3 ingenious ways to cook with coffee

When most people think of coffee, they think of drinking it, whether it’s black, over ice, Bulletproof, or egg coffee (yep, it’s a thing). But it turns out coffee works really well in food, too, and can add depth, spice, and smokiness to a dish—or 100 of them.

To find all those recipes, look any further than The Marley Coffee Cookbook, from coffee boss Rohan Marley, founder of Marley Coffee and son of the legendary Bob Marley. Written by Rohan Marley in collaboration with chef Maxcel Hardy III and food writer Rosemary Black, The Marley Coffee Cookbook includes stories from Marley’s life as well as the aforementioned recipes, which are all about bringing coffee notes into food.

That includes putting some java into the vinaigrette for a couscous salad, spiking corn on the cob with coffee butter, and seasoning vegetables with coffee for some amazing meatless tacos (you can find all those recipes below). And since September 29 is International Coffee Day, there’s no better time to celebrate than with a cup of joe made just how you like it paired with a meal infused with those same flavors.

Read more > 3 ingenious ways to cook with coffee

The diet Silicon Valley swears by – and why I’m on it

In the past I was always religious about eating breakfast. I knew it was good for me: that was one of the few things the nutrition bods agreed on. And if I didn’t eat it, I had been known to faint.

Yet now, at the age of 45, and again weighing – finally, effortlessly – exactly what I did at 35, not to mention 25, I start my day with a cup of coffee only, and don’t eat for hours. I don’t need to. I feel not remotely hungry, not in the slightest bit light-headed, and – especially from around 11am onwards – physically energetic and mentally alert. Why? Because I am not drinking any old coffee, but so-called Bulletproof coffee, which was invented in Silicon Valley by entrepreneur Dave Asprey, and has become something of a religion among the tech geeks of Palo Alto.

What is it? Just plain black coffee liberally spliced with something called MCT oil (of which more later) and butter: unsalted, lots of it. Asprey came up with the idea after feeling transformed by cups of yak butter tea while trekking in Tibet, as you do. You shove it all together, whizz it up in a blender – aficionados claim this turns it into something akin to a latte: it doesn’t – and you drink it. (In London you can now buy a cup of the stuff readymade at Crussh juice bars.) The first few times it will strike you as a tad oily – there’s 30g of butter in it alone – but it soon starts to taste like, well, a coffee.

Read more in The Times Magazine September 23, 2017

The Coffee Lover's Diet: Change Your Coffee, Change Your Life

Improve your brain. Extend your life. Enhance your health. Discover the power of Polyphenols. Drop those extra pounds.

Dr. Bob Arnot, the bestselling author of The Aztec Diet, shows you how to use the power of America's favorite drink-coffee-to achieve improved health, longevity, mental clarity and weight loss in this unique, groundbreaking wellness guide.

For years, we've been told that coffee was bad for our health. But new research reveals that, consumed properly, coffee can be the healthiest, tastiest part of your day. It can sharpen your focus, jumpstart your workout, help you lose weight, and even help fend off disease, from diabetes and liver disease to heart disease and Parkinson's.

In this revolutionary handbook, Dr. Bob Arnot explains how coffee became a staple of the human diet, and reveals why having a cup is the best thing you can do each day. He also teaches you how to find the best beans from around the world and how to create the best brew and food pairings. The Coffee Lover's Diet includes a full diet plan with corresponding recipes to ensure you get the full benefits of this miracle bean-in the right amounts and in a variety of ways-as well as tips for putting all of this invaluable information and advice to work to help you shed pounds, gain energy, and make the healthiest choices every day.

CHANGE YOUR COFFEE, CHANGE YOUR LIFE

The new research leaves no room for doubt: Drinking coffee can be the healthiest indulgence of your day. Coffee can sharpen your focus, jump-start your workout, boost your performance, help you achieve sustained weight loss, and even fend off many causes of death. However, most coffee drinkers are missing out on the incredible benefits that coffee can provide. The coffee concoctions that many people drink are nutritional nightmares, packed with devastating amounts of fat and sugar. Even many black coffees are made from low-quality, overroasted beans that offer few health benefits. The way that Ikarians experience coffee is a far cry from the way most Americans consume it. We aren’t reaping the full rewards of coffee, because the coffees we favor have lost their healthy components as well as their flavor, so we load them with cream and sugar and syrups that make us fat.

This book will teach you to leave the bad things behind and get the most good out of coffee. Two substances provide its primary benefits: caffeine and polyphenols, which are the same compounds that make fresh fruits and vegetables, red wines, and teas healthy. Polyphenols exert powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on the body, fighting the forces that fuel many diseases. They provide many of coffee’s health benefits. Happily for those who can’t handle much caffeine, phenols, as we’ll call them in this book, are present in decaffeinated coffee as well. In a cup of regular, they even have the power to blunt the jittery effect of caffeine, delivering smoother energy and focus. One of the most important concepts to take from this book is the knowledge that some coffee beans contain far more phenols than others. Those that are packed with the highest levels of these anti-inflammatory antioxidant compounds I like to call high-phenol coffees.

In the coming chapters you’ll learn how to identify high-phenol coffees, which roasts to look for, and how best to grind and brew your coffee. We’ll teach you to make coffee so delicious you wouldn’t dream of polluting it with sugar or half-and-half. Whether you need to lose weight, whether you’re a foodie looking to enhance your sensory experiences or a black-coffee performance athlete, this book will help you choose the right coffee and vastly improve your enjoyment of it. You’ll learn to sidestep the pitfalls of your current coffee habit to discover, instead, the perks of the world’s best coffees.

This book is your key to unlocking their amazing potential.

Secrets to the Perfect Cup of Coffee

America has a craving for the perfect cup of coffee. Though a steaming cup of joe has fueled the morning routines of many for generations, U.S. coffee consumption is now at an all-time high: Approximately 62 percent of us drink it every day—an increase of 5 percentage points over last year, according to the National Coffee Association.

Coffee drinkers across all age groups, from teens to seniors, have a seemingly insatiable thirst for the stuff. Many of us also have a growing preference for high-quality brew, with more than half the coffee we consume now classified as gourmet. It’s a preference that’s becoming much easier to indulge: The number of specialty coffee shops (think Intelligentsia, La Colombe Coffee Roasters, and Stumptown Coffee Roasters) increased tenfold between 1993 and 2013.

Most of the coffee we drink, though, is still brewed at home, in no-nonsense drip coffee makers. (See our buying guide and ratings.) In their ceaseless quest for the perfect cup, aficionados are also experimenting with new and rediscovered “artisanal” brewing methods, which, it turns out, really do make a difference in how coffee tastes. (See “Battle of the Brews” below.)

Retailers, eager to cater to devotees willing to pay premium prices, are offering fresh gourmet beans from around the world. According to market research firm Mintel, 30 new Ethiopian coffees hit the U.S. market between 2012 and 2016, more than from any other African country. (See our ratings of Ethiopian beans.)

But the best news about our collective coffee craze is that it appears to be good for us. A raft of research done in the past two decades has shown that coffee may well be linked to a reduced risk of a number of illnesses including certain cancers, heart disease, and perhaps even Alzheimer’s disease.

Powerful Health Benefits

A few decades ago coffee was considered not healthy and possibly harmful, says Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher and professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “But more recent studies seem to suggest that there’s a benefit to drinking coffee,” he says.

The largest analysis we’ve seen examining coffee consumption and health, based on two studies that included more than 700,000 people from more than 10 countries, was published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine this past July.

Researchers from several universities across the U.S. and Europe found that coffee drinkers were less likely to die prematurely. In one study, those who drank one to three cups of coffee per day were 12 to 18 percent less likely to die during the study period from any cause, including cancer and heart, liver, and respiratory diseases. These results suggest that moderate coffee drinking is not detrimental to your health and could even have health benefits, says Neil Murphy, Ph.D., a scientist at the World Health Organization and a lead author of one of the studies.

Other research published in the past five years has found that regular coffee drinkers seem to have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, as well as healthier livers, faster metabolism, and decreased risks of endometrial, prostatic, and colorectal cancers.

Studies have also confirmed what most of us already know: The caffeine in coffee can make you more alert and increase concentration, and may boost learning, decision-making, and performance on cognitive tasks.

Researchers think that the keys to coffee’s health benefits are the antioxidants and other biologically active compounds responsible for its distinctive flavor. “It could be a combination of all of these compounds working together,” says V. Wendy Setiawan, Ph.D., an associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and a researcher on one of the studies published online in July.

Some Coffee Caution

Increasing your coffee consumption beyond three cups a day might not up its health benefits. In fact, some studies have suggested a link between more than four or five cups a day and lower bone density, especially in those at higher risk of osteoporosis. (Caffeine potentially limits the body’s absorption of calcium, but adding 2 tablespoons of milk to each cup can help counteract this effect.)

Other researchers have found that certain compounds in coffee can raise cholesterol, although some evidence suggests that brewing with a filter might trap those compounds.

The caffeine in coffee can also have undesired effects: Just one cup can cause sleep problems and irritability in some people, and even regular coffee drinkers can experience headaches, nausea, anxiety, jitters, and increased blood pressure when they drink more than their bodies can handle.

How much caffeine is too much? U.S. government dietary guidelines say that up to 400 mg per day—the amount in about two to four 8-ounce cups of coffee, depending on the type of bean and how it’s brewed—can be part of a healthy diet for most adults.

Certain high-risk groups, however, should limit their caffeine intake. Pregnant women, for instance, should consume no more than 200 mg per day (the amount in about one 12-ounce cup of coffee), because caffeine could increase the risk of spontaneous abortion as well as growth delays in the fetus. Caffeine can also prevent the absorption of or create new side effects of common drugs such as certain antibiotics, antidepressants, and antipsychotics. Ask your doctor whether it’s safe to drink coffee if you’re on medication.

For people who need to avoid caffeine, drinking decaffeinated coffee may also be a healthy option, Giovannucci says. Recent research suggests that decaf provides similar health benefits to caffeinated coffee but without the side effects. Decaf has slightly fewer antioxidants than a regular cup, but research shows that it’s also associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and many other perks.

Original Article > Secrets to the Perfect Cup of Coffee

Coffee's Health Perks May Be Strongest for People Over 45

Adults who drank four cups of coffee a day had a 64% lower risk of dying during a new 10-year Spanish study, compared to those who rarely or never drank the beverage. The link between coffee and reduced mortality risk was strongest for people over 45, the authors say, suggesting that the drink’s protective elements are even more important in older age.

The new research, presented Sunday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona, has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Previous studies have suggested that coffee consumption reduces the risk of early death from all causes, but this provided some additional insights into how coffee might affect people of different ages.

For the study, researchers analyzed health data and food-frequency questionnaires from nearly 20,000 Spanish university graduates who were involved in a long-term research project and followed for an average of 10 years.

Those who drank the most coffee (four or more cups a day) were 64% less likely to die during the study than those who drank the least (seldom or never) coffee. Overall, every two cups of coffee people consumed per day was associated with a 22% lower risk of death over 10 years.

That association remained even when the researchers controlled for factors including gender, smoking status, and whether the coffee drinkers added sugar to their coffee.

When the researchers looked at different age groups, they also found that the benefits were largely confined to older participants: For adults who were at least 45 when the study began, every two cups of coffee per day was associated with a 30% lower risk of dying over the next 10 years. In those younger than 45, there was no significant effect in either lowering or increasing mortality.

The study could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between coffee consumption and mortality rates. Lead author Dr. Adela Navarro, a cardiologist at Hospital de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, says the results do, however, suggest that coffee may have a stronger protective effect among older adults. Drinking four cups of coffee a day “can be part of a healthy diet in healthy people,” she says. That endorsement echoes a similar conclusion published in Food and Chemical Toxicology earlier this year, which found that up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day (about four 8-ounce cups of coffee) is safe for most people.

Two studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in July also found that regular coffee consumption was associated with a reduced risk of death—one in a U.S. population that included African-American, Japanese-Americans, Latino, and white participants, and one in a European population spanning 10 countries.

What components in coffee could be contributing to longevity in older people? “Besides caffeine, coffee contains several bioactive compounds with potential beneficial properties,” Navarro said Sunday during her presentation—including compounds that are known to fight inflammation, a common contributor to age-related health problems. And because of coffee’s popularity around the world, she added, “even a small health effect could have important public health consequences.”

Original Article > Coffee's Health Perks May Be Strongest for People Over 45

Want to improve your grades? Consider cutting coffee

Want to improve your grades? Consider cutting coffee

Students who drink a cup of coffee or more have lower grade point averages than those who don't, a new survey suggests.

In a survey of more than 1,000 current college students, researchers with Best Mattress Brand (affiliated with the makers of Amerisleep and Astrabeds) found as students drink more daily cups of coffee, the lower their GPA becomes.

Survey data showed students who drank one cup of coffee a day had a GPA of 3.41, compared to students who drank two cups a day at 3.39. Those who drank five or more cups of coffee had an average GPA of 3.28, according to the survey.

Students who reported drinking two or more cups of coffee a day reported between five and six hours of sleep.

Jeffrey Ellenbogen, assistant professor of neurology, sleep medicine at Johns Hopkins University, is not affiliated with the survey but said daily caffeine use could definitely impact a student's performance.

"If one is a daily consumer of caffeine or feels like they can’t function without it, that’s a time to take a big step back and look at what is the quality of sleep and quantity of sleep," Ellenbogen said.

Regular coffee drinkers are "sleep deficient, an indicator of cognitive impairment," he said. Lack of sleep can impair attention, reaction time, memory and mood. So, yes, it could cause someone to forget the answers to a final exam.

Note: there's a difference between regular coffee drinkers and occasional coffee drinkers. Ellenbogen said a cup of coffee before an exam will boost cognitive function, but someone who is relying on caffeine to function normally experiences the opposite effect. Plus, nothing can replace a good night's sleep — that's about eight hours for a college student.

Caffeine-chugging students who aren't sure how to wean off of the java should make changes slowly or else they could suffer withdrawal (think: horrible headaches). Ellenbogen suggests eliminating evening coffee drinks first, because those are most likely to disrupt sleep. And, don't be afraid to reach out to a doctor or medical professional.

"If a college student is drinking four or five cups of coffee a day, they are probably going to need help from some sort of health care provider," Ellenbogen said. "Those people are really depending on coffee. They aren’t just masking over the sleepiness."

Original Article > Want to improve your grades? Consider cutting coffee

10 Facts You Never Knew About Coffee

The next time you are at your favorite coffee shop and someone catches your eye, here are ten interesting coffee facts that you can use to break the ice:

1) Coffee is considered an aphrodisiac.  Because it contains a high dose of caffeine and other various alkaloids, studies have shown that coffee can increase stamina and the overall length of intimate sessions.

2) Although coffee has been a part of the Arab culture for thousands of years, it did not become part of the western world until the 1500s.  Before that time, priests believed that coffee was a drink of the devil.  Pope Clement VIII finally ended this line of thinking by taking a sip of coffee and then giving it his blessing.

3) Japan’s official Coffee Day is October 1st.

4) A single acre of coffee trees can yield close to ten thousand pounds of coffee cherries.  Once they are milled or hulled, there are still almost two thousand pounds of coffee beans.

5) Forty-nine of the fifty states grow absolutely no coffee.  The only state that grows coffee is Hawaii.  Additionally, the only United States territory that grows coffee is Puerto Rico.

6) Germany is the second largest coffee consumer in the world.  Forty-three percent of Germans add sweetener to their coffee, while only twenty-seven percent of Americans (the number one consumer of coffee) use any kind of sweetener in their coffee.

7) The English word coffee is derived from the Latin word Coffea.  Coffea is the Latin name for a genus of trees.

8) Every single one of the fifty-three countries that grows coffee is located along the equator, between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn.

9) On average, people who purchase their coffee from drive-through windows before work will spend around forty-five hours every year waiting in line for their coffee.

10) Petroleum is the only product that is traded more heavily than coffee.  The amount of coffee produced around the world is close to six million metric tonnes.

Coffee: Good And Bad News

Health research on coffee swings back and forth between good and bad news more frequently than almost any other topic. When you hear about one study claiming health benefits while another harps on a list of negatives, it’s easy to get jaded and stop paying attention. To bring some focus, here’s a summary of both good and bad findings from a selection of coffee studies, with some perspective about why these findings are worth the time.

The good news: Coffee seems to help prevent an early demise.

Let’s start with the big one: the latest round of research suggests that drinking a few cups of coffee a day is associated with a decreased chance of early death from several causes. Important to note, none of these studies prove that coffee extends life. These are observational studies that found correlations between drinking between two-to-four cups a day and lower mortality. The reasons why are debatable. It could be coffee’s high concentration of antioxidants providing cells protection from oxidative stress and inflammation, or it could be reasons that haven’t been uncovered yet. Whatever the reasons, enough of these studies have found similar enough results that they’re worth the attention.

The bad news: Coffee can cause insomnia.

Another health topic that gets a fair amount of press is sleep, and when it comes to sleeping well, caffeinated coffee isn’t our friend. At least not if you’re drinking it later in the day. The rule of thumb is to avoid anything with caffeine after about 2 pm, because it’s a deceptively enduring chemical. The half life of caffeine is about 6 hours, which means it takes 6 hours to eliminate about half of the chemical from your system. Hence, drinking coffee later in the day is strongly linked to insomnia, which is in turn linked to a list of health negatives. Keep the coffee for the morning unless you’re drinking decaf, but even then make sure your decaf is truly decaffeinated (because often it isn’t).

The good news: Coffee may preserve your liver.

A recent study found a correlation between drinking both coffee and tea and a healthier liver. Again, this was an observation across a span of data and not cause-and-effect proof, but it’s a decently strong correlation. The reason why isn’t well understood, but both coffee and tea contain a wealth of compounds with tissue-protecting effects, and the liver—the body’s central filtration system—may benefit from these compounds charging through our bloodstream.

The bad news: Coffee can trigger anxiety.

It’s a little unfair to blame coffee for this, since anything with enough caffeine could do it, but coffee is the way most of us get our daily jolt, and caffeine is propane gas for those suffering from anxiety. The effect is twofold: there’s the immediate trigger, and then there’s the longer-term, slower-burn trigger. The second effect is of particular concern because it hangs around for as long as caffeine remains in your system (which is more or less all the time if you’re a daily coffee drinker). Caffeine seems to decrease levels of GABA, the neurotransmitter that helps regulate anxiety, and it amplifies the effects of our two main stress hormones, cortisol and epinephrine. Bottom line: anyone with an anxiety condition should sip judiciously and infrequently.

The good news: Coffee may provide protection against diabetes.

Another finding in the “coffee protects…” category shows that daily consumption could decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It’s hard to identify exactly why, but the compounds in coffee seem to protect cells from the accumulation of toxic proteins that play a role in the onset of diabetes.

The bad news: Coffee may induce your craving for sweets.

A new study revealed that caffeine changes our taste perception, making sweet things seem less sweet. The twist is that this subtle change may result in craving more sweets. This finding explains why coffee goes so well with donoughts and pastries, and serves as a caution light when you’re sipping hot java with a plate of baked goods in front of you.

The good news: Coffee may prevent dementia.

A few studies suggest that three or more cups a day may ward off cognitive decline leading to dementia. The reason in this case could be caffeine itself, but more likely it’s caffeine working with coffee’s host of other compounds (like polyphenols), because comparable results weren’t found with the same amount of tea. A notable study in this category found that coffee may even delay the onset of Alzheimer’s; the reason may be similar to why coffee protects against diabetes, by preventing the accumulation of toxic proteins.

The bad news: Coffee can make GERD worse.

If you suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), it's a good idea to avoid coffee or at least limit your intake. Coffee stimulates the secretion of gastric acid, which can bring on the heart burn even if you don't have a bad case of GERD, and if you do, it's going to be much worse.

The good news: Coffee may improve memory.

A number of studies have linked coffee with improved memory, mainly because caffeine is a mental acuity enhancer. And the really good news is that this effect may not only be short-term; some research suggests that it lasts much longer.

And some bonus good news: Coffee can make you happy.

Let’s end with one that’s both scientifically valid and anecdotally true – a major reason why we like to drink coffee is that it’s a potent psychoactive brain stimulant. Drinking it elevates mood and bolsters energy, at least for a little while, and it doesn't hurt that it's also delicious. In other words, drinking it makes us feel happy. Do we really need a better reason than that?

Original Article > Coffee: Good And Bad News