Irish Independent

A little tipple goes a long way

- John Dally

IEXTENDED my life by at least one year over the weekend — and I didn’t even leave the sofa. Yep, you heard me right, while the rest of the country shivered and shook under the ‘Beast from the East’, I sat around slurping coffee and quaffing wine as the flurries piled high against the door. Cabin fever madness? Hardly. According to a new study from of the University of California, the consumptio­n of moderate amounts of alcohol and coffee is linked to living a longer life. No joke. The research, entitled ‘The 90+ Study’, began in

2003 and examined 1,700 people in the 90 to 99 age range to determine what might be key to living well into this rare nonagenari­an time zone. “People who drank moderate amounts of alcohol or coffee lived longer than those who abstained,” the report stated — to the counter-thumping whoops of joy from all us java winos. Well, OK, the key word here is obviously ‘moderate’ – but, hey, who’s counting? “I have no explanatio­n for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Dr Claudia Kawas, a key researcher on the study, told a conference of the American Associatio­n for the Advancemen­t of Science.

The research found subjects who drank two glasses of beer or wine every day decreased their chances of a premature death by 18pc, and those who drank two cups of coffee a day decreased their chances by 10pc.

So the next time someone gives you a reproachfu­l glare for uncorking another bottle or boiling up an extra pot of your favourite potion, just tell ’em it’s all in the cause of living a long and healthy life. Mind you, while Napoleon’s cunning diplomat, de Talleyrand, famously demanded his favourite morning perk to arrive “black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel and sweet as love”, he’d probably have condemned much of our modern-day java snobbery to the guillotine.

Popping up like weeds in a June garden, these brew braggarts sprout wild in every café, holding up the queue, engaging in lengthy debates with the barista about Chemex filters, perfect ristrettos and the latest trifecta. I won’t deny any man the right to his ceramic cupful of prime-brewed Kopi Luwak, but most mornings I just need my first cuppa joe to arrive like the perfect lover – hot, rich and fragrant.

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