It’s icy, it’s delicious, it’s an iced caramel latte; great for sore throats too!

It’s that time again, my ever popular Sip of the Week. As the title of this post states, I had an iced caramel latte, but I also said I have a sore throat. No, I’m not sick, but my throat hurts and I have a legitimate excuse.

I’ve been in Cleveland, Ohio since Friday (I’m back in Athens now) for the Mid-American Conference Tournament watching the Ohio University men's basketball team. We played Kent State University Thursday in the MAC Quarterfinals and beat them in a thrilling match 81-64. This put us up again Miami University (Our biggest in-state rival, everybody here hates Miami) in the MAC Semifinals. We beat them in a slow paced matchup 54-42, and with this win we were set to play the University of Akron in the MAC Championship last night. Since I was already in Cleveland on Friday with my boyfriend, we just decided to stay in town for the championship game and boy I am glad we did. The Bobcats beat Akron in a thrilling overtime game and a dunk at the end of OT by Armon Bassett sealed us the the win and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament (The Big Dance) with a score 81-75. So, as you can imagine, I screamed my head off for two games. This is why I had a sore throat.

Anyways, as much as I could go on and on about what the past two days have been like, I need to get on with this coffee drink.

As I already stated, I got an iced caramel latte today and it came from The Front Room. I was never really a fan of cold coffee before, but I really wanted a creamice (smoothie like beverage), but unfortunately the machine was broken, so I ordered the next best thing, this iced coffee drink. I was nervous that I would spend $3.10 on a drink I wouldn’t enjoy, but that wasn’t the case at all. I really did enjoy it and as soon as I took a sip my throat felt noticeably better.

I wanted to work on some homework for a bit after I got my coffee, but I had laundry in the washers and needed to go put it in the dryer. I have been to The Front Room before though and from those observations, The Front Room is the spot. People are always there studying or large groups meet there. It’s usually the place to be and if you say, “Lets meet at The Front Room,” everyone at OU knows where you’re talking about, so that is always nice (I’m horrible at giving people directions). Also, The Front Room proudly brews Starbucks coffee, so that is another reason as to why people love going there...it's good!

For now, I must go and study for finals. This week is finals week at OU and my spring break officially starts Wednesday. I am pretty excited, but my wisdom teeth come out in a week so I’m not looking forward to that.

Thanks for reading, have a great week everyone! Good luck on your finals to those that have them.

--Tricia

"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

A Visual Tour of Coffee Shops in Athens

If you don't get a chance to venture out in Athens, Ohio much, there are plenty of coffee shops on Court Street and places out on East State Street to get coffee. I've made a video to help you find the perfect coffee shop you are looking for.



Here is an interactive map I made so you can see exactly where the coffee shops are located and get more information about them.


View Coffee Shops in Athens, Ohio 45701 in a larger map

I hope the video and map are helpful to you and that you can get out and try some of the unique coffee shops in Athens.

--Tricia