newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A long time ago in the Ethiopian highlands, legend says that a goat herder named Kaldi first discovered coffee after he noticed that his goats, who had eaten berries from a particular tree, became so riled up that they could not sleep at night.

From there, the miracle that is coffee has spread worldwide. For some of us, every day is National Coffee Day. But Thursday, September 29 is actually National Coffee Day.

According to lehighvalleylive.com, in celebration, 7-Eleven offered a free medium coffee, cappuccino or latte between 7 and 11 a.m. Thursday, which has passed at this writing. I apologize, but I haven’t had my first cup yet today. Chances are you’re drinking too much coffee when someone asks “How are you?” you respond, “Good to the last drop”.

But Krispy Kreme is offering a free 12-ounce cup of coffee Thursday at participating locations all day. And the Sacramento Bee reports that through October 20, Dunkin Donuts is offering its fans a chance to win an appearance in one of the company’s advertisements. Details on the Dunkin Donuts “Chance for StarDDom” can be found on their Facebook page.

But no mention of free coffee. Also not participating is coffee magnate Starbucks, according to the Washington Post.

Coffee-statistics.com informs us that the U.S. is the number-one coffee-consuming country in the world. We drink over 400 million cups of coffee every day. Why am I not shocked?

Anyway, according to the National Coffee Association, Kaldi reported his news to the abbot of the local monastery who created a drink with the berries and found that it kept him alert for long hours of prayer. Soon word moved to the east and coffee began a journey which would spread its reputation across the globe.

My personal first-aid kit consists of two pints of coffee and an I.V.