Ethiopia Stirs Up Coffee Industry

China, India helped draft leaked agreement they railed against

(NEWSER) - The “Danish text”—the leaked climate change agreement that infuriated developing nations in Copenhagen and sparked accusations of bullying by rich countries—was actually drafted by a group that included China, India, and Brazil, among other countries. They had “input into the process and product” of the agreement, which seeks to impose stricter limits on developing nations’ emissions, an insider tells the Los Angeles Times . More»

New study reviewed 400K older adults over 14 years

(NEWSER) - Trying to kick the coffee habit? Don't bother. A new study of some 400,000 adults between ages 50 and 71 found that coffee may actually make you less likely to die. Over the course of 14 years, those who partook had a lower risk of death than those who didn't. And the report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, gave top marks to those who drank an average of four to five cups daily: Those men had a 12% lower risk of death, compared to a 6% risk for those who had one cup. Women fared even better, with four- to five-cup drinkers seeing a 16% lower mortality rate. More»

Olympics protected by stringent branding laws

(NEWSER) - The Olympics are headed to London this summer, but visitors and athletes alike better beware of what they post online, reports Mashable . London has passed legislation ahead of the games to penalize people who violate the games' official branding. Legally speaking, this would include:

• Athletes posting media of themselves with products that are not Olympics sponsors
• Fans uploading their own photos or video of the games
• Businesses attracting customers with official Olympics nomenclature, like "2012 Games"

Customers linger for hours, and don't always buy anything

(NEWSER) - It's a good problem to have ... maybe? Starbucks is making huge inroads in China, and expects it to become its second-biggest market, booting Canada to No. 3, by 2014. But a lot of the customers who are pouring in these days don't seem to want to leave. Or, in many cases, buy anything. Reuters reports that Chinese nationals don't have the same to-go mentality of Americans and other customers, preferring to linger for hours. And with lower income levels than their American counterparts, many customers bring their own food—and, in some cases, pass on buying a drink. More»

It could be down to how our taste buds work

(NEWSER) - Coffee's great hot, and it's tasty iced—but anything in between is just disgusting. While there isn't a ton of concrete research into why that is, experts provide Life's Little Mysteries with three plausible theories. First: It could be because of the way our taste buds work in different temperatures. It seems that when food is particularly hot or cold, we don't pick up on certain flavors. So perhaps our tongues simply aren't picking up on coffee's bitterness when it's steaming or iced. More»