Iced coffee. Ice cream. Hot tea?
As the summer temperatures begin to climb in Phoenix, you'd expect people to be ordering cold drinks to beat the heat.
So why you sometimes see people ordering hot drinks?
"I primarily drink hot beverages on a hot day," said Brandon Ferderer, an ASU communication instructor drinking hot tea on a 101 degree day. "I've been told that drinking hot beverages is better for you in the summertime than drinking cold beverages because it kicks in your body's natural sweat response."
It's not a coincidence that many hot climates are known for their spicy hot cuisine, such as Indian and Thai curries, Southwest jalapeno chilies, or Jamaican jerk chicken. Spicy food, in addition to hot beverages, triggers the sweat response, lowering body temperature.
Ferderer also offered a more practical answer, though.
"While it's like 120 degrees outside, usually it's negative 40 inside an office building," he said. "Businesses have a tendency to turn up their air conditioning."
Others have certain associations with hot or iced coffee.
"To me, iced coffee seems like too much of a dessert," said another coffeeshop patron, Pinnacle High School teacher J.C. Kobashi. "I need hot coffee in the morning."
At the Fair Trade Cafe on Van Buren and 1st St., barista Kamie Lavis-White said a few customers seem to have the same morning ritual, summer or winter.
"There's a guy who will come in and have two cups of hot tea, even though it's already 100 degrees outside," Lavis-White said. "I think it's just his routine. Who knows, maybe he's trying to combat the heat."
- 30 -
Despite the heat, Fair Trade Cafe barista Kamie Lavis-White still makes several orders of hot coffee a day. (Photo by Kim Vinh)
No comments:
Post a Comment