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It very well may be that income is a confounding variable. Being able to afford 3-5 cups/day means you’re more likely to have a relatively high income, and thus

It very well may be that income is a confounding variable. Being able to afford 3-5 cups/day means you’re more likely to have a relatively high income, and thus a better health situation.

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
> Being able to afford 3-5 cups/day means you’re more likely to have a relatively high income. This is false: http://news.gallup.com/poll/184388/americans-coffee-consumption-steady-few-cut-back.aspx http://news.gallup.com/poll/184388/americans-coffee-consumpt... ”Fewer lower-income than higher-income Americans drink coffee, but lower-income coffee drinkers consume more cups per day than higher-income coffee drinkers (3.8 vs. 2.4 cups, on average)."
- loeg 9y ago
  Does that include the entire lower-income population, or just those who drink coffee? I'm not sure I follow how those statistics disprove the parent comment suggestion that higher income people might be more likely to drink coffee.
- xorfish 9y ago
  Wouldn't that match this study? Low income Americans driink either a lot or not any coffee at all. High income Americans drink some coffee. So you would expect no coffee consumption and high coffee consumption to correlate with a higher risk than moderate consumption. This is exactly what the study found.
iamthirsty 9y ago
Do you have any source on that? I drink 3-5 cups a day and make basically nothing, and have an unrelated autoimmune disease.
Deimorz 9y ago
I'm not sure if you're only thinking about buying pre-made coffee from convenience stores, Starbucks, etc. but coffee is very cheap to make yourself. It should only be cents a day unless you're using pretty high-end stuff. Also, when it says 3-5 cups a day, that's the measurement unit "cup", not what most people would think of as "a cup of coffee". A typical size cup/mug of coffee is usually about 3-4 cups.
- jey 9y ago
  A cup is 8 fl oz, so a typical mug is 1.5 to 2 cups.
- noncoml 9y ago
  A cup in the study is defined as 8oz of brewed coffee I believe. If you are an espresso drinker, it’s worth mentioning that a cup of brewed coffee contains almost 50% more caffeine than a single shot espresso. So we are talking about roughly 2-4 double shot espresso coffees per day.
deleted 9y ago
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nether 9y ago
5 cups/day isn't exactly breaking the bank, as long you're not drinking hipster sour watery stuff at $4.50/cup. I just drank instant coffee throughout college. At my high school, you could drop $10 into a jar for the "coffee club" and have unlimited coffee throughout the year (drip brew, pretty weak stuff).
WalterBright 9y ago
> Being able to afford 3-5 cups/day means you’re more likely to have a relatively high income You can buy a coffee maker for $12 on Amazon. Ground coffee is $7 for 12 oz or so, and you can make a pot of coffee (12 cups) a day for a couple weeks from that. It's pretty durn cheap. It's probably the cheapest beverage other than tap water.
gruturo 9y ago
First time I was out of Italy I literally could not believe the price of coffee. And people could not believe me, when I told them how much cheaper it was in Italy. We’re talking 40 cents vs $2 (recent example I remember both prices for the same year, circa 2011). So yeah - depends on the country, or whether you make it yourself, coffee can be extremely cheap. No correlation between consumption and wealth (esp. in countries like Italy where literallly everyone drinks it)
- eecc 9y ago
  In Italy bar personnel tends to be paid next to nothing for grueling shifts... it’s really incredible. But yeah, outside of tourist trap areas, your average caffè (that’d be the espresso) is usually around 80c
- lancebeet 9y ago
  In Italy, the cost of the coffee as a service is much lower than in the rest of Europe and the USA. Espressos are made much faster and more frequently, the volume is lower which means they can be drunk quicker, and Italians generally spend less time in the cafe. Not to mention that in most of Europe, Italian coffee is served, which is more expensive there than in Italy. Even so, the cost of the actual coffee is only around 10 cents for quality beans.
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    You probably noticed that you pay more if you sit down. Drink at the bar and it’s usually cheaper.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

It very well may be that income is a confounding variable. Being able to afford 3-5 cups/day means you’re more likely to have a relatively high income, and thus a better health situation.

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago

> Being able to afford 3-5 cups/day means you’re more likely to have a relatively high income. This is false: http://news.gallup.com/poll/184388/americans-coffee-consumption-steady-few-cut-back.aspx http://news.gallup.com/poll/184388/americans-coffee-consumpt... ”Fewer lower-income than higher-income Americans drink coffee, but lower-income coffee drinkers consume more cups per day than higher-income coffee drinkers (3.8 vs. 2.4 cups, on average)."

loeg 9y ago
Does that include the entire lower-income population, or just those who drink coffee? I'm not sure I follow how those statistics disprove the parent comment suggestion that higher income people might be more likely to drink coffee.
xorfish 9y ago
Wouldn't that match this study? Low income Americans driink either a lot or not any coffee at all. High income Americans drink some coffee. So you would expect no coffee consumption and high coffee consumption to correlate with a higher risk than moderate consumption. This is exactly what the study found.

iamthirsty 9y ago

Do you have any source on that? I drink 3-5 cups a day and make basically nothing, and have an unrelated autoimmune disease.

Deimorz 9y ago

I'm not sure if you're only thinking about buying pre-made coffee from convenience stores, Starbucks, etc. but coffee is very cheap to make yourself. It should only be cents a day unless you're using pretty high-end stuff. Also, when it says 3-5 cups a day, that's the measurement unit "cup", not what most people would think of as "a cup of coffee". A typical size cup/mug of coffee is usually about 3-4 cups.

jey 9y ago
A cup is 8 fl oz, so a typical mug is 1.5 to 2 cups.
noncoml 9y ago
A cup in the study is defined as 8oz of brewed coffee I believe. If you are an espresso drinker, it’s worth mentioning that a cup of brewed coffee contains almost 50% more caffeine than a single shot espresso. So we are talking about roughly 2-4 double shot espresso coffees per day.

deleted 9y ago

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nether 9y ago

5 cups/day isn't exactly breaking the bank, as long you're not drinking hipster sour watery stuff at $4.50/cup. I just drank instant coffee throughout college. At my high school, you could drop $10 into a jar for the "coffee club" and have unlimited coffee throughout the year (drip brew, pretty weak stuff).

WalterBright 9y ago

> Being able to afford 3-5 cups/day means you’re more likely to have a relatively high income You can buy a coffee maker for $12 on Amazon. Ground coffee is $7 for 12 oz or so, and you can make a pot of coffee (12 cups) a day for a couple weeks from that. It's pretty durn cheap. It's probably the cheapest beverage other than tap water.

gruturo 9y ago

First time I was out of Italy I literally could not believe the price of coffee. And people could not believe me, when I told them how much cheaper it was in Italy. We’re talking 40 cents vs $2 (recent example I remember both prices for the same year, circa 2011). So yeah - depends on the country, or whether you make it yourself, coffee can be extremely cheap. No correlation between consumption and wealth (esp. in countries like Italy where literallly everyone drinks it)

eecc 9y ago
In Italy bar personnel tends to be paid next to nothing for grueling shifts... it’s really incredible. But yeah, outside of tourist trap areas, your average caffè (that’d be the espresso) is usually around 80c
lancebeet 9y ago
In Italy, the cost of the coffee as a service is much lower than in the rest of Europe and the USA. Espressos are made much faster and more frequently, the volume is lower which means they can be drunk quicker, and Italians generally spend less time in the cafe. Not to mention that in most of Europe, Italian coffee is served, which is more expensive there than in Italy. Even so, the cost of the actual coffee is only around 10 cents for quality beans.
- lostlogin 9y ago
  You probably noticed that you pay more if you sit down. Drink at the bar and it’s usually cheaper.
deleted 9y ago
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