Friday’s edition of The Herald certainly gave us lots to talk about with coffee drinking making the front page, and another interesting story on the same topic on Page 3.

The front page news (although many may not consider it news) was in reference to the storm in the coffee cup that has blown up around the quality of the coffee served in committee rooms in the Scottish Parliament.  Conservative MSP, Mary Scanlon, is quoted as saying,”On behalf of my colleagues from all parties across this parliament, can I ask the corporate body to ensure that new and continuing MSPs get a decent cup of coffee in committees?”.

Whilst you may not think this is an important issue to be discussing in the parliament, it is nevertheless an important issue.  In today’s market, it really isn’t too difficult, or expensive, to provide top quality coffee.  And, if you think serving coffee is an extravagance, you should consider that it is common practice in most meetings and conference rooms in the commercial sector.  Not only is coffee enjoyable, it will keep you more alert — and there is the social element that is often extremely fruitful.

At Excel, we have noticed a greatly increased demand for coffee machines for meeting rooms, boardrooms, and general meeting areas, the companies buying these machines and serving good quality coffee obviously appreciate the benefits in doing so.  We can’t comment on the quality of the coffee in the parliament, however we are sure they are not utilising the latest machines that dispense first-class coffee every time — and at any time of the day.  You can read The Herald article here.

The second article was perhaps more pleasing to readers, although there doesn’t appear to be a link to it on The Herald online.  This piece was entitled “Coffee could reduce your chances of developing MS”.

According to researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, John Hopkins University in Maryland and the University of California, drinking lots of coffee every day could potentially reduce the risk of developing multiple sclerosis.  They looked at the results of two separate studies (one in Sweden, one in the USA) and determined that the risk of MS was consistently higher among people who drank fewer cups of coffee every day in both studies, even after taking into account other factors of influence.

So, it’s fairly clear that coffee does have many benefits and there are many reasons to drink it, and we do agree with Mary Scanlon; in this day and age there is no reason to drink poor quality, or stale, coffee when there are so many excellent meeting room machines that will keep you happy, alert – and healthy!