I used to have random nights where it would take me hours to fall asleep. A year ago I figured out that it was due to excess caffeine during the day. I stopped drinking coffee / tea / red bull / pro plus (caffeine tablets). I learnt to live with my post-lunch sleepiness by taking placebos.

There are good health reasons to cut down on caffeine. But the most important is not to be a slave of “Big Caffeine”. These heartless corporations will put their stores up in every location. They will use subliminal advertising to make you think that caffeine binges are cool. A culture will be created where caffeine teetotallers are social outcasts.

I overcame these hurdles and my sleep problems solved, except for the random nights of exam stress and/or audit stress (should I use pink files or blue files?) Unfortunately, the result was that I developed ridiculous caffeine insensitivity. Even, de-caffeinated coffee will keep me awake.

Yet, I still love/worship Starbucks. How do you reconcile that with a caffeine intolerance? By buying Starbucks shares and drinking caffeine free Diet Coke.

The least-manly drink ever.

A few weeks ago I got to meet a famous American expatriate called Daygan. He has lived in Tianjin for a while and he’s involved in a radio program, acting, modelling and, more recently, starting a new coffee house in Tianjin. It’s called "The Coffee Spot" and you can find out more about it here and keep up with the latest news on the blog. Below is a photo of the future site:

I met up with Daygan to talk about investing in The Coffee Spot. He’s got a good vision for what he wants The Coffee Spot to be. I’m excited. It will add value to the community, it will be a great place for expats and local Chinese students, the prices will be reasonable and there’ll be a real coffee house atmosphere. After many, many hours with an abacus I’ve calculated that the numbers look good for the potential investor.

The main thing is though, I’m sick of handing over my money to Starbucks’ shareholders.

I’m proud to be living in an area where there are local Chinese people and few other foreigners. I hear the local babble, which is still incomprehensible to me. I breathe in the authentic smells of street food, smelly tofu and precious heavy metals.

When I want to breathe more rarefied air I take a trip to the South of the city. Nanjing Lu is a favourite of mine because I can see where China is heading in the future.

The pace of development is lightning quick. The old buildings, shops and markets are being mercilessly torn down. In their place will come luxury apartments and shops.

What you see on the left will become prime real estate, like the Kensington and Chelsea of London. Buy now while you can.

Now, within 5 minutes walk of this area are: 3 Starbucks, a Pizza Hut, a Rolex shop, a Häagen-Dazs ice cream bar, a TGI Friday’s restaurant that is under construction and a Zara designer clothes shop that has just opened last week.

This blog entry has another discussion on China’s nouveaux rich.

This is where Tianjin’s nouveau rich are coming out to play and they are playing in increasing numbers.