Current thought is that mitochondria were smaller lifeforms first “absorbed” by larger more complex cell (alternatively: the mitochondria “hijacked” the larger cell) and live in symbiosis.

Sounds weird, but also, we have more bacteria living in and on our bodies than we have cells with “our own” DNA.

Makes you wonder where we each really start and stop.

Start the year on March 1st like it used to be?

He might mean old-growth forest.

That Evil Wizards name?

Siatama.

Plenty of independent coffee shops sell Lotus energy drinks for this exact reason.

To add to all this, if most of your customers are seriously there to taste their flavored syrups and milk of their favorite drink, you wouldn’t want to alter or even ruin that with unexpected, unique coffee flavors.

He just means “feature phone”

Dark Roasted coffee is the only way Starbucks can be Starbucks.

Lighter-roasted coffee emphasizes origin flavors and i agree with you --generally tastes better and is more interesting.

But you can’t sell coffee like that in tens of thousands of coffee shops and have it remotely consistent.

Coffee growing from the same plot but on one side of a hill will taste different from the other side due to getting different quantities of sunlight. Complex origin flavors will always be the domain of small specialty coffee shops.

Starbucks has McDonalds-like consistency serving millions of customers a day and that’s only because they emphasize the flavors they can get consistently–roast flavors.

TL;DR The bigger the chain, the darker you have to roast. That’s just how coffee works.

Dogs don’t know guilt.

They do know that looking at you a certain way makes you no longer mad at them.

Me, holding a fountain pen tipped with iridium alloy and plated in rhodium, “ah yes, interesting.”

Yep, feed them on a plate.