What's Next For China? Try Coffee. Yes, Coffee!

Yunnan, famous for tea, is growing ever more coffee, with farmers drawn by higher returns; now its focus is boosting quality for domestic market.

Yunnan, the southwestern province famous for its scenery and its hearty black tea, literally means "south of the clouds". The tropical rainforest is lush terrain for growing tea, fruit and, increasingly, coffee.

"Here, coffee is business. A farmer can make more money growing it rather than tea," says Wouter De Smet, Nestle's manager for coffee agriculture service in Puer .

With a tea-drinking tradition, China's coffee consumption remains low, but it is growing. Per-capita consumption of coffee jumped from 9.6 grams in 1998 to 47.6 grams last year, a growth rate of 12.1 per cent per year, according to market research firm Euromonitor.

As with many trends, the key to coffee-drinking culture is young people. More youth are willing to pay for a cup of coffee at cafes, says Zhao Lu, marketing manager of Mellow Cafe in Kunming .

While coffee farms in China don't produce nearly the tonnage of those in Brazil, Vietnam or Indonesia, international food companies and home-grown coffee concerns are investing in them, hoping that Yunnan can become synonymous with fine gourmet brews.

"The recognition of Yunnan coffee is low worldwide, but the coffee is really good, and I hope to bring it to more people," says Wan Xuejun, chairman of Zhukula Coffee Dreamy Estate.

But the transition to a coffee culture has been bumpy. The Yunnan varieties have not been popular with Chinese coffee drinkers, says Tony Ai, a coffee consultant who runs a coffee roasting shop in Beijing. "Some of the coffee tastes a bit too sour." He prefers purchasing Jamaican and Indonesian beans, which are know for their quality. Yunnan coffee, he says, is more suitable for blending with other types of beans.

With the area's beans not known for their gourmet taste, Yunnan farmers are not selling to international companies, which suppresses their bargaining power. Most coffee growers sell their harvest to just a few companies. Many of the coffee farmers are struggling.

"The history of coffee in Yunnan is not that long," says Dong Zhihua, vice-president of the Coffee Association of Yunnan. "If you ask me whether the quality of Yunnan coffee is good or not, I would say it's good, but not very good."

Nonetheless, large food companies are banking on Yunnan's beans. Nestle, the world's largest food company, got involved in the coffee business in Yunnan in 1988.

It buys coffee beans from several locations in Yunnan, including Puer, the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture and Baoshan .

The Swiss company purchased 11,500 tonnes of Yunnan-grown green coffee beans last year.

The company buys the beans from about 2,200 famers. It plans to increase its purchases of coffee beans to 15,000 tonnes by 2015.

"Smaller farmers are producing much better coffee quality as it's a hands-on business," says Dong.

Nestle offered to buy coffee beans at an average price of 17.4 yuan (HK$22) per kg last year, the lowest price in five years, following a slump in international prices amid oversupply.

International coffee companies including Starbucks and Maxwell Coffee also are eyeing the coffee beans of Yunnan, where Arabica beans are also grown.

Starbucks, which started purchasing Yunnan coffee beans in 2007, last year expanded its presence in the province by forming a joint venture with coffee supplier Aini Coffee.

It also established a farmer support centre in Puer,which has worked with local coffee farmers to develop four new coffee varieties in Puer, Baoshan and Lincang prefecture, a Starbucks spokeswoman said.

The ambition of global coffee companies is shared by the domestic players who want to bring Yunnan coffee to the world.

Wan, of Zhukula Coffee Dreamy Estate, is eyeing the market for high-end Zhukula coffee, which is cultivated in Binchuan county, in Dali.

Zhukula coffee was first introduced to a remote village named Zhukula by a French missionary more than 100 years ago, she says. Wan bought 23,000 mu (1,533 hectares) of land to grow coffee in 2011.

Although Wan's farm employs 130 farmers and is just starting, producing little coffee, she plans to expand.

Wan said Zhukula coffee was special and that it costs 160 yuan to 170 yuan per kg, adding that a premium coffee could be sold for 1,600 yuan to 1,800 yuan per kilogram. "I am confident about the high-end consumer market given the growing wealth of Chinese people," she says.

Wan is preparing to bring grown-in-Yunnan Zhukula coffee to consumers' homes. She plans to launch her own Zhukula brand coffee next year. The products will be sold in supermarkets and hotels, and gift sets will be designed for corporate clients, she says. Wan also plans to open coffee shops in Kunming and Beijing next year.

Despite the hopes of coffee sellers, Yunnan's coffee farmers are worried.

"The profit was not good last year as international prices were low," says Huang Dabao, 47, who began growing coffee in 2007 on his 20 mu field.

With a harvest of four tonnes of green coffee beans per year, Huang earned about 30,000 yuan last year. He sold his harvest to Nestle at prices ranging from 15 to 18 yuan per kilogram. The prices were better in 2011, more than 30 yuan per kilogram, he says.

"I hope my coffee beans can be sold at better prices this year, so that I can have more money to refurbish my house," he says.

Like Huang, many coffee growers in Yunnan are selling their coffee beans to Nestle and other coffee companies. The price Nestle offers for coffee beans is based on the price of New York-traded coffee futures.

According to customs data, Yunnan's coffee exports increased 38.2 per cent to 42,000 tonnes last year. In value, that was worth US$150 million, an increase of 12.5 per cent on year. Although 80 per cent of the province's production of 53,000 tonnes last year was exported, it made up just 0.75 per cent of global output, figures from Nestle show.

Local farmers should continue to improve the quality of their coffee beans and target wealthy Chinese consumers, Dong says.

"Although the coffee industry has further to go before becoming well developed, the domestic consumption market will be a big opportunity for coffee growers to sell their harvest at good prices," he says.

Source: South China Morning Post

As always K-Cup coffee keeps getting "better"

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Source: CoffeeDetective

3 Things you don't know about Coffee

Here’s a staggering number for you: In the US, 100 million people wake up each day and reach for their favorite coffee drink. This means java is officially more popular than Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus' best twerking videos - combined. For you football fans: that's more than 7 seasons-worth of Super Bowl viewers, rolling over and grabbing a hot cuppa every day. And so, we chose to take a deep-dive on America's consta-buzzing coffee culture with this year's Zagat.com Coffee Survey, which was conducted from Feb. 12-18. What are we drinking? How much are we paying? Where are we buying? These answers and more are illustrated below - in pretty infographics. Have a look:

# 1: Regular coffee rules the day:

#2: The younger you are, the more you'll pay:

#3: The coffee maker might be America's best friend:

Source: Zagat

5 Coffee myths DEBUNKED!

Chris Vigilante, owner of DC-based Vigilante Coffee Co., fully admits that he originally got into coffee as a way to avoid the real world and elude the dreaded cubicle job. But what started as a long stretch of slackerdom while surfing in Hawaii has turned him into something of a java superstar among those who know coffee in DC.

Since returning to the area in 2011, Vigilante has spearheaded three coffeehouse pop-ups, his most current one at Hogo in Shaw. He intends to keep that one running until he can move into his permanent space in the upcoming restaurant/clothing store/coffee shop combo scheduled to open at 1351 H St. NE later this year. (Maketto, a project by Toki Underground chef-owner Erik Bruner-Yang, will also be under that roof.) 

“It’s a great time to be in coffee and have people appreciate it,” says Vigilante. “We’ve never had access to great coffee like we do now. It’s pretty damn similar to pot, wine or beer.”

Here are five myths and misunderstandings surrounding coffee that Vigilante would like to see debunked once and for all:

1. The freezer is best: “Everyone thinks they should store it in the freezer. It’s actually kind of the opposite. You can grow mold on the coffee if moisture builds up - and you don’t want to be drinking mold.”

2. Dark roast = more caffeine = more flavor: “Everyone thinks dark-roasted coffee has more caffeine. It’s the opposite - you actually roast out the caffeine when you heat it. The higher the temperature, the more you’re burning out the caffeine. I think people associate the stronger taste of the coffee with the higher caffeine content.”

3. Espresso is a bean: “It’s a process, not a type of coffee. You can make any coffee bean into espresso [by grinding it finely and brewing it in the style of espresso]. Some beans are roasted specifically to be brewed into espresso, but there’s no espresso bean.”

4. Coffee should be cheap: “Coffee is a commodity that's already undervalued, as far as I’m concerned. A lot of times farmers can’t make ends meet with the market price of coffee. Vigilante pays well above the market price for our raw green beans, and we pay based on quality - but it shows up in the cup. Consumers are used to paying low dollar, but that’s unsustainable. We’re eventually not going to grow enough coffee to supply everyone.”

5. Italians rule the coffee scene: “Everyone thinks Italians are the top dogs in coffee, and that’s not the case anymore. For Vigilante Coffee, we look to Japan, Australia and New Zealand for examples in the coffee industry. If you go to Japan or Australia, it will really blow your mind where they’ve taken the level of their coffee culture. The culture of Italy is more about quantity.”

Source: Zagat

Women who drink two cups of tea a day slash risk of ovarian cancer

WOMEN who drink two cups of tea a day can slash their risk of ovarian cancer by a third, according to new research.



Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have found that both tea and citrus fruits and their juices can dramatically lower risk of developing the deadly disease.

Their study reveals that women who consume foods containing health-boosting flavonols and flavanones - which are both subclasses of dietary flavonoids - significantly decrease their risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer.

The research team studied the dietary habits of 171,940 women aged between 25 and 55 for more than three decades.

The team found that those who consumed food and drinks high in flavonols - which are found in tea, red wine, apples and grapes - and flavanones - which are found in citrus fruit and juices - were less likely to develop the disease.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth biggest cancer killer of women in Britain after lung, bowel, breast and pancreas cancers.

It is known as the "silent killer" because its symptoms emerge only after the disease has advanced significantly.

Each year around 7,116 women in the UK are diagnosed and it kills 4,271.

Less than half of women will survive their cancer for five years or more.

Prof Aedin Cassidy, from the Department of Nutrition at UEA's Norwich Medical School, who led the study, said: "This is the first large-scale study looking into whether habitual intake of different flavonoids can reduce the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer.

"We found that women who consume foods high in two sub-groups of powerful substances called flavonoids - flavonols and flavanones - had a significantly lower risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer.

"The main sources of these compounds include tea and citrus fruits and juices, which are readily incorporated into the diet, suggesting that simple changes in food intake could have an impact on reducing ovarian cancer risk.

"In particular, just a couple of cups of black tea every day was associated with a 31 per cent reduction in risk."

Source: express.co.uk 

Chinese farmers gain taste for coffee

China has traditionally been famous for its fragrant teas, but the country is emerging as a key Asian producer of a different beverage: quality arabica coffee.

"The mild taste and aroma is similar to the beans from Honduras or Guatemala,” said Wouter DeSmet, head of Nestlé’s coffee agricultural services team in China.

An increasing number of Yunnan farmers are turning to coffee, which offers higher returns compared with other crops. In 2012, farmers’ income from coffee was double that for tea grown on the same acreage, according to Mr DeSmet.

Known for its light body and fruity aroma, the coffee from the southwestern province of Yunnan has become a staple of European arabica blends, say international commodity traders and roasters.

Nestlé started operations in Yunnan in the late 1980s, offering training and purchasing coffee from growers. Since 2005, the number of its suppliers has grown from 147 to more than 2,000.

For the whole Yunnan region, known for its lush hills, more than 80,000 farmers grow the crop, with many now growing both tea and coffee.

The bulk of coffee produced in Asia – mainly in Vietnam and Indonesia – is robusta, the lower quality bean used in instant coffee.

Arabica, mainly used in cappuccinos and espressos, was introduced into Yunnan by a French missionary in the late 1880s. But coffee production only took off 100 years later with the investment of the Chinese government and the UN Development Programme.

Chinese coffee exports have grown steadily over the past decade, with volumes rising from 137,000 60kg bags in 1998 to 1.1m bags in 2012 – on a par with Costa Rica and just under 1 per cent of the world total.

Gigi Cheung, an independent Yunnan coffee exporter, said: “Demand for Yunnan coffee is climbing in international trade.”

In order to source their coffee, international coffee groups and commodity traders are starting to set up operations in Yunnan, which borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

Volcafe, the Swiss coffee trading arm of commodity house ED & F Man, is the latest company to enter a procurement and processing joint venture agreement with Simao Arabicasm Coffee Company, a local group. They follow Starbucks, which formed a joint venture with Yunnan based agribusiness Ai Ni Group in 2012.

The boom in production comes as coffee drinking in China is growing at about 15 per cent a year, compared with about 2 per cent for the world.

The growth has come from a low base. According to the Coffee Branch of China Fruit Marketing Association, the national industry organisation, average coffee consumption totals four cups per person per year in cities, which rises to 20 cups in Beijing and Shanghai.

Chinese awareness about the origins of coffee also remains relatively low, compared with mature coffee markets, said experts. “People don’t really care where their coffee comes from,” said Ms Cheung.

Source: Financial Times

Is the plastic used in Keurig K-Cups safe?

Comments from coffeedetective.com 

Free coffee at Chick-Fil-A November 3 through November 7 2014

Select Chick-fil-A restaurants will have a free coffee giveaway Nov. 3 through Nov. 7. The promotion marks the introduction of what they say is a speciality-grade Thrive Farmers coffee.

The offer is valid on either hot or iced coffee from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. No purchase or coupon is required.

No purchase necessary. Offer is limited to one free small hot coffee or medium iced coffee beverage per customer, per day.

To find a Chick-fil-A Restaurant, visit Chick-fil-A.com/Locations

Source: al.com

15 things worth knowing about COFFEE

Read the rest of the facts over at The Oatmeal

Keurig 2.0 brews up DRM to freeze out copycat cups

The brand's next generation of single-serve coffeemakers won't be brewing anything other than Keurig-approved pods.

There's some reason for Green Mountain to be optimistic about the next generation's chances, though. With new features like larger serving sizes and the ability to brew an entire pot, Keurig 2.0 will probably have more direct appeal to coffee lovers than Vue did. Green Mountain's recently announced partnership with Coca-Cola and its plans to release a cold brewer this fall could also engender some excitement about what's coming next. There's also the fact that Keurig 2.0 brewers will continue brewing the existing generation of Keurig-licensed K-Cups, making them less of a leap for consumers than the Vue brewers and their proprietary Vue Packs were.

Still, there's quite a lot at stake here for Green Mountain. If Keurig 2.0 fails to catch on, then the company will find itself in an especially vulnerable spot, not only facing increasing levels of competition from big names like Nestle and Starbucks, but also from its own, existing brewers -- many of which will continue making the competition's coffee.

Source: CNET

Coffee Futures Jump to 32-Month High on Brazil Crop Woes

 

Coffee futures surged to a 32-month high on speculation that persistent drought will curb next year’s harvest in Brazil, the world’s largest grower and exporter.

 

Dry weather was forecast for the next 10 days after no “meaningful” rain fell over the weekend in Brazil’s main growing regions, Drew Lerner, the president of World Weather Inc. in Overland Park,Kansas, said in a telephone interview. Arabica-coffee prices have almost doubled this year with crops parched since the start of the year.

 

With damage worsening before the start of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, Brazil’s National Coffee Council has estimated that farmers may collect less than 40 million bags in 2015, creating the longest output slump in five decades. Starbucks Corp. and J.M. Smucker Co. raised retail prices this year after futures surged 61 percent in the first quarter.

 

“Now, trading is all about the weather,” Fain Shaffer, the president of Infinity Trading Corp. in Indianapolis, said in an e-mail. “Since the chances of rain have been pushed back another week, we are seeing more premium being built into prices.”

 

Arabica coffee for December delivery climbed 6.9 percent to settle at $2.208 a pound at 1:36 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, the biggest gain for a most-active contract since April 22. Earlier, the price reached $2.255, the highest for a most-active contract since Jan. 20, 2012.

 

Flowers for the crop that blossomed from August to late September may fall off before developing further, Cepea, a University of Sao Paulo research group, said on Oct. 1.

 

‘Critical Period’

 

“It’s a critical period for the Brazilian arabica crop, which is flowering,” Tracey Allen, an analyst at Rabobank International in London, said in an e-mail. “Meaningful rain has not yet been received. Continuous rain is important during flowering to help the flowers develop into the fruit.”

 

Production this year may be down as much as 18 percent to 40.1 million bags, the National Coffee Council estimated, after a 3.1 percent slide last year.

 

Today, coffee rose as Brazil’s real climbed the most since August 2013. President Dilma Rousseff faces a runoff election with Aecio Neves, who has appealed to investors by pledging to slow inflation. A stronger real erodes the appeal of export sales of the commodity priced in dollars.

 

Speculators “are particularly active, certainly from a currency point of view,” Rabobank’s Allen said.

 

Trading Jumps

 

Aggregate futures trading was 56 percent above the average for the past 100 days for this time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 

Bets on higher prices by money managers climbed 12 percent to 39,158 futures and options contracts as of Sept. 30, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Oct. 3.

 

Coffee has posted the biggest gain this year among 22 raw materials in the Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 raw materials. The broad gauge dropped 5 percent in 2014.

 

Robusta coffee for November delivery rose 4.1 percent to $2,165 a metric ton on ICE Futures Europe in London. Earlier, the price reached $2,169, the highest since May 2. The commodity climbed 29 percent this year.

 

The arabica premium to robusta was the highest since February 2012. The ratio has more than tripled this year. Arabica is brewed by specialty companies including Starbucks, while robusta beans are used in instant coffee.

 

Brazil is the biggest grower of arabica, and Vietnam is the top producer of robusta. A bag weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds).

Source: Bloomberg 

Coffee consumption: It's in your DNA

Drink too much coffee? It's not your fault. It's in your DNA.

A new study found genetic variants linked with coffee consumption habits.

"This might explain why people vary in not only their coffee consumption behavior but also the stimulating or rewarding effect that coffee produces," Marilyn Cornelis, research associate in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and the lead author of the study, told USA TODAY Network.

Because coffee consumption can impact health, this new research may help identify people who would benefit from increasing or decreasing the amount of coffee they drink each day, according to a press release from Harvard School of Public Health, who led the research along with researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"Like previous genetic analyses of smoking and alcohol consumption, this research serves as an example of how genetics can influence some types of habitual behavior," Daniel Chasman, associate professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the study's senior author, said in the statement.

The study is currently the largest of its kind, according to Cornelis. It analyzed the results of more than 120,000 participants who described how much coffee they drank a day and allowed their DNA to be scanned. The study looked for differences in their DNA associated with drinking more or less coffee.

Researchers found eight gene variants, two of which had already been linked to coffee consumption.

Four of the six new variants implicate genes that are involved with caffeine, either in how the body breaks it down or in its stimulating effects, the researchers said in a paper released Tuesday by the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

The two other newly implicated genes were a surprise because there's no clear biological link to coffee or caffeine, according to the research. They are instead involved with cholesterol levels and blood sugar.

Source: USA Today

How Decaffeinated Coffee is Made

Today I found how caffeine is removed from coffee to produce the decaffeinated version of the world’s most popular drink.

There are several different methods used that can make coffee relatively decaffeinated. The drawback (or advantage, depending on your preference) of all of these methods is that they generally make the coffee flavor milder due to caffeine being one of the components which gives coffee its bitter, acidic flavor.

The general decaffeination processes includes soaking the still green coffee beans in hot water (160-210 degrees Fahrenheit) and then some sort of solvent or activated carbon is used to extract/dissolve the caffeine. The solvents typically used are methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. Unfortunately with this process, the first batch of beans loses most of its flavor to the water and is often thrown out. However, once the dissolving liquid is saturated from the first batch, the subsequent batches retain much of their flavor.  In some methods, the coffee beans from the first batch will be re-soaked in the water solution to reabsorb some of the flavor compounds, minus the dissolved caffeine, so that they can eventually be used for making decaffeinated coffee.

The first such process, as described above, for decaffeinating coffee was invented by Ludwig Roselius in 1905. This method used benzene, a potentially toxic hydrocarbon, to remove caffeine from presoaked green coffee beans. Coffee was steamed in brine and then benzene was applied to the beans. Nowadays, this method is considered unsafe and no longer used.

Another method is where the beans are steamed for half an hour, rather than immersed in water, and then rinsed with solvents – ethyl acetate or methylene chloride to extract and dissolve the caffeine from the beans. Ethyl acetate is an ester that is found naturally in fruits and vegetables such as bananas, apples, and coffee. The solvent is first circulated through a bed of moist green coffee beans and then recaptured in an evaporator while the beans are washed with water. After the chemicals are drained, the beans are steamed again. Usually the solvent is added to the vessel, circulated and emptied several times until the coffee has been decaffeinated to the desired level. The coffee is said to be ‘naturally decaffeinated’ when ethyl acetate derived from fruit or vegetables is used. The advantage of using these solvents for decaffeinating, is that they are generally more precisely targeted to caffeine and not other components that give coffee its distinct flavor. Up to 96% to 97 % of the caffeine from coffee can be extracted this way.

Another method, is known as the Swiss Water Process  and employs a charcoal filter. The charcoal is normally used in conjunction with a carbohydrate solvent (highly compressed CO2 ) so only the caffeine is absorbed. In this method, first, the green coffee beans are soaked in hot water and then the first batch of coffee beans is discarded. The caffeine is then stripped from the solution by activated carbon filters.  This leaves the solution saturated with flavor compounds which is then reused to soak a new batch of decaffeinated green coffee beans. This method extracts up to 98% of the caffeine. Carbon dioxide is also a popular solvent because it has a relatively low pressure critical point.

Another method known as the sparkling water decaffeination process is similar to the CO2 method, but instead of removing the caffeine with activated carbon filters, the caffeine is washed from the CO2 with sparkling water in a secondary tank. This type of solvent consists about 99.7% compressed carbon dioxide and 0.3% water.

Bonus Facts:

The coffee industry in the United States alone is valued at about $19 billion annually.

It takes five years for a coffee tree to reach full maturity. After that, each tree bears 1-2 pounds of coffee beans per growing season.

A six-ounce cup of coffee typically contains approximately 50 to 75 milligrams of caffeine. This amount varies depending on the method of preparation and the type of coffee. Unfortunately for people who are sensitive to caffeine, as little as 10 milligrams can cause discomfort making caffeinated coffee unpalatable for them.

There are 1,200 different chemical components in coffee with more than half of them contributing to the flavor of coffee.

Decaffeinated coffee still contains a small amount of caffeine, thus decaffeinated coffee is not technically caffeine-free.

Today, decaffeinated coffee accounts for approximately 12% of total worldwide coffee consumption.

Source: Today I Found Out

How Cubans Do Coffee

“Coffee is one of those extremely cultural things that a Cuban can not live without,” laughs the Miami resident (and native Cuban) featured in this video. In her community, from dawn to dusk, coffee serves as both ritual and source of pride.

Yet sources differ on what precisely makes a cup of joe “Cuban”, as writer Michelle Slatalla discovered in a 2003 New York Times story: Sources disagreed about the “proper” coffee bean, brewing method, and serving style, leading Slatalla to guess that “Cuban-style coffee was more of a state of mind than anything else.”

Most experts agree that an espresso brewing method is key, as is the azuquita, a crema produced when a small amount of the espresso is frothed by hand with sugar, then added to the rest of the brew. Cookbook author Lourdes Castro at Epicurious wrote emphatically, "Many don’t realize that it’s the technique for making the crema—not the type of coffee beans used—that makes the coffee Cuban.” 

Our video narrator’s tip? “I have a little secret between my grandfather and I. He would add just a tidbit of salt—just a little bit, because you don’t want to overdo it.” A few granules makes sugar taste even sweeter, a phenomenon backed up by science. We’ll drink to that. 

Source: Yahoo Food

11 coffee stats you never knew

Chances are, you can’t start your day without a cup of joe—then maybe you fuel up again with a latte or iced coffee (and later, a post-dinner espresso, anyone?). But how much do you really know about this beverage that is enjoyed by a billion people worldwide? (Fun fact: It's considered to be the most valuable global commodity after oil!) But from the surprising way coffee cranks your brain and body to fascinating facts about its origins, there's still a lot you could be in the dark about. That's why we rounded up 11 fun facts to celebrate our favorite a.m. friend. Enjoy—preferably while sipping your Starbucks.

1. Two cups a day can extend your life. Researchers aren’t sure why, but people who drank this amount or more daily lived longer and were less likely to die of chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease as were coffee abstainers, according to a study from the New England Journal of Medicine.

2. It gives your memory a kick. The caffeine in a cup or two of java doesn't just perk you up in the moment—it enhances your memory up to 24 hours after you drink it. This provides an assist when it comes to forming new memories, reports a Nature study.

3. It reduces pain. A Norwegian study found that office workers who took a coffee break felt less neck and shoulder pain during the workday. (That's your excuse to get up and move!)

4. It keeps your brain sharp over time. Make a mental note of this: 3 to 5 cups of coffee a day can help prevent the cognitive decline associated with aging, leading to a 65 percent decrease in developing Alzheimer’s or dementia, according to a recent study.

5. There’s a cold brew boom. Practically unheard of a generation ago, iced coffee and cold coffee drinks now make up almost 25 percent of all coffee store menu items.

6. Billions of cups are sipped a day. Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee per day. That’s equivalent to 146 billion cups of coffee per year, making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world. U-S-A!

7. You can reuse the grounds. Only 20 percent of the coffee you pour into your coffee maker gets used, leaving the rest of the grounds destined for the trash can. But they have tons of reuse potential! A few ideas: Leave a batch in your fridge as a deodorizer, or rub a fistful between your hands as a natural skin exfoliant.

8. Coffee obsession is taking over. How much do we live the stuff? Consider the results of a new survey: 55 percent of coffee drinkers would rather gain 10 pounds than give up coffee for life, while 52 percent would prefer going without a shower in the morning than abstain. And 49 percent of coffee fans would give up their cell phone for a month rather than go without the stuff. 

9. Most coffee is made and consumed at home. But when we do go out for a cup, we’re most likely to head for the nearest Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts. These three chains are tops for national coffee sales.

10. It may have been the first energy food. Legend has it that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia centuries ago; locals at the time supposedly scored an energy boost from a ball of animal fat infused with coffee.

11. It can power your workout. If you hit the gym in the a.m., dosing up on coffee can help you take advantage of the caffeine jolt.

SOURCE: Shape 

Your Coffee Maker Is Full Of Mold. Here's How To Clean It.

We love nothing more than a good cup of coffee. But a good cup of mold? Not so energizing.

A 2011 study from NSF International found that about half of coffee makers (we're talking the classic, basket-and-carafe kind here) had yeast and mold growing in their reservoirs. About one in ten were home to coliform bacteria. On average, home coffee reservoirs also had higher germ counts than both bathroom door handles and toilet seats.

And while the study tested only 22 households, germ specialist Kelly Reynolds said she doesn't doubt the results.

"(Coffee makers) are certainly a moist environment where mold and bacteria are known to grow in high numbers," said Reynolds, who studies household germs at the University of Arizona. "Our bodies can deal with them, but at some point they'll grow to levels high enough to cause sickness."

And contrary to what you may believe, hot water isn't enough to get this gunk out. (The advice about running coffee through to disinfect? Not entirely accurate, either.)

We asked Carolyn Forté, director of the Home Appliances and Cleaning Products Lab at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute, about the most effective way to clean your coffee maker. The magic ingredient turns out to be vinegar, which (in addition to sanitizing) "decalcifies," or removes the mineral buildup from tap water.

If you have a classic coffee maker, Forté says to give it a gentle cleaning every day and to decalcify it depending on how hard the water is where you live.

"The carafe, lid and filter basket should be cleaned daily with warm, sudsy water," Forté told The Huffington Post via email. "A coffee maker that's used daily should be decalcified about once per month in hard water areas and every two to three months in soft water areas."

Similar rules apply for "pod-based machines" like Keurigs -- debris can clog their many nooks and crannies, so they also benefit from a vinegar run-through every few months, Forté says.

It really depends on how often you use your coffee maker and for how long it lies dormant. Because mold spores love to grow is nice, moist, quiet environments... or, say, a coffee maker you've left unwashed on your counter over the weekend.

No matter how often you use them, these decalcifying steps (outlined here for classic coffee makers) are the key to better-tasting coffee. And we could all go for some of that.

1. Fill the coffee maker's water chamber with equal parts white vinegar and water. Using a paper filter, allow to brew until half the chamber is empty.

2. Turn the coffee maker off and let it sit for 30 minutes, then finish brewing.

3. Rinse the machine by using a new paper filter to brew a pot of clear water. Do this twice.

4. Fill the carafe with warm, sudsy water and some rice as a gentle abrasive. Swirl the mixture in the pot, then use a scrubber sponge to remove any gunk. Rinse and dry.

5. Wipe the outside of the machine with a damp cloth (but remember, this and the previous step should really happen every day).

Voila! Delicious, germ-free coffee!

If you're looking for a fresh start with a sparkling clean machine, check out some of Good Housekeeping's favorite new coffee makers, from single-cups to big-time brewers.

SOURCE: Huffington Post

7 reasons our coffee habit is costing more these days

In a relatively short period of time, the American coffee habit has gotten a lot more expensive.

Monday, September 29, is National Coffee Day, when restaurant and coffee chains around the country are giving out free (or extremely cheap) cups of Joe to the masses. The day is quite the exception, however, given how as a nation we are spending more and more on coffee.

Here are 7 reasons why:

We’re drinking coffee earlier in life. A study published this year by S&D Coffee & Tea shows that on average, younger millennials start drinking coffee at age 15, while older millennials picked up the habit at 17. Typical members of Gen X, meanwhile, started drinking coffee at 19.

More of us drink coffee regularly. U.S. coffee consumption rose 5% in 2013, according to a National Coffee Association survey, meaning that today 83% of the adult population drinks coffee; 75% have coffee at least once a week.

And we’re drinking higher-priced coffee at that. Data from 2014 shows that 34% of Americans drink gourmet coffee daily, an increase of 3% over last year. Young people in particular are willing to pay higher prices for coffee: In a new PayPal poll, 18% of people age 18 to 34 said they are willing to pay more than $3 per cup, compared with just 8% of those age 50 to 64.

We eat breakfast outside the home more often. Our fast-moving, on-the-go culture has been blamed as a reason for declining sales of cereal and milk, as more Americans are skipping the traditional breakfast at home and opting for foods that can be eaten on the run, like Pop Tarts and fast food via the drive-thru. In fact, breakfast has become enormously important to quick-serve restaurants because it’s the one mealtime experiencing strong growth lately. Coffee purchased at a restaurant or on the go at a convenience store or café is always more expensive than coffee brewed and drunk at home.

One word: Keurig. “In 2002, the average price of a coffee maker was about $35,” a recent post at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management blog stated. “By 2013, that number had risen to around $90.” Truth be told, it’s still easy to find a coffee maker for $35 or even less, it’s just that the type of machine—the traditional kind that brews ground coffee by the pot—is no longer typical. It’s been replaced by the pricier single-cup brewer that came into the mainstream over the last decade thanks to the Keurig company. For many consumers, the speed and convenience of such machines outweighs the premium one must pay beyond the plain old-fashioned coffee maker. Some 1.7 million single-cup Keurig brewers were sold in the second quarter of 2014, an increase of 200,000 over the same period a year before.

Plus, K-Cups themselves are pricier. It’s not just the single-cup machines that cost more—the cups themselves do too. The price per single-serve K-Cup pod varies widely depending on the style of roast, whether you’re buying a small pack or stocking up in bulk, and how strategically you shop for deals. But no matter how good you are at snagging deals, you’ll almost always pay more for coffee pods than you will for old-fashioned ground or whole bean coffee. One price-comparison study conducted a couple of years ago indicated that K-Cup coffee cost more than $50 per pound, roughly four times the cost of a bag of Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts beans. What’s more, K-Cups are subject to a 9% across-the-board price hike in early November. (Side note: Mother Jones and others have pointed out that single-use K-Cups cost more and are worse for the environment than recyclable pod filters, though Keurig Green Mountain has plans to make all K-Cup pods fully recyclable by 2020.)

All coffee is simply getting more expensive. A long-lasting drought in Brazil (the world’s biggest producer of coffee beans) has pushed global coffee prices to near-record highs, and the market may be affected for years to come. Already this year, java junkies have faced price hikes from coffee brands such as Starbucks, Folgers, Maxwell House, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Interestingly, even as coffee has gotten more expensive and economic growth hasn’t exactly been sizzling in recent years, Starbucks sales have outpaced lower-priced competitors Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. What does that show us? For the most part, coffee lovers are passionate about their caffeinated beverages and aren’t going to trade down to what they view as an inferior cup of Joe, even if doing so would save a couple of bucks here and there.

Source: TIME

The Best Coffee Shop In Every State

For National Coffee Day, we're honoring some of the best coffee shops around the US.

Forget Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. Every state has its beloved local haunt where you can grab a cup of joe or a foamy masterpiece of latte art and unwind.

We found the best coffee shop in every state by looking at expert reviews and local recommendations.

ALABAMA: O'Henry's Coffees is there to keep Birmingham hyper-caffeinated with its signature Gibraltar Quad Shot: four shots of espresso and a hint of milk.

ALASKA: Jitters is so good it can give you just that, if you drink too much. In a hurry? Grab a coffee from its coffee truck, right in the shop's Eagle River parking lot.

ARIZONA: Cartel Coffee Lab is a great, six-location local chain. Its single-origin coffee is roasted in-house and served with fresh pastries daily.

Cartel Coffee Lab

ARKANSAS: Mud Street Cafe is synonymous with Eureka Springs and home to award-winning coffee. Mud Street is located in a building that dates back to the 1880s.

Mud Street Cafe

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Source: TWC Central