My morning routine is modest, involving a small Mr. Coffee maker, Community Coffee Cafe Special and a favorite mug. I’ll drink a couple of cups to get my heart and brain started and then one more as a reward after walking the dog.

But sometimes I fantasize about giving up coffee. Just to see what it’s like. Then I always snap back to my senses.

Especially when I read about the health benefits of coffee, like in The Upshot in today’s New York Times headlined More Consensus on Coffee’s Benefits Than You Might Think.

“It’s a completely reasonable addition to a healthy diet, with more potential benefits seen in research than almost any other beverage we’re consuming. It’s time we started treating it as such,” Aaron Carroll writes.

“Finally,” he says, “while the coffee may be healthy, that’s not necessarily true of the added sugar and fat that many people put into coffee-based beverages.”

So now I’m feeling pretty good about my morning routine. Except for that Half & Half. But let’s not go crazy, okay?