SCOTTS COFFEE AND TEA

I Invite you to PURJAVA HONDURAN DARK ROAST Group.

2009-09-13T04:06:00.000-07:00

I Invite you to PURJAVA HONDURAN DARK ROAST Group.

If you’re a coffee or tea drinker this is the place for you. Will talk about how tea and/or coffee are healthy for you and all about the great stuff about them!

http://opencoffee.ning.com/group/PURJAVAAND/ OR
http://forcoffeeloversonly.blogspot.com/
AND/ OR
http://www.tripleclicks.com/8051555

PURJAVA HONDURAN DARK ROAST - 8 oz. bottle

2009-09-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

PurJava was developed from a search for coffee that had great coffee taste without the bitterness and acidity of regular brewed coffee. Coffee beans are obtained from growers and then shipped by air to ensure freshness.
PurJava concentrate is produced using a cold water process for a pure coffee taste. Water is filtered and then purified in a way that extracts the maximum amount of pure coffee flavor.
The concentrate produced using PurJava's proprietary process results in the smoothest concentrate available. The final step is pasteurization of the concentrate to ensure excellent flavor with an extended shelf-life.
PurJava is the smoothest coffee you've ever had with less than half the caffeine of regular brewed coffee.
PurJava Recipes:
Iced Mocha
3 Tablespoons PurJava coffee concentrate
2/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup 2% milk
1 teaspoon chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon sugar
Mix well, pour over ice. Makes 1 8 oz. serving

PurJava Latte
1 ounce of PurJava coffee concentrate
3 ounces of water
Heat PurJava and water mixture
Heat 3 ounces of milk and froth
Add frothed milk into PurJava water mixture

Chocolate Covered Cherry Coffee
1 teaspoon chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon cherry syrup
1/2 Tablespoon PurJava coffee concentrate
8 ounces hot water

One 8 oz. bottle of PurJava Honduran Dark Roast makes 32 (8 oz.) cups of coffee.

Mango Swirl Tea

2009-09-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Naturally sweetened with lo han fruit extract--which promotes fat burning and soothes the digestion process--HerbaGreen Teas also contain lotus leaf (rich in isoflavones), kudzu (for promoting circulation), and 100mg of polyphenols, equivalent to at least 15 cups of the strongest brewed green tea. PLUS - HerbaGreen Teas contain NO calories or caffeine.
Each bottle equals 60 servings. Choose from among Original flavor, Heavenly Honey Lemon, or Mandarin Mango Swirl. Then, simply add a dropper full to hot, warm, or cold water and stir for a naturally delicious, wonderfully healthy drink!
BENEFITS OF GREEN TEA POLYPHENOLS:
* Maintains healthy cells, cell growth and development.
* Supports a healthy cardiovascular system.
* Promotes healthy weight control by blocking carbohydrate absorption.
* Fights damaging free-radicals, which attack healthy cells and promote aging.
* Supports the immune system.
* Helps the body maintain its toxin-free condition.
* Promotes healthy blood sugar balance.
* Supports dental and optimal gum health.
CONCENTRATED HERBAGREEN TEA VS. "TEA BAG" TEA SOURCE:
Scientific documentation has shown that the majority of the therapeutic benefits of green tea are due to the polyphenols. Steeping a tea bag in hot water is a very inefficient means of extracting these polyphenols. HerbaGreen Tea contains concentrated extracts, with over 90% polyphenols. One serving provides 115 mg of plyphenols, the equivalent of more than 15 cups of brewed "tea bag" green tea.
Furthermore, a lot of green tea from tea bags contains caffeine, which many people want to avoid. HerbaGreen Tea has only caffeine-free green tea extracts. You get ALL the benefits of green tea polyphenols with HerbaGreen Tea!
Finally, each small bottle of HerbaGreen Tea is a much more convenient source of healthful antioxidants for a busy lifestyle than clumsy, messy tea bags. Just add a single dropper into your water bottle and enjoy while working out, walking, or on the go...or add some tea into your water while dining out.
INGREDIENTS PER SERVING:
Green Tea extract (leaf) - 100 mg
Lotus extract (leaf) - 24 mg
Lo Han extract (fruit) - 16 mg
Stevia extract (leaf) - 15 mg
Kudzu extract (root) - 10 mg
Chinese Licorice extract (root) - 2 mg
Other ingredients: Purified water, natural glycerin, natural flavors
1 bottle of HerbaGreen Tea = 2 fl. oz; 60 servings
DIRECTIONS:
Mix one full droppper (1 ml; 30 drops) of HerbaGreen Tea to a cup of water at any temperature. Drink two to three times throughout the day or as often as desired. For optimal results with weight loss, drink during or immediately after meals.
Keep all supplements out of reach from children. Pregnant or nursing women should consult their health care professional before taking any herbal products.

**These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Health Benefits of Green Tea

2007-03-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

I am a regular green tea drinker. I drink anywhere from 3 to 5 cups of green tea a day. Green tea has become such a passion of mine that I opened an online green tea store to be able to offer affordable high quality green tea to everyone.

My initial reason for drinking green tea is based on the health benefits. Although you can never be certain that all the findings in the studies are absolutely true, there seems to be overwhelming information to suggest that green tea has a number of amazing health benefits.
Health Benefits of Green Tea

Tea contains vitamins A, C, and E as well as health-promoting compounds called Flavonoids. The flavonoids, called polyphenols, act as antioxidants that counter the effects of reactive oxygen molecules that result from normal body functions and contribute to aging and chronic disease.
One subgroup of polyphenols, called catechins, is abundant in green tea (China Green Tea - Japan Green Tea), especially tea made from the very top of the bush. Catechins were discovered in the 1970s, when medical researchers were looking for the reason people in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture - a major tea-growing area - had much lower rates of cancer than other Japanese, even when they were very heay smokers. One catechin in particular, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg), is found in no other plant than tea, and it's one of the most potent antioxidants yet discovered - up to twenty times stronger than Vitamin E. Numerous studies have found EGCg to be effective in preventing and inhibiting cancer growth.

Catechins make up as much as 30 percent of the dry weight of green tea leaves, but only three to ten percent of black tea. Steeping the leaves for three to five minutes releases the optimal amount of catechins.

Here is a list of alleged benefits of green tea, but as always I would consult with your doctor for more information:

EGCG in green tea blocks the mutation of cells, reducing cell damage; blocks tumor growth; and blocks the liver enzymes that convert pro-carcinogens (i.e., harmless substances in the body that can turn into cancer agents) into carcinogens.

EGCG is green tea blocks enzymes that cause cancer cells to grow and it can destroy cancer cells with damaging surrounding healthy cells. Scientists also revealed that this effect is 10 to 100 times more potent in green tea than in black tea.

Tea increases the blood's antioxidant capacity.

Based on animal studies, tea may reduce the risk of lung cancer.
EGCG kills cancer cells and, in particular, inhibits prostate cancer cells.
Green tea has been shown to reduce damage to blood vessels in smokers.
Green tea's polyphenols can boost white blood cells, and might be an effective supplement to chemotherapy and radiation treatments that impact bone marrow and lower white blood cell count.

Men who drank two to three cups of tea a day reduced their risk of prostate cancer.
Women who had a history of drinking five or more cups of green tea a day had fewer occurances of breast cancer and slower spread of the disease.

Do antioxidants make tea healthier than water?

2007-03-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

The antioxidant content of tea could mean that drinking three or more cups a day could reduce the risk of a wide range of health problems, ranging from cancer to heart disease, and may even be healthier than water, says a review from Britain."Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it, reviewer Dr Carrie Ruxton from Nutrition Communications told the BBC.

Interest in tea have mostly focusses on green tea, with consumption linked to a wide range of health benefits, including lower risk of certain cancers, weight loss, and protection against Alzheimer's.

The health benefits have been linked to the polyphenol content of the tea. Green tea contains between 30 and 40 per cent of water-extractable polyphenols, while black tea (green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation) contains between 3 and 10 per cent.

The four primary polyphenols found in fresh tealeaves are epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epicatechin.

But Dr. Ruxton and her co-authors from King's College London report that black tea also had positive effects on general health.

"We found some research showing that black and green tea contained similar amounts of antioxidants but different types. This can be expected as they come from the same plant but go through different processing," Dr. Ruxton told NutraIngredients.com.

"Antioxidant activity in the blood is similar too so one could assume that both types of tea confer heart health benefits," she said.

The review, sponsored by the Tea Council and published on-line in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602489), searcher databases for relevant epidemiological and clinical studies that were published between 1990 and 2004.
In terms of cardiovascular disease, the reviewers report that â€œclear evidence was found to link drinking three of more cups per day could reduce the risk.

Cancer risk did seem to be reduced in experimental (in vitro and animal studies) said the reviewers, but these results were not backed up by epidemiological evidence, they said.
A small note of caution however was noted by the observation that a non-effect or slight increase in risk of colorectal cancer with consumption of black tea.

The researchers also tackled the old wives' tale that drinking tea leads to dehydration, due to the diuretic caffeine content of the beverage. This was not backed up by the science, said the reviewers, with normal levels of hydration maintained when the tea contained less than 250 mg per cup.

"Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid, Dr. Ruxton told the BBC.

The reasons for these benefits was proposed to be related to the antioxidant action of tea polyphenols, wrote the reviewers.

â€œThere was sufficient evidence to show risk reduction for CHD at intakes of more than three cups per day and for improved antioxidant status at intakes of one to six cups per day,concluded the reviewers.

â€œA maximum intake of eight cups per day would minimise any risk relating to excess caffeine consumption. Black tea generally had a positive effect on health.

The global tea market is worth about ‚¬790 (540, $941) million. Green tea accounts for about 20 per cent of total global production, while black tea (green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation) accounts for about 78 per cent.

Antioxidants in. Free radicals out. Tea can do that

2007-03-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Work out your inside the way you work out your body.
TEA CAN DO THAT™
Antioxidants can help the body protect itself against free radicals—molecules that can damage cells. Antioxidants in tea called flavonoids can do that.

Whether iced or hot, Teas made from real tea leaves provide more than great taste. Like fruits and vegetables, regular and decaffeinated brewed teas contain natural antioxidants called flavonoids* (10-22, 68, 69). Research suggests that antioxidants can be beneficial to health by helping the body protect itself from the harmful effects of “free radicals” (1-9, 26-30, 73-75). Free radicals, molecules which occur in the environment and are naturally produced by the body, can cause damage to cells. Chronic damage by free radicals is one factor thought to contribute to the development of many chronic diseases including heart disease or cancer. An average cup of brewed green or black tea has 150-200 mg of flavonoids (10-21).

Currently, tea’s potential health benefits are the focus of many scientific studies, and new research is emerging regularly. The American Dietetic Association in its Position Paper on Functional Foods included black and green tea as functional foods. Based on the available scientific research, the paper stated that the health benefits of drinking black or green tea include possible reduced risk for coronary heart disease, as well as gastric, esophageal and skin cancers (33). Tea and tea flavonoids have also been shown to help strengthen the body’s immune system (34-43, 57-64), protect teeth by inhibiting plaque bacteria (44, 45, 56), potentially fight free radicals produced during strenuous exercise (76-80), and possibly increase calories burned during everyday activities (65, 66). While this emerging research is promising, more studies on the role of tea and tea antioxidants must be completed before drawing any conclusions about tea’s contribution to health and wellness.

The flavonoids found in black and green tea have been shown to be powerful antioxidants. The USDA and other researchers have used test tube based studies to measure the antioxidants in tea, fruits and vegetables, and antioxidant vitamins, such as vitamin C and vitamin E. These studies have confirmed that tea contains important dietary antioxidants call flavonoids. (1, 2, 3, 71) Additionally, studies show tea flavonoids are absorbed by and can act as antioxidants in the body (23-32, 72). Together, these studies provide evidence that tea contains protective antioxidants and antioxidants can help the protect body itself against free radicals, molecules that can damage cells.

Antioxidants in. Free radicals out. Tea can do that.

Tea Flavonoids Fight Free Radicals

Published in the Journal of Nutrition, a recent intervention study found that smokers who drank four cups of decaffeinated green tea per day had a 31 percent decrease in measures of free radical damage to DNA in white blood cells as compared to those who drank four cups of water (67). In addition, two population studies in Asia evaluated the effects of tea drinking on cell DNA damage caused by free radicals from smoking. In both studies, DNA damage was found to be significantly lower in study participants who drank black or green tea compared to those who did not drink tea (6, 7). Further evidence from preliminary research in people conducted in both China and the US showed that drinking green tea significantly reduced free radical damage in both smokers and non-smokers (8). These studies demonstrate that antioxidants in tea help reduce free radical damage to DNA in smokers consuming 3-6 cups of tea per day, supporting the conclusion that tea flavonoids are effective dietary antioxidants.

*While tea is a naturally rich source of antioxidants, it is not a substitute for fruits or vegetables which provide a wide range of antioxidants and essential vitamins and minerals. Please consult your doctor regarding a diet/nutritional plan that is right for you.

Tea antioxidants: Does 'instant' offer same benefits as 'brewed'?

2007-03-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

I know that brewed tea contains antioxidants. What about instant tea?

Answer

Instant tea has fewer antioxidants than brewed tea. This is because processing of tea reduces its antioxidant content, and instant tea is more highly processed than brewed tea. Decaffeinated tea also has fewer antioxidants than caffeinated teas.

Brewed tea is a rich source of antioxidants, including flavonoids and catechins. Antioxidants are natural compounds found in many foods. These compounds may protect against tissue damage from free radicals, which may lead to diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

The Power of Antioxidants and Tea

2007-03-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

Following a lifestyle that decreases LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and increases HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is the primary path to lower cholesterol. However, there are certain foods thst can also make the LDL you do have less dangerous. LDL is a bigger threat when it becomes oxidized. This happens because of exposure to free radicals, highly reactive molecules that are byproducts of bodily functions involving oxygen (which is just about all of them). When LDL is oxidized it becomes stickier and therefore more likely to form plaque. If LDL can be prevented from oxidizing, your arteries are less likely to become clogged. How do you prevent LDL from becoming oxidized? With antioxidants -- which many of nature's best-tasting foods happen to include. Antioxidant-rich foods include, fruit, vegetables, tea, and chocolate. Tea, whether black or green, caffeinated or decaffeinated (herbal teas don't count), has spectacular antioxidant capabilities owing to large amounts of substances called flavonoids. In addition to preventing oxidation, flavonoids may have an anticlotting effect. One study found that among people who'd had heart attacks, those who drank 14 or more cups of tea a week were 44 percent less likely to die in the 3 1/2 years following their heart attacks than those who didn't drink any tea. In another study people who drank about 1 1/2 cups of tea daily had roughly half the risk of heart attack of those who didn't drink tea. An added bonus: A cup of black tea has less than half the caffeine of coffee; green tea has even less. Some tea tips: Bag it. When Consumer Reports tested the antioxidant punch of 15 brewed, bottled, and instant teas, it found most teas brewed from tea bags scored highest in antioxidant content. In fact, the magazine reported, "Brewed tea appears to have more antioxidant action than almost any whole fruit or vegetable -- and more than most commercial fruit or vegetable juices, too." But iced teas from mixes and bottle are a decent second choice; they contain a "good deal" of antioxidants, according to the magazine. Just watch the sugar content. Dunk the bag. Continuously dunking the tea bag as the tea steeps seems to release far more antioxidant compounds than simply dropping it in and leaving it there. Add lemon. One study found that the addition of lemon to plain tea increased its antioxidant benefits. That makes sense, since lemon itself contains antioxidants. Brew a batch. To make a day's supply of iced tea, bring 20 ounces of water to a boil, then remove from the heat. Drop in three tea bags, cover, and steep for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags and refrigerate. Try green tea. Because it isn't fermented, green tea has even more antioxidant power than black tea does. It also has less caffeine. And it may provide some protection against certain cancers. Experiment with brands until you find one you like. Don't let green tea steep for more than a couple of minutes or it may become bitter.

Oodles of antioxidants are contained in green tea, black tea, even oolong tea.

2007-03-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Read the tea leaves, caffeine lovers. Tea is gaining ground over coffee. Tearooms are popping up everywhere. Even Starbucks is bucking up its tea menu.

The health benefits of tea are one compelling reason: Green and black teas have 10 times the antioxidants found in fruits and veggies, by one estimate.

For jaded coffee drinkers, tea also offers new sensory frontiers, with its roots in Chinese, Japanese, Indian, African, and South American cultures.

When you sip a chai tea latte, for example, you're enjoying a beverage born in India. "All over India, on almost every street corner, vendors sell chai tea," says Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Council of the U.S.A.

"The traditional tea lover won't like chai tea that much," he tells WebMD. "The spices -- ginger, cardamom -- overpower the taste of the black tea. But for American coffee consumers, it's perfect."

In the U.S., elegant tea salons, tearooms, and take-out tea shops are popping up everywhere, says Simrany. "Four years ago, we had one-quarter the tea salons we have today. Even coffee shops are selling more tea."

People find tranquility in tearooms, says Dominique Tanton, manager of the Dushanbe Teahouse, an exquisite traditional Persian teahouse in Boulder, Colo.
"Coffee shops are for the quick caffeine buzz before work or while you're frantically studying for a test," she tells WebMD. "A tearoom is for slowing down, relaxing, admiring the surroundings."
Small Wonder

Studies of humans, animals, and Petri dish experiments show that black and green tea is highly beneficial to our health, says 82-year-old John Weisburger, PhD, senior researcher at the Institute for Cancer Prevention in Valhalla, N.Y.

"I've published over 500 papers, including a helluva lot on tea," says Weisburger, who drinks 10 cups daily. "I was the first American researcher to show that tea modifies the metabolism to detoxify harmful chemicals."

Green tea, black tea, oolong tea -- they all come from the same tea plant, Camellia sinensis; the leaves are simply processed differently, explains Weisburger. Green tea leaves are not fermented; they are withered and steamed. Black tea and oolong tea leaves undergo crushing and fermenting processes.

All teas from the Camellia tea plant are rich in polyphenols, which are antioxidants -- meaning they scavenge for cell-damaging free radicals and detoxify them, says Weisburger.
"Astounding" aptly describes tea's antioxidant power: "Whether it's green or black, tea has about 8 to 10 times the polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables," he says.

While herbal teas may also contain antioxidants, less is known about them, Weisburger adds.
"In my lab, we found that green and black tea had identical amounts of polyphenols," he tells WebMD. "We found that both types of tea blocked DNA damage associated with tobacco and other toxic chemicals. In animal studies, tea-drinking rats have less cancer."

Look at the world's big tea-drinkers, like Japan and China. "They have much less heart disease and don't have certain cancers that we in the western world suffer," says Weisburger.
However, be careful about doctoring-up your tea, says Weisburger. One study found that adding too much milk to can greatly reduce tea's health benefits.

"The scientific evidence about tea is evolving and I think it's compelling," Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy of Tufts University, tells WebMD.
"When tea drinkers' immune cells are exposed to germs in a Petri dish, the immune cells spring into action."

The Evidence on Tea

Tea is a great example of the past decade's research of antioxidants, he says. "There is a pretty consistent body of evidence suggesting there is a benefit to tea. Tea is a very rich source of a specific kind of antioxidant -- flavonoids," says Blumberg.

Admittedly, there has been conflict among the studies. One large study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition followed nearly 40,000 women for nearly seven years. Researchers found that drinking over four cups of tea a day did nothing to reduce their risk of heart disease.
However, the bulk of research is what counts most, Blumberg says. And that research has found that regular tea drinkers -- people who drink two cups or more a day -- have less heart disease and stroke, lower total and LDL cholesterol, and that they recover from heart attacks faster.
Smokers who drink four cups of tea regularly have less evidence of DNA cell damage -- genetic mutations that can lead to cancer. Mouse studies have found fewer lung tumors in mice drinking tea.

When tea drinkers' immune cells are exposed to germs in a Petri dish, the immune cells spring into action. When coffee drinkers' immune cells are exposed to germs, nothing happens.
Laboratory tests have also shown that black and green tea may help boost metabolism to aid weight loss, block allergic response, slow the growth of tumors, protect bones, fight bad breath, improve skin, protect against Parkinson's disease, even delay the onset of diabetes.
How is this possible? While the mechanisms within tea are complex, it seems to be the detoxifying effect of antioxidants that protects cells from free radicals -- the damage that leads to blood clot formation, atherosclerosis, and cancer, says Weisburger.

However, tea is not a cure-all. "Tea is certainly not a panacea," Blumberg tells WebMD. In fact, not everyone may benefit equally from tea. "I think we need to do more work to better define both why and who benefits from tea consumption."

The Bottom Line

"If you want do something good for yourself, drink tea," says Blumberg. "It has no calories and lots of phytochemicals. If you're drinking tea, you're not drinking soda -- that's a real benefit. Water doesn't give you those phytochemicals."

Weisburger recommends drinking six to 10 cups of black or green tea throughout the day, starting with breakfast. Switch to decaf tea midday, if you need to. "Flavonoids are unchanged by removal of caffeine," he says.

Kids should drinking tea, too. "We try to get children eat vegetables," Weisburger say. "I'm suggesting that children age 6 on should be drinking decaffeinated tea."
Not that kids need a fancy tearoom -- iced tea at home works fine.

SOURCES: John Weisburger, PhD, senior researcher, Institute for Cancer Prevention, Valhalla, N.Y. Joe Simrany, president, Tea Council of the U.S.A. Dominique Tanton, Dushanbe Teahouse, Boulder, Colo. WebMD Medical News: "Tea Good for Heart Disease, Cancer." WebMD Medical News: "Tea Extract Can Lower Cholesterol." WebMD Medical News: "There's Something to Be Said for Having 'Tea Bones.'" WebMD Medical News: "Tea Prolongs Survival After Heart Attack." WebMD Medical News: "Health Benefit of Tea: Add Germ Fighting." WebMD Medical News: "Green Tea, Allergy Fighter?" WebMD Medical News: "Tea Fights Bad Breath, Mouth Bacteria." WebMD Medical News: "Green Tea Protects Against Parkinson's." WebMD Medical News: "Green Tea Supplement May Delay Diabetes." WebMD Medical News: "Green Tea Boosts Metabolism, Protects Against Diseases." WebMD Medical News: "Green Tea, White Tea Fight Colon Cancer." WebMD Medical News: "Tea: A Healthy Brew." WebMD Medical News: "Green Tea, Glycine May Slow Tumor Growth." Sesso, H. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2003; vol 77: pp 1400-1408. Hodgson, J. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, September 2003; vol 133: pp 2883-2886.

Tea and Cancer Prevention: Fact Sheet

2007-03-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Key Points

The antioxidants found in tea--called catechins--may selectively inhibit the growth of cancer (see Question 1).

In laboratory studies using animals, catechins scavenged oxidants before cell damage occurred, reduced the number and size of tumors, and inhibited the growth of cancer cells (see Question 3).

However, human studies have proven more contradictory, perhaps due to such factors as variances in diet, environments, and populations (see Question 4).

NCI researchers are investigating the therapeutic and preventive use of tea catechins against a variety of cancers (see Question 5).

Tea drinking is an ancient tradition dating back 5,000 years in China and India. Long regarded in those cultures as an aid to good health, researchers now are studying tea for possible use in the prevention and treatment of a variety of cancers. Investigators are especially interested in the antioxidants-called catechins-found in tea. Despite promising early research in the laboratory, however, studies involving humans so far have been inconclusive.

1. What are antioxidants?

The human body constantly produces unstable molecules called oxidants, also commonly referred to as free radicals. To become stable, oxidants steal electrons from other molecules and, in the process, damage cell proteins and genetic material. This damage may leave the cell vulnerable to cancer. Antioxidants are substances that allow the human body to scavenge and seize oxidants. Like other antioxidants, the catechins found in tea selectively inhibit specific enzyme activities that lead to cancer. They may also target and repair DNA aberrations caused by oxidants (1).

2. What is the level of antioxidants found in tea?

All varieties of tea come from the leaves of a single evergreen plant, Camellia sinensis. All tea leaves are picked, rolled, dried, and heated. With the additional process of allowing the leaves to ferment and oxidize, black tea is produced. Possibly because it is less processed, green tea contains higher levels of antioxidants than black tea.

Although tea is consumed in a variety of ways and varies in its chemical makeup, one study showed steeping either green or black tea for about five minutes released over 80 percent of its catechins. Instant iced tea, on the other hand, contains negligible amounts of catechins (1).

3. What are the laboratory findings?

In the laboratory, studies have shown tea catechins act as powerful inhibitors of cancer growth in several ways: They scavenge oxidants before cell injuries occur, reduce the incidence and size of chemically induced tumors, and inhibit the growth of tumor cells. In studies of liver, skin and stomach cancer, chemically induced tumors were shown to decrease in size in mice that were fed green and black tea (1, 2).

4. What are the results of human studies?

Although tea has long been identified as an antioxidant in the laboratory, study results involving humans have been contradictory. Some epidemiological studies comparing tea drinkers to non-tea drinkers support the claim that drinking tea prevents cancer; others do not. Dietary, environmental, and population differences may account for these inconsistencies.

Two studies in China, where green tea is a mainstay of the diet, resulted in promising findings. One study involving over 18,000 men found tea drinkers were about half as likely to develop stomach or esophageal cancer as men who drank little tea, even after adjusting for smoking and other health and diet factors (3). A second study at the Beijing Dental Hospital found consuming 3 grams of tea a day, or about 2 cups, along with the application of a tea extract reduced the size and proliferation of leukoplakia, a precancerous oral plaque (1).

However, a study in the Netherlands did not support these findings. It investigated the link between black tea consumption and the subsequent risk of stomach, colorectal, lung, and breast cancers among 58,279 men and 62,573 women ages 55 to 69. The study took into account such factors as smoking and overall diet. It found no link between tea consumption and protection against cancer (4).

5. Is NCI evaluating tea?

National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers are also investigating the therapeutic use of green tea. One recently completed but unpublished NCI trial studied the antitumor effect of green tea among prostate cancer patients. The 42 patients drank 6 grams of green tea, or about 4 cups, daily for four months. However, only one patient experienced a short-lived improvement, and nearly 70 percent of the group experienced unpleasant side effects such as nausea and diarrhea. The study concluded drinking green tea has limited antitumor benefit for prostate cancer patients (5).

Other ongoing NCI studies are testing green tea as a preventive agent against skin cancer. For example, one is investigating the protective effects of a pill form of green tea against sun-induced skin damage while another explores the topical application of green tea in shrinking precancerous skin changes. For more information about NCI-sponsored studies on green tea, go to http://www.cancer.gov/clinical_trials/.

References: (1) Dufresne CJ, Farnworth ER. A review of latest research findings on the health promotion properties of tea. J. Nutri Biochem 2001; 12 (7): 404-421. (2) Hakim IA, Harris RB. Joint effects of citrus peel use and black tea intake on risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. BMC Derm 2001; 1 (3). (3) Sun CL, Yuan JM, Lee MJ, Yang CS, Gao YT, Ross RK, Yu MC. Urinary tea polyphenols in relation to gastric and esophageal cancers: a prospective study of men in shanghai, china. Carcin 2002; 23 (9): 1497-1503. (4) Goldbohm RA, Hertog MG, Brants HA, van Poppel G, van den Brandt PA. Consumption of black tea and cancer risk: a prospective cohort study. JNCI 1996; 88 2): 93-100. (5) Phase II Study of Green Tea Extract in Patients with Androgen-Independent Metastic Prostate Cancer. Protocol Ids: NCCTG-N9951. NCI Clinical Trials http://www.cancer.gov/clinical_trials/.

Antioxidants In Tea....

2007-03-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

Antioxidants In Tea....

A growing body of research indicates that the tannins in tea are naturally-occurring flavonoids which have strong antioxidant properties. Drinking tea is a natural and pleasant way to increase dietary intake of antioxidants. There is mounting evidence that suggests that antioxidant-rich foods may play a role in reducing the risk of certain cancers, heart disease and stroke.

Researchers indicated that black and green tea have comparable health benefits and that adding milk to tea, does not inhibit the body's ability to benefit from the antioxidants in brewed tea.

About three times as many antioxidant polyphenois is found in white tea then green tea. White tea is simply dried in natural sunlight, "this preserves more of its antioxidant properties"Drinking white tea besides being more beneficial is that the pale amber liquid is a lot more palatable than green tea and doesn't have the same cabbagy smell.

Recent research exploring the potential health attributes of tea is leading many scientists to agree that tea, both black and green, may contribute positively to a healthy lifestyle. "Fruits, vegetables, and tea all contain important antioxidants. Research suggests these phytonutrients may contribute substantially to the promotion of health and the prevention of chronic disease. For example, recent research studies reveal the antioxidants in tea may inhibit the growth of cancer cells and support cardiovascular health," stated Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., F.A.C.N, Chief of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

Antioxidants

2007-03-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

With all the medical jargon and new scientific studies bandied about on the news it can be hard to know what’s good for you from one day to the next. Are tomatoes good or bad? Should you drink red wine? Does chocolate cure heart disease? Will eating an all organic diet save you from cancer? It can all be a bit overwhelming and no one, not even scientists can seem to agree on much.

But one thing that scientists do agree on is that antioxidants are important to regulate and sustain normal cell processes. So what’s an antioxidant and how can you get what you need? Read on to find out!

What’s an antioxidant?

Antioxidants are substances that the body produces to fight the effects of free radicals. What’s a free radical, you may ask. Free radicals are not rioting miscreants or rampaging anarchists, they are reactive chemicals that get produced when molecules are split to create unpaired electrons and other external elements like UV rays, x- rays, pollution and radiation. Sounds pretty deep, huh? What that really means is free radical damage essential cellular molecules. Damage at the cellular level is never a good thing.

What are the benefits?

Antioxidants counteract the damage done by the free radicals to cells by regulating cellular processes and forming healthy bonds. Basically this means that they can repair the damage done by UV and x-rays as well as the pollution we’re all exposed to. Eating 5-7 servings each day can supply you with the antioxidants and other healthy minerals and nutrients needed to combat age-related diseases.

Where do I find them?

Good news! Antioxidants can be found in lots of places! Chances are that you already eat some every day. Found in leafy, dark green veggies like kale and spinach as well as in bright colorful vegetables like red and yellow peppers, carrots, blueberries, raspberries and in vitamin C and E.

Can Drinking Green Tea Prevent Cancer?

2007-03-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Can Drinking Green Tea Prevent Cancer?

Tea has been regarded as an aid to good health for centuries, particularly in the Chinese and Indian cultures. In China, green tea is a mainstay of the diet. All varieties of tea are derived from the leaves of the evergreen plant Camellia sinensis. Tea leaves are picked, rolled, dried, and heated. An additional process of allowing the leaves to ferment and oxidize produces black tea. Green tea is produced when tea leaves undergo less processing than black tea. Tea contains antioxidants called catechins. Possibly because it is less processed, green tea contains higher levels of antioxidants or catechins than black tea. Steeping either green or black tea for about 5 minutes releases 80% of its antioxidant catechins. Instant ice tea, however, contains negligible amounts of these antioxidants (Dufresne & Farnworth, 2001).

The environment contains multiple sources of oxidizing agents called free radicals. Body cells also naturally produce free radicals. Free radicals or oxidants are unstable molecules which steal electrons from other molecules, damaging cell proteins and genetic material in the process. This type of damage leaves cells at risk for changes which can lead to cancer. Free radicals injure cell membranes and leave DNA vulnerable to damage. Tea antioxidants are very effective at scavenging free radicals before cell injury can occur. Tea antioxidants are also believed to target and repair DNA changes caused by the oxidizing free radicals. Laboratory studies show that tea antioxidants inhibit cancer growth in animals in three ways:
Scavenge free radicals.

Reduce the incidence and size of chemically induced tumors.
Inhibit growth of tumor cells.

Animal research has shown that liver, stomach, and skin cancer growth diminished in mice that were fed green and black tea (Hakim & Harris, 2001). However, human research studies show ambiguity. A substantial number of human intervention studies with green and black tea demonstrate a significant increase in plasma antioxidant capacity 1 hour after consumption of moderate amounts of tea (1-6 cups/day) (Rietveld & Wiseman, 2003). In China, one study involving over 18,000 men found tea drinkers were about half as likely to develop stomach or esophageal cancer as men who drank little tea, even after adjusting for smoking and diet factors (Sun et al., 2002). However, an earlier study in the Netherlands did not have similar findings. A study of 58,000 men and 62,000 women ages 55 to 69 found no link between tea consumption and protection against cancer (Goldbohm, Hertog, Brants, van Poppel, & van den Brandt, 1996). Currently, green tea is under investigation for its beneficial effects in different types of cancer as well as in cardiovascular disease. There is no specific quantity of green tea which is known to confer health benefits. Studies have shown health benefits from drinking amounts of 1 to 6 cups of green tea daily, a very broad range. Investigators have focused on steeped hot tea rather than iced tea. In sum, green tea may have antioxidants which can benefit health, and no significant side effects have been reported.

Consumers should not confuse black or green tea with "dieter's teas" advertised for weight loss. Those products contain senna, aloe, rhubarb root, buckthorn, cascara, or castor oil additives. Dieter's teas can exert a potent diuretic and/or laxative effect on the body that can lead to serious adverse effects. Diarrhea, electrolyte disturbances, dehydration, cardiac arrhythmias, and hypotension can result from ingesting these teas. Dieter's teas are considered potentially harmful by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (National Cancer Institute, 2002).

Toddy Cold Brew System !!

2007-03-15T04:38:00.000-07:00

If you’re looking for a unique gift idea, you might consider purchasing a Toddy Cold Brew System. I’ve been using the Toddy coffee maker for years, and have nothing but good things to say about the coffee it produces.

The Today Show- Weekend Edition

NBC Television Network

January 21, 2006

The Toddy Cold Brew System was one of four winning coffeemakers - The Toddy, Cuisinart Grind & Brew, Bodum Santos Electric Vacuum, and the Melitta One - tested and selected by Cook's Illustrated for brewing 'the perfect pot of java' at home. Chris Kimball, Founder and Editor of Cook's Illustrated and contributing food editor to NBC's Today Show, appeared on The Today Show - Weekend Edition to share CI's results, and recommend The Toddy coffee maker for making a milder cup of java with less acidity - for both hot and iced coffee.

KABC-TV (Los Angeles)

The Toddy Cold-Brew Coffee Maker

By Lori Corbin, Food Critic
October 4, 2004

(Excerpts from television broadcast feature)

Say 'cold coffee,' and most say 'yuck,' unless it's an ice blended drink. But a little known brewing system that's been around for forty years, is now growing in popularity for making both hot and cold coffee. The Toddy Coffee Maker is a low tech, cold-brewing system that reduces both caffeine and acid through it's cold brewing process.

Take a pound of your favorite ground beans, fill with container cold water and let 'brew' overnight. In the morning, let the ‘brewed’ coffee drain through a special filter, and the result: a rich, satisfying coffee concentrate. Just add half to a third water or milk either hot or cold, depending on taste. In addition, The Toddy also can brew tea.

With 54 million Americans suffering from heartburn, this brewing system can help those who get an upset stomach from too much acid produced by coffee. Another bonus? No burnt, stale office coffee. Just store the coffee concentrate carafe in your refrigerator. It will keep fresh for up to two weeks.

The Toddy Coffee Maker sells for about $35. Found at Cost Plus Markets, Seattle's Best Coffee cafes, and many other coffee and gourmet kitchen stores, and on line at www.ToddyCafe.com. The Toddy Coffee Maker - a true food find.

Cappuccino - cold brew espresso coffee beans in your Toddy- course grind

Steam 3 ounces of espresso concentrate (brewed from your Toddy) in a stainless pitcher until 185 degrees
Pour espresso (steamed concentrate) into your cappuccino cup
Froth 6 ounces of 2% milk (185) and quickly dump on top of espresso in cup
Sprinkle with cinnamon

If you don't have a steamer you can heat in the microwave! Be careful not to boil!

Latté - cold brew espresso coffee beans in your Toddy- course grind

Steam 8 ounces of 2% milk (185 degrees) in a stainless pitcher
Pour steamed milk into your cappuccino cup
Steam 3 ounces of espresso concentrate (brewed from your Toddy Maker) in stainless pitcher until 185 degrees
Pour steamed espresso in the middle of the steamed milk. Pour so that there is a little dot of espresso in the middle of the steamed milk. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

If you don't have a steamer you can heat in the microwave! Be careful not to boil!

Iced Cappuccino - cold brew your favorite coffee beans in your Toddy

mix 2 ounces coffee concentrate with 6 ounces 2% milk
add 1\8 teaspoon vanilla
pour over ice and add sweetener to your liking

Toddy Frappé - cold brew your favorite coffee beans in your Toddy

In a blender, add ½ cup coffee concentrate, and ½ cup 2% milk
Then add 1/2 cup of ice, and 3 large scoops of vanilla ice cream
Blend until smooth and pour into glass
Top with whip cream and chocolate shaving.

New News on Green Tea: It May Protect Your Heart

2007-02-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

In the June 2006 edition of the journal Carcinogenesis, researchers reported results from a cooperative study involving ten European countries1. The study was known as the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC). Vitamin C was measured in the blood in 215 patients who had abnormal growth of cells in their stomachs. Results were then compared to 416 match controls that didn't have abnormal cells. It was found that there was an inverse relationship to the risk developing these abnormal gastric cells and the level of vitamin C in the blood. Lead author of the study, Dr. Jenab, found that the effects of vitamin C were even more pronounced in red meat eaters. Vitamin C was believed to prevent nitrites (preservatives that are found in many meat products) from being turned into chemicals that can produce abnormal cells within the body.

There was another study just published in the August 2006 edition of the International Journal of Cardiology regarding vitamin C2. Researchers out of Japan studied whether vitamin C affected certain responses within the body to exercise in 21 men who suffered a heart attack at least month earlier. The participants underwent exercise testing on two occasions. The first time, they exercised two hours after an oral dose of two grams of ascorbic acid. The second time they exercised without supplemental vitamin C. Although there was no change in blood pressure or heart rate with or without ascorbic acid, researchers indicated that the heart rate response to peak exercise was significantly higher in men given ascorbic acid, which is an indication of better heart function. Dr. Kato, from the study, noted, "This data suggests an antioxidant vitamin, such as ascorbic acid, can affect a recovery of sympathetic dysfunction caused by injury to excessive oxidative stress and improve exercise intolerance."

There was a study published in the July-August 2006 edition of the journal Nutrition regarding healthy aging3. Authors noted that aging is associated with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, which can lead to impairment of immune function, therefore increasing risk of death. Researchers supplemented diets of middle-aged, prematurely aging mice and non-prematurely aging mice for 15 weeks with vitamins C and E, zinc, selenium and beta carotene. White cells from the treated animals were then compared to a control group. It was found that white cell function improved in animals consuming antioxidants, which indicated there was improvement in immunity. Furthermore, after antioxidant supplementation, measures of oxidative stress were markedly decreased in both the prematurely aging and the normal animals. Not surprisingly, effects of the antioxidants were stronger in the prematurely aging animals compared to the normal animals. Researchers concluded that consumption of adequate levels of antioxidants may encourage healthy aging, especially in prematurely aging animals.

Along with aging comes the risk of being admitted to a nursing home. An interesting study was performed in the Netherlands and published in the September 2006 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition4. Researchers noted that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in nursing home patients was high. Their objective was to determine whether lower levels of vitamin D in the blood increase one's risk of future admission to a nursing home along with early death. Over 1,200 independent people over age 65 participated in what is known as the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. These individuals were followed for six years, or up to time of death, until April 2003. Of the participants, almost 47% were considered either vitamin D deficient or vitamin D insufficient when first entering the study. During follow up, 138 (11%) were admitted to nursing homes and 380 (30%) died. Amazingly, after adjustment for potential confounders, risk of admission to a nursing home was approximately 350% in the vitamin D deficient. For the vitamin D insufficient, risk of admission to a nursing home was approximately 275%. Even those with only borderline low levels of vitamin D had over 190% increased risk of admission compared to those with higher levels of vitamin D. Lower vitamin D levels were also associated with higher mortality risk, but the association wasn't considered significant after adjustment for frailty indicators. Researchers concluded that lower levels of vitamin D in older people was associated with a greater risk of future nursing home admission and may be associated with mortality.

Finally, there was another study regarding longevity published in the current edition (September 13, 2006) of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)5. Green tea consumption was studied over an 11-year period up to 2005. Researchers analyzed information on over 40,000 Japanese adults between ages 40 and 79 years old. After the 11-year study, 4,209 adults had died. Adults who drank the most green tea were least likely to die from cardiovascular disease, especially stroke. Men who consumed at least five cups of green tea each day were 12% less likely to die from any cause. Women who drank five cups or more of green tea each day were 23% less likely to die from any cause and 31% less likely to die from cardiovascular problems.

Vitamin C has been, and continues to be, a mainstay of adequate nutritional supplementation. The brilliant Linus Pauling, the only person to be awarded the Nobel Prize twice unshared, correctly pointed out the immune, cellular and cardiovascular benefits of several thousand mgs per day of vitamin C going back to the 1960s. He has been proven correct by numerous published studies over the last decade. Dr. Pauling lived to 93 while most of his peers lived only to 60 or 70 on average. Dr. Pauling consumed thousands of mgs of vitamin C daily for decades based on his research. Quite clearly the RDA of 60 mg will not provide optimal benefits; it will prevent scurvy but that is not our current health care crisis issue. Most adults should be consuming 500 mg to 2,000 mg a day of vitamin C. Vitacost offers a wide selection of various vitamin C products, including Ester-C®, a non-acidic, ascorbic acid product that is well-tolerated and generally maintains higher blood levels than ordinary ascorbic acid for a longer period of time. I also strongly recommend quercetin to be taken with vitamin C; they are very synergistic. Quercetin is found in apples and red wine and is a very powerful antioxidant.

Although consuming green tea has tremendous benefits, drinking five to eight cups a day may not be realistic for many people. NSI® offers standardized green tea extract capsules equivalent to several cups of green tea along with other potent antioxidant polyphenol nutrients. It is wonderful to know there are so many safe, inexpensive and natural ways to promote and protect your health proven by 21st century science.

Antioxidant Superstars Resveratrol & Green Tea Backed by National Cancer Institute

2007-02-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

On the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Web site (which is part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health) there are "Fact Sheets." On November 27, 2002, the NCI posted information about red wine and cancer prevention. They noted that polyphenols, found in the skin and seeds of grapes, have anti-oxidant properties, and research has shown they may inhibit development of certain cancers. They highlight, in particular, a component of red wine called resveratrol.

Resveratrol has been shown to reduce cancer incidence in animals by affecting one or more stages in cancer development. Cellular and animal studies of red wine have been analyzed in several cancers including leukemia, skin, breast and prostate. The NCI notes that resveratrol can reduce inflammation, which may be an effective chemo-preventative agent in three various stages of the cancer process, including initiation, promotion and even progression. They further report that studies published in the International Journal of Cancer showed that drinking a glass of red wine a day may reduce risk of developing prostate cancer by 50%, and that men who consumed four or more four-ounce glasses of red wine per week had a 60% lower incidence of the more aggressive types of prostate cancer.

NCI also posted in their "Fact Sheet" section on December 6, 2002, benefits of tea and cancer prevention. They explain that laboratory studies show certain compounds from tea, known as catechins, act as powerful inhibitors of cancer growth in several different ways. They note some epidemiologic studies in humans, comparing tea drinkers to non-tea drinkers. They indicate that in one study out of China, over 18, 000 male tea drinkers were about half as likely to develop stomach or esophageal cancer compared to men who drank little tea1. There was another study in the Netherlands, however, that didn't support these findings.

Since the information was posted on the NCI site, there have been numerous studies regarding the benefits of green tea. A study on green tea was just published on Dec. 20, 2006 in the medical journal Carcinogensis. This study, involving over 1,000 women, indicated that those who consumed green tea at 500 to 749 grams per year reduced their risk of breast cancer by an amazing 41%2. This would be a level of at least 1,500 mg per day. Researchers concluded long-term and regular consumption of green tea can reduce risk of breast cancer.

Truly amazing information from a federal medical agency that tends to promote drugs, radiation and surgery. Of course, you know from reading For Your Health that the above-noted nutrients can be extremely powerful agents. Interestingly, there was just a study out of Germany indicating that polyphenols from tea can have benefits blunted by adding milk. The study, which was reported online in the European Heart Journal, studied 16 healthy women volunteers over age 503. When the women drank half liter of tea, their arteries relaxed to a significant degree, much more than when they drank hot water or tea with milk. Researchers felt that the casein proteins in the milk may have the neutralizing effect on the tea polyphenols.

Make sure to choose a high-quality multi-vitamin with optimal combinations and levels of antioxidants such as vitamin C, E, standardized green tea, grape seed, lutein and many other important nutrients.

The Perfect Coffees PUR JAVA !

2007-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Plenty of health benefits are brewing in America's beloved beverage,coffee.

Want a drug that could lower your risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and colon cancer? That could lift your mood and treat headaches? That could lower your risk of cavities?

If it sounds too good to be true, think again.

Coffee, the much maligned but undoubtedly beloved beverage, just made headlines for possibly cutting the risk of the latest disease epidemic, type 2 diabetes. And the real news seems to be that the more you drink, the better.

Reducing Disease Risk

After analyzing data on 126,000 people for as long as 18 years, Harvard researchers calculate that compared with not partaking in America's favorite morning drink, downing one to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily can reduce diabetes risk by single digits. But having six cups or more each day slashed men's risk by 54% and women's by 30% over java avoiders.

Though the scientists give the customary "more research is needed" before they recommend you do overtime at Starbuck's to specifically prevent diabetes, their findings, reported just two weeks ago, are very similar to those in a less-publicized Dutch study last year. And perhaps more importantly, it's the latest of hundreds of studies suggesting that coffee may be something of a health food especially in higher amounts.

There's also some evidence that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable, stop a headache, boost mood, and even prevent cavities.

The Benefits of Caffeine

Is it the caffeine? The oodles of antioxidants in coffee beans, some of which become especially potent during the roasting process? Even other mysterious properties that warrant this intensive study?

Actually, yes.

Some of coffee's reported benefits are a direct result of its higher caffeine content: An eight ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee contains about 85 mg -- about three and a half times more than the same serving of tea or cola or one ounce of chocolate.

But you can get other others benefits from coffee that have nothing to do with caffeine. Coffee is loaded with antioxidants, including a group of compounds called quinines that when administered to lab rats, increases their insulin sensitivity. This increased sensitivity improves the body's response to insulin.

The bottom line: People who already drink a lot of coffee don't have to feel guilty as long as coffee does not affect their daily life. They may actually benefit from coffee habits in the long-run.

Coffee Parfait

This is a great dish to serve when you want to impress somebody. Just don't let on that it is so easy to make.

2 Tbs (30 ml) cornstarch (cornflour)
3/4 cup (180 ml) sugar
A pinch of salt
2 Tbs (30 ml) milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
2 Tablespoons PurJava Coffee
3/4 cup (180 ml) water
1 1/2 cup (375 ml) whipping cream Additional whipped cream for topping
Ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients except for the whipping cream in a saucepan and hold over another pot of simmering water. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back f a spoon. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Whip the cream until it is light but not stiff and fold into the coffee mixture. Serve in parfait cups or stemmed wine glasses and top with additional whipped cream and a light dusting of cinnamon. Serves 4 to 6.

As the most potent chemical component in coffee or tea, we are all very aware of caffeine. Next time you're sitting around the coffee shop, enjoying a latte and perhaps talking about coffee in general, you can appear quite learned by tossing around these caffeine facts.

Coffee Trivia

Caffeine was first isolated from coffee in 1820

In its pure state, caffeine is a crystalline white powder.

Caffeine can be found in 60 different plants.

10g of caffeine is considered a lethal dose.

It's the most popular drug in the world. Ninety percent of Americans

consume it in some form every day.

Over 450,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed in the USA every

day.

Darkly roasted coffee has less caffeine than lightly roasted.

Contrary to popular belief, caffeine (or coffee) won't help someone

sober up if they have had too much to drink.

Coffee products for coffee lovers! Pur Java # 1

2007-02-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

Pur Java - Every cup as fresh as the first! Smooth coffee that's easy to make for people on the move. Pur Java has 50% less caffeine, low acidity, and no bitterness. Pur Java's innovative products include JavaPOP, a coffee flavored popcorn and Pur Java chocolates, liquid coffee-filled chocolates.

SEE WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT , THIS GREAT NEW COFFE PURJAVA :

PurJava, liquid coffee concentrate - smooth, full-bodied
robust coffee for people on the move.

PurJava is coldwater processed resulting in a coffee with less acidity and
bitterness.

Choose from Honduran Dark Roast or Sumatra Decaffeinated. Honduran coffee beans are airshippedand processed to ensure fresh coffee flavor.

Decaffeinated Sumatra beans are processed over 48 hours
for a smooth subtle coffee flavor.

A Cup of Green Tea Per Day May Help Keep Skin Cancer Away

2007-02-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and it is estimated that more than 1 million cases of basal and squamous cell cancer will be diagnosed this year according to the Centers for Disease Control.

While avoiding prolonged sun exposure, the regular and proper use of sunscreen, and regular examinations by a board-certified dermatologist are the main actions for preventing skin cancer, green tea may help as well.

“Green tea is reported to have antibacterial, antioxidant, and antitumor properties,” says Lawrence Osman, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist practicing in Los Angeles. Polyphenolic antioxidants are derived from the extracts of green tea. Also, the most widely studied component of green tea, (-)-epigallocatechin gallate, may work by inhibiting ultraviolet induced DNA damage. Inhibiting ultraviolet induced DNA damage may be important because many cases of skin cancer are directly related to ultraviolet exposure from the sun or tanning beds.

The constituents of green tea have already proven effective in helping to prevent skin cancer in the lab. Accordingly, drinking green tea, in addition to avoiding prolonged sun exposure, the regular and proper use of sunscreen, and regular examinations by a board-certified dermatologist, may help prevent skin cancer in life.

PURJAVA HONDURAN DARK ROAST " THE COFFEE OF ALL COFFEES "

2007-02-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

PurJava was developed from a search for coffee that had great coffee taste without the bitterness and acidity of regular brewed coffee. Coffee beans are obtained from growers and then shipped by air to ensure freshness.

PurJava concentrate is produced using a cold water process for a pure coffee taste. Water is filtered and then purified in a way that extracts the maximum amount of pure coffee flavor.
The concentrate produced using PurJava's proprietary process results in the smoothest concentrate available. The final step is pasteurization of the concentrate to ensure excellent flavor with an extended shelf-life.

PurJava is the smoothest coffee you've ever had with less than half the caffeine of regular brewed coffee.

PurJava Recipes:

Iced Mocha

3 Tablespoons PurJava coffee concentrate
2/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup 2% milk
1 teaspoon chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon sugar
Mix well, pour over ice. Makes 1 8 oz. serving

PurJava Latte

1 ounce of PurJava coffee concentrate
3 ounces of waterHeat
PurJava and water mixture
Heat 3 ounces of milk and froth
Add frothed milk into PurJava water mixture

Chocolate Covered Cherry Coffee

1 teaspoon chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon cherry syrup
1/2 Tablespoon PurJava coffee concentrate
8 ounces hot water

One 8 oz. bottle of PurJava Honduran Dark Roast makes 32 (8 oz.) cups of coffee.

You want the best you got the best the hotes coffee around PURJAVA !

Vitamin warning! Some nutritional supplements use hydrogenated oils as filler

2007-02-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

The next time you buy soft-gel vitamins, you'd better take a look at what's inside them. Would you be surprised if I told you that vitamin companies are taking one of the most toxic food ingredients known to mankind and putting it in soft gels as a filler? It's absolutely true. You can find it in vitamins and supplements in health food stores, grocery stores, price discount warehouse clubs, retailers and pharmacies all over the country and around the world right now. What toxic ingredient am I referring to? Partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

Today, anyone who follows nutrition knows that hydrogenated oils are extremely toxic. We know that, long-term, they will lead to cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. They can even encourage strokes. We know that they cause harm, sometimes irreparable, to the nervous system. We know that they interfere with the absorption of the essential fatty acids you need to maintain healthy cells, a healthy nervous system, healthy blood sugar regulation and many other functions.

Big Pharma manufactures vitamins, too And yet, vitamin companies – the cheap ones – are taking this ingredient and putting it in soft gels as filler. And that's not the only ingredient they're putting in, either. Some vitamin companies are taking artificial colors – that's right, chemicals extracted from coal tar – and putting them in not only soft gels but in tablets and capsules, too.

Now, why on earth would a vitamin company do this? The answer is because some of these companies aren't at all interested in health. In fact, the dirty little secret of the nutritional supplements industry is that many of these companies are wholly or partially owned by pharmaceutical companies, so these vitamin manufacturers think they can standardize, process and manufacture vitamins in the same way they manufacture prescription drugs (which is an entirely unnatural process, by the way).

When companies manufacture prescription drugs, they really don't care what goes into them as long as the active ingredient is there. Prescription drugs, in addition to containing highly toxic chemicals that are supposed to be medicinal, also contain highly toxic fillers, colors and other additives that sometimes even counteract the intended effect of the drug. When those pharmaceutical companies decide to branch out into nutritional supplements because it's a hot industry, they, of course, carry over these same manufacturing practices to nutritional supplements. This is why you don't want to get your supplements from these mega corporations that are actually owned by Big Pharma. It's better to get something from smaller, more passionate companies.

I don't necessarily mean "mom-and-pop" shops, but I mean companies that are solely focused on health, even if they do happen to be commercially successful. Companies like New Chapter, Nature's Way, Now Foods, Garden of Life or Jay Robb Enterprises (which has outstanding whey protein, soy protein and egg protein products). These are a few of the many companies that seem to really care about health and they avoid using toxic ingredients, whereas many other supplement companies don't care at all what they put in there, as long as they can claim something on the label.

What you see is not always what you get When you're buying a soft gel capsule, you would normally think that what goes inside that soft gel is what's stated on the label. It makes sense, right? So if the label on that vitamin bottle says "salmon oil," and you take out a soft gel and look at it, you would think it's filled with salmon oil, right? This is what most people think. This is common sense. But in fact, it is incorrect.

You might be amazed to learn this, but that soft gel may not be filled with salmon oil at all; it may have a miniscule amount of salmon oil in it, but the rest of it is just filler. It could be soybean oil, hydrogenated oils or some other form of filler. It could be something that's actually dangerous to your health, so you'd better read the ingredients labels on those vitamins, minerals and supplements, in addition to reading the ingredients labels on foods, as I've always recommended. Watch out! Just because you buy something that looks good on the label – something that claims to have flax oil, salmon oil or vitamin B in it – it doesn't mean it's actually good for you.

How to put a negative spin on healthy vitamins: Use cheap vitamins to skew resultsNow, of course, researchers have also figured all this out. If I'm a researcher in organized medicine and my mission is to discredit vitamins, these are the vitamins I buy and use in my research. If I wanted to ensure that I had a study saying vitamin E causes an increase in heart attacks, you know how I would do it? I would buy vitamin E soft-gel products that have hydrogenated soybean oil as filler, so that I could be absolutely sure that this study would come out showing an increase of heart attacks. Then, I could write a headline that says, "Vitamin E Kills People!"
Following that study, if I were associated with the right school or university or the right medical group, I could send out a press release to all the newspapers around the country or around the world and they would blindly print that headline. People would be all over TV and radio talking about how vitamin E kills you.

How do I accomplish that? I just choose a soft gel container with hydrogenated oils as the toxic filler ingredients because I, as an evil researcher, know that these journalists are not going to ask questions. No one's going to look at this study and see what the other filler ingredients were. No one's going to do anything other than reprint whatever I fax them. Why? Because I'm associated with a medical school or a university, that's why. That's how it works out there. That's the real world of nutritional supplements "research."

Of course, none of that has anything to do with reality because, in the real world, vitamin E is extremely healthy. It's very good for you, even in higher doses than most people take, and it's found naturally in nuts and seeds. Salmon oil is also very good for your health in many ways; not just your heart health, but also for your nervous system health, for stabilizing blood sugar and for providing nutrition and lubrication to some of the cells, organs and tissues in your body.
There are so many healthy products out there. It's just a shame when these companies take healthy oils, vitamins and minerals and package them in unhealthy containers. They package them in tablets, capsules and soft gels that have other ingredients that will actually harm you if you take them with enough frequency and duration.

Take your healthy vitamins correctly to see results This is why I have consistently recommended that you get your nutrition from eating whole foods, superfoods or nutritional supplements made from whole food concentrates. Of course, there are some nutrients that you can't get that way, like cod liver oil and salmon oil, but there are companies out there that really care about the quality of their oils and aren't going to give you garbage. In terms of cod liver oils, one of my top recommendations is Nordic Naturals. They will give you a quality product without a bunch of harmful fillers.

The truth about calcium supplementsIn terms of calcium supplements, I know that calcium is one of the most common supplements out there and researchers have managed to finagle a study that even shows calcium supplements aren't useful for boosting the bone density of elderly patients. People are being told that calcium is absolutely worthless if you don't digest it and absorb it. So how do you do that?

Well, you certainly don't take it with an antacid. That's a ridiculous way to get calcium. Calcium needs to have an acidic environment in order to be broken down and assimilated by your digestive system. If you don't have acid in your stomach, then you can't absorb the calcium. And if you don't have vitamin D in your small intestine, you can't absorb the calcium, either. There are a lot of senior citizens out there who are spending small fortunes on calcium supplements and antacid tablets, but they're not getting any sunshine. And that means they're not getting enough vitamin D. With a vitamin D deficiency, they can't even absorb the calcium. It's either going right through their bodies or actually contributing to the buildup of calcification in their kidneys. So guess what? They'll probably end up with kidney stones.

When I was at a discount warehouse club recently, I was looking at all these supplements – calcium, vitamin D, flax oil, cod liver oil and so on – and reading the ingredient labels, and I could only find one product that I would personally consume. Only one! I saw people buying these vitamins by the basket-load, thinking they were doing themselves some good. The only one I found that didn't have any artificial ingredients or other garbage in it was organic flax oil. Every other product offered was garbage, in my view. Nutritionally, it was a disaster. I wouldn't feed those supplements to any person or animal that I cared about.

So there you go. This is the nutritional supplement industry that a lot of people see. I know that these particular supplements are from the same manufacturers that you find making low-cost vitamins sold at grocery stores and pharmacies. It's no wonder that some people have such a dim view of the nutritional supplements industry. They take these products and they feel worse.
Well, no wonder; you've just consumed toxic ingredients – not what was in the label, but what was listed in the fine print of the ingredients section. No wonder you feel worse; you're just eating hydrogenated oils. You're actually taking them as a supplement. What a foolish thing to do, but people do it every single day in this country.

Lawmakers deserve a lot of blame and shame for allowing this to go on, in my view. The fact that food manufacturers and vitamin supplement manufacturers can put highly toxic, death-promoting, disease-causing ingredients into your foods, products and supplements and sell them to you without warning labels is absolutely unconscionable. It's near criminal that they allow this to happen.

Failing to warn consumers about toxic vitamin fillers should be a crimeLawmakers have been asleep at the wheel. They've allowed food companies to run the system. They've allowed drug companies and nutritional supplement manufacturers to steamroll any attempt to protect the public, and that's why all these dangerous, toxic, disease-promoting ingredients are still perfectly legal.

The FDA seemingly continues to actually support these ingredients. They haven't done enough to try to outlaw them. It seems that from the FDA's point of view, getting tough means sending a wimpy warning letter that says, "Oh, by the way, your ads are misleading people." To them, it means requiring trans fats to be listed on foods. Never mind actually outlawing the ingredient.
In my opinion, the FDA should ban these ingredients. They should be outlawed. It should be a crime to put a toxic substance into a food product and sell it to a consumer. Shouldn't that be a crime? I mean, if the world made sense, it would be a crime, especially now that we know these ingredients promote disease. It's not even debatable anymore. Heck, even the FDA finally has admitted it and is requiring labels – warning labels, in a sense – that say, "Here's how many grams of trans fat you have in this food." That's a warning label, folks. There is no nutritionist or doctor in his or her right mind who would argue that these ingredients are safe for long-term human consumption.

Yet every single day, we have consumers going into these discount club warehouse stores, pharmacies, grocery stores and even health food stores, buying these dangerous products, taking them home, consuming them and thinking that they are doing themselves some good. In fact, they are actually harming themselves. When I see this situation, I genuinely fear for the future of this nation; I really do. I'm not sure if we can ever get above water again, if we can ever overpower the financial interests of big business that have allowed this to happen (and have in fact lobbied for and defended it). It's possible that we're going to spiral out of control into a health collapse, where everybody is diseased from the moment they're born, nutrition is nonexistent and everyone is financially beholden to this system of pharmaceutical companies, doctors, hospitals and diagnostic labs because they've been labeled with various diseases that could have been solved or prevented by changing the food supply and outlawing dangerous ingredients.

You want to know the funny part in all of this? Everything I've been talking to you about, everything that I'm outraged about in this particular commentary, was found in the "healthy" section of this particular retailer. This was the health section, folks. This was the stuff that's supposed to be good for you. The rest of that store was just outright garbage – products loaded with sugars and artificial colors, hydrogenated oils, high sodium, tons of preservatives (literally, tons of preservatives), sodium nitrate – just all kinds of unhealthy ingredients from top to bottom, stacked as high and as far as the eye can see in this warehouse retailer.

Spread the word: Your neighbors' vitamins could be toxicI believe we each have to do our part and stand up and speak the truth. That's what I'm trying to do here. I'm telling everyone I meet and everyone I know, "You've been conned. You've been scammed by the system, by a bunch of manufacturers, a whole lot of big business and a good dose of government corruption thrown in to protect the system and make sure you never find out what is going on. You've been scammed."

The only way to beat the scam is to get outside the system – get outside of conventional medicine, give up all these processed foods and move over to a healthy lifestyle where you actually have cognitive function and where you have mental awareness because you're eating well. You're eating real food, not that processed, manufactured garbage that passes for food in most peoples' homes in the United States and everywhere around the world.

So if you have a friend or a family member who doesn't know about this, and you'd like to either help them or annoy them (your pick), tell them what's really in their vitamins. Show them: Pick up that vitamin bottle out of their cabinet, refrigerator, purse or wherever they happen to have it and point out that artificial color, that FD&C Red No. 2, yellow dye or whatever it happens to be in that particular vitamin. Point it out to them; show them the hydrogenated oils in these vitamins. Point out the sucrose, the corn syrup, propylene glycol or whatever else happens to be in there. Show them what they're really consuming and then give them a better choice. Introduce them to a health food store in your local community that sells some quality products. Encourage them to go there if they really want to take care of their health.

It's funny that people complain about how much money it costs to buy nutritional supplements. Then, they go out and spend a few dollars on vitamins that will actually make them sick. They think they're getting a bargain. I say that you might as well spend your money on cigarettes, you know? You might as well eat some fried chicken. If you're going to spend $6 on a bottle of vitamins that are bad for you, then skip the whole thing and just go eat some hamburgers at the local fast food restaurant or some cookies from the grocery store. Of course, I don't recommend that anyone do any of that. I recommend you spend your money wisely on nutritional supplements, vitamins, minerals, and herbs from passionate, honest companies you can trust.
Of course, they're going to be slightly more expensive, if not a lot more expensive. But aren't you worth it? If you're going through the trouble of taking these supplements, shouldn't you put the best thing you can find into your body? Don't you deserve healthy supplements, rather than supplements packaged with hydrogenated oils and other poisons that are legalized by our system of corrupt government and private industry? Shouldn't you deserve the very best? I think so. Get the best and put that in your body. Be healthy. Thanks for reading. This is Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, for Truth Publishing.

If your looking for great nutritional supplements then you need to try :

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Green tea packed with health-boosting nutrients

2007-02-23T07:37:00.000-08:00

Green tea has special health-giving properties because of the way it's processed.
The leaves of black tea are fermented, but the green version is steamed, which makes it rich in antioxidants.

Green tea prevents cancer on a number of fronts: by protecting against damage to DNA, the trigger for cancer, and by shutting down a key molecule in the body that plays a significant role in the development of cancer.

Swedish research has shown it inhibits the formation of new blood vessels that help spread tumours.

Green tea also repairs damage to livers caused by alcohol, protects against diseases such as Parkinson's and rheumatoid arthritis, and restricts the build-up of cholesterol in the blood.
Female tea drinkers have stronger bones than non-tea drinkers, and this reduces the risk of osteoporosis.

Green tea is rich in catechin polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that inhibit the growth of cancer and protect externally against DNA damage induced by ultraviolet light.

The firm is one of a growing number that feature green tea as an ingredient in skincare products because of its protection against sun damage.

The results of a Swiss study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggest that an extract from green tea may help with weight loss by speeding up fat oxidation.

Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

Japanese evidence suggests that more than three cups a day may ward off the recurrence of breast cancer.

Studies have shown that people who drink five cups a day are 16 per cent less likely to develop heart disease.

If you are a dedicated tea drinker, you might want to consider decaffeinated versions

WHY SFI IS THE BEST FOR GREEN TEA !

2007-02-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

It is becoming increasingly well known and well accepted that green tea is good for our health. Green tea contains polyphenols, some of the strongest antioxidants known to man. These powerful antioxidants promote cardiovascular health, help minimize the effects of aging by fighting free radical damage, assist with weight control by blocking carbohydrate absorption and boost the body's immune system

Yet, to get maximum benefits of green tea we must consume enough of it. SFI has been making a concentrated liquid green tea for many years. One serving of HerbaGreen Tea provides you the Antioxidant Power of 15 cups of brewed green tea. Two to three cups of HerbaGreen Tea a day provide you with 200 to 300mg of polyphenols, the recommended daily dose for the antioxidant benefits. Many beverages containing green tea also contain sugar or artificial sweeteners. However, HerbaGreen Teas contain no alcohol, no caffeine, no sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Following the success of the Original HerbaGreen Tea, SFI has developed an exciting line of Patent Pending flavored green tea concentrates that not only provide powerful health protection, but also are a superior choice for a great tasting beverage. Invigorating tastes of Heavenly Honey Lemon , Mandarin Mango Swirl , Heavenly Honey Lemon™, and Original flavor will relax and comfort you. Each flavor bursts with the rich, full taste and aroma of fresh fruits and spices. Every cup delivers the power of antioxidant protection. And it's easy to make! Just add a dropper-full to a cup of water, stir and enjoy. Drink hot or cold. Each HerbaGreen Tea 2 oz. bottle contains 60 delicious servings.

BENEFITS OF GREEN TEA POLYPHENOLS:

* Maintains healthy cells, cell growth and development.
* Supports a healthy cardiovascular system.
* Promotes healthy weight control by blocking carbohydrate absorption.
* Fights damaging free-radicals, which attack healthy cells and promote aging.
* Supports the immune system.
* Helps the body maintain its toxin-free condition.
* Promotes healthy blood sugar balance.
* Supports dental and optimal gum health

HERBAGREEN TEAS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT !!

2007-02-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

Each bottle equals 60 servings. Choose from among Original flavor, Heavenly Honey Lemon, or Mandarin Mango Swirl. Then, simply add a dropper full to hot, warm, or cold water and stir for a naturally delicious, wonderfully healthy drink!

BENEFITS OF GREEN TEA POLYPHENOLS:

* Maintains healthy cells, cell growth and development.
* Supports a healthy cardiovascular system.
* Promotes healthy weight control by blocking carbohydrate absorption.
* Fights damaging free-radicals, which attack healthy cells and promote aging.
* Supports the immune system.
* Helps the body maintain its toxin-free condition.
* Promotes healthy blood sugar balance.
* Supports dental and optimal gum health.

Antioxidants in Green Tea

2007-02-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

Tea contains vitamins A, C, and E as well as health-promoting compounds called Flavonoids. The flavonoids, called polyphenols, act as antioxidants that counter the effects of reactive oxygen molecules that result from normal body functions and contribute to aging and chronic disease.

One subgroup of polyphenols, called catechins, is abundant in green tea (China Green Tea - Japan Green Tea), especially tea made from the very top of the bush. Catechins were discovered in the 1970s, when medical researchers were looking for the reason people in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture - a major tea-growing area - had much lower rates of cancer than other Japanese, even when they were very heay smokers. One catechin in particular, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg), is found in no other plant than tea, and it's one of the most potent antioxidants yet discovered - up to twenty times stronger than Vitamin E. Numerous studies have found EGCg to be effective in preventing and inhibiting cancer growth.

Catechins make up as much as 30 percent of the dry weight of green tea leaves, but only three to ten percent of black tea. Steeping the leaves for three to five minutes releases the optimal amount of catechins.

Today, hundreds of millions of people drink green tea globally for its health benefits

2007-02-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

Today, hundreds of millions of people drink green tea globally for its health benefits. Various studies into the effects of green tea have been presented in recent years. Though these studies are still incomplete and inconclusive, they are pointing strongly toward having a key factor in achieving and maintaining good health. The health benefits of green tea are varied, mainly because its chemical makeup gives positive affects to many different bodily systems. It makes sense that many of us consume green tea to achieve those benefits. Basic breakdown of green tea components and its benefits are as follows:

Catechins (polyphenol) - The healthful factor of green tea is largely attributed to this chemical component. It reduces incidence of cancers, reduces oxidation by active oxygen, prevents cavities (because of its high content of flouride), increases metabolism, lowers high blood pressure and cholestrol, inhibits increase of blood pressure, inhibits increase of blood sugar, kills bacteria and virus, fights cariogenic bacteria, improves digestion, and prevents bad breath. The average cup of green tea contains about 50 to 150 milligram polyphenols.
Vitamin C - Reduces stress and prevents flu.

Theanine (amino acid) - Promotes neural function balance and inhibits increase of blood pressure.

Vitamin E - Prevents aging, prevents hardening of arteries, and promotes cholestrol balance.
Dietary Fiber- For every 100 gram of green tea, you can consume 10 gram dietary fibers. It improves intestinal activity for digestion.

Studies suggest that 3 cups or more of green tea daily can provide protection against cancer. However, manufacturers offer extracts that can be taken in pill form. A typical dosage is 100-150 mg 3 times daily of a green tea extract containing 80% total polyphenols. Whether these extracts offer any benefit remains unknown.

WHAT IS TEA ?

2007-02-22T08:57:00.000-08:00

TEA is the second most popular beverage in the world. Only water is rated higher in world consumption than tea. It is estimated that somewhere between 18 and 20 billion 6 oz. cups of tea are drunk daily on our planet. An extension of numbers would indicate that the United States only imports enough tea annually to keep world usage rates going for 2 days.
But to get to the topic:

WHAT IS TEA?

Tea is a beverage made from the processed leaf of a plant whose Latin name is: Camellia sinensis. Some of us who have been around for a long time in the tea industry still call it by its now out-dated name of Thea sinensis. But Camellia or Thea makes little difference; it is what comes out of the tea pot that is of importance. The exact processing of the leaf is described in another area of THE TEA MAN, so please refer to that section for specifics.

Tea is a stimulant, a very mild stimulant, since it contains caffeine. It contains fewer miligrams of caffeine per equal-sized cup than does coffee, but more than cocoa. Tea contains small quantities of tannic compounds technically called polyphenols (not tannic acid used in tanning leather), vitamin A, B2, C, D, K, and P, plus a number of minerals in trace amounts and also aromatic oils. The tannin compounds and essential oils are, in the main, responsible for the flavor of tea, the color, the astringency (dryness), and the delightful aromatics. These last two substances or compounds join forces to produce the high, medium and base notes of tea that one experiences (these are further described in the section of the site dealing with "How We Taste Tea"). These compounds which combine to produce the delicate and sought-after nuance flavors of tea cannot be determined chemically by analysis of the tea. All tea analysis comes out basically the same regardless of the variety or where in the world the tea is grown. It is in the well-developed palate of tea devotees that this decision of goodness is allowed to rest its case.
Tea is, for the most part, healthful to humans; however, individuals can misuse tea by drinking too much of it or making it too strong. As with many things we ingest, moderation and restraint are watchwords.

Tea has many health benefits

2007-02-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

At Chelmsford Tea we understand the enormous interest in the medicinal qualities of Tea. Medical science has only recently begun giving credibility to what cultures the world over have believed for centuries. These articles show only a small portion of what is becoming accepted about Tea. We do not offer them as proof of any claims about Tea nor do we believe that anyone should disregard medical advice. They are for your information only.

National Cancer Institute Tea and Cancer Prevention: Fact Sheet

The American Cancer Society has this to say about Green Tea.

Research suggests that green tea may help prevent skin cancer.

And it is comforting to know that tea is not a pancreatic cancer risk, even though that disease is rising.

Some great info on green tea and esophageal cancer.
What we eat can help us overcome serious health threats such as cancer.

Iced Tea Secrets

2007-02-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

Iced tea is America's contribution to world tea culture. Because making iced tea is so easy, why not do it right?

Already by the 19th century iced tea recipes began to appear in cookbooks. But iced tea really took off in popularity when the tea merchant Richard Blechynden, unable to sell tea during a heat wave at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, decided to serve his tea over ice. It was a hit with visitors, and summer's haven't been the same since

Today, iced tea is the most popular tea in America. Forget about instant iced tea from a jar; it's too sweet and lacks real tea flavor. Great iced tea can be made with any black tea as well as flavored teas, such as Peach Black Tea, Lemon Green Tea, or even Oolong or Japanese Sencha. If you like it sweet, try using superfine baking or bartender's sugar (you can also make your own in a food processor). You can also mix up a sugar syrup on the stove with a 1:1 ration of sugar to water, simmer for a few minutes, cool, and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. If you allow tea to cool down naturally before refrigerating, it won't cloud or "cream down."

Cold Steeping
In this method, just double the amount of dry tea leaf (2 heaping tsp or 2 tea bags per cup), place in any clean jug and add the proper amount of cold water. Let the infusion stand in the refrigerator overnight or for at least six hours. Strain the tea into a second jug or container. Add sugar or lemon to taste. This is similar to sun tea, which also works fine, but some experts fear bacterial growth may occur in sun tea. I doubt it, but you be the judge.

Hot SteepingMethod

1: Use half the hot water you would ordinarily use for hot tea (1 tsp per 6 oz cup), infuse for 3-5 minutes, and pour over a full 12 oz glass of ice. The rapid cooling gives you a crystal clear tea.

OR

2: Some recipes call for doubling the tea leaf amount, steeping for 3-5 minutes, and then pouring into a container with the equal amount of cold water. This dilutes the strong tea and chills it quickly.

Fruit Juice Iced Tea Strong tea concentrates are especially great when mixed in a 1:1 ratio with lemonade or other fruit juices. Just be sure the juice doesn't overpower the tea flavor. If you shake this mix with some sugar in a cocktail shaker or in a blender, the aerated drink is wonderfully fresh and light tasting.

Recommended Iced Tea Blend: Tropical Black Tea (passionfruit, mango, peaches and black tea)

Chai, Tea Latte, or Milk Tea?

2007-02-21T12:14:00.000-08:00

Milk tea, or the "tea latte," has moved from India to East Asia to America, and now joins with the European tradition of tea with milk.

Tea with Milk: Whether you add tea to your cup tea first or last is up to you. Some argue that if you add milk last, you have better control over the amount, but others say that milk protects fine porcelain cups from cracking when the tea is poured, and the flavor of the milk is enhanced when the hot tea hits and scalds the milk. You be the judge. Just don’t add milk to green or oolong teas. Two-percent or whole milk is best. Cream is not good with tea, as the milk fats interact adversely with tea tannins.

Chai: In India, all tea is called "chai." The most common method of brewing Indian chai involves tossing tea leaves (usually broken Assam tea or CTC tea) into a kettle of boiling water, simmering for a few minutes, adding milk and sugar, and once the milk boils, removing from the stove and straining into a pre-warmed teapot or mug. Indian chai sold by chai wallahs at train stations is usually made this way, and is very strong, milky, and sweet. The unglazed clay cup used for serving is then tossed from the train as you travel down the line.

Masala Chai: What American's call chai, should actually be called “masala chai, ” or "spiced tea." This recipe is the same as the chai recipe above, but with the addition of spices such as cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, and so on. Many families in India have their own recipe, and grind fresh spices at home. Supermarkets now sell pre-mixed concentrates of masala chai that you add milk to and heat in a kettle or the microwave. Chai is also very popular in American coffeehouses, although usually made too sweet.

Tea Latte: The tea latte probably started in Japan and spread to America. Usually a strong black tea is mixed with steamed milk and sugar, plus flavored syrups, such as almond and vanilla. Be careful that the syrup flavor doesn’t overpower the taste of the tea. You can also brew up some flavored black tea and add hot milk or boil the whole concoction as in the first recipe.

Milk Tea Recipes

Recipe #1: Make a tea concentrate by doubling the amount of black tea leaf and brew a mug, or a half or full pot of tea. Fill pre-heated mug 2/3 full of brewed tea, add hot milk, and sweeten. Full bodied teas, such as Assam Blend, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast or Africa Morning are ideal.

Recipe #2: Add 1 heaping teaspoon dry tea leaf to 1 cup boiling water in saucepan and simmer for 1- 2 min. Add a little less than one cup of milk to tea mixture. When milk comes to a boil, remove saucepan from stove immediately and strain the “milk tea” into your cup, mug, or pre-heated teapot. Sweeten heavily!

Health Benefits of Tea

2007-02-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

Current research suggests that green tea may prevent cancer, while black tea may prevent strokes and heart attacks.

The Miracle of Anti-OxidantsAnti-oxidants, which help prevent cell damage, are found mostly in fruits and vegetables. Tea has anti-oxidants too, in the form of compounds called flavonoids. Green tea is high in simple flavonoids or catechins which researchers believe might be an anti-oxidant effective in preventing cancer. Black tea has more complex flavonoids known as theaflavins and thearubiginscatechins, which researchers believe may strengthen arteries and reduce the chances of stroke and heart disease.

In case you were wondering, anti-oxidants go after "free radicals," which are unstable oxygen molecules that damage our body's cellular walls, and consequently damage DNA. "Free radicals" come from pollution, smoke, radiation, toxic substances, ultraviolet radiation, and are even a byproduct produced when the body converts food into energy. "Free radicals" damage our cells, rendering them unable to effectively fight cancer, aging, and other diseases.

Possible Health Benefits of Tea:

Prevents heart disease and strokes
Prevents cancer
Natural fluorides, flavonoids, & tannins prevent tooth decay
Anti-bacterial properties are good for the mouth and teeth, prevent bad breath
Reduces inflammation and relieves arthritis
Strengthens immune system to fight colds and other ailments
Speeds up calorie burning
Slightly lowers cholesterol
Lowers blood pressure and prevents dangerous blood clotting

Although researchers are finding many health benefits from tea, don't forget the fickleness of health research. Tea tastes good, is relaxing, and doesn't appear to have any bad health effects...isn't that reason enough to enjoy tea?

How to Brew (Steep) Tea

2007-02-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

Steeping Tea Guidelines

Place 1 rounded teaspoon of tea per 6 oz. cup in tea infuser.
Bring filtered, fresh water to a boil. (soft water is best)

Warm the teapot or mug with boiling water and pour out. (For green tea, just fill mug or teapot and add tea.)

Place tea infuser inside mug or teapot, add boiling water and steep proper time (see chart to the right).

Remove infuser and you’re ready to enjoy!

Green Tea is best when brewed at a lower temperature. Let the boiled water cool on the stove for a minute or two, or splash a little cold water in the teapot or kettle, or just fill cold teapot or mug and add tea (no pre-heating).

Tea and Scientific Research - The benefits of drinking tea

2007-02-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

White Tea

March 11, 2003 -- Perhaps you've never heard of white tea. But there's evidence pointing to the health benefits of green tea and white tea. They may help prevent colon cancer.

Antioxidants and polyphenols -- cancer prevention compounds -- are found in highest levels in white tea, which is the least processed of all teas, writes lead author Gayle. A. Orner, PhD, a researcher with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

White tea is relatively rare and is found in specialty tea shops, over the Internet, and in some grocery stores. Green tea, which undergoes some processing, has higher polyphenol levels than black tea, which gets the most processing, Orner says.

Her study of teas' protective effects against colon cancer appears in the February issue of Carcinogenesis.

In a study involving mice, Orner and colleagues tested the benefits of green tea, white tea and a drug called sulindac, which is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) that, like high-dose aspirin, has been shown to prevent progression of colon cancer and decrease the death rate.
Orner's study used mice that were genetically predisposed to develop tumors in their intestines.
After 12 weeks of treatment, mice that were given white tea, green tea, or low-dose sulindac had significantly fewer tumors than mice that received no treatment.

Mice that received no treatment developed about 30 tumors. Those that consumed green tea had an average of 17 tumors. Mice given white tea had 13 tumors. Mice given both sulindac and white tea had 80% fewer tumors -- an average of six.

It's evidence that tea's effects on metabolism can potentially block some cancer-causing effects, she explains. In fact, the concentrations of tea the mice got were comparable to those consumed by humans, she says.

"Therefore, this widely consumed beverage may be useful in the prevention of intestinal cancer in genetically predisposed individuals," she writes.

"These are pretty exciting results," Orner says in a news release. "What's especially significant is that as far as we can tell, consumption of tea has none of the side-effects of NSAIDs, which can be severe, including bleeding, ulcers, and even death."

The use of NSAIDS for cancer prevention, heart disease, and other concerns is increasingly common with many people, and high aspirin intake has been associated with a 40% to 50% decrease in death from colon cancer, she notes in her paper.

To get the same colon cancer-prevention benefits of green tea or white tea, drink about three mugs of tea daily, she says. This is based on studies in Japan with green tea and gastric cancer, where researchers essentially concluded "the more, the better."

Green Tea and Arthritis

Winter time anti-inflammatory advice - warm up with green tea, Green tea for our joints.Many have heard about the health benefits of green tea, particularly inthe context of preventing cancer and heart disease. It also has athermogenic effect, so it is good for those who wish to lose weight.As joint health is one our main interests as chiropractors, it isinteresting to note that green tea has been shown to be effective ininhibiting the development of arthritis is experimental models. The wayresearchers study arthritis in animal models is to chemically inducearthritis with various substances. Then animals are given differentpotential anti-inflammatory drugs or supplements to examine the outcomeon the progression of arthritis.In one interesting study, researchers gave mice green tea polyphenols tomice in water, which basically equates with the green tea extracts thatare found in supplements. Of the mice given the green tea extract, theincidence of arthritis was 33% to 50%, compared to an incidence of 84%to 100% in the mice who did not receive green tea supplementation (1).Exactly how much green tea we should drink or the amount we should takein supplement for is not known for sure. I try to drink at least 3-4 cupsper day. Many of the excellent newer flavonoid and anti-inflammatorysupplements contain green tea extracts.The polyphenols in green tea, which are part of the bioflavonoid family,are known as catechins. The key catechin in green tea isepigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG for short.What if you or your patients don't want to make or drink green tea? Takesupplemental green tea extracts.Haqqi TM et al. Prevention of collagen-induced arthritis in mice by apolyphenol fraction from green tea. Proc Natl Acad Sci 1999; 96:4524-29Tea Protects against Osteoporosis

April 13, 2000 (Atlanta) -- Ladies, start your teapots! A new study from England shows that tea may build and strengthen bones -- protecting women against osteoporosis. If milk is added to the tea, the benefit is boosted even more.

Although several studies have cited caffeine intake a risk factor for osteoporosis and hip fracture in women, at least two European studies have reported that tea drinking protected against hip breaks.

The current study shows that "the magnitude of the effects of drinking tea was notable," writes lead author Verona M. Hegarty, PhD, a gerontology researcher at England's University of Cambridge School of Medicine. Older women who drank tea had higher bone mineral density measurements, an indicator of bone health, than those who did not drink tea. "Nutrients found in tea ... [may] protect against osteoporosis in older women," concludes Hegarty.
Her study, which involved over 1,200 women living in Cambridge, is published in this month's issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The women completed questionnaires regarding their health and lifestyle that included questions on daily tea and coffee consumption, smoking habits, physical activity, alcohol intake, whether they drank caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee, whether coffee was instant or ground, whether they used hormone replacement therapy, if they added milk to tea, and so on. Each also had their bone mineral density measured, which showed bone strength in the spine and the area where hip breaks most often occur.

Among the women, there were over 1,100 tea drinkers and just about 120 non-tea drinkers, all between the ages of 65 and 76.

Tea drinkers had significantly greater bone mineral density measurements. Among coffee drinkers, those who also drank tea had significantly higher measurements as well.
"These findings were independent of smoking status, use of hormone replacement therapy, coffee drinking, and whether milk was added to tea," says Hegarty. Also, number of cups of tea per day did not seem to play a role, and women who added milk to their tea had much higher bone mineral density in the hip area.

Though more study is needed, Hegarty suggests that tea has components that weakly mimic the effect of the female hormone, estrogen -- documented by other researchers -- and may be important in maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. Hegarty writes that tea's attributes may have little effect in younger women and men but may be important in keeping bones healthy in older women.

"This research presents some interesting findings," Pamela Meyers, PhD, tells WebMD. "Most research on teas, especially on green tea, has looked at its ability to lower risks of cancer and heart disease. This is the first I have seen that has researched the effects of tea on BMD." Meyers is a clinical nutritionist and assistant professor at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta.

However, says Meyers, she would like to see more complete data on intake of animal protein, calcium, caffeinated sodas and exercise -- all factors that can affect bone density. She reminds women that high consumption of protein and sodas may increase risk of osteoporosis, whereas extra calcium and exercise can improve bone density. "I would like to see more studies into the [estrogen effects] of tea, both green and black," she says.

Vital Information:

Scientific research has shown that caffeine consumption increases the risk of osteoporosis, but a new study shows that tea may actually offer a protective effect against the disease.
In a British study, women who consumed tea had significantly greater bone mineral density when compared to non-tea drinkers.

Researchers suspect that substances in tea can mimic the effects of estrogen in protecting bones.

A Kirkland cafe with no prices

2007-02-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

With its blood-red walls and black leather sofas, Kirkland's Terra Bite Lounge looks like any other coffee shop — until you get to the menu. There are no prices listed. Terra Bite doesn't have them.

You read that right: No prices. Customers pay what and when they like, or not at all — it makes no difference to the cafe employees, who are instructed not to peek when people put money in the metal lock box.

"Does it really matter to any of our patrons ... whether they pay a dollar or three dollars or five dollars?" said Terra Bite founder Ervin Peretz, a 37-year-old Google programmer.

He doesn't think so, at least not in the comfortable lakeside enclave that is downtown Kirkland.
Through his "voluntary payment" cafe, Peretz is poised to become the Robin Hood of the Starbucks set. Using an efficient, low-overhead business model and narrow profit margin, he figures he can finesse the largesse of well-off latte lovers to cover the tabs of the less fortunate.
The idea emerged during a booze-fueled debate in a Saigon bar, where Peretz and a colleague had traveled to blow off steam after a period of long hours at work.

Peretz argued that people are essentially good, but can be influenced by their environment. If people see good, they'll be good.

In November, he set out to prove his point, leasing a $4,000-a-month retail space in a new mixed-used building at Kirkland Avenue and State Street, dropping "in the low six figures" on startup costs and hiring his girlfriend, Susie Allsup, to manage the place, along with one part-time employee.

The name Terra Bite (www.terrabite.org) is a play on the tech term "terabyte," a trillion bytes, as well as a reference to earth and food.

More than coffee, sandwiches or even convenience, Peretz is selling good karma.
"People want something different. They want simplicity" of payment, he said. "They want to be taken to a new place, and they want to contribute to something."

Just how much they want to contribute is another matter.

While charities like the Boomtown Cafe in downtown Seattle charge $2 for Saturday brunch or let people exchange work for meals, Terra Bite is a for-profit business, and Peretz refuses to suggest prices. Each day he records how much was sold and how much was paid.

So far, Terra Bite has served up to 80 customers per day, averaging about $3 per transaction, he said. When the shop brings in a steady flow of 100 customers a day, Peretz figures, he will more than break even.

But will new customers pay, let alone pay it forward?

Even without posted prices, "social monitoring" — the feeling that others are watching what you do — can enforce payment, said Erica Okada, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Washington Business School.

With its anonymous drop box, Terra Bite has minimized, if not eliminated, that effect. Under these circumstances, Okada said, the economic model predicts that Terra Bite customers won't pay anything.

But they do.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, Tonja Maciolek told the barista to charge $4 to her bank card for her bagel with cream cheese and coffee. She said she's a patron because she's sensitive to price and would prefer to name her own, even if it ended up being the same.

Kate Lewis, a 17-year-old high-school student who often hangs out and studies with friends at the cafe, said she would actually pay more than the going rate for her double-tall latte because she admires what the business is doing.

"It's kind of like a social experiment," she said.

Lewis is skeptical voluntary payment would work in larger, more anonymous places like Seattle, but in Kirkland "there's a social standard."

Unwritten as it is, the standard helps Terra Bite extract a psychic price.

Chris Allar, who lives nearby, said every transaction at the cafe forces him to do some mental math, and a little soul-searching.

"It's always hard to see if you paid too much or too little," he said.

Allar put in $3 for his 12-ounce chai tea latte. The anxiety, "a feeling of did I really pay enough," was free.

Peretz admits that Terra Bite treads on shaky ground. He's got to attract enough paying customers to cover the cost of those who pay less or not at all.

Peretz isn't worried that people will abuse Terra Bite. There's enough money to fund the honor system, and enough honor, too, he said.

What does bother him is the prospect that customers might become cynical and think Terra Bite is just a gimmick, and that he's insincere.

All he's really trying to do, he says, is skim the froth off the high-end economy and spread it around a little.

Besides, he added: "If it turned out that 20 percent of the population were dishonest, we could just put in a cash register.

A Brief History of Espresso

2007-02-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Luigi Bezzera, the owner of a manufacturing business invented Espresso at the turn of the century. Luigi Bezzera was simply trying to figure out a way to brew coffee faster. He figured if he could just add pressure to the brewing process it would speed things up. Thus the "Fast Coffee Machine" was created. His idea of a fast cup of coffee turned out much better than he had planned, what he ended up with is a better, fuller tasting cup of strong coffee, as well as a much faster process. He found that the quicker more efficient brewing method allowed for the quality of the beans to be extracted as opposed to over extracting he had previously experienced. The term "Espresso" means fast in italian, hence the term.

It wasn't until later when Desidero Pavoni purchased the rights from Mr. Bezzera for the espresso machine that it became popular. Pavoni was extremely successful in marketing the product and probably changed the way people drink coffee from then on. Just look around! Coffee and Espresso shops are popping up everywhere, even in the U.S. it has become not only popular for the delicious beans, but has given us a new place to socialize.

Espresso Timeline:

In 1901 Luigi Bezzera filed a patent for the espresso machine that contained a boiler and four "groups". Each group could take different size filters that contained the coffee. Boiling water was forced through the coffee and into a cup. Ambrogio Fumagelli says that this was the birth of (fast) espresso coffee.

In 1903 Luigi Bezzera's patent was then purchased by Desiderio Pavoni and put to market in a big way.

In 1905 The Pavoni company begins manufacturing the espresso machines soley based on Bezzera's patent.

In 1927 First espresso machine was installed in the United States. It was a La Pavoni Espresso Machine installed at Regio's in New York.

In 1938 Cremonesi designed a piston pump that forced hot water through the coffee. It was installed at Achille Gaggia's coffee bar.

In 1946 Gaggia begins manufacturing the commercial piston machine. Resulting foam or cream layered coffee or cafe'.

History of Arabian Coffee

2007-02-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

Arabian coffee is the quintessential coffee of the world. Arabia lends its name to the highest quality coffee plant in the world, Coffea Arabica. Arabian coffee accounts for about 80% of all coffee produced in the world. It prefers higher elevations and drier climates than its cousin C. robusta.

The tropics of South America provide ideal conditions for growing Arabian coffee which grows best between 3,000 and 6,500 feet but has been grown as high as 9,000 feet. Generally, the higher the plant is grown the slower it matures. This gives it time to develop the internal elements and oils that give coffee its aromatic flavor.

Coffee was originally discovered in Ethiopia, just across the Red Sea from Arabia. Coffee soon made its way to Yemen where it was embraced by the Islamic people. Soon it became a beverage endorsed by the Islamic clerics as drinking alcohol was prohibited in their religion. Arabian coffee soon came to be known as an Islamic beverage.

Arabian coffee was exported to Europe where the people embraced it. However, the Catholic Cardinals shunned it as the ‘Devil’s drink’ and tried to have it banned.

But then Pope Clement VIII decided that it would be imprudent to ban the beverage without having tasted it, so he summoned a sample. As legend has it, the Pope was immediately enamored by the distinct, pungent aroma and taste. He decided that to banish the delightful drink would be a greater sin. So he baptized it on the spot claiming that it would be a shame to let the impious ones have this delightful drink all to themselves.

Arabian coffee is still a part of the Islamic faith and is use in ritualistic ceremonies.

Arabian coffee growers protected their monopoly on the prized plant. They were the exclusive providers of coffee throughout the world for several hundred years.

That is until a coffee plant finally made its way to the Caribbean. This began a new legacy of high-quality coffee in Latin America.

It is said that all the Arabica coffee grown in the world started from this plant as cuttings were transplanted all over the world. Arabian coffee is truly the source of coffee throughout the world.
The word mocha comes from the name Mokha, the shipping port in Yemen where all Arabian coffee was exported. Mocha has become a term used for describing a coffee beverage in which chocolate is added. But originally it had nothing to do with chocolate.

2007-02-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

There are several steps and many factors that help to create the perfect cup of coffee. Not just one, brewing, ass many would assert. Coffee lovers strive to find the perfect cup of coffee, but are often eluded because adverse water conditions or burned beans keep them from their perfect prize. Making the the perfect cup of coffee depends on the following factors and circumstances.

The quality of the water used to brew the perfect cup of coffee is extremely important. One should use filtered, bottled, or distilled water. Removing minerals from the water that can adversely affect the flavor of the coffee is desirable for the end result. In addition to making your coffee taste better, it reduces the number of times you have to decalcify your brewing equipment. Over heated water (above the boiling point) makes bitter tasting coffee and water that is too cold makes weak coffee. Coffee drinkers should never use tap water
The quality of the beans depends on the country the beans come from, the variety of bean grown, the growing conditions in a particular year and the general climate, the method used to collect the beans, and how they were processed. The storage conditions of the beans on their long journey to the roaster are also a factor.

All of these factors have an effect on the quality of the coffee in your cup. Coffee can be like fine wine, imported beer, or single malt scotch in its complexity of flavor and aroma. The entire experience has dependence on a myriad of factors affecting the final product.

Those who appreciate the finer flavors of regional coffees and the effects that the environment has on a particular season’s crop are experts. Most individuals do not currently know anyone like this.

Most of us generally do not concern ourselves with the details of where our next half-pound of coffee is coming from. We are just looking for a good quality coffee roasted to perfection and prepared with skill and care.

The style of roasting that is used also determines a lot about the way a cup made from that coffee will taste. There are many grades of roast distinguishable by the color that the beans become when the roasting is complete and the taste of the coffee when brewed.

Coffee is traditionally roasted by placing the beans in a rotating drum over a flame or other heat source. The drum is rotated in to keep the heat even. Different roasts are produced by adjusting the roasting time. Descriptions of the roasting process are available elsewhere so there is no need to go into the details here.

The grind is also very important. This factor should not be underestimated. There are several factors to consider here. Firstly, the method used to grind the beans to make flavorful coffee in an efficient manner. Secondly, the size of the grind, from coarse to fine. Finally, consideration of the length of time the beans will be stored after they’ve been ground.

Measure your water at room temperature to be exactly six ounces per cup of coffee and use two tablespoons of grounds for each six ounce cup. A second method of measurement is to experiment with different amounts of coffee water until you get the balance just right.

Finally use clean equipment when roasting, storing, grinding, and brewing you coffee. You should wash everything with hot soapy water every time you use it. It may look clean if you just rinse, but it’s not. Coffee oils cling, taste bitter, and can ruin your perfect cup of coffee.

A Cup Of Joe Says A Lot About Us

2007-02-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

This week I came face-to-face with a genuine dilemma. I had several meetings across town and for some reason I miscalculated and ended up with a 2-1/2 hour gap between meetings. I hate to waste time, but if I drove back to my office, I would simply have to return to my meeting later and with the cost of gas these days, one cannot be too cautious.

You know gas is getting high when it costs more to fill up the car than the car is actually worth. The most valuable thing in my car is in my gas tank.

I remedied the situation by stopping in a small coffee shop for cup of Joe. As far as I'm concerned, there is no bad time to have a cup of coffee, in spite of the price. I ordered my coffee and when the waitress brought it to me, I began to think about coffee. Why did God give us coffee?

Then my mind went back to my grandfather, whose great gift to me was a love of coffee. Nobody loved coffee more. I remember one of his favorite quotes, "You can always tell a man by the coffee drinks."

Anathema to my grandfather was the idea of instant coffee. No man, in his opinion, would ever drink anything of the kind. "If a man would drink instant coffee," my grandfather perked, "there's no telling what else he would do. Never trust a man who drinks instant coffee."
Making coffee was an art form to my grandfather. There was a right way and a wrong way to make coffee, and he always insisted on the right way. Of course, the right way was the way he made coffee.

In grandfather's kitchen was an old wood-burning cook stove. My grandmother cooked meals on this ancient apparatus for more than 50 years. Sure, she eventually got an electric stove but it was more for show than anything else.

On this old-fashioned stove, my grandfather brewed his famous mud broth. He never allowed my grandmother to make the brew; it was his job, which he took seriously.

Once for his birthday we all chipped in and bought him an electric coffee pot. I had never seen my grandfather so mad. When he saw what it was he would not even take it out of the box.
He had strong ideas about coffee and how it should be brewed and woe be to the person who contradicted his ideas.

Grandfather always kept a fire in the old wood cook stove and on the back of the stove he kept his coffee pot, a large 2-gallon pot — one of those old-fashioned percolators long since gone out of style. The coffee was always on, and no matter when you stopped in to see him, he always had "fresh" coffee brewing.

When I say "fresh" I need to explain. Actually, the coffee was only fresh on Sunday. On Saturday night, he routinely emptied the coffee pot and prepared fresh coffee for Sunday morning.

He had an old coffee grinder and ground the coffee beans on Saturday night. He put some other things in the coffee, I have never figured out what. One thing I know he put in was a crushed eggshell. What it did to his coffee I have no idea, but grandfather was sure it was an important ingredient.

The freshly-ground coffee beans were put in, the pot filled with fresh water and set on the back of the stove to slowly perk. This coffee would last the entire week. The coffee was so strong on Sunday that if it didn't wake you in the morning, you were dead.

In fact, cousin Ernie died on a Sunday afternoon, so my grandfather tells the story, and one sip of his black coffee roused him and he lived seven more years, which was unfortunate for grandfather, as he had to support him.

Before retiring each evening my grandfather took care of his coffee. He would freshly grind a few coffee beans, sprinkle it on top of the old coffee grounds, and then add a newly crushed eggshell. Then he would refill the coffee pot with water.

His coffee percolated 24/7 and by Saturday it was so strong you needed a half-cup of sugar just to drink one cup. It was thick enough to use as syrup on your pancakes, but so strong, it dissolved your pancakes before you could eat them.

My grandmother once tried washing the coffee pot. When my grandfather saw her, he became furious, "Never wash that coffee pot," he spouted, "you'll ruin its character and a coffee pot needs a lot of character to make good coffee."

When my grandfather died, I looked at his old black coffee pot and discovered two things. One, the original color was blue. And two, although it was originally a 2-gallon pot, it only could take three quarts of water. The "character," so important to my grandfather, had built up so much over the years its capacity was diminished.

In pondering my grandfather, I thought about my Heavenly Father and His gifts. The Bible puts it this way; "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17 KJV.)
I really don't know why God gave us coffee but I do know God's character is of such a nature that it never diminishes His ability to bless me each day.

The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Contact him by calling 687-4240. His e-mail address is jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is http://www.whatafellowship.com

The Delicious Truth About Soy

2007-02-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

In coffee shops around the country, the word “soy” has become more and more common. Increasing numbers of customers are making the switch, whether for health reasons or simply for its great taste. But what exactly is soy, and what are all these health benefits everyone has been talking about?

As many of you know, “soy” products such as milk and tofu are derived from the Soybean, which has been used as a food source in Asian countries for thousands of years. Soaking, grinding, and then boiling the soybeans produce soy milk itself, which after cooling somewhat resembles animal milk. Soy milk is also high in both protein and calcium, helping earn its “milk” title. Its widely reported health benefits include a decrease in both heart disease and many types of cancer, and a lowering of body cholesterol. Many also claim that it supports kidney health, which helps your body clear itself of toxins caused by poor diet and pollution. Soy is also a natural source of potassium, iron, and the B12 vitamin. Most doctors agree that a diet that includes 25 grams of soy protein per day is an easy and effective way to improve overall health.

For those who would like to add soy to their diet, soy-based espresso drinks are a great way to accomplish this. You can replace cow’s milk with soy milk for all of your favorite drinks recipes, because soy milk can be steamed and frothed with great ease. The home barista need only fill his frothing pitcher with soy milk and proceed as usual, although it’s worth noting that soy milk should not be re-steamed, so be sure to drink it before it gets too cold! Other than this, there is nothing standing in the way of making great soy beverages on your home machine. Happy frothing!

Suggested Recipes:

Cinnamon Soy CappuccinoIngredients:

10oz soy milk, espresso, cinnamon syrup

Directions:

1. Froth half of the soy milk then steam the rest to approximately 160º.
2. Combine ¾ ounce of cinnamon syrup and steamed milk in cappuccino cup then spoon on froth.
3. Pull a double shot of espresso.
4. Pour shots through middle of froth and enjoy!

Soy Caramel MacchiatoIngredients:

10oz soy milk, espresso, vanilla syrup, melted caramel

Directions:

1. Froth a small quantity of soy milk and steam the rest to approximately 160º.
2. Pull a double shot of espresso.
3. Combine ¾ ounce vanilla syrup with steamed milk in cup.
4. Add double shot and melted caramel to drink, stir.
5. Spoon on froth and add a touch of caramel to top.
6. Drink and enjoy!

Iced Soy Mint MochaIngredients:

ice, soy milk, espresso, mint syrup, chocolate syrup

Directions:

1. Fill a ten-ounce glass with ice.
2. Add double shot of espresso.
3. Add 1 ounce of chocolate syrup and ¾ ounce of mint syrup.
4. Fill to top of glass with soy milk
5. Stay cool this summer!

Tips for Brewing Iced Coffee

2007-02-21T08:11:00.000-08:00

Just because the weather's turned hot doesn't mean it's time to forsake your beloved coffee. Whether it's over ice, blended into a smoothie, or mixed into your favorite ice cream, coffee is a great addition to your summer festivities. So when you're preparing for your big summer bash, don't forget to brew a pot of your favorite java.

Here are a few tips on brewing iced coffee:

1. Always brew your coffee hot - Coffee is brewed at specific temperatures because it's the best way to bring out the flavor nuances in the blend you've chosen. Brew your coffee as you normally would, and then pour it over ice to chill it. If you're making small batches or individual drinks, try mixing your coffee and ice in your martini shaker.

2. Brew your coffee double strength - When you're mixing a drink with ice, keep in mind that ice melts and waters down your drink - especially when you're combining it with a hot beverage like coffee. If you're brewing your coffee with a drip coffeemaker, it's a good idea to use the same amount of water and double the amount of coffee you would use for a half pot. This way you get a double strength brew without worrying about overflowing your coffee filter.

3. A little bit of sugar goes a long way - If you like to sweeten up your iced tea, you'll definitely want to add sugar to your iced coffee. But because coffee has a slightly bolder taste than tea when it's chilled, adding a teaspoon or two to the entire batch is generally a good idea. Then set out sugar (and cream) with your iced coffee so your guests can add more to their individual drinks if they choose.

4. Serve your iced coffee with complementary desserts - Coffees from different origins have distinct flavor characteristics that pair very well with specific types of desserts. In order to enhance the flavor of these treats as well as your coffee, it's important to serve them accordingly:

Fresh fruits and berries are especially common this time of year and are best complemented by lighter roasted coffees that have a high acidity. Try serving your berry pies and fruit tortes with our Java Joe's Kenya AA or Guatemalan Huehuetenango.

When you're serving creamy desserts like cheesecakes, custards, and lemon bars, you want to pair them with coffees that reflect their smoothness. Supreme Bean's Organic Rainforest, Java Joe's Costa Rican, and Café La Semeuse' Classique perfectly harmonize with these types of velvety treats.

Dark, bold coffees coffees are best paired with rich chocolate and heavy cream-based desserts like mousse and chocolate cakes. For a decadent combination, serve your indulgent desserts with Java Joe's Sumatra Mandheling or Supreme Bean's Black & Tan

2007-02-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

The history of this infamous drink begins in County Clare, Ireland, where a young restaurateur named Joe Sheridan served up the first Irish coffee. "That's where it all started

Carden, an authority on the Irish drink, has been managing the legendary Buena Vista for several years and says his staff serves more than 500,000 Irish coffees a year. "It's been said that we're the largest consumer of Irish whiskey in America. On any given Friday night we might serve two or three thousand coffees."

Irish coffee was introduced in America after World War II when former Buena Vista owner Jack Koeppler and travel writer Stan Delaplane brought back the recipe from the Foynes Restaurant in Shannon, Ireland, where Joe Sheridan worked.

"It was late at night when a plane of weary travelers arrived," Carden recounted. "Joe was going to serve them all regular coffee, but decided to add whiskey and whipped cream to warm them up a little."

Although the recipe at the Buena Vista is well guarded, Carden did say it can only be made with fresh brewed coffee, smooth Irish whiskey and fresh whipped cream.

"We've experimented with the recipe," Carden said. "And tried variations of sugar, coffee, whiskey, espresso and cream. And the original recipe is the best - I mean people have been coming here since 1952 to get it."

This traditional Irish drink has taken some interesting turns along the way. At Molly's on the Market in New Orleans, proprietor Jim Monaghan, Jr. serves up a frozen Irish coffee to combat the insufferable heat and humidity on the bayou.

frozen Irish coffee is a real mainstay here at Molly's," Monaghan said. "People from all around the world come looking for it." Monaghan, whose father came up with the recipe almost 20 years ago, said it's the perfect drink when it's hot outside. "I think my father dreamt it up when he was half asleep. He must have been looking for something to wake him up and get a good buzz on."

Like Carden, Monaghan would not give up his recipe for this delicious Irish drink, so here's an educated guess at what makes this drink so special

Traditional Irish coffee

Pour freshly brewed coffee into a pre-heated Irish coffee mug like our Stout, Nouveau, or Classic styles. Then drop three cocktail sugar cubes from your Stainless Steel Sugar Bowl into the coffee and stir with a Latte Macchiato Spoon. Once the sugar is thoroughly dissolved, add a shot of Irish whiskey measured in a 2 oz shot glass for proper taste and body. Using our latte macchiato spoon, pour whipped cream gently over the top of the coffee mixture - similar to making a Black & Tan. Enjoy while piping hot!

What Kind of Drinks Can I Make?

2007-02-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

Espresso Is The Starting Point

A coffee specialty drink by any other name is still espresso. Nearly any caffeinated beverage you sip at the coffee shop or make at home has this one common ingredient, but by varying the ingredients you add to espresso you can produce a latte, cappuccino or your own unique beverage.

The information below will get you started on your coffee-brewing adventure by providing some of the most popular recipes for espresso-based drinks. Also feel free to be inventive and use these ideas to create coffee specialty drinks that fit your special occasion.Espresso Can Go Solo
Most of us know that espresso is simply pressure-brewed coffee. However there is often confusion over what size an espresso drink should be. Generally speaking, a single shot of espresso is about 1 to 1.5 ounces, while a double shot measures 2 to 2.5 ounces. All shots of espresso should take about 20 to 25 seconds to brew. If you find that your shots pull too quickly, too slowly, or taste bitter refer to the Golden Rule for some trouble-shooting guides.
There are also those coffee connoisseurs who like to vary the size of their shots, brewing a smaller shot known as the Ristretto, or a larger shot called the Lungo.
-The Ristretto or the “little one” is the smallest shot of espresso due to the restricted water flow. The Ristretto will be about 0.75 to 1 ounce.

-The Lungo is a long pull, meaning that about twice the amount of water is pulled through. Instead of having a 2 to 2.5 ounce double shot you would have a 5 to 6 ounce shot.

What's The Difference Between A Cappuccino And A Latte?

The basic difference between these two espresso-based drinks is the type of milk used. A cappuccino has frothed and steamed milk, whereas the latte contains steamed milk only. A variety of flavorings can also be added to a cappuccino or a latte.

VARIATIONS:

-A Dry Cappuccino is a double shot of espresso with little or no steamed milk, but frothed milk on top.

-A Wet Cappuccino is a double shot of espresso with more steamed milk than frothed milk.
Espresso With A Twist

You can also use your espresso machine to make Café Americano and Café Crema.

-Café Americano is a single shot of espresso with 6 to 8 ounces of hot water added to it. It is a little sweeter tasting because hot water is added to the shot, not run through the coffee grounds. Although more water is used to make Café Americano this process still produces a full-bodied cup of coffee.

-Café Crema is a single shot, but it is a long pull. Instead of pulling 1.5 ounces of water through coarsely ground espresso you pull 6 to 8 ounces.

Other Specialty Drinks

VARIATIONS:

For a low fat version you can use our Monin O'Free syrups, which add extra flavoring but no fat, carbs or calories. You can also substitute the whipped cream with frothed, skim milk, and instead of steaming the entire six ounces of milk you could steam three ounces, and froth the other three ounces.

Be Creative With Drip Coffee

There are also some different coffee drinks you can create by using your traditional drip coffee machine.

Do not limit yourself to these basic recipes. These can be used as a springboard to help you create other tasty coffee drinks. You just simply adjust the amount of espresso, steamed milk, frothed milk or syrup. Also take a look at our selection of Monin syrups and our Monin Recipe Explorer for help in choosing flavored syrups to suit your taste. Feel free to experiment and have fun coming up with an original name for your caffeinated concoction.

2007-02-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

Enjoyed for nearly five decades along the Mediterranean Coast and long considered the national drink of Greece, the frappé is quickly becoming an en vogue drink stateside. This icy cold, foam-covered caffeinated coffee drink gained some notoriety during the 2004 Olympics when millions of Americans converged on Athens and gulped down frappés by the gallon.

Frappés have a long history in Greece and around the Mediterranean Coast, with dozens of variations according to the Greece Ministry of Tourism. Said to have been created in 1957 during an International Trade Fair, the frappé is considered somewhat of a mainstay in Greece. Whether it's with breakfast, lunch or after dinner, the cold, caffeinated beverage is the perfect summertime drink.

A frappé is traditionally made with instant coffee, sugar, cold water and ice, then shaken and served in a tall, frosty glass. But frappés can be made with brewed coffee and espresso too. And in some parts of Eastern Europe frappés are made with cola in place of coffee. Frappés have also been known to contain fruit, ice cream and even Kahlua or Baileys Irish Cream.

In Greece however, coffee frappés have only slight variations. Simply put, they come with or without sugar, with or without milk and either shaken or stirred. And since Greeks have been known to drink four times their share of coffee per capita, and spend hours enjoying frappés in seaside cafés, they are a true authority on this foamy, frosty drink.

Here are two delicious recipes to make at home - but you can always try your own variations!

Plain Frappé Recipe for Single Serving

½ Cup Strong Black Coffee
½ Cup Milk
1 to 2 tsp Sugar to taste

Mix together with ice and blend or shake.
Pour into a tall frosty glass and drink with a straw.

Mocha Frappé Recipe for Four or More

4 Cups Chilled Coffee
4 tbsp Instant Chocolate Powder
1 ½ Cups Milk
½ Cup Whipped Cream
4 Scoops Vanilla Ice Cream

Pour chilled coffee, milk and chocolate powder into blender with ice and mix. Add whipped cream and ice cream and blend. Pour into mugs and garnish with additional whipped cream.

2007-02-21T07:43:00.000-08:00

Caffeine. Super-size it?

If you have been reading my blog , you will remember an article we wrote entitled “Caffeine: Good or Bad?”. We covered the basic studies and beliefs that have been around for ages. As you have probably heard, caffeine was once thought to be linked to many medical problems, like heart disease and high blood pressure. Then we gave you the good news: It’s not as bad as they thought! Having around 300mg of caffeine per day did not cause problems or create an addiction problem. However, the one thing we didn’t discuss was the size of the cups. If I drink three 16oz cappuccinos per day does my risk for problems increase? Is it bad for me? Or is it just a sign of our “super-sized” generation?

This may put your mind at ease: in order for caffeine to have an effect on the part of the brain responsible for addiction you would have to drink at least seven cups of coffee in a row. I find that fairly hard to do in a day, especially seven in a row. Wouldn’t you need a break? A cup of American drip coffee typically has 100mg of caffeine in each 6oz cup. A double shot of espresso has about 50mg of caffeine. I drink two 16oz cappuccinos per day. Each one has a double shot of espresso and then the rest of the cup is filled with frothed milk. That gives me more calories and milk than caffeine.

Lately, we have all been made aware of what our super-sizing is doing to us. The extra food at restaurants and fast food places is giving us more food and calories. The plus is that we get more quantity without paying too much more. Think about this: The average sized plate at a restaurant 20 years ago was 10 inches. Now it is around 12 inches. Do you remember the first time you saw a 20oz soda in a vending machine? I do. I thought it was huge. I have some coffee cups that inherited from my grandmother. Those cups are only 5oz. The cups I buy now can be any size I want. Most of them look like soup bowls with a handle. Doesn’t that tell you something about how everything is “growing”?

So, everything is getting bigger, but what does it have to do with specialty coffee? Well, for one thing, specialty coffee beans are not mass-produced. They are roasted in batches, usually small batches. Each batch is a little different. It also takes a little more effort and concentration to make a good shot of espresso. Another thing is that if you make specialty drinks according to the recipe, they are usually no larger than 8oz. For example, the “Basic Cappuccino” recipe contains one ounce of espresso and steamed/frothed milk. You put the espresso in first, then add your frothed and steamed milk in a 6oz cup.

Elegance and sophistication are also closely associated with espresso and specialty coffee drinks. Think about it, don’t the painted porcelain cups look attractive? Would you ever be able to use them if you only made 16oz cappuccinos? Probably not, unless you made your own cups. There is a feeling of sophistication that goes along with drinking a wonderfully tasting cappuccino in a hand-made cup. You give that up when it gets handed to you in a 16oz to 24oz paper cup.
I like the convenience of having one big cup with what I love in it. However, I also like the sophistication and elegance of sitting in a café and having that great cappuccino in the smaller, traditional cup. It just seems right. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one needs to worry that they will harm themselves by having a couple 16oz cappuccinos or lattes per day.

Caffeine: Good or Bad?

2007-02-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

Some of us just can't get through a morning or even a day without caffeine! A good many studies have been done about caffeine but the results and conclusions tend to vary, contradict or change as technology evolves. We had a hard time figuring out what to believe. So Whole Latte Love decided to do some good old investigative research on the subject of coffee and caffeine.
Do I need a 12-step program to kick coffee? Caffeine is known in the medical world as trimethylxanthine. It can be used medically as a cardiac stimulant or as a diuretic. Some studies seem to say that caffeine acts like drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine or nicotine. These studies suggest that caffeine affects the part of the brain that triggers functional activity in the shell of the nucleus accumbens (the part of the brain responsible for addiction). This seems to be old news. Recently French researchers have discovered that caffeine does not affect the area of the brain that involves addiction at doses of one to three cups a day. It will increase alertness, but minus the addictive dependence.

What’s in my cup? The amount of caffeine that is in your coffee depends on many variables. Drip coffee has about 100mg of caffeine in a six-ounce cup. A double shot of espresso has about 50mg of caffeine. You thought espresso was stronger, huh? There are two main reasons for this surprising fact. In the coffee world there are two important coffee plants: Robusta (Coffea canephora) and Arabica (Coffea Arabica). Robusta coffee has historically been less expensive to grow and contains the highest caffeine content. Roasting masters of old have developed closely guarded blends of Arabica over hundreds of years. Coffee connoisseurs consider Arabica the better bean for a superior coffee. Espresso blends primarily use Arabica. However some roast masters will blend in some Robusta as a crema enhancer. Espresso is also pressured brewed with just a small amount of water per shot. Drip coffee uses the less expensive Robusta coffee, which accounts for part of its higher caffeine content. It is also exposed to a large amount of water dripping through a screen or filter. In general, the more water used for brewing, the more caffeine the drink will contain.

Is coffee actually good for me? The University of Bristol studied research on caffeine’s influence on cognition and mood. Good news! Coffee helps in the performance of tasks that require sustained attention. Even at normal times when alertness may be hindered, such as after lunch or when a person has a cold.

Will I fall over and die because I drink coffee? For a period of time it was thought that caffeine contributed to heart disease, high blood pressure, miscarriage, and many other medical problems. Recently with more rigorous testing and better methods The American Medical Association stated, “Moderate tea or coffee drinkers probably need have no concern for their health relative to their caffeine consumption provided other lifestyle habits (diet, alcohol consumption) are moderate, as well.” Out of all the studies done there has been no evidence that serious health problems come as a result of drinking coffee or having caffeine in your diet. It is recommended that your caffeine intake is no more than 300mg per day. That’s about three cups of drip-brewed coffee per day. So, drink up!

Coffee: Joining the Fight Against Cancer !!!

2007-02-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

Is coffee the cure for all that ails you?

For years now, scientists and researchers have been working diligently to determine the effects coffee has on the body. Does coffee help fight off infections and diseases because of the antioxidants and phytoestrogens found in it?

"Antioxidants help starve off cancer, heart disease, diabetes and stroke," Dr. Joe Vinson, a chemist at the University of Scranton. And because so many Americans nowadays get their majority of antioxidants from coffee, it has become your army to protect you from chronic diseases, he said.

In addition to antioxidants, coffee is an important source of phytoestrogens, a chemical that has been known to play a role in preventing some types of cancers, as well as regulating cholesterol and maintaining bone density. Coffee also contains caffeine, which is good for the heart and arteries, Dr. Vinison said. It helps reduce headaches and the risk of asthma attacks because it improves circulation within the heart.

Coffee has also been linked to reducing the risk of liver disease. Several months ago, researchers at Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, a clinical research facility in Pasadena, California, found that drinking coffee significantly reduces the risk of liver disease. They found that drinking a cup of coffee a day lowered the incidence of cirrhosis of the liver for alcohol drinkers by 22%. And earlier this year, a team of Japanese researchers at the National Cancer Center in Tokyo reported that folks who drink coffee on a daily basis apparently have half the liver cancer risk of those who don't.

Researchers at the University of Toronto also studied the relationship coffee has with cancer, specifically breast cancer.

They found that women who drink coffee regularly and carry the mutated gene BRCA1, which has been linked to breast cancer, could reduce their risk of developing the cancer by simply increasing coffee consumption.

According to Dr. Steven Narod, a researcher at the University of Toronto, women who drank 1 to 3 cups of coffee a day reduced their likelihood of developing breast cancer by 10%. The more coffee the women drank, the better the response. If they drank 4 to 5 cups a day, the chances decreased by 25%, and if they drank 6 or more cups of coffee, the chances decreased by 69%. Researchers also found that drinking coffee reduced the risk of developing the most common form of diabetes.

Mark Pereira, an epidemiologist for the University of Minnesota who worked in conjunction with a research team from the Harvard School of Public Health, found that men who drank more than 6, eight-ounce cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of Type 2 Diabetes by half. For women who drank the same amount, their risk was reduced by nearly 30%.

"When you get up to 4 or 5 or more cups per day, you have very powerful antioxidant activity," Pereira said.

Finally, enough evidence that says yes indeed, coffee is good for you.

Coffee & Tea Repairs Damaged Skin

2007-02-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

Like a snake oil salesman with cure-alls and spiritual remedies, BioMed Central recently claimed that green tea has medicinal powers too. In the report recently released by the London-based biomedical firm, green tea extract was found to help heal skin damaged from radiation therapy.

The report, released in December of last year, found the majority of test subjects who applied green tea extract over skin damaged by radiotherapy saw significant skin improvement. The success rate may be due to the powerful extracts green tea releases.

“The thinking is that green tea contains polyphenols - black tea does as well, but green tea may contain more,” said Dr. Emily Senay in a recent interview.

Senay, a graduate of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine and longtime anchor of the Medical News Network, said the study conducted on 60 people found that after 16 days, the people who applied the green tea extract saw some skin improvement, while the people who applied black tea to the affected areas saw improvement after 22 days – six days longer than green tea. Just imagine the results if they tested it on more than 60 people for more than a month.

But tea isn't the only thing working to improve the look of skin nowadays. Coffee powder from green coffee beans has been shown to provide antioxidant benefits as well - but people have known that for years it seems.

For generations Russian bathhouses have been using coffee as a natural antioxidant and astringent. Anti-oxidants play an important role in fighting off free radicals, according to scientists at Scranton University. Left to their own devices, free radicals would attack and kill cells – thus speeding up the aging process.

And who wants that? So drink up !!

Rarest Coffee?

2007-02-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

It sounds like an urban myth of some sort. You can’t keep yourself from laughing the first time you hear of it. As strange as it may be, Kopi Luwak is not an urban myth but in fact one of the rarest and most costly coffees in the world.

Kopi Luwak gains it's legendary status from the way it is “processed”, as opposed to its origin. There is a small cat-like animal called the Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) found in Indonesia that reside in the coffee trees. Civets were considered pests because they constantly ate the ripe red coffee cherries of the trees. Just like the rest of us, what Civets eat, Civets digest and excrete. One fine day some rather bored locals gathered the expelled beans to find them still intact and wrapped in their thin layers of cherry mucilage. We’re not too sure how the story goes from this point but they decided to roast these beans.

They found that the Civet’s stomach enzymes added uniqueness to the flavor of the coffee. This process of natural fermentation using stomach acids and enzymes has a different effect than the typical fermentation with water. We personally have yet to try it, but those that have, described it as having a heavy caramel taste, gamy flavor and a musty and jungle-like aroma.

Because of this “process” it obviously takes a long time to collect enough beans to roast. It can be found priced upwards $300 a pound and seems to have become more of a novelty coffee. If you do ever get a chance to taste it you just might be able to appreciate its uniqueness and rarity. Or not. Either way, we’d love to hear what you thought of it!

Coffee: A Stimulating History

2007-02-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

Coffee, like many of the modern world’s most popular foods, has two histories.The first encompasses the rich but largely undocumented record of its discovery and early use among the peoples of East Africa and the Arabian peninsula.The second, more familiar record, dates from the last 5 centuries when Europeans embraced the drink and carried it with them all over the world.

Out of AfricaThe first thing to realize about ancient coffee history is that while there is general agreement about many facts, there are countless variations in the details.

Although coffee has been cultivated in the Arabian peninsula around Yemen since the 6th century, its origins are lost in the mists of legend.One amusing tale tells the story of an East African goat herder named Kaldi who was surprised by unusual behavior among his goats. After they had eaten berries from a nearby bush, the goats seemed to be more physically lively, even frolicsome and frisky.Few agree on the dates this legend, except to place it well before the first millennium – 1000 AD.

In some versions, it was sheep not goats that are the heroes. Whatever, the case, the behavior of the animals inspired Kaldi to inspect the bush for himself. Once he tried the berries, he felt a burst of energy too. It wasn’t long before news of the coffee bush and its stimulating properties spread through the area known today as Ethiopia.A different legend traces coffee to Arabia and provides the source for the word “mocha.” In this legend an outcast group, banished to the desert, survives by boiling the berries of an unknown plant. Their survival is regarded as a sign of religious significance and is forever associated with the nearby settlement – Mocha.In fact, modern botanists have confirmed that coffee originated high (several thousand feet) in Ethiopia’s central plains.It didn’t take long before the reigning religious leaders of the day rendered their opinion about this new stimulant. Predictably, many considered it the product of the devil.Fortunately, members of one religious order was more open minded. Having dried the berries for easy transport back to monasteries, they placed them in water to revive the flavor, eating the fruit and sipping the liquid mixture. The new found stimulant was pressed into service to prepare the monks for daily prayer.It took some time for coffee to evolve to become the beverage we know today. The Galla tribe of Ethiopia, according to another source, would wrap coffee beans in animal fat, eating the mix to nourish themselves in war and raids. Further, when it was combined with water, it was often green beans that were steeped much like tea leaves.Widespread coffee cultivation was slow to develop. It wasn’t until the 15th and 16th centuries that coffee trees were planted extensively throughout Yemen. Coffee was still regarded as a drink used for medicinal or ritual purposes, and it was closely guarded secret.From there, it spread east to India and west across ancient trade routes to the Ottoman Empire, modern day Turkey. There coffee beans were roasted for the first time over open fires. Once crushed, the roasted beans were boiled in water. The result was the prototype of our brewed coffee. Turks introduced flavors to coffee, adding anise, cinnamon, cardamom and clove to the brew. The Turks also considered coffee an aphrodisiac.Constantinople was the site of the world’s first coffee shop, opened in the latter half of the 15th century.Coffee to GoCoffee did not appear in Europe until Venetian traders brought it with them along with the spices, jewels and other treasure from the near and far east.However, it didn’t take long for the reigning authorities, especially the Roman Catholic Church to issue its opinion of the new beverage. Once again, the drink faced religious censure, with many condemning coffee as a beverage of the devil and urging that it be banned.Fortunately, Pope Clement VII had already fallen under coffee’s flavorful spell. Already a regular coffee drinker, the Pope actually blessed coffee and declared it a Christian beverage, suitable for the faithful! In time, many throughout Europe relished the stimulating properties of coffee. Foreshadowing our own association of good coffee and good conversation, Europeans began to establish coffee houses across the continent, with coffee houses sprouting across Italy and in London, Paris, Vienna and Berlin throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.Some credit the spread of coffee houses with the intellectual renaissance known as the Enlightenment. Coffee houses provided informal forum where the leading thinkers and artists, along with politicians and other social leaders, could gather to debate and discuss the issues of the day.

Joe arrives in the AmericasCoffee did not reach the Americas until the 1700's.Although history says John Smith and the first arrivals in Virginia colony brought coffee with them, we have a French infantry captain to thank for the cultivation of coffee. The captain harbored on a long transatlantic journey, transplanting his prize on the Caribbean Island of Martinique.
Within 50 years, that single plant was surrounded by 19 million coffee trees – a testament to the drink’s growing popularity.

From Martinique, which has long since been superceded as a major coffee growing region, coffee traveled throughout the mountainous tropical areas of Central and South America which continue to produce some of the world’s finest coffees.O, say can you see?People wonder sometimes why coffee is the drink of the Untied States, but tea retains that honor in the United Kingdom.

There’s a simple reason. Remember the Boston Tea Party?

Because of the high tax on teas, colonists dumped it into Boston harbor. That wasn’t all: as a further protest, the young Continental Congress went so far as to declare coffee the national drink of the then 13 colonies.

Fast track EspressoThe first espresso machine appeared, in crude form, in France in the 1820s. It wasn’t until 80 years later in Italy that a commercial grade machine appeared, and another 40 years, when Achille Gaggia perfected a machine with a high pressure piston to extract the coffee and produce the “crema” so familiar to espresso drinkers today. Originally, manually operated, thanks to later innovations the pumps were mechanized for even greater
control.These pump machines, still the most common in use, eliminated the need for beans to remain too long in boiling water; thus, the proper extraction could occur. Cappuccino followed shortly, taking its name from the resemblance of its brown color to the hoods of monks in the Capuchin order.Coffee today is the world’s most popular beverage. Each year over 400 billion cups consumed every year.

And as an import, it is second only to oil.

Best of all, appreciation of premium coffees has never been higher worldwide as individuals are beginning to recognize distinctions and nuances in flavor with a care reserved previously for wine.

The History of Tea !

2007-02-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

Almost as old as time, tea has been a favored drink for centuries – regardless of class or social standing. It has been enjoyed by the elite, the aristocracy, and at the same time – the common man.

You see, legend has it that Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a Camellia Sinensis tree when some of its leaves blew into his cauldron of boiling water. Being a renowned herbalist, Shen Nung decided to try the potion – thus accidentally concocting the first pot of tea in 2737 BC. This event, according to folklore, is where the story of tea begins.

Now, fast-forward two thousand years to 618 AD, when the Chinese scholar, Lu Yu wrote the first book about tea. The Ch'a Ching. It's then, during the Tang Dynasty that tea gained popularity and became available to the common man.

The Ch'a Ching would forever change the face of tea.

Lu Yu expanded on the traditional preparation of tea and heightened it to a near religious experience. With set rituals, implements and guidelines – tea became ceremonial.

The Cha' Ching was extremely influential in Japan, where it transformed the traditional tea ceremony into something much more sophisticated. By the 13th century, the Japanese tea ceremony had become associated with humility, naturalism and Zen Buddhism.

By the 16th century, tea drinking in Japan spread to every class, as the Japanese became absolutely engrossed with all things tea – including the tea ceremony. Tea Masters like Takeno Joo began teaching the ceremony in special rooms – known today as Tea Rooms. Ranging in size from large to small, these buildings, called chashitsu in Japanese, were influenced by the Zen philosophy of simplicity and tranquility.

A similar philosophy was seen in England during the reign of Charles II, when tea was introduced to the British Isles by way of the British East India Company. Tea had become extremely fashionable in aristocratic circles thanks to Queen Catherine of Braganza, who married Charles II of England. Very formal tea parties then began to sweep Britain because of Queen Catherine's love for tea.

To fill the increasing demand for tea, the British East India Company monopolized the tea trade with India and the Far East for years, inflating costs and imposing high taxes on tea. Tea smugglers and criminal gangs began competing with the British East India Company, providing tea without the high taxes to the less affluent in Britain and America.

The tax on tea became such a hot political issue in Colonial America that it sparked the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. At that time, a majority of colonists felt that the tax Britain imposed on tea was unfair since they were not represented in Parliament.

So in retaliation, when three ships from the British East India Company reached Boston Harbor filled with tea, the colonists refused to pay the tax and allow the tea to come ashore. At the same time however, a naval blockade prevented the ships from leaving without paying a duty on the tea.

It became a stalemate until the enraged colonists, led by Samuel Adams and Josiah Quincy took matters into their own hands. They disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, boarded the three ships, split open the tea chests and threw the tea into the harbor. This event is said to have sparked the American Revolution, and incidentally, the beginning of the end of the British East India Company's monopoly on trade with China.

By the 19th Century, tea drinking had fallen out of favor in America, but had become firmly established as part of the British way of life. So much so, that during World War I and II, the British government took control over the importation and rationing of tea.

For nearly three hundred years, nearly a third of all the world's tea was bought and sold at the London Tea Auction. It was sent from London warehouses to retailers around the world specializing in blending and packaging. But as countries like India and Sri Lanka gained independence, many estate owners preferred to sell their tea without using the London Tea Auction as a middleman.

These countries and others, including China, began exporting tea independently after the London Tea Auction closed in 1998. The popularity of White Tea, specifically White Silver Needle Tea harvested from China's Fujian Province, has grown in popularity around the world since the close of the auction.

American-owned companies like Teaposy began using the Fujian White Tea for blooming teas. These blooms are carefully hand-sewn by artists who tie the tealeaves around flower blossoms – creating teaposies. When the teaposies are steeping in a clear glass pot, they blossom into unique and beautiful shapes and colors. In a sense, these trendy blooms have brought tea full circle – bringing the tradition of ceremony back to tea.

Decaffeinated Limits

2007-02-20T14:28:00.001-08:00

Can't sleep? Wonder if the waiter really poured you decaffeinated coffee after dinner? Well you're not alone. A lot of people are asking who exactly is governing the world of decaffeination. The FDA? Or are they too consumed with the war on bioterrorism to regulate caffeine? We've got some answers. According to Diana Monaco, a Public Affairs Specialist for the United States Food and Drug Administration, decaffeinated coffee must have 97% of the caffeine removed in order to be classified as decaffeinated. Now, there are several different ways caffeine can be removed from coffee. The first, and what some consider an ideal way to remove the caffeine, is the Swiss Water Process. The coffee beans are soaked in extremely hot water using this method, until nearly all the caffeine is removed. Utilizing carbon dioxide as a natural element is another common way to decaffeinate coffee. Basically, water is added to the carbon dioxide creating sparkling water that acts as a magnet to attract all the caffeine molecules. This process is considered a bit more environmentally friendly than solvent methods, because its byproducts are natural and recyclable. Solvent methods of decaffeination, often referred to as the European Process, involve a chemical, usually methylene chloride, to steam open the beans and remove the caffeine. The beans are repeatedly rinsed with the methylene chloride and then dried before roasting. If there are any solvents remaining, they are burned off during the roasting process.
Each method, according to Monaco, should reduce the caffeine content to roughly 10 mg per 12 oz cup. However, the caffeine content of coffee beans varies widely even before the decaffeination process begins. For instance, Arabica coffee beans contain approximately half of the natural levels of caffeine than that of Robusta coffee beans. Therefore, the caffeine content of decaffeinated coffee fluctuates significantly, and can measure much higher than the compulsory 10 mg per 12 oz cup, according to Monaco. In a recent report, a familiar Seattle-based coffee chain was producing decaffeinated coffee with 22 mg of caffeine in a 16 oz cup. That's way above the limits set by the FDA – in fact, that same cup of decaf contains nearly an equal amount of caffeine as an 8 oz serving of Coke or Pepsi. “For many years people have been researching caffeine in products,” Monaco said. “You can see though that it would be hard to maintain consistency with coffee beans due to the difference in all types of beans that are available.” The FDA does not currently require food and beverage manufacturers to list caffeine levels on labels if the caffeine is naturally present, so manufacturers of coffee, tea, chocolate and soft drinks are not required to list caffeine on their label. “Caffeine in coffee is not a high priority for the agency,” Monaco said. It's only when caffeine has been added, like with over-the-counter prescription medications that you'll see it listed as an active ingredient.

Decaffeinated Limits

2007-02-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

Coffee: It's not Just for Drinking Anymore.

2007-02-20T14:24:00.001-08:00

Did you know that every time you throw your spent coffee grounds in the garbage, you're throwing away a valuable resource? You agonize over every last drop of your brew and make painstaking efforts to treat your beans with respect, but then discard the used grounds as if they have no use. This is a myth, my friends! Making their way from elite spas, to your neighbor's garden, to one of the best steakhouses in Seattle, coffee grounds are taking the country by storm. Here are some of the ways that you can make your used coffee grounds work for you!Seattle's Signature Coffee SteakWe're always looking for new flavors to add to our lattes, but meat? When a chef from Rippe's Steakhouse in Seattle had the bright idea to coat filet mignon with spent espresso grounds from the local coffee house, she had no idea it would become such a phenomenon. Said to have a mild coffee taste, this coffee covered filet will be a hit at your next barbeque!

Ingredients:12 oz filet mignon3 Tbsp. ground espresso1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon1 tsp. Kosher salt1/8 tsp. onion powder1/8 tsp. garlic powder1/8 tsp. black pepper1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper1 pinch paprika

(This is Rippe's original recipe as printed on Supermarketguru.com!)

Prepare steak for cooking:Start by trimming any fat away from the edges of the filet. Cover with plastic wrap and use mallet to hammer into 1--inch thickness. Using a small, shallow bowl; submerse fillet in 1 cup of Cabernet Sauvignon for several hours. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients including the ground espresso. After the filet has marinated, place it into the bowl with the mixture of dry spices and espresso. Coat liberally.Grilling steak:Grill each side of filet on high heat for 3 minutes. High heat will create flames with most home grills. Decrease, or move, from high heat and continue cooking until desired temperature is reached. Filet mignon is best served medium rare, which measures 130-140 degrees internal temperature.

Gardening with a God ShotCoffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, making them a perfect soil conditioner and a great complement to your compost pile. Thoroughly blend the coffee in with your soil or compost, and if you're adding to your compost heap, make sure the grounds don't make up more than ¼ of the total mixture. Adding whatever grounds are leftover from your daily brewing will do the trick, but if your coffee rituals can't keep up with your gardening habit, most coffee houses are happy to give away whatever they've got. Worms are very attracted to the grounds as well, so give them a smorgasbord of Sumatra and watch your plants improve in looks and health!

Have some cold coffee sitting in the pot from this morning? Pour it on your indoor plants. It will produce a similar effect as mixing the grounds with your soil!

Barista's Body ScrubUsed coffee grounds have not one, but two benefits for your skin! First of all, the grounds exfoliate your skin, removing dead cells and bringing out fresh and healthy skin. In addition, the grounds have a known cellulite fighter as a key component: caffeine! Several skin care companies have introduced coffee ground scrubs, but why break the bank?

Ingredients:1/4 cup brown sugar1 tablespoon freshly ground coffee beans (A drip grind will work best for this, so you espresso fanatics will probably need to change your grind setting!)1 tablespoon finely chopped hazelnuts2 teaspoons almond oil2 teaspoons jojoba oil2 teaspoons soy oil (or olive oil)8 drops of orange essential oil teensy dash of cinnamon

(This recipe from ArizonaSpaGirls.com shows you how to make your own by adding a few simple ingredients.)

What to do:Dump ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly. In the shower, gently massage the scrub in circular motions all over your body avoiding the neck and face area. Pack remainder into a glass jar and store in the refrigerator. And because we all have different coffee palates, try adding a few drops of fragranced oils like mint, chocolate, vanilla or caramel to your taste.
Java LogsComposed mainly of used coffee grounds, Java Logs are an environmental friendly way to make a beautiful fire. Named one of the Coolest Inventions of 2003 by Time Magazine, Java Logs ignite more quickly and produce larger, more attractive flames than other fire logs. Although they don't smell like coffee, Java Logs do emit a sweet smell that will bring magic to your backyard bonfire!This is just a small sampling of the things you can do with your coffee grounds. The possibilities are endless!

Coffee: It's not Just for Drinking Anymore.

2007-02-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

A Coffee Comeback: The Port of New Orleans

2007-02-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

Six months after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc along the Gulf Coast, the Port of New Orleans is once again fully operational. Warehouses along the New Orleans riverfront are brimming with coffee as longshoreman have been working diligently - hauling coffee from cargo ships ashore.

For generations, the Port of New Orleans has been a hub for American coffee traders. Last year, more than 505 million pounds of coffee was exchanged in the Crescent City, making it the nation's second largest coffee port. The Port of New Orleans had held the top-spot until 2003, when it lost its title to the Port of New York

We've always been neck and neck with New York," according to Chris Bonura, a spokesman for the Port of New Orleans. "But now we're operating under different circumstances," he said referring to the devastation Hurricane Katrina caused last year.

Bonura said as a whole, the Port of New Orleans lost about a third of its facilities after Katrina, but the 14 warehouses that stored coffee beans remained relatively undisturbed. And the silocaf, a processing plant located on port property and used by many coffee traders and roasters was operational within a month of Katrina.

The silocaf Bonura is referring to was a grain silo that was about to be torn down some ten years ago. It was reconfigured by the Port of New Orleans to break down coffee beans coming ashore and is now used to sort out any stems and stones found in the bulk beans. "It's a real value added service we provide here," said Bonura. "Our goal is to really improve the way coffee is processed.

"The Port of New Orleans is not only in the spotlight these days because of its phenomenal post-Katrina recovery, but also because of a possible takeover of several terminals within the port by DP World, a United Arab Emirates owned cargo-handling company.

Gary LaGrange, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans said allowing an Arab company to manage these terminals is "a decision to be made by the federal government." And although it's fairly routine to have an international company manage a high-volume terminal, it's a decision that should cause some concern.

Incidentally, one of the terminals in question happens to be the first terminal that was up and running after Hurricane Katrina. It currently handles about 20 percent of all cargo entering the Port of New Orleans and is now operated by P&O, a company based out of London, England. That terminal received the first shipment of coffee in September - a mere two weeks after Katrina, from a container ship called the Lykesflyer, Bonura said.

"You know each and every week we're progressing," he said. "We've met all of our goals and benchmarks that we had set to get the port back up and running."

For a while that meant everyone who worked at the Port of New Orleans stayed aboard one of five ships sent in by the Department of Transportation. "We stayed on the ships so we could service the port, so that in-turn the ships could service the riverfront," he said. "It's been a really phenomenal experience, we really bounced back."

HerbaGreen Teas

2007-02-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

Naturally sweetened with lo han fruit extract--which promotes fat burning and soothes the digestion process--HerbaGreen Teas also contain lotus leaf (rich in isoflavones), kudzu (for promoting circulation), and 100mg of polyphenols, equivalent to at least 15 cups of the strongest brewed green tea. PLUS - HerbaGreen Teas contain NO calories or caffeine.
Each bottle equals 60 servings. Choose from among Original flavor, Heavenly Honey Lemon, or Mandarin Mango Swirl. Then, simply add a dropper full to hot, warm, or cold water and stir for a naturally delicious, wonderfully healthy drink!

BENEFITS OF GREEN TEA POLYPHENOLS:
* Maintains healthy cells, cell growth and development.
* Supports a healthy cardiovascular system.
* Promotes healthy weight control by blocking carbohydrate absorption.
* Fights damaging free-radicals, which attack healthy cells and promote aging.
* Supports the immune system.
* Helps the body maintain its toxin-free condition.
* Promotes healthy blood sugar balance.
* Supports dental and optimal gum health.

CONCENTRATED HERBAGREEN TEA VS. "TEA BAG" TEA SOURCE:Scientific documentation has shown that the majority of the therapeutic benefits of green tea are due to the polyphenols. Steeping a tea bag in hot water is a very inefficient means of extracting these polyphenols. HerbaGreen Tea contains concentrated extracts, with over 90% polyphenols. One serving provides 115 mg of plyphenols, the equivalent of more than 15 cups of brewed "tea bag" green tea.

Furthermore, a lot of green tea from tea bags contains caffeine, which many people want to avoid. HerbaGreen Tea has only caffeine-free green tea extracts. You get ALL the benefits of green tea polyphenols with HerbaGreen Tea!
Finally, each small bottle of HerbaGreen Tea is a much more convenient source of healthful antioxidants for a busy lifestyle than clumsy, messy tea bags. Just add a single dropper into your water bottle and enjoy while working out, walking, or on the go...or add some tea into your water while dining out.

5 Steps to Espresso Machine Heaven

2007-02-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

5 Steps to Espresso Machine Heaven

So, you’re the proud owner of an espresso machine. But do you really know how to get the most out of it? Here’s a few tips to get you making the perfect espresso every time.
Tip One – Let your espresso machine heat fully

The components inside your espresso machine that contain water such as the boiler are typically made of metal. Allowing these components to heat by turning on your espresso machine at least 10 minutes prior to the first coffee will create a more consistent heat for your coffees. Also use this time to heat your espresso cups before use, use the steam nozzle in hot water mode to fill the cups. Some espresso machines have built in cup warmers that take a couple of minutes to heat up.

Tip Two – Use fresh water
With coffee, fresh everything is best. Tip out your espresso machines water container each day when you’re making your first coffee. Use fresh filtered water and you’ll taste the difference. Using filtered water will also extend the life of your espresso machine, reducing calcification and lime scale build up.

Tip Three – Use fresh coffee
If you don’t have an automatic espresso machine with a built in grinder then buy a separate grinder to go with your machine. Each time you use your espresso machine, only grind enough coffee beans to fill the filter cup. This will ensure a lovely deep crema on your espresso or espresso base. Store your beans in the freezer until you’re ready to grind them, this will help them to retain their flavour. Also store any ground coffee in the freezer.
Tip Four – Use the correct grind and correct tamping

Talk to your bean supplier about your espresso machine and check that he’s supplying the correct fineness of ground coffee. Preferably use your own grinder to achieve the optimum fineness. Softly tamp your ground coffee into the filter handle, not too hard or you won’t achieve a decent flow rate. A good rule of thumb is that it should take about 25 seconds for 30ml of espresso to be poured. Get the stopwatch out to get an idea of how your espresso making is going.

Tip Five – Experiment
There’s so many variables at work with an espresso machine that you’ll have to make many coffees to truly appreciate the different coffees you can make. The temperature, the beans, the grind and the flow rate will all give different tasting coffees. You’ll know you’re getting it right when your espresso machine produces a thick golden crema and a sweet, rich espresso. And most importantly, enjoy!!

My Buttery Espresso - Coffee Terminology Explained

2007-02-20T12:40:00.000-08:00

My Buttery Espresso - Coffee Terminology Explained

Have you always wanted to know what the term 'acidity' in coffee means, or, are you baffled when somebody describes a coffee as being "rich, medium-bodied, very smooth with moderate acidity, and a slightly smoky flavour"? Well, this is the article for you. It is time for you to learn the Language of Coffee!

Drop these terms at your next dinner party or social outing! They are guaranteed to impress.

Flavour is the most important term, encompassing aroma, acidity and body. It is used to describe the overall impression you get when you take that first sip. The term is also used to individualise characteristics such as 'chocolaty', 'caramel', 'smoky', or 'spicy'.
Some coffees have a very distinctive flavour, as in a chocolaty Ethiopian, or a nutty, caramely Nicaraguan. Sumatran has a rich, spicy flavour. Mellow coffees, such as Brazil have little acidity and smooth, well-rounded body.

Aroma is your first impression of coffee, and it signals its taste. Your sense of smell allows you to differentiate between thousands of distinct aromas. Your sense of taste is capable of distinguishing only four basic sensations. The aroma of a coffee is responsible for its popularity and allure.

Acidity should not be confused with sour, bitter or PH level. It is used to describe the sharp, snappy, bright flavour of high-grown Arabica coffees. Much acidity, as in Ethiopian Mocha coffee, is described as a winey taste. Coffee from India or Papua New Guinea, may be sweet.

Body is the sensation of consistency, texture and fullness created by coffee. It can be compared to the difference in 'mouth-feel' that red wine has over white wine.

Some coffees feel heavier in the mouth. Coffee from Indonesia, especially Sumatra, is very heavy and has much body. Ethiopian Mocha has the least body. Brazilian coffee is in the middle. With light-bodied coffees, the flavour is so delicate that milk should not be added. If you prefer milk with your coffee you should choose a medium to heavy-bodied coffee.

Buttery is a pleasant term most commonly associated with espresso. It is used to describe the buttery feel created in the mouth by the oils and fats transferred from the beans to the brew. The fat content of the bean is crucial for the formation of the 'crema' or froth that contains the aroma of a good espresso.

Bitter, burnt and scorched are unfortunate attributes. Bitter and burnt are flavour characteristics related to the roasting process. Bitterness is a taste found in dark-roasted coffees. The darker the roast, the greater the bitterness. Bitterness can also be experienced if the coffee grinds are over-extracted. This can happen if the grind is too fine, not enough coffee is used, or too much coffee is brewed from the grinds. Burnt is obviously a most undesirable flavour. Scorched flavours are caused by the water temperature of the espresso machine being too hot.

A Blend is a combination of two or more single origin coffees. It offers the roaster the opportunity to explore flavour potential not possible with a single origin coffee. Many roasters believe blends are necessary in order to provide all the elements essential for a great espresso.

Central American coffees have a lot of snap and acidity. Sumatran coffee adds body and richness. Papua New Guinean coffee adds sweetness. Flavour and aroma, which is distinctive, comes with Indonesian and Colombian coffees. The rich, winey, almost chocolaty flavour comes from Ethiopian Mochan and Kenyan coffees.

Witham's Coffee Blends Explained.......
Super Mocha: This blend is rich and full-bodied. South American beans contribute medium body, strength and a caramel sweetness, while the true Mocha coffees add rich chocolaty tones and a lovely winey acidity. The blend has a smooth, rounded finish. A great blend for white coffee lovers.

Brazil Supreme: A blend of aromatic South American beans give full body, medium strength, a sweet, sharp acidity and a smooth finish. This blend is finished with Nicaraguan Maragogype which adds delicious hints of honey and caramel. A lovely blend for black coffee connoisseurs.

The perfect espresso !!

2007-02-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

The perfect espresso

If you are the kind of person that drinks coffee from Starbucks and that couldn’t tell what crema is than you should consider reading something else, this is not a guide for heretics.

Many coffee enthusiasts have fallen in love with their espresso machine, I will attempt further on to give you a few tips on how to best use your espresso machine not to get a good shot, but a perfect one.

It all begins from the very moment when you purchase your espresso machine. You should consider online shopping to get the best deals here. I bought mine from www.coffeemachine.com.au, these guys sure do know their coffee.

When choosing an espresso machine it’s very important to check what type of coffee it requires and further still check on the web to see what dissatisfied customers have to say about it. There are always some cheerleaders for every brand of espresso machine in existence, that’s why you should skip the positive votes and check only the negative ones.

So now you are the proud owner of an espresso machine sitting there looking amazed at all those pretty buttons. Time to tweak it. The first thing you should do is to set the brewing temperature. This should be at around 195 degrees Fahrenheit which will translate to approximately 165 degrees in your cup. Most modern espresso machines will have the temperature pre-set to the correct setting.

The most important part in the tweaking of your espresso machine comes with the following rule: Your double shot of espresso should be made from 2,5 to 3 ounces of coffee and the brewing time shouldn’t be higher than 30 seconds. I know that some people may disagree but this has worked best for my espresso machine. If the espresso machine takes more or less time to deliver the coffee, then you need to adjust the brewing pressure.

There are several methods by which you can reduce or increase the pressure in your espresso machine. The most effective method is to play with the tamp pressure applied to the raw coffee in your filter handle, the more you press the coffee, the longer the delivery time from your espresso machine. As a side note you should be aware that this step can be skipped if your espresso machine has a pressurized filter handle.

Another method to achieve the desired perfect espresso is to play with the degree of grinding that your coffee has. The finer the grinding the more time it will take for the espresso machine to make the espresso shot. If you don’t have a grinder now could be a good time to get a good one.

Of course the last, but most important factor in making that perfect espresso shot, is the choosing of the brand of coffee itself. As a thumb up rule the coffee beans should be a lovely deep caramel colour, without an oily look to them. The beans should be as fresh as possible to get the best flavours.

What are you waiting for now? Go and fire up that espresso machine.

Descaling Your Coffee Machine

2007-02-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

Descaling Your Coffee Machine – Q&A

What is “Scale”?
The build up of minerals inside the hot parts of your coffee machine or espresso machine is commonly called lime scale. This term is derived from hard water areas in some parts of the world that have a high lime content in their water. In fact any mineral that comes out of solution from heat can deposit itself in the water carrying parts of your coffee machine. Typically this will affect your boiler, the pumps and any parts that carry hot water. Usually the areas where the water sits still for a while, such as the boiler are worst affected.

Is scale a problem?
The build up of lime scale will slow the water flow, reduce your boiler capacity and if left will eventually prevent your coffee machine working. Some boilers can end up with so much scale that they have heating problems.

A Coffee Machine for the Soul

2007-02-20T12:31:00.000-08:00

Choosing a coffee machine is not just matching the specifications and budget to your requirements. It’s much more important to match your personality to the coffee machines available.

The first thing I recommend to a friend buying a coffee machine is that it needs to look good. Yep, The Most Important Thing about a coffee machine is how it looks. Every day you’re going to walk up to this machine and make a coffee. Think about how you’ll feel when you use it, will you appreciate the slim design? Do you prefer a machine with lots of dials and buttons? Do you prefer large or small? A machine that looks “wrong” to you won’t be a pleasure to use.

The second big question is automatic or manual. An automatic coffee machine contains a grinder that grinds the beans and dispenses an espresso or long black for you. Some automatic coffee machines also froth your milk for you. There’s several advantages to having an automatic coffee machine; firstly, the coffee is always the same, get the grind setting and temperature right and you’re guaranteed the same coffee each time. Secondly it’s quicker, press a button and the coffee is made, your time is spent chatting, preparing a meal or reading the paper, not messing about with the coffee machine. Thirdly there’s no mess, you’re not filling the filter handle (and spilling it) with ground coffee and you’re not dealing with the wet “puck” that gets produced, everything is held neatly inside the coffee machine. Lastly, if there’s an auto frothing attachment, you’re not messing about with milk jugs trying to get a nice silky foam on your milk, it’s all done for you.

Does this sound perfect? For many coffee connoisseurs this is a terrible travesty!! Automatic, never!! Their inner barista needs to be free!

Manual coffee machines allow you to play with more settings. How hard you tamp the ground coffee allows for subtly different flavours. Different grind settings on the separate grinder allow you to tweak your flow rates. You can froth for cappuccino or latte. You can make three different coffees with three different bags of ground coffee. The choices (and the time you spend) are endless. Many coffee fanatics would be outraged to go near an automatic coffee machine. These coffee experts are happy to spend many hours researching beans, roasters and machines in search of the perfect coffee.

The automatic vs manual coffee machine debate comes down to one simple question, are you a coffee drinker or a coffee maker?

And me? Well I have a manual and an automatic coffee machine on my bench at home. I sell coffee machines for a living so why not try them all? Sadly the manual doesn’t get used any more, if I want a coffee it’s because I want a coffee and now! I personally find that the freshly ground beans in the automatic make up for the slight lack of “tweaks” that I can so on the manual coffee machine. I’m also able to make 6 cappuccinos for friends in about 3 minutes, and they taste great.

When I walk up to my Saeco Royal Cappuccino it looks good and it’s easy to use. The quick, simple and great tasting white coffees reflect my inner soul – I’m a coffee drinker not a coffee maker!

Using Your Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine !

2007-02-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine

Congratulations on bringing the art of espresso to your home with your new Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine!
It is important to carefully read the enclosed instructions as well as complete the warranty card included and return it to the manufacturer.
As we know, you are anxious to taste your first espresso or creamy cappuccino, so we have listed our tips to coffee perfection!
Helpful Tips for using your Rancilio Silvia
Numbers in brackets refer to Fig. 1 of manufacturers manual
Fill the water tank (only use filtered water in your espresso machine as hard water may react to metals in your machine which can cause blockages). Always make sure there is plenty of water in the tank.
Plug the machine in and turn it on by the main switch. Turn the power switch on (1). Turn the coffee switch on (3). This will dispense water out of the group head and fill the boiler up to its maximum level ready to brew. Once you have a steady flow of water out of the group head (approx 10 / 15 sec’s), turn the coffee switch off (3). This step is very important to insure the boiler is filled with water.
Turn the steam switch on (5) when the heating light (2) switches off, the machine is ready to froth milk.
Frothing milk may take a little practice. We recommend you “bleed” the steamer. This is done by switching the steam button (5) on and turning the knob (6). Turning the knob will release a steady stream of boiling water, this however will shortly turn into steam.
You can now start frothing your milk. After frothing you must then turn the steam knob (6) back to the off position and then switch off the steam button (5). It is imperative that both these steps be done for the longevity of your machine. If the steam button (5) is left on it will continue to produce steam and may boil dry.
The steaming function in your machine forces the machine to build up pressure and can empty the boiler. We recommend that you refill the boiler after frothing your milk by turning the coffee switch (3) on. This will release excess steam, the steam will then turn into a steady stream of boiling water. Turn coffee switch (3) off.
Fill handle with ground coffee (please use scoop provided): 1 scoop for 1 coffee, 2 scoops for 2. Please remember to use the correct filter. A light tamper is all that is needed.
Place handle into the group head and turn as far to the right of the machine as you can. Turn on the coffee switch (3) this will start the machine as you can. Turn on the coffee switch (3) this will start the coffee pouring through.
Empty the group handle, it is now safe to turn off your machine as you can continue to make coffee starting again at step 3. Don’t forget to refill the boiler.
Add milk and foam as required to your coffee beverage.
Water button (4) can also be used for tea, this is released from the steam arm when turning knob (6). Remember to close knob (6). Remember to close knob (6) and switch off water button (4). The top of the machine can be used as a heating tray for cups.
Please read the manufacturers use and maintenance instructions before using you machine.
Most importantly have fun and enjoy your coffee experience!
Helpful hints for Milk Frothing
The art of frothing and steaming milk is a long and slow process to learn. The technique has to be developed and this can only be achieved by practice and perseverance.
Many factors come in to play when creating the perfect pitcher of froth.
The type of milk used will affect the frothing process. Whole milk will develop froth with more body, but low fat milk is easier to froth.
The higher the fat content in the milk the longer it takes to froth and harder it is to produce a creamy texture without burning the end product – that is why it is so easy to froth skim or soy milk.
Fill the steaming jug 1/3 full of cold fresh milk. The fresher the milk the better it froths, the colder the milk the better it also steams, if possible keep your steaming jug chilled. Warm, hot or old milk will not froth.
Before frothing milk turn on the steam arm for a few seconds this will release any build up of water condensation (this is called bleeding) and prevents the milk being diluted. Direct the steam arm into the drip tray to avoid being scolded by the moisture that may have condensed in the pipe.
Use one hand to hold the jug by the handle. With the other hand turn on the steam arm. Move your hand to the bottom of the jug to act as a thermometer. As soon as the jug is too hot to hold remove you hand so you don’t burn yourself.
Position the jug, under the steam arm. For your safety totally immerse the arm in milk. Turn on the steam arm, when the steam has begun to release lower the jug so the nozzle is 5-10mm below the surface of the milk.
Centre the steam arm in the jug. The jug should only be moved in a downward motion. The end of the steam arm (the nipple) is to remain at the top of the milk. Create a whirlpool effect, the milk will be forced up by the steam, the jug should be moved down in one slow motion. This should continue until the milk has reached the top of the jug. Your hand should remain at the base of the jug until you feel it is hot. Remove your hand if the heat is uncomfortable.
Remember once the correct temperature is reached stop frothing. The milk rises in temperature by another 5 degrees as the steam releases from the jug. If you over-heat your milk it will taste, look and smell burnt, ultimately ruining your finished coffee.
This method provides thick closely bubbled/dense milk. No large air bubbles should form, large bubbles will dissipate rapidly and our milk will fall. Underneath the foam you should have steamed milk to the bottom of the pitcher.
Turn the steam valve off before removing the steam arm from the jug to avoid splattering of hot milk.
Wipe the steam arm with a wet cloth immediately to remove the milk coating before it hardens. It is essential that the steam arm remain clean at all times. Do not soak the steam arm.
Trouble Shooting – What can go wrong?
Milk suddenly won’t froth?
During April and May as well as September, milk becomes difficult to froth. The higher level of fat/lactose in the milk due to the cows calving increases the milk density making it much more difficult to create foam. Another factor, which often effects milk, is different “feed” given to cattle often during unseasonable times. This will also have an effect on lactose level and even the flavour.
The Milk is too hot – the foam is dissipating
Once the milk has been overheated it will not froth. That is shy it is essential that the temperature of the milk be monitored at all times.
How do you know the milk is too hot or burnt?
The milk no longer rises in the jug. The jug will be extremely hot naturally. The milk has a slight yellow colour and smells like burnt custard.
How many times can we reheat the milk and can I add milk to the steam jug?
A maximum of 2 times then throw it away, Milk can be added however it must be cold. When we foam milk we are stretching and expanding the milk to create foam, the milk can only be “pulled” and expanded twice to retain its density and flavour.
Can I create froth with hot or warm milk?
No, only cold milk, however the milk can be reheated but no froth will form.
Old milk creates better froth?
This is an old wives tale the fresher the milk the better the froth. The colder the milk the better the density of the finished foam.

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