girl with coffee

Photo by Product School on Unsplash

Do you know why all that buzz about coffee on October 1st? It’s when people celebrate International Coffee Day, friends. So, while the smell is still in the air, we thought to prompt you with wow things about coffee lovers and expat promotions to go with it, since that’s our cup of… coffee. No matter if you’re a MobileRecharge fan, an expat or not, if you’ve just had a cup yourself, or know people, the beverage is a phenomenon worth some talk…  Imagine there are over 2.25 billion cups being sipped in the world as we “speak”. That’s about 25 pools, if math is still valid. :) Could be wrong, but you get the point.

#1 First they chewed, then they sipped

We owe the its discovery to tropical Africans. So, dear MobileRecharge fans born in Ethiopia we officially thank you! Better centuries later than never. :) There are several legends, of course, since no one can recall those times from their own memory.

But basically, first people who tried the brown beverage lived in the 9th century in Ethiopia and were goat shepherds who noticed that animals became more active after eating the beans from a Coffea plant.

Here’s one legend, told by Wilco with a beautiful foreign accent.

#2 The drive is genetic

A recent study from Northwestern University published in Scientific Reports, made a stunning discovery about the psychological phenomenon behind our love for coffee. It moves around caffeine tolerance, sensory perception, and understanding of experience. More precisely, “people with genes indicating high sensitivity to quinine and propylthiouracil tend to drink less coffee on average.
Muslim girl with coffee

Photo by Marsha Dhita on Unsplash

Coffee lovers, on the other hand have the ability to detect caffeine given the learned positive reinforcement aka stimulation, despite our human inborn aversion towards bitterness, which is a mechanism to keep us away from poisonous “food”. Does it make sense? So, based on previous experience and the Pavlovian response, if you’re one of them, you know now that you associate bitterness to the subsequent energy boost.

#3 Many fans broke the law

It happened in the 18th century in Sweden, when the government banned coffee several times. Cups and saucers too. They believed it stimulates both drinkers and radical thinking. In other words, caffeine was evil. But the reasons it became illegal seem to be have been others. The habit came to Sweden from France, and that was annoying. You can read the whole story (really interesting time travel) in TheLocal. Coffee lovers broke the law of course, and followed their guts. ;)

#4 They’re positive

Remember some people get very happy-go-jolly when drinking a bit too much and others fail magnificently doing the same thing? Well, it’s not the same with coffee, and you’ll understand why coffee lovers love bitterness. Because there’s much more to the coffee experience than that. There’s the rich aroma, the comforting warmth, and the ritual of sitting down with a hot cup doing whatever you love. A whole world around a coffee. Positive experience, positive memory. More such experiences, then the coffee experience is stronger.

man drinking coffee

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Plus, it’s a scientific truth that caffeine perks up activity in the central nervous system, and normal doses can improve performance on simple tasks.

Investigators found that when people consumed 200 milligrams of caffeine (the equivalent of two to three cups of coffee) 30 minutes before performing a verbal task, it actually improved their recognition of words with positive connotations — but not their processing of emotionally neutral or negative words. The investigators maintain that this may be because caffeine stirs up the neurotransmitter dopamine (which is related to the brain’s pleasure center) in language-dominant regions of the brain. (PsychologyToday.com)

#5 Experiment proofs that hot coffee helps see people as nice

OK, so here’s an interesting experiment that proves there is a connection between physical temperature and interconnection. Participants entered an elevator. A lady was holding both textbooks and a cup of coffee, and she asked other participants in turn to hold her cup of coffee, to jot down some info. Sometimes the cup was hot, sometimes iced.  Shortly after, participants had to evaluate the personality of a stranger. And the investigators found something astonishing.

Those who held the hot cup of coffee judged the stranger as having a “warmer” personality, more generous. Hmmm!

#6 The mug changes the taste

coffee pot and cup

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Don’t take it literally, my friend! Here’s what happens. Perception is the key. People and coffee lovers included (are you one of them?) are sensitive to colors, and these have a certain connotation and impact on taste and feeling. So, for example, people say that white cups help focus on the brown color of the coffee, and that tastes “less sweet”. Or cups that are not transparent help focus on the “intensity” of the coffee flavor. Have you noticed that? :)

EXTRA: We promised EXPAT PROMOTIONS to go with your coffee

A large segment of you are expats, so we thought to treat you with some goodies besides the findings that knocked us out a bit. If you send mobile credit overseas to your relatives, you may find the Bonus to motivate your next top up. Top ups to Latin America get plenty of extra credit that can be used as local data or calling credit, but some African countries too.

See PROMOS