Black coffee? Works, but ...

My quest for the ultimate energy boost (before those midnight rides on the bike) led me to cold coffee drinks from Nijiya Market.

My first test: Roots Aroma Black Hot Blend coffee. (Hot Blend? It's a cold drink.) At 9.7 ounces in a squat little plastic bottle, all I knew is that it is black coffee with no sugar. Mr. Hornet, my longtime friend, would be proud being the no-cream, no-sugar coffee addict that he is.

The first taste was sorta awful. I'm no coffee drinker (though I have a love for coffee ice cream, particularly Baskin Robbins' Jamoca Almond Fudge). But I did it in the name of research. I gulped down all 9.7 ounces, bitter as it was. Not the worst taste in the world, and I don't mind, really. After all, I (can) eat parsley and basil now -- things I hated as a kid.

Did the Roots black coffee help? Well, I had huge energy for my 40-minute (stationary) bike ride, yet only burned 342 calories, well off my recent new record of 377. What happened? I was whizzing on that bike at a great rate two-thirds of the way through. Maybe I got too distracted with the TV show (TNT, forget the show's title) in front of me. Maybe the caffeine kick wore out.

I'm not ruling out black coffee as a spark for future workouts. But it won't be at the top of my list, partly because it had my plumbing in a state of percolation. Nothing horrible, but uncomfortable enough to make me wince once or twice during the ride. Then, while I played basketball, it kept feeling like I had to pee. Coffee is a diuretic, I know real well now.

There are several more coffee drinks in my fridge. A little suffering in the name of research will be worthwhile.

Check out the Roots site here.


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