K-cup coffee quality and waste

Quality of Coffee – While the coffee in a Kcup is superior to other mass produced grocery store ground coffees, it is less than fresh. K cups are airtight and fresh roasted coffee emits CO2 for 2 weeks after the roasting process. If the coffee in the Kcup was fresh, they would explode. The aging process of coffee is expedited when it is ground. Whole bean coffee can last for weeks, while ground coffee will only remain fresh for minutes.

 

Waste – Kcups are largely made of non-recyclable plastic. While developed by a company that prides itself on their ‘Green’ image, this isn’t a ‘green’ method of coffee brewing…unless you are talking ‘greenbacks’.

 

 

Source: coffeenate.com

Over 10 million Keurig machines in households today

Think About It...

 

It is estimated that there are over 10 million Keurig machines in households today, in addition to all of the other single-serving brew machines out there. These machines will brew over 5 billion cups of coffee a year.

 

That means there are potentially over 5 billion plastic K-cup filters going into landfills this year.

Coffee quote of the day:

An Army Veteran of over 21 years once stated: “Good coffee melts the spoon... great coffee pours like molasses.”

 

Patirck Dempsey wants to save Tully's

 

Not to throw petro on the fire, but Tully's coffee is rank. I am all for Mr. Dempsey’s valiant attempt to save them, however I hope he will look into changing the product line from the source of the beans down to the roaster.

 

 

Article from kimt.com

 

'Grey's' star wants to buy coffee company

 

Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey is attempting to buy a flagging coffee chain to rescue it from bankruptcy.

 

The actor wants to save more than 500 jobs by purchasing Tully's Coffee, a Seattle, Washington-based company facing closure.

 

According to the Associated Press, the potential sale will have to be approved by a judge.

 

In a post on Twitter Dempsey writes, "I hope we are successful in acquiring Tullys Coffee."

A bankruptcy court hearing is set for January 11th in Seattle - the same city where Dempsey's hit medical drama is set.

Coffee May Lower Risk of Death From Mouth Cancer: Study

Drinking more than 4 cups per day also lowered odds of dying from a type of throat cancer

 

 

 

TUESDAY, Dec. 11 (HealthDay News) — People who drink more than four cups of caffeinated coffee daily could significantly reduce their risk of death from certain forms of cancer, according to a new study from the American Cancer Society.

 

Habitual coffee drinkers had about half the risk of dying from cancers of the mouth and pharynx (part of the throat) than others who never drank coffee or only had it occasionally, the researchers found.

"Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world, and contains a variety of antioxidants, polyphenols, and other biologically active compounds that may help to protect against development or progression of cancers," the study's lead author, Janet Hildebrand, said in a society news release. "Although it is less common in the United States, oral/pharyngeal cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in the world. Our finding strengthens the evidence of a possible protective effect of caffeinated coffee in the etiology and/or progression of cancers of the mouth and pharynx."

In conducting the study, the researchers analyzed data on almost a million people from an American Cancer Society study on cancer prevention that began in 1982. Specifically, they examined the link between drinking caffeinated coffee, decaf, or tea with deadly forms of oral cancer.

 

The participants did not have cancer when the study began. Over the course of 26 years, however, 868 of them died of cancer of the mouth and pharynx.

 

The study found that drinking more than four cups of caffeinated coffee daily was linked to a 49 percent lower risk of death from oral cancer. Regardless of sex or whether or not the participants smoked or drank alcohol, the researchers pointed out that with each cup of coffee they consumed, their risk of death from this form of cancer dropped.

 

The study also suggests that drinking more than two cups of decaf coffee per day may have a similar benefit, but this finding only reached marginal statistical significance. No link was found between oral cancer and tea, they added.

 

The study authors noted that more research is needed to understand the reasons why coffee has a protective effect against oral cancers.

 

Read the rest of the article on lifelonghealth

Yummy, k-cup coffee!

As usual it just keeps better....

Thanks to coffeedetective for continuing to allow people to post their k-cup experiences! Scary man, scary indeed!

Dec 19, 2012

too bad by: Anonymous its too bad they choose the worst plastic possible for the water reservoir. Why could they spent the extra money to manufacture the reservoir from a better plastic? This speaks volumes about the likelihood of the other plastics used in the machine. The other indication is that they do not mention what plastic is in the K-cup (and it is not labelled either). BPA was not something I was interested in ingesting but is it better than any form of PS in my book. (hormone disruptor versus cancer) I guess you have to pick your poison these days. I caved and buy one yesterday probably due to their BPA free claim which might suggest they were conscious about the health of the consumer. However, I am afraid I might have to give it away after reading this blog which confirmed what I suspected all along.

Dec 11, 2012

Stomach pain and bloating by: Disappointed I'll start by saying that I am an avid coffee drinker and DO NOT experience discomfort of any kind when drinking it. Not until today that is. Had my first cup of coffee from my new Kuerig VUE and I was not even able to finish it. The discomfort I am feeling is very similar to that I have experienced after eating oysters. Severe stomach pain that comes in waves and bloating. I found that I have an allergy to oysters and have not touched them since. After reading that others are describing very similar symptoms, I have to believe there is something within the water reservoir or internal tubing that may be to blame. Goodbye VUE.

Ongoing Keurig K-Cup problems

Yeat another complaint from coffee detective website.

Mark my words, this will continue to get worse, not better.

Protect your health, DO NOT USE k-cups, ever!!!

Dec 08, 2012

upset stomache from keurig by: C.C. I am too having horrible upset stomache and intestinal trouble. Even with plain water so I suspect the water reservoir. Thought maybe I had a plastic allergy. I will be returning this.

 

Keurig K-Cup brewer... um, no!

Hello Keurig loVers!

 Let me see, shall I spend $169 for a Keurig brewer then $16 plus for a pound of coffee or, or ...$.60 cents per cup for coloured water...

Or should I spend $15 for a B&D brewer where I can add liQuid heaVen, Starbucks, Dunkin, any coffee of your choice and get the cup of coffee I desire?

Hmm, let me see... decisions! decisions! decisions!

 

The Case for Drinking as Much Coffee as You Like

"What I tell patients is, if you like coffee, go ahead and drink as much as you want and can," says Dr. Peter Martin, director of the Institute for Coffee Studies at Vanderbilt University. He's even developed a metric for monitoring your dosage: If you are having trouble sleeping, cut back on your last cup of the day. From there, he says, "If you drink that much, it's not going to do you any harm, and it might actually help you. A lot."

 

Officially, the American Medical Association recommends conservatively that "moderate tea or coffee drinking likely has no negative effect on health, as long as you live an otherwise healthy lifestyle." That is a lackluster endorsement in light of so much recent glowing research. Not only have most of coffee's purported ill effects been disproven -- the most recent review fails to link it the development of hypertension -- but we have so, so much information about its benefits. We believe they extend from preventing Alzheimer's disease to protecting the liver. What we know goes beyond small-scale studies or limited observations. The past couple of years have seen findings, that, taken together, suggest that we should embrace coffee for reasons beyond the benefits of caffeine, and that we might go so far as to consider it a nutrient.

***

The most recent findings that support coffee as a panacea will make their premiere this December in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Coffee, researchers found, appears to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

 

"There have been many metabolic studies that have shown that caffeine, in the short term, increases your blood glucose levels and increases insulin resistance," Shilpa Bhupathiraju, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Nutrition and the study's lead author, told me. But "those findings really didn't translate into an increased risk for diabetes long-term." During the over 20 years of follow-up, and controlling for all major lifestyle and dietary risk factors, coffee consumption, regardless of caffeine content, was associated with an 8 percent decrease in the risk of type 2 diabetes in women. In men, the reduction was 4 percent for regular coffee and 7 percent for decaf.

smlp.co.uk

The findings were arrived at rigorously, relying on data from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, two prospective studies that followed almost 80,000 women and over 40,000 men from the 1980s through 2008. Although self-reported, the data is believed to be extremely reliable because it comes from individuals who know more about health and disease than the average American (the downside, of course, is that results won't always apply to the general population -- but in this case, Bhupathuraju explained that there's no reason to believe that the biological effects seen in health professionals wouldn't be seen in everyone else).

 

That there were no major differences in risk reduction between regular and decaf coffee suggests there's something in it, aside from its caffeine content, that could be contributing to these observed benefits. It also demonstrates that caffeine was in no way mitigating coffee's therapeutic effects. Of course, what we choose to add to coffee can just as easily negate the benefits -- various sugar-sweetened beverages were all significantly associated with an increased risk of diabetes. A learned taste for cream and sugar (made all the more enticing when they're designed to smell like seasonal celebrations) is likely one of the reasons why we associate coffee more with decadence than prudence.

 

Read the rest of the article here on The Atlantic website

Hamilton Beach Single Serve Scoop Coffee Maker will be the demise of the Keurig garbage coffee brewer

Thinking of throwing your hard earned money away on a Keurig?

 Read these reviews on Amazon...

__________________________________________________________________



Be sure to check out the post Love Keuring? Nope. on the "Dear Coffee I Love You" blog. Brilliant!




 

Coffee: A great source of antioxidants and an effective mood enhancer

 

 

It’s an upside down world. We used to hear that coffee, a common splash to kick-start a person’s morning, was a guilty pleasure during best and a health immorality during worst. Fast-forward to today, and we now know that coffee is a health elixir of a top magnitude, charity insurance to a heart, obscure a risk of several forms of cancer and shortening a risk of Parkinson’s disease.

 

Research into a healthy properties of coffee shows that a daily decoction is a manly protecting antioxidant potion. Plants furnish antioxidants to strengthen their cells from beforehand drop from bearing to heat, light, air, dampness and time. In a tellurian body, many of these substances are biologically active, and they assistance to strengthen a cells as well. Recent scholarship suggests that these compounds might means gene changes, that capacitate a physique to demonstrate a possess protecting agents.

 

To simplify, antioxidants stop a “rusting” of cells in a body. Just as metals decay due to bearing to oxygen, cells in a physique also turn shop-worn by bearing to certain “reactive oxygen species” – or ROS. These deleterious agents are caused by environmental toxins, smoking, bad eating habits, metabolism, practice and other factors. When unchecked, these ROS minister to degenerative diseases. Oxidative repairs is compared with diabetes, arthritis, cancer, degenerative mind disorders, and countless aspects of aging and degeneration.

 

Coffee is super-concentrated with antioxidants and is generally high in one organisation of antioxidant compounds called flavonoids. The flavonoids have garnered substantial systematic seductiveness given of their profitable effects on tellurian health. In several biography studies they have been reported to possess antioxidant, antiviral, anti-allergic, anti-platelet, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activities.

 

Coffee’s antioxidant compounds embody caffeic acid, caffeine, a chlorogenic acids, eugenol, gamma-tocopherol, isoeugenol, p-coumaric acid, scopoletin and tannic acid. In fact, coffee is a primary source of beneficial, protecting antioxidants in a American diet. Most Americans do not eat adequate antioxidant-rich uninformed fruits and vegetables, though they do splash coffee. The bottom line? Coffee protects your body. This is a good thing.

 

As a mood enhancer, coffee is one of a safest and fastest agents on earth. You splash a cup, and things change rapidly. Surely, this is a primary reason that people splash coffee in a initial place. Coffee’s biggest effects are exerted on a mind and mind, given coffee is a fresh awakener. As a smoothness complement for caffeine, coffee acts on a executive shaken system, sensitive a mind and all a vital nerves, and facilitating cognitive duty overall.

 

Coffee enhances a upsurge of blood in a mind and invigorates a mind. It enhances application and motivation, facilitates suspicion arrangement and concentration, and decreases mental fatigue. Every coffee drinker has gifted this multiple of effects. A morning showering will assuage grogginess, though a fresh crater of coffee will snap we to courtesy and ready we for whatever lies ahead.

 

In a investigate published in a Archives of Internal Medicine, Harvard researchers found that celebration caffeinated coffee lowered rates of basin among women. Women who drank dual to 3 cups of caffeinated coffee a day were 15 percent reduction expected to rise basin over a 10-year investigate period, compared with women who consumed one crater or reduction per day. Women who drank 4 or some-more cups of coffee a day had a 20 percent reduce risk of building depression. And what about decaf? Women who drank decaf did not knowledge reduced basin rates.

 

Within a daily dose operation of 300 milligrams of caffeine per day, or dual to 3 cups, coffee improves disastrous moods that start in a morning on waking, lifting a murky and murky clouds that can haze a mind on rising. Coffee, a many dainty and manly caffeine-bearing libation of all, increases ubiquitous complacency and feelings of pleasure – and increases certain mood overall. Coffee promotes an upbeat certain clarity of self, and a feeling of wellbeing.

 

Baron Ernst Von Bibra referred to coffee as a “pleasure drug.” He strike a spike right on a head. Simple, cheap, easy to prepare, straightforwardly accessible and really fast-acting, coffee creates we feel good.

 

Source: Health Medicine Network

Is the plastic used in Keurig K-Cups safe?

"Coffee needs enough time in hot water to create a full bodied taste."

There is no way in hell this is achieved with a little plastic silly K cup!

09-19-2012 The Verdict by: Anonymous I think it's obvious. If you value your health, stop using your K-cup brewer. If you value the planet, stop using your K-cup brewer. If you value your loved ones, help them to understand why they should stop using their K-cup brewers. Chalk it up to the simple fact that they were a bad idea to begin with. (And if you're still not convinced, check out Dr. Mercola's recent article on coffee, why it is imperative to drink only organic, and why it's better to use filters.) 10-24-2012 USA-FDA by: Anonymous I don't know how anyone can trust what the USA-FDA has to say or approve since they are very corrupt and have been paid off on several occasions. They will give their approval to the highest bidder. We need to care more about the health and welfare of the human race and stop the greed from clouding are judgement. 10-26-2012 upset stomach by: pes78 Is anyone else having upset stomach and gastric pain and bloating from the Keurig coffe maker? We purchased ours 6 weeks ago, in the meantime my stomach is horribly upset. I stopped drinking coffee for a week and my stomach was feeling better and then I went back to drinking a cup every morning and within a few days I am feeling bad again! Taken from coffedetective dot com

You can keep your fancy, pricey Keurig-type coffee-making contraptions

Coffee makers: A round-up of low-cost, minimalist-approved machines
 

You can keep your fancy, pricey Keurig-type coffee-making contraptions.

I take a minimalist approach to making my morning joe, with coffee-brewing techniques that are nonelectronic and, in some cases, nonmechanical.

It all started with the AeroPress, an inexpensive coffee-making kit that initially confused me -- it has a bewildering assortment of plastic tubes and other doodads -- but has now consumed me.

This is what I use to make my Latina sweetie's cafecito every morning.

Inspired by the AeroPress -- fittingly the creation of Silicon Valley entrepreneur Alan Adler -- I have been on a grand exploration of low-cost and dead-simple coffee-making apparatuses.

Four of my faves, including the AeroPress, are detailed here.

I am hardly alone in taking such a simplified approach to coffee brewing. Adler has spawned a movement with the AeroPress, which has its own coffee-making world championships.

And if you wander into a local coffee shop, there's a decent chance you'll see a barista using a nonelectronic, nonmechanical coffee-brewing method.

At Dogwood Coffee Co. at Calhoun Square in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood, for instance, one of the employees recently brewed my coffee in a Chemex, which is little more than a glass pitcher and a paper filter. I wanted to applaud -- cheer, even.

This roundup does not include any kind of French press, which I happen to loathe, mostly due to its too-messy cleanup.

 

Read the rest of the article at twincities dot com

Comedians in cars getting coffee

Jerry Seinfled brings us this creative little twist on getting coffee.

Great videos. Fun stuff.

It's the beans baby

From liQuid heaVen’s ‘Didjaknow’ Department...

Worldwide, more than 26 million small coffee producers in more than 52 coffee producing countries rely on ‘the beans’ as their principal means of earning a living.

Next to oil baby it’s C*O*F*F*E*E*!

Fiat Offers In-Car Espresso Maker

Oh how those Italians love their espresso. And starting in October, they'll be able to have a doppio on the go in the new Fiat 500L.

At the presentation of the car to the global press in Turin this month, Fiat announced that the 500L will be "the first standard-production car in the world to offer a true espresso coffee machine."

The espresso maker will be an option in the new, bigger, four-door 500L that goes on sale in Italy in October and in the rest of Europe shortly after. (Think of the 500L as the Fiat 500 equivalent of the Mini Cooper Countryman -- there's even a vague similarity in silhouette.)

Fiat says the machine "is perfectly integrated in the car with a deck designed expressly by Fiat." The espresso machine, which comes with matching cups, is being made for Fiat by Italian coffee importer Lavazza -- known as "Italy's favorite coffee" -- and uses the company's "A Modo Mio" coffee pods. Lavazza also runs a Starbucks-like coffee chain.

The 500L, which is being built in Serbia, is due in the U.S. in 2013, but the espresso maker seems unlikely in the current climate of concern over driver distractions in cars. You could argue that it would do wonders for driver alertness.

The 500L may be oh so Italian, but Fiat said at the presentation that it also will have a very American touch that shows the company's Chrysler connection: A branded Beats Audio (Beats by Dr. Dre) premium sound system like that in the Chrysler 300.

Via:  USA Today

Oregon Is Caffeinating the Pacific Ocean

A new study from Portland State University researchers has shown that the Northwest's fame as a destination for coffee (and caffeinated techies) doesn't come without its environmental costs. Waters off the coast of Oregon were found to have elevated levels of caffeine, a drug that, in the Pacific Northwest, can only be traced to human activity.

The researchers expected to find higher levels near the outflow of waste treatment plants (where the remains of that Trenta end up, at the end of the day), but instead found the spikes of jolt juice lingering in relatively remote locations. Since humans are still the only possible source of the caffeine, the researchers are guessing that big rainstorms that overpower the sewer system and septic tanks in the state parks might be to blame for the findings. Yup, even Oregonian nature lovers are java junkies.

The amount of caffeine that counts as "elevated" is pretty minor, but the study cites some earlier research showing that even small amounts of caffeine can have an impact on marine life. Any fishermen out there noticing a little extra flop in their catch?

Source: BonAppetite

Analysis: Coffee roasters stick with less costly robusta

liQuid heaVen has NEVER and will NEVER use the extender Robusta in our coffee. Period. End of story. We have settled on and will continue to use 100% Arabica hand picked beans cultivated for their flavor and aroma.

Reporting by Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Coffee roasters quietly pulled off a financial feat last year that went unnoticed by most customers: Adding a higher proportion of cheaper, lower-grade robusta to their grounds as the price of top-notch arabica beans surged.

As new data reveals the surprising extent of that substitution, which appears to have been far more widespread than experts had thought possible, the industry faces a vexing question: As the price premium for arabica beans returns to historically normal levels, will roasters switch back?

The short answer seems to be no.

The "swing" in demand was surprisingly decisive and swift. U.S. robusta imports rose by almost 80 percent in the first quarter of this year versus a year ago, while arabica fell by close to a third, International Coffee Organization data shows, likely reflecting purchases made during last year's rally.

"What we're realizing is that everybody underestimated the amount of demand in robusta because everybody thought ... that there was just a (certain) amount of robusta people could add to their blends," said Ernesto Alvarez, chief executive of U.S.-based coffee merchant COEX Coffee International.

Part of the increase in robusta demand can be explained by changing tastes as some U.S. consumers sought out lower-priced brands due to soaring prices. Lower-cost makes Folgers, owned by U.S. roasters J.M. Smucker, and Kraft Foods' Maxwell House both won market share last year, research shows.

The data are beginning to provide some credibility to widespread market speculation that some U.S. roasters have raised the robusta content to a higher level in their top-secret blends than many thought - in effect sacrificing quality in order to keep their profit margins.

The trend started last year, with U.S. robusta purchases from Brazil, the world's second-biggest robusta grower, tripling to 813,000 60-kg bags in 2011. While the total was still much less than the 5.84 million bags of arabica brought into the country, the rate of growth outpaced the premium grade's 3-percent rise year-on-year, ICO data showed. (Graphic: http://link.reuters.com/qub28s)

Now, however, market forces have reversed. The arabica premium has shrunk by almost 70 percent from its 2011 high of nearly $1.90 per lb to around 60 cents, making it far less financially advantageous to buy the lower-quality blends.

Experts say roasters have likely reached the limit of how far they can push the fine balance between robusta and arabica in their blends, but they may be able to maintain that ratio if it is economic and there is no consumer backlash.

"If the consumer has accepted the product well, and it's selling well, I don't see them going back to a higher arabica content, unless something's triggering it," said Carlos DeAldecoa, president of Maximus Coffee Group in Houston, which roasts coffee for 11 roasters, buys green coffee, and processes instant and decaffeinated coffees.

Smucker declined to comment on any changes in its green coffee purchases for proprietary reasons. Kraft said it could not share specifics about its blends.

ROBUST ROBUSTA DEMAND

Not all roasters can introduce lower quality beans to their blends. Those with premium taste and aroma profiles may not have the flexibility to use robusta beans, which typically have a less appealing taste described as earthy and bitter.

But those that can dabble according to price and bean availability - typically the national retail brands sold in supermarkets - set their sights on robusta beans in 2011 to help lower the cost of their brewed blends as arabica prices soared.

A steep and steady 11-month rally more than doubled the ICE benchmark arabica coffee futures price, lifting the market above $3 per lb to a 34-year high in May 2011 and pushing the arabica premium over robusta futures to nearly $1.90 per lb. (Graphic: http://link.reuters.com/bat58s)

"We're certainly seeing a change in the blends to include a higher percentage of robusta than they did in the past," said DeAldecoa.

Victor Garcez, chief executive of Italian-based Cafeco, which steams robusta beans on behalf of roasters to improve their quality, says demand for steamed robustas doubling at Cofaco's Vietnamese facility during the coffee rally as roasters tried to squeeze more out of lower-quality beans.

Massimo Zanetti USA, a mid-sized roaster that makes brands including Chock full o'Nuts and Hills Bros., was one of the only companies to discuss the blending issue publicly.

In November, it said it had increased its robusta usage by over a quarter year-to-date in order to reduce the impact of soaring Arabica prices and keep its retail prices as low as possible.

Arabica futures have since dropped nearly 50 percent to two-year lows at $1.561 per lb on Thursday, while Liffe robusta futures rallied on surging demand to an 8-1/2-month high at $2,269 per tonne at the end of May. They have since eased back to around $2,100.

Meanwhile, Liffe certified arabica stocks in Europe have seen an uninterrupted decline for 10 straight months, falling nearly 60 percent since mid-July 2011, indicating firm demand.

PRICE VS PALATE

So far many consumers have been more sensitive to prices than their palates, drinking less premium coffee or buying cheaper brands last year as coffee companies hiked prices multiple times, according to Garima Goel Lal, beverage analyst for consumer analyst Mintel, in Ithaca, New York.

Those who cut prices in response to the falling futures market won market share. Folgers' share retail volume climbed to 21.6 percent in 2011 from 19.7 pct in 2010 and Maxwell House rose to 10.5 percent from 10 percent in 2010, Euromonitor International data showed.

"If they didn't see any impact on their consumer from a quality standpoint, they might not change it because ultimately their total blend cost is going to be lower than it was years ago," DeAldoca said, speaking in general terms.

And without any resistance to the new blends, there is little incentive for roasters which have aided their profit margins with the new brew to switch back.

Some traders have taken steps preparing for the change to be long term.

COEX, which trades 3-1/2 million 60-kg bags annually, recently opened offices in Vietnam, the world's biggest grower of robusta, and Holland, strategically located for West African imports, to source robusta beans.

"We used to be an arabica house completely. Five, six years ago we traded no robustas. Now it's 40 percent of what we do," said Alvarez.

K-Cup plastic, continues to be very dangerous

Comments from coffeedetective.com

Disposable French Press in a Bag Makes a Great Cup of Coffee

The Coffeebrewer is a disposable French press. Inside the pouch is a filter with 26 g of freshly ground specialty coffee. To brew 3 cups of coffee, all you need is to open it, pour 1/2 L hot water into it, and let it brew 5-8 min. Now we know we're all about single serve coffee, but we think this coffee in a bag hits the mark. It's contained, portable, and makes a great cup of coffee.

How does it work?

1. Open

• OPEN the top from side to side
• PULL OUT the red string
• SHAPE the bottom to make it stand

2. Brew

• POUR in 1/2 L of hot water
• CLOSE zipper in the top
• BREW for 5—6 min

3. Serve

• SHAPE a wide POUR SPOUT
• SERVE as illustrated
• ENJOY 0,5 liter of gourmet coffee!

Source: SingleServeCoffee

Caffeine In Coffee Linked With Delayed Alzheimer's Onset

More good news for people who can't function in the morning without a cup of coffee.
Researchers from the University of South Florida and University of Miami have found that higher caffeine consumption -- a big source being coffee -- is linked with a delayed onset of Alzheimer's disease, even in older adults who already have mild cognitive impairment (thought to be an early sign of Alzheimer's and/or dementia).

"These intriguing results suggest that older adults with mild memory impairment who drink moderate levels of coffee -- about 3 cups a day -- will not convert to Alzheimer's disease -- or at least will experience a substantial delay before converting to Alzheimer's," study researcher Dr. Chuanhai Cao, a neuroscientist at USF, said in a statement.

Researchers conducted the study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, on 124 people ages 65 to 88; some of the study participants had mild cognitive impairment.

They found that the study participants who went on to develop dementia over the next two to four years had 51 percent lower blood caffeine levels than people whose MCI did not progress over that period of time. The researchers said that high blood caffeine levels were a sign that a person regularly consumed caffeine.

Researchers cautioned that the study doesn't mean drinking coffee is guaranteed to save someone from Alzheimer's, but rather coffee may help to lower the risk of Alzheimer's.
And of course, there is such thing as too much of a good thing -- and it's important to drink coffee in moderation. Excessive coffee consumption is associated with cardiovascular problems, including an increased heart rate or blood pressure and irregular heartbeats, Harvard Health Publications reports. And all that caffeine can become addictive. Experts tend to agree that the good largely outweighs the bad for most people, but remember to consume in moderation (and skip calorie-heavy add-ins like sugar and cream).

Source:  The Huffington Post

Water and Coffee

WATER....

It takes 35 gallons of water to make one cup of coffee.

Why?

Think of all the water used to cultivate the coffee beans.

Who knew, coffee is a health food?

Let’s have another cup of coffee. And while we’re at it, let’s have another, and another and another.

Yesterday morning as I was enjoying my second cup of coffee—or was it my third (I lose count)—I noticed a headline in the newspaper announcing that drinking as many as six cups of coffee a day can increase my life expectancy.

That’s good news—wasn’t all that long ago that another report indicated that drinking coffee wasn’t particularly good for you. I dismissed that report but enthusiastically embraced this latest one that supports a practice that I don’t intend to give up even if it doesn’t add years to my life.

I like coffee. I enjoy the aroma when I open the vacuum-sealed package that protects it from environmental degradation. I enjoy the rich, heady bouquet that emanates from the coffee pot as it brews and spreads throughout the house. I enjoy walking down the coffee aisle at the grocery store, mesmerized by the robust fragrance and the diversity of brands, types and places of origin—French roast, Columbian, Hawaiian and the ubiquitous Juan Valdez and his faithful mule.

I like the feel of a warm mug in my hand, especially on a cold morning but also on a blistering hot Texas day. I appreciate that first sip, too hot still to drink but too powerful a temptation to wait longer for it to cool.

I used to look forward to that unmistakable “plop, plop, plop” as the first spurts of boiling liquid splatted against the glass top of the percolator, an indication that my favorite hot beverage was just minutes away from drinkable. A bit of the romance, I think, has left coffee preparation with the advent of modern coffee makers. The trade-off is speed. I can pour in the water, add the correct amount of grounds, hit the on button and be sipping my first cup of the morning within five minutes. Percolators took much longer.

I like it strong. I have friends who hustle out of bed in the morning when we spend a week with them at the beach, hoping to brew a weaker pot of coffee than I make if I get to it first. They’ve insinuated that if I make coffee every day we’ll run out of grounds by Thursday. No problem; I’ll buy more.

I like it fresh. Micro-waved, left-over coffee is vile. Coffee that has ripened in the pot for hours will do to clean your barbecue grill but for heaven’s sake don’t drink it.

I like it pure. Strong, black, no sugar and please don’t ever adulterate my coffee with flavoring. Vanilla bean, Brazil nut, banana toffee creamers have no place in a good cup of coffee. If I want something sweet I’ll make hot chocolate.

Nor do I like “designer” coffee from those trendy stores that rely on basic French vocabulary words to entice you to buy a bigger cup of coffee that tastes like it was brewed sometime last week. And they charge you the better part of a five dollar bill for the privilege of drinking coffee out of a large cardboard cup.

I like mine in a mug, preferably a thick one like you might find in a diner that specializes in blue plate specials and apple pie. We own a few pieces of fine china, including flimsy coffee cups that encourage you to stick out a finger or two as you delicately sip. And the coffee is tepid by the time you drink half of it. We keep those cups on the top shelf of the cabinet, up where I’d have to drag in the step stool to reach them. I don’t bother.

I like it daily and I drink four or five cups most mornings, just enough, according to this recent report, to improve my life expectancy. Ten percent, I think is the figure they used. I don’t care, really. I like coffee and wasn’t planning on giving it up anyway. Now I can consider it health food. I feel positively perky.

Source: Western Farm Press

K-Cups... people are waking up

     

May 04, 2012   Tea in k cups is the most ridiculous, stupid and selfish idea ever 

 by: Anonymous

You need a machine to pour hot water over your tea for you? Here's a revolutionary idea: someone should invent little perforated sacks and fill them with tea leaves so hot water can be poured over them in a cup. Oh wait, they've been invented - they're called tea bags!

But what about hot chocolate? Why doesn't someone make hot chocolate so that you can just stir the powder into hot water or milk? Oh wait, they do that too!!!

May 03, 2012  K cups - not just your health is at risk

by: Anonymous

 How hard is it to use a measuring spoon and measure out 3 tablespoons of coffee? Why does anyone need a little plastic cup that makes homemade coffee so expensive you might as well go out and let someone make it for you, let alone that could be giving you cancer?

Have you not heard what's happening in the ocean? Islands of floating plastic as large as California. Why? Because we keep buying products encased in plastic.

K cups are one easy way to eliminate some of this plastic. Get over the fact that you spent money on a silly machine and go back to a natural way of making coffee. You can buy a $10 ceramic filter holder on Amazon for excellent drip coffee (no plastic involved) or use a French press or a percolator.

'Comments from coffeedetective.com

What's in a Cafe Latte, Americano or Cafe Mocha?

Source: singleservecoffee.com 

K-cups, Not Just Your Health is at Risk

K cups - not just your health is at risk
by: Anonymous

How hard is it to use a measuring spoon and measure out 3 tablespoons of coffee? Why does anyone need a little plastic cup that makes homemade coffee so expensive you might as well go out and let someone make it for you, let alone that could be giving you cancer?

Have you not heard what's happening in the ocean? Islands of floating plastic as large as California. Why? Because we keep buying products encased in plastic.

K cups are one easy way to eliminate some of this plastic. Get over the fact that you spent money on a silly machine and go back to a natural way of making coffee. You can buy a $10 ceramic filter holder on Amazon for excellent drip coffee (no plastic involved) or use a French press or a percolator.

Source: A Comment on Coffee Dectective

This is about to happen

A friend of mine who has been experiencing liQuid heaVen at his place of work is moving on to greener pastures.  i.e. a better job opportunity.

When he interviewed and was given a tour of his soon to be new digs he was shown the kitchen.
Within which was a Keurig K cup brewer.  He was told that coffee was provided to the staff and to feel free to use it anytime. 

When I was told this I asked him for a favour.  You know what's coming if you read this blog.  I asked
him to honestly let me know what he thinks of  an 10 oz  kcup of coffee.

I know he will report his honest observation.  To pass my coffee standards it has to be as good as
or better than liQuid heaVen.  Anything less, it fails especially at $.50 or more cents a cup and the
possibility of the BIG C.
                ( http://www.coffeedetective.com/is-the-plastic-used-in-keurig-kcups-safe.html)

Stay tuned, I will let you know when he reports to me his observation .

Air, coffee's worst enemy!

How Ironic when you think about It; but then again, who really thinks about this other than us here at liQuid heaVen...

Simply, factually stated: AIR is the worst enemy of COFFEE.

Yet, stroll down any isle of any store that sells coffee and what do you see?

Carry this one step further if you will. You all drink coffee and you all have bought coffee, or sent for it via the internet. 

You have received coffee just like it is in every isle in every store that sells it. In a 'wide mouth' open bag, be it paper or foil. In a large red plastic 'wide opening' can like that of Folgers, or a big blue metal 'wide opening' can like that of Maxwell House. Or the 'wide mouth' coffee packages in various materials and the list goes on and on.

Once opened you are dreaming that afterwards by closing that can or bag you have trapped air OUT! Contrary mon ami…....YOU HAVE LOCKED AND SEALED IT IN. You opened it, forced in air by scooping or spooning and closed the bag or can sealing in unwanted air!

Ask yourself this question, If AIR is the WORST enemy of coffee, and it most certainly is, why do ALL manufacturers package their product in wide unnecessary opening packages?

Simple. They either don't care or have not given any thought as to why they have to emulate what their competitors are doing. Which by the way, is wrong!

Let’s look into the psychology of this ‘wide mouth’ packaging design that these coffee manufacturers are employing. Does it approach sustainability? I say not! Immediately K Cups comes to mind when I say how much waste is created by packaging. The K cup is the chief offender in packaging waste in our industry. The public does not think nor believe they are affected by packaging design. Well, they most certainly are.

Here at liQuid heaVen our top notch Research and Design staff have come up with the ultimate FRESH FOREVER® packaging of the best coffee on earth. We do not follow in any footsteps; we blaze a trail in uniqueness while maintaining sustainability in packaging.

Both staffs outlined goals. First and foremost liQuid heaVen’s coffee packaging must be Food Contact Acceptable. It must resist and be tolerant of Temperature while having a high degree of both tolerances and clarity. Both Research and Design were emphatic that the package be both Chemical and Impact Resistant. It’s Rigidity must be high and lastly, and most importantly, it must be made from clean and pure FDA Approved material and above all be Recyclable.

The extraordinary team here at liQuid heaVen have achieved all this and look forward to announcing it to the world.

All of our coffees and teas will be sealed within an FDA approved package that assures that liQuid heaVen products will remain Fresh Forever®

Can Coffee Really Thwart Type 2 Diabetes?

THURSDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Your morning "cup of Joe" may do more than deliver the jolt you need to get going -- it may also help you stave off type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests.

But, before you pour yourself a second cup know this: The study authors said their research was done with cell cultures and there's no proof yet that coffee has any ability to keep type 2 diabetes at bay.

Past research has suggested a link between coffee and a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, and now Chinese researchers behind the new study think they may know why that may be so. They found three major compounds in coffee that may provide potentially beneficial effects: caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and caffeine.

"These findings suggest that the beneficial effects of coffee consumption on type 2 diabetes mellitus may be partly due to the ability of the major coffee components and metabolites to inhibit the toxic aggregation of hIAPP [human islet amyloid polypeptide]," Ling Zheng, professor of cellular biology at Wuhan University in China, and colleagues wrote.

Human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) is a substance normally found in the pancreas, according to background information in the study. Sometimes, however, abnormal protein deposits (toxic aggregation) arise from hIAPP. These abnormal deposits (amyloid fibrils) are found in people with type 2 diabetes, the study authors said.

The researchers wondered if blocking formation of these deposits could help prevent or treat type 2 diabetes, the more common form of the blood sugar disorder. The next step would be to find a substance that might prevent these deposits.

In 2009, a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine reported that people who drank the most coffee seemed to have the lowest risk of developing type 2 diabetes. That study reported that with each cup of coffee consumed daily, the risk of type 2 diabetes dropped by 7 percent.

So, the researchers behind the new study conducted laboratory experiments to see if compounds found in coffee could inhibit the production of the abnormal protein deposits associated with hIAPP.

Caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and caffeine -- the three most common components in coffee, the study authors said -- helped reduce the abnormal protein deposits, but caffeic acid appeared most effective.

"Our results suggest that caffeic acid had the greatest effects in the major components of coffee. The rankings for beneficial effects of coffee compounds against the toxic hIAPP aggregation are caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and caffeine," Zheng and study co-author Kun Huang, professor of biological pharmacy at the Huazhong University of Science & Technology in Wuhan, explained in an email interview.

Because decaffeinated coffee contains even higher levels of caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid than caffeinated coffee, the beneficial effect may be even stronger for decaffeinated coffee, they added.

The investigators pointed out that this work has only been done in cells, so it's not clear if this is how coffee might help prevent diabetes in the body.

A U.S. diabetes expert was guardedly optimistic about the study's conclusions.

"Scientifically, this is a very nice paper, but it has its limitations," said Dr. Vivian Fonseca, president of medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. "This was done in cells, not in animals or people. We also don't know if the [abnormal deposits arising from hIAPP] are the most important thing in the development of type 2 diabetes, or if it's something that develops later."

In addition, Fonseca said, the study that found a link between a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and coffee was an epidemiological study. That means the study couldn't prove cause and effect, only that there was an association between those two factors. It could be that people who drink coffee have other habits that lower their risk of diabetes.

The bottom line, said Fonseca, is it's way too soon to make any recommendations about drinking coffee to prevent diabetes. But, he added, "if you want to prevent diabetes, there are some very straightforward things to do. You can walk for 30 minutes most days of the week, and reduce calories a little bit and reduce your weight a little."

Zheng and Huang also pointed out that their study looked strictly at coffee. "Our study does not imply that the cream and sugar served with coffee will be beneficial for type 2 diabetes," they said.

The study was funded by grants from various Chinese governmental agencies.

Results of the study were published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Source: lifelinescreening.com

Helicopter dropped coffee cups to warn campers

SEATTLE — As scores of heavily armed officers scoured the woods south of Mount Rainier, hunting for the man who gunned down a national park ranger on New Year’s Day, Natalia Martinez Paz and three friends were enjoying a glorious long weekend of snowshoeing and camping.

It wasn’t until coffee cups dropped out of the blue Monday morning sky that they realized the danger they’d been in.

A Bellingham-based U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter crew searching for 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes spotted the campers as they slept under their tarp near Reflection Lakes, not far from where Barnes headed into the woods after killing Ranger Margaret Anderson. Unsure whether the group could understand what they said over a loudspeaker, one of the pilots reached for a paper cup from a drive-thru espresso stand, swilled the rest of his coffee, scribbled a message and dropped it down.

“A ranger has been shot. Shooter at large,” it read. “Call on cell if able to Pierce Co sheriff.”

As the campers gathered their gear, the chopper dropped another cup: “Take road to falls and sheriff deputies. We will keep an eye on you. Do not drive from Paradise w/o armed escort.”

As promised, the heli­copter escorted them down a road — flying just ahead of them — to a team of camouflaged searchers armed with assault rifles. Just as Paz’s group arrived, the search team received a radio call: Barnes had been found dead, face-down in a stream, Paz wrote in a posting on the nwhikers​.net message board.

Paz’s group, which included her partner, Brian Vogt, noticed planes and helicopters flying over the area Sunday afternoon, including one that hovered over their tarp. They figured someone was missing.

But the next morning, while they were still in their tents, another helicopter came just overhead — and stayed. A garbled message came through a loudspeaker, and the group thought they heard it say “ranger shot and killed, shooter at large,” Paz wrote.

The helicopter’s pilots, Chris Rosen and David Simeur, said on Thursday that they had been concerned the gunman might make a target of the campers because of the survival gear they carried. When they flew over the campers’ tarp using their heat-sensing technology, they knew the campers were alive.

Vogt released a statement on behalf of the campers, thanking law enforcement and noting the tragedy of Anderson not only being killed, but being killed in a place that carried so much meaning for Anderson and her husband.

“We were shocked to find out the full extent of this tragedy once we were out of the park,” the statement said. “It wasn’t clear to us at the time how much had been done to keep an eye on us and protect us.”

source: The Register-Guard

Happy Healthy and Prosperous New Year in 2012 To Everyone!

     I look forward to establishing liQuid heaVen as amongst the most requested on the world wide web in this New Year of 2012. 
     We will ship our exquisite coffee and teas around the world to all who want the best coffee and teas on earth, or should I say from earth as that is where the beans originally come from.  We have one more rung on our ladder of climb to success and that is establishing a 'to die for' espresso. 
     We have taste tested many Arabica beans from all over the world.  We have narrowed our discriminate search down to the final three.
     Roasting to my and our cuppers satifaction is the last hurdle. If I may tempt you, wait, just you wait till you taste our Plum Tea.  Hot or cold it is 'knock your socks off' quality that you will crave!