Caffinated Sophist: the Meaning Behind the Name

I love coffee. I mean I am a coffee lover, not a fanatic, nor someone that drinks a lot of the black fowl sludge that the 'job' serves in the crude dripping lazy mechanic disaster of those drip coffee makers, or even those lazier weird 'place-in-the-cup-and-water-and-step-away' automatic contraptions. Granted, those Keuring's and Bunn's (not trying to advertise!) single "gourmet" "k-cup" coffee makers do serve a good cup of coffee (occasionally).
But I love to actually get involved with my coffee, to put in the effort, griding the whole beans into a beautiful dark fine powder, to smell the pungent delicate aroma filling the room, to place and pack the powder in a small metal cup-like filter for pressured steamy water to pass through (absolutely love my espresso maker). Or, grind the beans into not-so-fine granules, to brew in hot water and then pressed and pumped in my French-press. I don't see putting the effort in this process as time consuming nor problematic, if you want something done right and good, do it your self and take the time to do it, right?
Anyways... I also love tea, mostly Asian teas, jasmine, oolong, green (which there are so many different types of green tea out there); most often loose leaf, I can not go back to bags, sorry Lipton. Can only have coffee like 3-4 days a week (its the nerves) and other days just water, juice, and tea... No Soda (pop, what-have-you)...
So, that is the reason behind the name of this blog, or at least the half of it...
The other half is that I love discussing with others on topics of philosophy, cultures, linguistics (which is quite vague for a topic actually, not to say the others are not), and topics on reason and logic; for I believe, anyone, if we (people in general including me) all use rational thought and logic, we can overcome petty disputes, compromise, and create a more stable atmosphere to finally accomplish anything and everything, rather than letting emotions getting in the way, taking control, and allowing for poor behavior and terrible judgments, actions, and relationships with our family, friends, and neighbors.
So, that is the whole reason behind the name of this blog; its not just what I consider myself, but its what I do, and how I relate to others, and whom I relate to (I know I ended a sentence with a preposition, but its ok, that's priscriptive grammar, and for blogs its descriptive grammar that is used... Ha! did it again, so there Haha!).

Welcome to Caffinated Sophist!

This site is dedicated to talking about most things, but more specifically: Coffee/Tea, English/Chinese (languages, i.e. grammar, TESL/TEFL, TOEFL, learning a foreign language, etc...), Travel, Cultures, Beauty (i.e.Health, Wellness, Cosmetics, etc...), Literature, Philosophy, and Politics & Religion; however, I must ask we (as in ALL that post) MUST show the 3 R's: Respect, Reserve, and Responsibility, especially on the latter 2 subjects (Politics & Religion).
First a little about me/us... I'm James, dedicated to learning and teaching, trying to get my MA in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) and hope to teach overseas (more specifically in China) and do hope I will be able to help more over the web through this blog.
My wife, Luying, is getting her degree in business and will help in conversations with Beauty aspects, and may spark in at times to give her 2 cents in any conversation that perks her interest.