Food and Beverage Blog

The major coffee making companies world wide are choosing to be more eco-friendly by following good practices of cultivation like shade grown coffee, organic coffee and fair trade coffee practices. Shade grown coffee is a practice of growing coffee under the shade of larger trees to help create a climate that is most suitable for growth of coffee trees. Even the leaves that fall from the larger trees can be used as to fertilize the soil.

The shade growing practices can help to create a natural habitat for native animals including insects as well. In many ways this helps to balance the ecosystem to a fair level and gives you eco-friendly coffee. Though shade grown coffee means lesser profit for the farmer as compared to sun grown normal cultivation methods, they can save themselves by following fair trade practices.

Then there is also the bird friendly coffee brand that is like the strictest set of environmentally friendly coffee grown in the world. This type of shade growing coffee practices was initiated to protect migratory song bird in 1997.

As an educated consumer of modern times, it is up to you to make the correct choices. Choosing to go for the eco-friendly brands of coffee will help you contribute not only to the environment, but also to the farmers who choose such good practices as well.

Coffee has two main ways of improving the health of your body: antioxidants and caffeine. Both of these substances have health and anti aging benefits. Antioxidants help your body repair damage to cells caused by free radicals. These free radicals are produced as a by-product of cells through normal daily activities.

The health benefits of coffee are many and the research supports them. For example,

ASTHMA RELIEF: caffeine can help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is not available. Did you know that a single dose of pain reliever such as Anacin or Excedrin contains up to 120 milligrams of caffeine? This is the equivalent of a hefty cup of coffee.

CAVITY PROTECTION: caffeine can prevent cavities because of a compound called trigonelline which gives coffee its aroma and bitter taste. Trigonelline has both anti-bacterial and anti-adhesive properties that help prevent dental cavities from forming.

CHOLESTEROL: a paper filter is worth a “pound of cure” or so. There are two substances in coffee, kahweol and cafestol, that raise cholesterol levels. During the brewing process, paper filters capture these substances. Paper filters, in this case, help in the prevention of harmful cholesterol levels. Coffee drinkers who drink non-filtered coffees such as “lattes,” which do not use paper filters, may want to reconsider their choice and frequency of beverage for their own health benefit.

COLON CANCER: drinking at least two cups of coffee daily can translate into a 25% reduced risk of colon cancer. Coffee drinkers, as compared to non coffee drinkers, appear to be 50% less likely to get liver cancer. They also have lower rates of colon, breast and rectal cancers. There is a powerful antioxidant found almost exclusively in coffee, methylpyridinium, that boosts blood enzymes widely believed to protect against colon cancer. Methylpyridinium is formed in the roasting process from a chemical found naturally in coffee beans. Dark roasted coffees contain two to three times more of this antioxidant than medium roasts.

CIRRHOSIS: coffee drinkers have up to 80% reduced risk to suffer from cirrhosis than non coffee drinkers. People who smoke and are heavy drinkers have less liver damage as compared to those who do not. The reduced risk of alcohol cirrhosis may be associated with the phenolics and related substances in coffee.

DEMENTIA: drinking coffee during middle age may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and the risk of dementia in the elderly. Coffee drinkers at midlife have a lower risk for dementia or Alzheimer’s later in life than people who drank little or no coffee at midlife. Moderate coffee drinkers had up to a 65% decrease risk of contracting these conditions as compared with low coffee drinkers.

GALLSTONES: certain compounds in coffee may help prevent liquid stored in the gallbladder (“bile”) from crystallizing or hardening. This is what causes gallstones and obstructs the bile duct, a narrow tube which leads from the gallbladder to the intestine. Gallstones are painful and patients can experience fever and jaundice. Coffee drinkers have almost a 50% reduced risk of suffering from gallstone disease as compared to non coffee drinkers.

HEART DISEASE: People who smoke and are heavy coffee drinkers have less heart disease as compared to those who do not. Drinking coffee as part of a healthy and balanced diet is not associated with the development of cardiovascular problems, including atherosclerotic disease, myocardial infarction, ventricular arrhythmias and hypertension.

MENTAL ALERTNESS: caffeine enhances concentration, reduces fatigue and heightens alertness. The reason lies in caffeine’s effect on brain receptors, enabling a better energy uptake.

MALE FERTILITY: caffeine in coffee appears to increase sperm “motility.” Motility is the speed at which sperm moves. Since sperm hyperactivity is critical to fertilization, heightened motility increases the odds of pregnancy.

PARKINSON’S DISEASE: antioxidants and caffeine have health and anti-aging benefits. Antioxidants repair the damage to cells caused by free radicals. People who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Caffeine’s adenosine-blocking power may be one mechanism through which the brain cells in Parkinson’s disease are protected. Based on this and other evidence, Parkinson’s drugs are being developed that contain a derivative of caffeine. However, it seems that coffee protects men better than women against Parkinson’s disease. This is because estrogen and caffeine need the same enzymes to be metabolized and estrogen captures those enzymes.

TYPE 2 DIABETES: drinking one to three cups of coffee daily can reduce diabetes risk by single digits. Drinking six cups or more each day can reduce men’s risk up to 60% and women’s’ up to 30% as compared to non coffee drinkers. Coffee has large amounts of antioxidants such as Chlorogenic acid and tocopherols. Coffee also has minerals such as magnesium. All these components improve insulin sensitivity, glucose metabolism and lower blood sugar.

Do you love espresso? Do you really love espresso? Do you love paying those high prices at the local coffee shop for your espresso? I mean do you really love to pay those high prices at the local coffee shop for your espresso? I did not think so! Have you ever thought about just getting your very own espresso coffee machine and saving upwards of $20.00 per week? $80.00 per month?, $960.00 per year? That is a lot of money to spend these days! Well, if you have been thinking about getting your very own espresso maker for your home or office here are 9 tips that you should consider before going out and handing over your hard earned money and not getting what you paid for or thought you paid for in the long run.

Tip 1. Do you think you are considering buying an espresso maker that uses espresso pods? That is Okay since they are very easy to use, however in case you are a “hard core”, “died in the wool” espresso junkie then using an espresso machine that uses espresso ground coffee is the way to go to obtain just the right cup of espresso!

Tip 2. Would you like a steam driven or a pump driven espresso coffee machine? The steam driven machine are the more affordable of the two and so you might be tempted to buy one to save a few dollars, nevertheless the fact of the matter is that steam units do not keep the correct water temperature and tend not to produce adequate pressure levels to make really good espresso. The pump units are measured in “bars” and the more “bars” the more pressure and the more pressure going through your ground coffee then the more of the flavor and flavorful oils will be passed to the espresso that you are going to drink.

Tip 3. Do you want your espresso coffee machine to be fully automatic? Do you want to have some amount of interaction with your espresso maker? Do you want your espresso maker to be fully digital? Is it in your budget to get a fully digital, fully automatic espresso machine? This is something very important to consider, as the more “bells and whistles” the more money you will have to spend. Here is the rub though: Just because an espresso machine does not have all the “bells and whistles” does not mean that it cannot produce espresso like one that does.

Tip 4. How many cups or mugs of espresso do you want your espresso machine to be capable of making at one time? How many people will need to be served by your choice of machine in your home or office?

Tip 5. Do you intend to buy a coffee bean grinder? Do you have a coffee bean grinder now? If you want one or should you have one now make sure that it is a top quality grinder. It just does not make any sense to have an eight hundred dollar espresso machine and a five dollar coffee bean grinder. Personally, you should avoid coffee bean grinders that utilize blades as the blades will not grind the coffee fine enough or completely enough. This goes for espresso machine that have grinders in them as well. Get an espresso machine that has a burr conical grinder as these types of grinders truly do grind the coffee beans completely and properly for creating great espresso.

Tip 6. Be sure that your coffee beans are ground especially for the espresso machine with the precise setting of your grinder or the grinder that is integrated into your espresso machine.

Tip 7. When it is time to steam your milk make absolutely sure that you are using minimum sixty percent fresh cold 100% milk. Whatever you do, you should not reheat warm milk! Yuck! Your best results will always come from using fresh cold whole milk. Always when steaming the milk place the steam wand below the milks surface and then steam the milk on full.

Tip 8. Maintain your machine in good functioning order. Therefore cleaning your machine after every use in addition to descaling it regularly to keep mineral deposits from building up inside your machine in the areas of the pipes and boiler and reduces excess pressure buildup put in the pump.

Tip 9. Always ensure that the grind you will be using compliments the machine that you are using. The instruction manuals of most espresso coffee machines will come with a coffee grind guide and suggestions and you may work with those or try different things for trial and error purposes.

The most common machine that applies the simplest method of brewing is a drip brews or filter machine. Resembling its name, this machine requires a paper filter for the brewing process. All you have to do is to put the filter on top of your mug or carafe, put the grounds on it and pour hot water. The grounds will be extracted by the paper filter and you can have a cup of ground-free coffee. It’s just as simple as that.

The second type is a French press machine that’s one step more advanced than the drip machine. Basic principle of this machine is to press the grounds by the built-in filter into the bottom of the pot. After 3 minutes of brewing process, you can enjoy your fresh and delicious coffee.

Vacuum machine is the most unique method compared to the others. This machine usually consists of two pots. The lower pot is functioning as a water reservoir while the upper one is used for the brewing process. After the machine is heated, the water vapor from the lower pot will brew the ground at the upper pot. Once the heating process end, the brewed coffee will push back to the lower pots because of the vacuum condition. This brewing process will ensure optimum extraction of the ground that will result cups of flavorful coffee.

The last but not least is the drip percolator machine, which unlike a vacuum machine only consists of one pot. Inside the pot, you can find a basket hanging in the middle of it functioned as the ground container. Therefore, the ground will automatically separate during the brewing process.

Stove Top Coffee: Pans & Kettles – Coffee has been used by mankind for over a thousand years. For the majority of that time, it was simply brewed in a kettle or even just a pan filled with ground coffee and water. The coffee and water would be heated until it boiled, and when the coffee seemed ready the mixture would be poured through a strainer and that would be that. This process did work, but tended to leave grounds in the coffee and the quality of the brew couldn’t be controlled. But it was an easy method that anyone could use, and as a glass carafe was never used, there was never any need for a replacement carafe.

Coffee Percolators – Around the middle of the 19th century, the percolator was invented. This device boiled water and forced it through a basket of ground coffee to make the brew. Although allowing more control than a simple kettle or pan, the early stove top percolators still weren’t exact in the quality of the brew. Percolators were nearly always made of metal and thus the container rarely broke. However, the coffee (coffee is somewhat acidic) would eventually start to wear through the metal. This became less of a problem when better alloys were developed. Later electrical models would occasionally have problems with their heating elements or electrical systems that the stove top percolators avoided (although the electrical percolator’s ease of use made up for this).

Automatic Drip Coffee Makers – In the early 1970s the first automatic drip coffee maker was developed and produced by Mr. Coffee, and this remains the most popular type today. There are many variations, but the basic design consists of a water reservoir that feeds water to metal tube past a heating unit. The water is heated to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit and then drips through a basket containing the ground coffee. The coffee brew then falls into a carafe. Aside from the convenience, one major benefit of an automatic drip coffee maker is that the coffee never actually touches the main heating element, reducing the chance of “over-cooking” the coffee and delivering a better tasting cup of coffee.

Replacement Carafes – Although there are many benefits of an automatic drip coffee maker, one of the main drawbacks is that they require a carafe. Metal carafes are fairly tough and they are difficult to break, although the more complex thermal carafes can have problems with calcium and mineral buildup in the lid. The majority of less expensive coffee makers use glass carafes which can easily break, especially when one is rushing around half asleep on a Monday morning. Fortunately, it is not necessary to purchase a new coffee maker when this happens. Most major brands of coffee makers, including Krups, Mr. Coffee, and Cuisinart realize that a glass carafe is easy to break and sell replacement carafes for nearly all their models. Most coffee makers require a specific size carafe replacement, so it is important to make sure the one you buy fits your coffee maker.