I love to start my morning with a strong cup of coffee. To wrap my hands around the huge, warm mug, inhale coffee’s rich aroma and watch a dollop of half and half spread through, lightening it and making it richer, more pleasing to my tongue. No sugar, though.

Caffeine doesn’t give me a kick. That’s why I’ve never understood why some religious sects forbid caffeinated drinks as too stimulating. {I wonder, do they prohibit chocolate candy bars, as well?}

Coffee’s permeated our every day life (and budgets) in ways we could only have imagined years ago. Strikes me that if the only evidence was the lineup of customers at any Starbucks, you’d think our economy was in great shape. {Same goes for the hordes at any Apple store.}

In the very early 1990s I remember suggesting my stockbroker buy Starbucks stock for my portfolio and him saying “Who’s going to pay $3 for a cup of coffee?”

Who, indeed?