(with apologies to Linda Richman) Coffee Talk
after all), coffee’s fragrance is powerful and seductive. But is this a healthy or unhealthy attraction? We’ll look at the evidence both for and against coffee as an elixir vitae and discuss its historical role. (Disclaimer: when I refer to coffee, I don’t mean a Caramel Mac- chiato).
A History
Coffee originated in the Horn of Africa, most likely Ethiopia, around the 13th century and spread via nearby Yemen and Arabia to Turkey and Europe. Legend has it that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi who noticed his goats had more en- ergy after eating red berries (raw coffee). Kaldi then experimented on himself, goes the legend, and felt more energy as well. Some ascribe coffee’s extreme popularity in the Muslim countries of the Arabian peninsula to Islam’s ban on alcohol, making coffee a desirable substitute. In any case, coffee houses started popping up all over the place in cities and towns throughout the Middle East and eventually, Europe.
Coffee made its way to the New World first with Captain John Smith in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia, eventually replacing beer as New York City’s favorite drink in 1668. The Boston Tea Party helped vault coffee to the top of the list as America’s favorite beverage, replacing tea.
What is coffee? Coffee is derived from a plant which can grow over 30 feet high.
Over seventy percent of all coffee is the Arabica variety, which is easier to drink than the Robusto. Robusto is higher in caffeine and used mostly in instant coffee and blends. The coffee fruit is called the cherry, and contains the coffee bean, which is really a seed. The beans are separated from the cherry and its pulp, cleaned and dried and ready for export. Raw coffee beans, like raw tea leaves, are green. Beans are usually roasted in the importing country so they can be sold as close to fresh roasted as possible. Roasting is done around 550 degrees with the beans moved around to prevent burning. Once the beans reach 400 degrees internally, they begin to release their oil and flavor. At this point they’re ready to be ground, brewed and enjoyed!
hh, the intoxicating aroma of a good cup of coffee! Whether you’re at home smelling a fresh pot or in Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts or even McDonald’s (they do brew Newman’s Own,
What’s in dem beans?
Caffeine is the best known of coffee’s ingredients, and the amount per 8 ounce serving of filtered (drip) coffee ranges between 115-175 milligrams. Compare that to about 50 mg in tea and 35 mg in a can of Coke. Espresso contains about 100 mg per two ounce shot. Caffeine is the bitter-tasting part of coffee, and its level is not affected much by how long coffee is roasted. Caffeine is a stimulant; it wakes us up, makes us more alert and raises our spirits. Caffeine is broken down in the liver, and its breakdown products can help lower sugar levels, dilate arteries and relax the lungs. In a diseased liver, caffeine won’t be broken down properly, potentially leading to a much stronger stimulant effect. Also, some people have a mutation in the genes that regulate caffeine metabolism, leading to a better or worse tolerance for this potent substance (your doctor can test for your ability to clear caffeine from your system). Decaf appears to have a lot of the same health benefits as caffeinated, so you do have choices. Just stick to Swiss Water process decaf to avoid the nasty solvents used in other methods.
Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is the major antioxidant in coffee and is probably responsible for most of coffee’s health benefits. While 1-2% of coffee is caffeine, 6-10% is CGA. A cup of coffee has 200- 550 milligrams of antioxidants, much more than green tea, so the potential for it to really shine is clearly there. The last decade has seen research into CGA explode. CGA has been shown to slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream after a meal and to block the liver’s production of sugar. CGA is sold in Europe as a food ingredi- ent to promote weight loss. Coffee also contains small amounts of fatty acids, protein and fiber.
Benefits of coffee: What’s the evidence?
Cancer: some of the most recent and provocative news about coffee relates to its association with dramatically lower rates of prostate and uterine cancer. For prostate cancer, Harvard researchers followed 47,000 men over 20 years, tracking how much coffee they drank. It turns out the men who drank 6 or more cups a day had a whopping 60% lower risk of lethal prostate cancer than nondrinkers. Risk of prostate cancer in general was 20% lower for the heavy cof- fee drinkers, and lower cancer rates were roughly the same whether folks drank caffeinated or decaf, suggesting the role of CGA as an antioxidant. Also, since insulin resistance is thought to be a risk
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