A researcher has stirred up the commuter coffee mug with

the suggestion that morning rush hour traffic is worsened

by stops for daily morning gourmet coffee at Starbucks and

other premium coffee houses. Nancy McGuckin, a travel

behavior analyst, studied a report called? ational

Household Travel Survey?by the U. S. Department of

Transportation as the basis for her provocative

conclusions. It has long been known that frequent starting and stopping

during a commute drastically reduces fuel economy due to

the need to rev up the car engine to accelerate to traffic

speeds and then stop for traffic lights and accelerate once

again. This is the reason why manufacturers estimaged

"city" mileage is always significantly lower than the

estimated "highway" mileage. In addition, if the engine is

turned off and restarted, mileage is decreased

significantly, because it is at startup of the car engine

that the most fuel is wasted. This behavior is exactly what is required when visiting

congested shopping areas on the way to work, find a parking

space, (where gourmet coffee shops are often located) stop

the engine, return to the car with coffee in hand, restart

the engine and make your way back to the highway and

finally to work. McGuckin, the travel analyst, dubbed her discovery,? he

Starbucks Effect?because during the period she studied,

Starbucks added over 4000 new locations (1995? 2001).

Although not limiting this research finding only to trips

to coffee houses, the research suggests that running

additional errands in the morning on the way to work has

contributed to traffic congestion and increased gridlock.

This is because people divert from the shortest and fastest

route, to one that leads them past the coffee house or dry

cleaners. The shorter route between home and business office would be

much more direct and require fewer bursts of acceleration,

engine starts and stops and less frequent visits to crowded

shopping areas, which require commuters to search for

parking, with trips around the block to find spaces or

idling the engine waiting for others to leave spaces nearer

the coffee house. Burning small amounts of extra fuel during those waits over

and over each day adds up to very significant wasted fuel

and lowered mileage over time. Wear and tear on engines

increases as this behavior continues, and becomes habitual. The cost of gourmet coffee at premium coffee houses is also

as much as six or seven times the cost of home brewed

coffee from premium fresh ground whole bean blends. Coffee

houses have either a "house blend" or "featured" blend on

brew and you get whatever they have chosen for you. Then

your only choice is to elbow your way through the crowds

and merge back into the city gridlock to get to work,

further slowing traffic and decreasing gas mileage. A Washington Post article by Catherine Shaver, discusses

the commuter study and quotes Alan E. Pisarsky, Author of

?ommuting in America?as saying, "It's more of a problem

from a traffic point of view than from anything else. "Increasing the number of stops in the trip decreases gas

mileage and stress levels, while brewing coffee at home can

actually save you gas over a relatively short period of

time. Taking fresh brewed coffee from home could actually

reduce stress and wear and tear on the car. When brewing

your own gourmet coffee blend at home, you have a choice of

fresh ground coffee beans from fine Italian Espressos to

the rare and exotic Indonesian Kopi Luwak. Commuters can consider making gourmet coffee drinks at home

before departing for work and enjoy it at home while

spending quality time with the family or take it along in a

commuter coffee travel mug. You?l save money by paying

less than . 30 cents per cup for your favorite gourmet

coffee made from fresh ground beans, as well as help to

reduce gridlock and increase mileage by taking the fastest

route to work instead of detouring to the coffee shop. Copyright? 2005 http://TastesOfTheWorld. netWritten by Mike Banks Valentine for Tastes of The World

coffee company. Focusing on specialty gourmet coffees which

are not readily available in the United States. Rare

Gourmet Coffee is their business so they make shopping with

them risk free. http://www. TastesOfTheWorld. net

Author:
Mike Valentine