History of coffee:The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the thirteenth century, though coffee’s origin remains unclear.
It has been believed that Ethiopian ancestors of today’s Oromo people were the first to discover and recognize the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant.However, no direct evidence has been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it, or even known about it, earlier than the 17th century. The story of Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd who discovered coffee, did not appear in writing until 1671 AD and is probably apocryphal. From Ethiopia, coffee was said to have spread to Egypt and Yemen. The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen.It was in Arabia that coffee beans were first roasted and brewed, similar to modern preparation. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to Italy, and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americ.
Health effects of coffee: Coffee contains several compounds which are known to affect human body chemistry. The coffee bean itself contains chemicals which are mild psychotropics for humans as a defense mechanism of the Coffea plant. These chemicals are toxic in large doses, or even in their normal amount when consumed by many creatures which may otherwise have threatened the beans in the wild. Coffee contains caffeine, which acts as a stimulant. For this reason, it is often consumed in the morning and when feeling tired. Students preparing for examinations with late-night cram sessions frequently use coffee to stay awake. Many office workers take a coffee break when they have low energy.
Recent research has uncovered additional stimulating effects of coffee which are not related to its caffeine content. Coffee contains an as yet unknown chemical agent which stimulates the production of cortisone and adrenaline, two stimulating hormones.
For occasions when one wants to enjoy the flavor of coffee with almost no stimulation, decaffeinated coffee.This is coffee from which most of the caffeine has been removed, by the Swiss water process (which involves the soaking of raw beans to remove the caffeine) or the use of a chemical solvent such as trichloroethylene (“tri”), or the more popular methylene chloride, in a similar process. Another solvent used is ethyl acetate; the resultant decaffeinated coffee is marketed as “natural decaf” because ethyl acetate is naturally present in fruit. Extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide has also been employed.
All-cause mortality:In women, coffee consumption significantly decreases all-cause mortality, apparently decreasing somewhat linearly to a relative risk of approximately 0.85 for those drinking 3 cups per day compared to those who consume no coffee, but the relative risk then remains almost the same for up to 6 cups per day, according to a large prospective cohort study. In men, these beneficial effects were not as great, in fact with an increased risk for those drinking approximately one cup every other day compared to those drinking none, but yet having a significant trend towards less mortality for those who drink more than 2 cups per day compared to those who drink none. Results were similar fordecaffeinated coffee.
Reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia:Several studies comparing moderate coffee drinkers (defined as 3-5 cups per day) with light coffee drinkers (defined as 0-2 cups per day) found that those who drank more coffee were significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease later in life.A longitudinal study in 2009 found that moderate coffee drinkers had reduced risk of developing dementia in addition to Alzheimer’sdisease.
Reduced risk of gallstone disease:Drinking caffeinated coffee has been correlated with a lower incidence of gallstones and gallbladder disease in both men and women in two studies performed by the Harvard School of Public Health. A lessened risk was not seen in those who drank decaffeinated coffee. A recent study showed that roast coffee protected primary neuronal cells against hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death.
Reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease:A study comparing heavy coffee drinkers (3.5 cups a day) with non-drinkers found that the coffee drinkers were significantly less likely to contract Parkinson’s disease later in life.Likewise, a second study found an inverse relationship between the amount of coffee regularly drunk and the likelihood of developing Parkinson’s disease.
Cognitive performance:Many people drink coffee for its ability to increase.
Likewise, in tests of simple reaction time, choice reaction time, incidental verbal memory, and visuospatial reasoning, participants who regularly drank coffee were found to perform better on all tests, with a positive relationship between test scores and the amount of coffee regularly drunk. Elderly participants were found to have the largest effect associated with regular coffee drinking. Another study found that women over the age of 80 performed significantly better on cognitive tests if they had regularly drunk coffee over their lifetimes.[
Analgesic enhancement:Coffee contains caffeine, which increases the effectiveness of pain killers, especially migraine and headache medications.For this reason, many over-the-counter headache drugs include caffeine in their formula.
Antidiabetic:Coffee intake may reduce one’s risk of diabetes mellitus type 2 by up to half. While this was originally noticed in patients who consumed high amounts (7 cups a day), the relationship was later shown to be linear.
Liver protection:Coffee can also reduce the incidence of cirrhosis of the liver and has been linked to a reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, a primary liver cancer that usually arises in patients with preexisting cirrhosis. The exact mechanism and the amount of coffee needed to achieve a beneficial effect have long been unclear. The cytokine transforming growth factor (TGF) beta has long been recognized for promoting fibrosis ability acting through the Smad family of transcription factors. In an interesting report recently published in the Journal of Hepatology, Gressner and colleagues provide the first mechanistic context for the epidemiological studies on coffee drinkers by showing that caffeine may have potent anti-fibrotic capabilities through its ability to antagonize the Smad pathway.
Cancer:Coffee consumption is also correlated to a reduced risk of oral, esophageal, and pharyngeal cancer.In ovarian cancer, no benefit was found. In the Nurses’ Health Study, a modest reduction in breast cancer was observed in postmenopausal women only, which was not confirmed in decaffeinated coffee. According to one study, coffee protects the liver from cancer. Another preliminary study found a correlation between coffee consumption and a lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
Cardioprotective:Coffee moderately reduces the incidence of dying from cardiovascular disease, according to a large prospective cohort study.
Laxative/diuretic:Coffee is also a powerful stimulant for peristalsis and is sometimes considered to prevent constipation. However, coffee can also cause excessively loose bowel movements. The stimulative effect of coffee consumption on the colon is found in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.
Practitioners in alternative medicine often recommend coffee enemas for “cleansing of the colon” due to its stimulus of peristalsis, although medicine has not proved any benefits of the practice.
Contrary to popular belief, caffeine does not act as a diuretic when consumed in moderation, and does not lead to dehydration or to a water-electrolyte imbalance; current evidence suggests that caffeinated beverages contribute to the body’s daily fluid requirements no differently from pure water.
Antioxidant:Coffee contains the anticancer compound methylpyridinium. This compound is not present in significant amounts in other food materials. Methyl pyridinium is not present in raw coffee beans but is formed during the roasting process from trigonelline, which is common in raw coffee beans. It is present in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, and even in instant coffee. A recent study shows that roast coffee contains more lipophilic antioxidants and chlorogenic acid lactones and are more protective against hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death in primary neuronal cells than green coffee.
Types of Coffee to Choose From:
A lot of people have made drinking coffee a very basic part of their lives. To some, they really need a cup in order to start their days. There are so many types of coffee that you can find. However, there are those people that aren’t at all willing to explore different boundaries once they’ve found a flavor to call their own. This is a very common way of thinking, but you’ve got to realize that you’ll be missing out on a lot of great flavors if you choose to stick to only one type of coffee.
Types of Coffee:Different countries in the world produce different types of coffee for the rest of the world to consume. It may be that the coffee is renamed after its export from its originating country that you won’t exactly know what type of coffee you are drinking. There are two general types of coffee namely the Arabica Coffee and the Robusta Coffee. Robusta Coffee is the cheaper type of coffee among the two. It makes up around 20% of the world’s coffee and it is less flavorful compared to the Arabica coffee but with a higher
