Listen closely in the Auckland High Court cafeteria and you can just pick up the whistle of whispers as lawyers sit debating worthy cases, heads bowed over their trim soy cappuccinos.

Or perhaps that whistle is in fact weeping, and their heads are bowed not in reverence but in lamentation over the very cups in their hands.

The cafeteria, Private Bin has been sternly told by one lawyer with sky-high standards and too much free time, is not up to scratch.

Kiwis who imbibe the caffeine equivalent of one and a half cups of espresso coffee – or seven cups of instant – are more likely to hallucinate according to a new study, which may explain the ascendant popularity of coffee culture in New Zealand.

Researchers at Durham University in the UK found that people with a caffeine intake of that level, whether from coffee, tea, caffeinated energy drinks, pills or chocolate; are three times more likely to hear voices and see things that aren’t there than those who consume a single short black, reports LiveScience.

A new Dutch study suggests that women worried about their fertility should cut back on their caffeine intake if they want to conceive.

The dietary and lifestyle habits of 9,000 women who had received In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) were tracked over 10 years during the study, with around one in seven becoming pregnant naturally. Forty five percent of that group became expectant within six months of their last IVF session.

However, those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day lowered their likelihood of becoming pregnant by 26 per cent.