hit by lockdown.
I was originally going to theorize something about office workers having more options to deal with fatigue -- taking a nap, or staring into space (and maybe being less fatigued in general from all the time saved commuting?) -- rather than just drinking coffee and toughing it out at their desks; but in light of this stat, it seems that this is all about how hard cafes & restaurants have been hit by lockdown.
... I was going to respond saying that I simply don't limit my sleep anymore. Sure, I work all hours of the day, but I did that before the COVID-19 shutdowns. Now I'm just working all hours of the day, then sleeping until I feel good about waking up.
A few months ago, it was apparently the opposite. https://financialpost.com/commodities/agriculture/we-are-dri...
Maybe people are drinking the same amount of coffee, but they had to stock up their homes in March-April and then haven't needed to refill since then.
That makes me wonder if the toilet paper industry is also seeing a short-term dip in sales because of all that hoarding earlier this year.
Its annoying how there was pretty much no toilet paper to be found for months with a massive stock pile of paper towels everywhere and now its the opposite. I stock up on toilet paper and paper towels at regular intervals and was lucky to only barely begin running out once stores started getting toilet paper again but there seems to be no paper towels anywhere now.
FWIW, major grocers like HEB spent months planning and simulating the effects of the pandemic before it hit the US and still didn't see the run on toilet paper coming.[0]
0: https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/heb-prepared-coronavirus-p...
0: https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/heb-prepared-coronavirus-p...
Clearly they didn't read their history books.
King of the hill predicted the TP apocalypse for y2k.
https://kingofthehill.fandom.com/wiki/Hillennium
King of the hill predicted the TP apocalypse for y2k.
https://kingofthehill.fandom.com/wiki/Hillennium
The "press" also causes active damage in these kinds of situations. "<X> shortage in stores" in the news will immediately cause a run on said <X> thus creating the shortage even if it didn't exist before.
So you're arguing that the press should self-censor in this situation? Their job is to report the news in factual and objective manner, not ensure that everyone has enough toilet paper. If the latter isn't true, how do you blame the press for "active damage" in this situation?
> Their job is to report the news in factual and objective manner, not ensure that everyone has enough toilet paper.
The job of the press is to inform the public--not yell "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.
Yes, they should have self-censored.
Shouting "Covid causing shortage of bottled water--News 6 reports!" does nothing to inform the public nor does it create a useful call to action. It only creates a problem--often where none previously existed. There was ZERO reason to believe that Covid would cause a water system failure or contamination.
This is different from "Hurricane incoming. Stock up on water. Here are the places which still have it." The information is useful, timely, and relevant.
Having the free speech protection of being the press does not absolve the press of the responsibility to not be a jerk.
The job of the press is to inform the public--not yell "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.
Yes, they should have self-censored.
Shouting "Covid causing shortage of bottled water--News 6 reports!" does nothing to inform the public nor does it create a useful call to action. It only creates a problem--often where none previously existed. There was ZERO reason to believe that Covid would cause a water system failure or contamination.
This is different from "Hurricane incoming. Stock up on water. Here are the places which still have it." The information is useful, timely, and relevant.
Having the free speech protection of being the press does not absolve the press of the responsibility to not be a jerk.
> The job of the press is to inform the public--not yell "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.
But yelling “fire” in a crowded theater is only wrong when there isn’t one, no?
You go on to argue that it’s ok to have the press explicitly tell people do something (i.e. to stock up on water) when we live in a time when having the press directing anyone to do anything results in the exact kind of criticism you levied against them in your previous post. They reported that toilet paper is flying off the shelves. Arguably, an equally if not more effective solution would be to restrict to the number of units a customer could buy at once. But that doesn’t involve bashing the press.
But yelling “fire” in a crowded theater is only wrong when there isn’t one, no?
You go on to argue that it’s ok to have the press explicitly tell people do something (i.e. to stock up on water) when we live in a time when having the press directing anyone to do anything results in the exact kind of criticism you levied against them in your previous post. They reported that toilet paper is flying off the shelves. Arguably, an equally if not more effective solution would be to restrict to the number of units a customer could buy at once. But that doesn’t involve bashing the press.
A) You will note that I changed the example to "water" specifically because there was NO possibility that water was going to be an issue. And yet there was still panic and shortages, mostly due to reporting.
B) The press reported toilet paper was flying off the shelves. Except that before they did that, there were only marginal shortages in certain places, mostly because toilet paper is bulky and slow to restock. After the reporting, it was out everywhere instantly. In this instance, that did great harm to those who couldn't just "stock and store".
C) "Arguably, an equally if not more effective solution would be to restrict to the number of units a customer could buy at once."
Sadly, this doesn't actually work. If most people buy toilet paper once a week, a shift to once every 5 days is way more than enough to cause a supply chain shock. There is no way to enforce a consumption level that wouldn't supply chain shock once the panic got started.
B) The press reported toilet paper was flying off the shelves. Except that before they did that, there were only marginal shortages in certain places, mostly because toilet paper is bulky and slow to restock. After the reporting, it was out everywhere instantly. In this instance, that did great harm to those who couldn't just "stock and store".
C) "Arguably, an equally if not more effective solution would be to restrict to the number of units a customer could buy at once."
Sadly, this doesn't actually work. If most people buy toilet paper once a week, a shift to once every 5 days is way more than enough to cause a supply chain shock. There is no way to enforce a consumption level that wouldn't supply chain shock once the panic got started.
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I moved into a "new" apartment just over two years ago, and ordered TP on Amazon. 24 or 36 rolls or something. I fat-fingered the "Add to Cart" volume button, and got like 4x36 rolls. I'm a single guy - so I accidentally stocked up in advance! (I am not even half way through two+ years later - happy accident, in retrospect!)
Apparently industrial (enterprise? hahaha) toilet paper is different to home ones, and they couldn't just route for-office TP to retail. Although I heard this on a podcast which didn't cite any sources.
The shittiest (ha) TPs are the ones where the buyer cheaps out, i.e the one you found in every AirBnB on the planet (when AirBnB was still a thing)...
The shittiest (ha) TPs are the ones where the buyer cheaps out, i.e the one you found in every AirBnB on the planet (when AirBnB was still a thing)...
The TP at my place of work was (probably still is but I've not been there in months) Angel Soft... which is sold in a giant box by Staples. And that's the only place I could get it from, early on when TP became a unicorn. It is, frankly, horrible, and now I have half a box of nasty TP and more recent, decent TP of various kinds.
I do not recommend Angel Soft unless "falls apart like it was formed from loosely collected glitter" is a plus for you.
I do not recommend Angel Soft unless "falls apart like it was formed from loosely collected glitter" is a plus for you.
Different industries see regular ups and downs throughout the year anyway.
Summer, for example, is generally considered a slow season, because many people are travelling and spending time outside, less time shopping.
Summer, for example, is generally considered a slow season, because many people are travelling and spending time outside, less time shopping.
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I imagine the spike was caused by individuals suddenly purchasing more coffee before the major companies could alter their long term orders. Plus the pandemic likely caused some issues in the supply line.
That article even predicts that eventually demand would drop as restaurants closed.
That article even predicts that eventually demand would drop as restaurants closed.
i personally drink coffee less because i can simply take a 25 min power nap when i get my usual noon drowsiness after lunch. i also sleep longer because i dont need to commute as much and feel much more refreshed throughout the day
Before working from home, I used to set my alarm to two hours before work. I would shave, shower, brush my teeth, have a quick breakfast, then commute in.
Now I set my alarm for fifteen minutes before work. It's preferable for me if I go to bed early enough that I wake up with enough time for a shower, but if I don't I can take one after work (or during lunch). The only reason I need a whole fifteen minutes in the morning is that it takes a couple of minutes for me to log in my Mac and VPN in.
At work we have nice coffee machines with free coffee. I have coffee at home too but I am less tired in the morning. Not that costing a little prevents me from drinking coffee, it's more that it being free is an enticement to drinking it, as if I am missing one of my perks of the days at the office when I skip coffee. Also, I am getting less physical activity every week now, so I also avoid coffee for the calories, and go for water instead.
Now I set my alarm for fifteen minutes before work. It's preferable for me if I go to bed early enough that I wake up with enough time for a shower, but if I don't I can take one after work (or during lunch). The only reason I need a whole fifteen minutes in the morning is that it takes a couple of minutes for me to log in my Mac and VPN in.
At work we have nice coffee machines with free coffee. I have coffee at home too but I am less tired in the morning. Not that costing a little prevents me from drinking coffee, it's more that it being free is an enticement to drinking it, as if I am missing one of my perks of the days at the office when I skip coffee. Also, I am getting less physical activity every week now, so I also avoid coffee for the calories, and go for water instead.
> as if I am missing one of my perks of the days at the office when I skip coffee
same mentality for me.
> so I also avoid coffee for the calories, and go for water instead.
i'm pretty sure coffee is like almost 0 calories as long as you dont add milk, isnt it?
same mentality for me.
> so I also avoid coffee for the calories, and go for water instead.
i'm pretty sure coffee is like almost 0 calories as long as you dont add milk, isnt it?
yup black coffee is calorie free
For practical purposes. If you want to get pedantic it's probably something like 2-5 calories per serving depending on brewing method.
im pretty sure plain drip coffee ends up way below 1. if you ate a bean how many kcal would that be? the amount of energy impregnated in the water is still way below
When I brew with French press, there’s a rainbow oil slick. A web search reveals a lot of blog spam about French press being bad for you, but I couldn’t find any actual cholesterol numbers.
Well, you use a lot more than one bean to make a cup of coffee. Drip would be on the low end, but even so some oil/fat makes it into the cup. 2 calories worth of fat is only about 200mg.
I got rid of energy variability by just fasting through the workday and making and eating the meal after my 7,5h day. I got the drowsiness after lunch and I also opted for easy to make lunches which were definitely unhealthy.
By just drinking water/decaf coffee/decaf tea, and putting in an effort for a decent meal, I started getting more consistent energy levels. Your mileage may vary.
By just drinking water/decaf coffee/decaf tea, and putting in an effort for a decent meal, I started getting more consistent energy levels. Your mileage may vary.
[deleted]
This... and I’m also more productive: 30min of off line rather than uselessly fight drowsiness for 2h
I drink a lot less good coffee at home. Not worth shelling out for 5lb of the good stuff when everything past the first pound will be stale and not very good by the time I get to it, and purchased in smaller (usually 8-12oz) bags high-quality, freshly-roasted beans are way too expensive to have more than occasionally. So those transcendently good cups where one can actually taste stuff other than "coffee flavor" or "three-day-old rained-on camp fire" happen a lot less often for me now. :-(
Upper-end-of-bad coffee beans from Costco (so, about the best they have there) are my go-to at home. Steeping the grounds slow & cold yields way less cigarette butt flavor/odor than doing pourovers with them, so I'm making a lot more cold brew than before. Good thing it's Summer.
Upper-end-of-bad coffee beans from Costco (so, about the best they have there) are my go-to at home. Steeping the grounds slow & cold yields way less cigarette butt flavor/odor than doing pourovers with them, so I'm making a lot more cold brew than before. Good thing it's Summer.
The more expensive beans from Costco are great as Toddy cold brew! I don't like them as normal hot-brew...too much cigarette/burnt flavor comes through for me as you mentioned — but not in the cold brew!
You can freeze coffee beans. Helps keeps them fresh a lot longer.
I do this. Get a kilo of good beans, freeze them in 250g batches.
Any issues with moisture? I find most things I freeze end up with condensation freezing inside the bag, which isn't going to be good for the coffee. I could imagine it going moldy within days of defrosting with the local humidity.
Not for me, no. Once they're defrosted they're in the fridge.
250g coffee doesn't last more than a few days for me anyway, but if you were worried about it you could split down again to 125g, so you've never got more than two or three days for mould to set in.
250g coffee doesn't last more than a few days for me anyway, but if you were worried about it you could split down again to 125g, so you've never got more than two or three days for mould to set in.
Not if you use zip loc bags
Anecdotally, I've been quite addicted to coffee since college and wanted to try giving it up. Going to work every day, I had trouble going cold turkey, but once COVID hit and I started working from home I gave it up almost effortlessly. I feel like the disruption of routines makes changing your habits easier.
If I can’t stay at the coffee shop to work, there’s no point in going. I can make a cup at home and save $5
I drink a lot less. I drink a cup a day now. I used to drink a few a day but I'm better rested and needed less of it now. Quick tip, McCafe coffee is great tasting and a pretty good bargain. I bought it for the cost and kept it for the taste.
Hmm, morning doses remain the same. In the afternoon laziness might delay the inevitable second moka round but eventually I’ll go for it. I have a 6cups Bialetti Venus... should I be worried?
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Most workplaces have free coffee, but few have anything else to drink. I suspect if you looked at workplaces which stock a variety of free beverages, coffee consumption there would be much lower as well. I'm somewhat ambivalent about coffee; I'll drink it if someone else prepares it, but I almost never bother brewing a pot myself. Without an office where someone's always got a pot going, or where they have one of those horrible mini-cup instant brewers, I never drink it.
Don't know why but my body tends to react badly to acidic foods. So I don't drink coffee (and no alcohol, no junk food, no carbonated sugary poison drinks... and so on ). That said, home office was a godsend for me. I'm now productive and happy. Without coffee :)
you can find some low acidic coffee, there are some high elevation smooth coffees from Uganda as an example that might be of interest.
One Word: histamines
meanwhile i laid in a 15 pound supply in late February when it was starting to look scary, Just In Case.
I ordered more Nespresso capsules during the last four months than I had during the last four years.
Same, as much as I still love my aeropress and french press and hate the Nespresso lock-in, wastage, etc. I do honestly feel my Nespresso Vertuo makes a damn great cup every time, with zero fuss. Plus their ordering and delivery is slick as hell. Ordering a load of different capsules on their mobile app in the evening and they’re at my door the next morning is pretty incredible. They still can’t seem to send a properly formatted HTML email with the invoice/receipt though.
My girlfriend moved up just before the major COVID lockdowns and brought with her a French press and a barista's expertise. So we've been having good coffee virtually every day.
I feel the same. I used to walk around the campus every couple of hours and grab a coffee on the way to my desk. For most days, it amounted to 4-5 cups of coffee.
At home, I barely go past 2 cups.
At home, I barely go past 2 cups.
Going to fetch a coffee in the office kitchen is a social event or discussion break. Doesn't work as well at home.
Did anyone get headaches after stopping drinking coffee for a few days?
One cup of coffee in the morning, and one cup of tea in the afternoon. I'm on the same routine since 5 years ago.
Same article, no paywall:
http://a.msn.com/00/en-us/BB16BZzj
http://a.msn.com/00/en-us/BB16BZzj
Ok, changed from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-11/the-world.... Thanks!
Thank you. Initially I posted a link from BNN (no paywall) but it has since been changed to bloomberg.com .