“Yes, I’d like to order a grande iced skinny hazelnut macchiato, light syrup, extra shot, extra hot, two pumps of vanilla, light whip, upside down please.”

“Would you like some health care with that?”

Welcome to the twenty-first century.

Back in the day, coffee was viewed as a simple bean that required nothing more than to be ground up and brewed in boiling water. However, the ‘coffee’ society we see today consists of unnecessarily added elements, which scarcely relate to coffee in its original state. Society is blind to what they are actually consuming. After all, coffee is one of the biggest desires on everyone’s mind in the mornings.

The coffee bean contains beneficial nutrients such as B vitamins, manganese, potassium, niacin and magnesium. However, when people drown these benefits with syrup, caramel, chocolate sauce, cream–basically everything but the kitchen sink, it might as well be called diabetes in a cup.

I understand that plain coffee might not taste amazing– it’s even repulsive to some–but the whole purpose of coffee is to provide a boost to the morning routine such as school or work. Caffeine’s kick kills that cloudy morning confusion and is  the perfect start to ensure the perfect day. That is, when it is not laden with added sugars and empty calories.

According to the National Institute of Health and Friends of the National Library of Medicine, about thirty years ago, a standard cup of coffee was 8 ounces and had around 45 calories. Today, the standard cup of coffee is 16 ounces and has around 350 calories. This statistic alone provides insight that society basically negates the the beneficial effects of coffee by adding sugar and artificial ingredients, thus making it relatively more difficult to wake up in the morning or get to work on time than it would have decades ago.

The detrimental evolution of coffee persists, and it comes with more than just the price on the receipt. Crashes, blood sugar spikes, irritability, headaches, indigestion and many other problems prevail. So in with the old, and out with the new. If a simple cup of coffee is not appealing, drop the idea all together because this ‘modern-day’ take on coffee will not do anyone any favors.

The next time a craving comes along for the usual liquid candy disguised as coffee, grab some sweet fruit instead and enjoy the resulting natural energy boosting effects. Your wallet, heart and soul will thank you.