If you’re like me, your college experience was (or currently is) filled with many trips to a coffee shop–whether that means the standard Starbucks on every campus, or the funky local joint that was unique to your school.

Between study sessions, first dates, meetings with professors, or catching up with a girlfriend I hadn’t seen in awhile due to crazy schedules, there was always a reason to meet for coffee.

Because coffee is such a central part of my life, any new stories or research relating to it peaks my interest. My personal favorites are the health reports that suggest coffee may actually be good for you because it makes me feel okay about my obsession. But, on a recent perusing of Slate.com, I came across a new take on coffee culture that never even crossed my mind: Who gets better service at coffee shops, males or females?

The first thing that ran through my mind was, is there really a difference? I mean, making coffee-related drinks is pretty straightforward, so why would one gender get better service than the other? Apparently, there is a bit of a discrepancy.

An economist in the Boston area and her students staked out eight different coffee shops and watched how long it took men to get served compared to women. She found that men get their coffee 20 seconds before women. You can check out the whole report here .

What could the possible explanation for this be? There are a number of theories such as whether women were held up by male staff because the men viewed them with contempt or because the male staff members were flirting furiously. The article goes into other possible ideas, but to me, it’s definitely not something I’ve ever noticed, but an interesting concept to consider.

As long as I get my steaming hot, tall sugar free gingerbread skim latte in a relatively short amount of time, I’m a happy camper for the morning.