Tag: coffee health

disgusted woman
coffee

This Cafe Wants You To Try A Charcoal Latte. Don’t.

Ashe

Do I even need to get any more specific?

Food Insider recently posted a video on a London cafe offering an innovative ‘charcoal latte’ designed for people who don’t want to drink decaf. Because, you know…decaf coffee doesn’t exist. They proceed to compare it with their recent matcha and turmeric latte offerings, two vastly superior and safer options that don’t involve you consuming ashy remains.

To put things in perspective, I won’t even eat toast that’s too burnt. …Yeah. Now imagine a cup full of the stuff.

This is more than just a gross idea. Did you know charcoal can alter your hormone levels and affect the validity of hormonal birth control? How about the fact it can block up your intestinal tract if you consume too much? I thought cafes shunning COVID-19 safety protocol were dangerous, but this might just take the cake. The prettiest latte art in the world doesn’t hide the fact that you’re drinking the burnt detritus of what was actually food, once upon a time.

(and if you want to detoxify your body, take solace in the fact your liver is already doing that)

Now, yes, activated charcoal pills are recommended by doctors in rare cases for overdoses. This, though, is just too much to be chugging weekly. Pretty latte art and twee glass mason jars won’t hide the fact this is an actual health hazard being marketed as a hip new idea to unsuspecting customers.

My favorite part of this whole mess has to be the relief that a charcoal latte didn’t taste like charcoal. When the tagline of your product could be confused for an Onion headline, you’ve messed up.

coffee, industry news

How Many Calories Are in Black Coffee, Answered — Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine

Ashe

How many calories are in a cup of black coffee? The short answers are: either about 5 or about negative 100, depending on how you drink down the science. You may…

How Many Calories Are in Black Coffee, Answered — Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine

Coffee and health is a regular conversation, particularly if you’re like me and drink nearly every cup with milk and sugar.

As it stands? Black coffee, on its own, is pretty darn low on the calorie count. According to this brief piece by Daily Coffee News, the calories come more from the caffeine than anything else. That’s right alongside caffeine helping you burn calories due to the increase in your metabolism and heart rate. Confusing? Give this a read if you’re curious about the chemical breakdown of your morning cup.

woman drinking tea
coffee

Coffee Might Make A Good Resource For Spotting COVID-19

Ashe

The year is almost over. You know the drill. One of the most common side-effects of coming down with COVID-19 is a loss of taste and smell, particularly if it lines up with a fever, breathing difficulties, and fatigue.

Coffee is beloved not just for its complex and delicious flavor notes, but its very distinctive aroma. This is exactly what’s making it such a reliable barometer compared to more subtle scents, according to this recent scholarly post by Daily Coffee News. Today’s scientists emphasize how useful coffee is, partially because of its unique scent and partially because you can find it in just about any American home. They make sure to stress that loss of taste and smell isn’t a 100% deal. If you find you can’t pick out complexity or foods taste ‘off’, you could still be experiencing this side-effect.

What an interesting coincidence: I read this report just as I got done watching Trevor Noah’s interview with Bryan Cranston, who specifically cited how much he missed being able to smell coffee brewing in the kitchen. The man went on to talk about how he is currently retraining his senses — and by extent his brain activity — by actively smelling different foods. It’s not unlike undergoing hand surgery and later attending physical therapy to restore subtle motor movements like gripping, typing and drawing. Now, don’t get too paranoid if you have a low-smell sort of day…this is also the season for clogged noses and irritated sinuses.

Coffee is not just a comforting and healthy drink (if you don’t overload it with sugar), but a commonly accessible tool to make sure your nose and tongue is working right.

galaxy
alcohol, coffee, video

Caffeine And Alcohol Are Wrecking Your Sleep Patterns

Ashe

Caffeine is a drug (yes, a drug) that I’ve dispensed with years ago.

Back in the day I used to drink a triple-shot latte during or after work…and that was before I worked as a barista. I would still be able to sleep just fine afterwards, all hail community college exhaustion, but it was a gamble. Nowadays? Just two cups of decaf coffee without a span of time in-between will be enough to have me jittery. It’s incredible how much has changed. I think my former usual would give me a heart attack now.

Alcohol isn’t all that different. While I love a cold beer or a glass of wine at night, I have to have it early enough for it to leave my system. If I drink it too close prior to laying down my body goes into ‘nap mode’, with no more than three hours in before I’m waking up again. This short TED Talk dives into the science behind why our bodies react the way they do to caffeine and alcohol, from how our REM is affected to just how long caffeine actually stays in your system.

Caffeine and alcohol are great in moderation, but can easily wreak havoc on your health unchecked. I think I’ll skip a day or two this week.

coffee filter and grounds
coffee, guide

To Filter Or Not To Filter: Why Pourover Might Be Healthier Than French Press

Ashe

As a passionate French Press user, this breaks my heart. Almost literally, in this case.

There are more coffee health studies than you can shake a stick at these days. You have studies on whether or not coffee’s antioxidant count is significant enough to matter in the long-term (most fingers point to yes, as long as you’re a regular drinker). Studies on the long-term impact of caffeine on your body (an actual addiction that is not taken seriously). Studies on the additional benefits of using coffee for skincare (still need to try this out myself). Throw a penny, you’ll hit a coffee study.

This piece, however, caught my eye. Newspressnow sources a recent Swedish study on the matter of coffee health: while the French Press uses a filtering method, it’s not considered strong enough to keep your cholesterol count low. Pourovers, by comparison, are considered a safer long-term option due to trapping more of the harmful chemicals. Overall, you get the benefits of a fresh brew and a reduction in heart disease, particularly if you’re a daily coffee drinker. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this, and it likely won’t be the last.

I’ve been considering purchasing a pourover as well as a Moka pot (the espresso machine remains a distant dream). There are just so many different ways to brew coffee and explore each origin’s unique flavor notes. Chalk this study up to yet another reason to diversify my coffee drinking efforts.

roasted coffee beans
coffee

Bitter Foods Make Sweet Foods Sweeter…In Other Words, The Sky Is Blue

Ashe

A recent study from Danish scientists have found that the oft-bitter flavor of coffee helps sweet foods taste even sweeter. Yes, this mundane knowledge apparently has to be ‘discovered’ by a university to be valid.

There are entire fields dedicated to pairing or contrasting flavor notes to enhance the experience. Hell, you see a similar logic at work when ordering pizza online and being offered a variety of sugary sodas. What has been ‘found’ here isn’t new in the least.

I love deep-diving into all the fascinating facets of coffee. Over the months I’ve kept a close eye on scientific articles analyzing coffee’s antioxidant count and how it does — or doesn’t — translate into healthy results. I’m endlessly curious about the process that goes into picking, washing and packaging green coffee bean varieties. Never mind the unique histories behind each origin! There’s always something new to learn and I’m thrilled to be part of the journey…

…whiiich is why I’m having a rather hard time getting excited over basic information being rebranded as a surprising discovery. Are people really that starved for content?

You don’t have to be a sommelier to know bitter notes change your palette, no more than you have to be a painter to know that yellow contrasts blue. Now, the study does have an interesting angle in how this knowledge can be used to help diabetic and extremely overweight patients change their diets. That’s a fantastic focus that could help a lot of people! All I’m asking is that we don’t take basic knowledge and pretend it’s something else. If the approach of this study had leaned closer to ‘confirming’ or ‘pivoting’ rather than ‘discovery’, I wouldn’t have rolled my eyes quite so hard.

Pro-tip from a copywriter with several years of experience…words mean things. Trying to reinvent the wheel sounds appealing in an oversaturated world increasingly defined by people screaming the loudest, but it’s a myth best left in the dust.