The BBC has an article about how coffee protects female memory: A French research team compared women aged 65 (and older) who drank more than 3 cups of coffee per day with those who only drank one per day. Those who drank more apparently showed less decline in memory tests over a four year period. The protective effect didn’t seem to apply to men and the results of the research suggest that women metabolize caffeine differently.
My eyes fell on the ‘See also’ section of that article which link to other (BBC) items on coffee research: Coffee may help relieve gym pain (07), ‘coffee boosts female sex drive’ (06), decaf coffee linked to heart risks (05) and caffeine does not raise blood pressure (02).
I think that covers all of coffee’s important properties. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you have to get up early in the morning, you definitely shouldn’t drink coffee at night.
Update: Coffee’s magical stuff mentioned elsewhere (2 days earlier!)