"I love you a latte!"

Hey everybody! Well, I heard tomorrow was Valentine’s Day so I figured I should dedicate this post to something related to Valentine’s Day. You might be thinking, and boy I was too, how the heck is coffee related to Valentine’s Day? After a couple hours of looking around online I found something that really caught my eye and thought it would be a great subject to write about.

Before I get started I wanted to tell you guys about the title of this post, “I love you a latte!” A few weeks ago I went to The Front Room Coffeehouse in Baker University Center and got my normal caramel latte. While I was there I noticed the employees got new shirts, but they were kind of plain, just black with a small logo on the left side, where you might see a t-shirt pocket. As I ordered, the guy turned around to make my latte and I saw that the back of the shirts said, “I love you a latte!” That just brought the biggest smile to my face and I don’t even know why, but I thought the saying was clever. Ever since I saw that, I’ve been waiting until Valentine’s Day to use it as my title, so there you go, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do (which you probably won’t).

Anyways, I came across this article on WebMD titled “Caffeine: Potion for Female Sex Drive?” It was published in 2006, a little outdated, but I didn’t think that much has changed about caffeine in the last four years. The article is talking about a study done at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas titled “Coffee, Tea, and Me.: Moderate doses of caffeine affect sexual behavior in female rats.” This article basically asked one simple question, “Could something as simple as caffeine be the female version of Viagra?” On a side note, this study was the first study to examine the interaction between caffeine and sex in females.

The study was conducted by Fay Guarraci, an assistant professor of psychology at Southwestern University, and Staci Benson, a 2005 Southwestern graduate. They gave 108 female rats a moderate dose of caffeine before a mating test and wanted to look at the effect the caffeine had on the mating behavior of the rats. After Guarraci and Benson examined the effects, they found out that caffeine shortened the time it took females to return to males after receiving ejaculation. They believe this meant that the caffeine made the females more motivated to be with the rats.

Although this worked with rats, it may have different effects on humans since most humans consume moderate doses of caffeine on a daily basis. For the rats, this was the first dose of caffeine they ever had. Guarraci suggested that this might effect “people who are not habitual users.” She also said that, “Understanding the circuits that control this behavior will help us understand how the brain works and what part of the brain mediates motivation because sexual behavior is a motivative behavior.”

According to this Web site, coffee is considered to be an aphrodisiac because of the caffeine in it, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to just drink lots of caffeine for a sexual drive.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day <3

--Tricia