Drinking one to two cups of coffee a day (minus nasty fake stuff like creamer and cancer-causing pretend sugar) has proven to protect against Parkinson's, type 2 diabetes, liver disease and certain cancers.
So, is it what's in the cup that matters, or will any caffeine bean do?
There were many a year that I bought my coffee based on price, and I don't mean in the sense of a connoisseur. Thankfully, my snobbery forced me at least a step up from buying my beans out of a metal can or plastic tub...but only a step! I thought nothing of "artificial" flavors and would grab the most fun seasonal flavor that D&D had to offer. These were my ramen noodle days of buying coffee.
Before my "better" coffee conversion, I thought that expensive coffee was a ridiculous waste of money, which clearly had no added value other than posh points at the coffee shop. Several french presses later, I began my journey to coffee enlightenment. Now, I am no hipster, but when I tasted my first free sample of Cafe Kreyol's Organic Haitian Bleu at Whole Foods, I knew the difference. There was certainly nothing posh about the Dixie cup that contained my beverage, but that did nothing to take away from the gourmet taste that transformed my eyes into saucers. Knowingly, the guy serving the coffee just said, "I know."
As an aside, did anyone actually know that there is a website that reviews and scores coffee? Does your coffee scream "Caramel, blackberry, night-blooming flowers, a hint of fresh-cut cedar in aroma and cup"? If not, give Mystic Monk a try; their coffee scored in the 90's with the review board.
What I've learned (Besides the very fun legend that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian shepherd whose insomniac dancing goats were eating the coffee berries) is that coffee beans go stale in only two weeks. Yikes! This does make sense in the same way that foods without preservatives go bad quickly. Therefore, buy it in small amounts and consume within two weeks.
Ground coffee becomes stale in just about 20 minutes. What? So, that's why people insist on grinding their beans each morning before brewing.
Why organic? Because coffee production commonly uses chemicals such as petroleum based fertilizers. In fact, coffee is one of the most heavily treated crops when it comes to toxic chemicals. If you can't afford to go organic with everything you put into your body, you may want to choose this daily ritual as one of them.
And finally, I am truly justified in believing that it IS better at the coffee shop! Pressure and temperature matter. Home grinders heat up faster, and heat negatively affects taste. There is no substitute for freshly ground, brewed, and don't forget made for you.
The Process:
1. Planting - Coffee seeds are planted in nurseries until sprouting, and then permanently planted during the wet season.
2. Picking - The coffee cherries turn deep red when ripe and are either strip picked or selectively picked; often by hand.
3. Processing
- The Dry Method can take several weeks of laying the cherries in the sun until the moisture content drops.
- The Wet Method takes 12 -48 hours in fermentation tanks filled with water. These beans must then be dried by sun or machine, hulled, and polished.
4. Sorting - Defective beans are removed and remaining beans are sorted by size, and weight.
5. Taste Test - Milled beans or 'green coffee' are roasted and immediately tasted by a 'cupper' for expert analysis.
6. Roasting - Beans are roasted until reaching 400 degrees, when the caffeol oil is released; producing flavor and aroma.
7. Grinding and Brewing - Beans are ground from course to fine depending on the method of brewing, in order to unlock the most flavor. The finer the grind, the more quickly the coffee should be prepared and consumed.
*Added Bonus - So what do you put in your coffee? I often substitute sugar with local honey (which also helps prevent allergies) as a healthy power play. I have also begun adding butter to my Cup o' Joe as suggested by WellnessMama in order to boost my beneficial fats. It may sound crazy, but it's darn good (for ya)!
Fun read; gives me a reason to splurge on something and claim its health benefits!
ReplyDelete