A Quick Guide to Coffee

There are 3 major regions in the world where coffee if grown: Central America, North Africa, and South Asia. Each region has its own distinct flavors and aroma. This comes from the minerals in the particular soil, the amount of precipitation, and the method of processing the beans. For this article, I will use Starbucks as an example; not for promotional reasons but since Starbucks is the most well known in the coffee industry.

Latin America

By far the leading producers of coffee in the world, Brazil alone produces over 2 million metric tones of coffee each year. Latin American coffees go through a process called “washing”. After the beans are picked, they are pulped and fermented for 18 to 36 hours. This fermentation brings out an acidic flavor and smell from the beans. A good example of coffee from this region is the Starbucks Breakfast Blend or Organic Shade Grown Mexico. Continue reading “A Quick Guide to Coffee”

Gluten Free Recipes – What 10 Grains Can Be Substituted For Wheat?

Gluten-free recipes can be a challenge and looking at all the grain bins at the natural food store can be intimidating. Whether you have Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, wheat allergies, or your choice is to follow a gluten-free diet, you need to know not just which grains have gluten but which grains are gluten-free and can be substituted.

Here is a list of 10 gluten-free grains with a little information about each one. Continue reading “Gluten Free Recipes – What 10 Grains Can Be Substituted For Wheat?”

The Dangers of Drinking Coffee

If you drink coffee because you think you need to in order to rev or pep you up daily, especially if you work in corporate America, here are some things to think about pertaining to this liquid drug that is the number one cause of cancer of the esophagus:

The first thing you should think about is – why would you drink something that is so hot that if you stuck your finger in it, it would burn the hell out of you? If it burns your finger, what do you think it does to your tissues and cells throughout your body? Hot beverages destroy (kill) your cells, i.e. cancer!

Coffee is a stimulant to the central nervous system. Drinking coffee inhibits the release of natural brain opiates (that make you feel good and counteracts pain). Women need all the natural brain opiates their bodies can muster up, especially around the menstrual period and not to mention childbirth (which is very painful due to the inordinate decrease of opiates in the modern American woman). Coffee may rev you up for a while, but is sure to bring down as well (making you crave more of it, after all, it is a drug, at least in the state that we use it today). Excessive consumption of coffee causes shaking and trembling of the hands due to nervousness. Coffee greatly impairs the nervous system. Continue reading “The Dangers of Drinking Coffee”

What You Need to Know About Coffee

A Third of the World Drinks Coffee

“Without my morning coffee, I’m no good.”

“I need my two cups of coffee to get me going in the morning.”

“The first thing we do in the morning is make a pot of fresh coffee.”

So go the sentiments of nearly a third of the world’s population according to researchers. Starting your day with a cup or two of freshly brewed coffee can improve your disposition while the fragrant aroma calms you and its caffeine stimulates you. Its flavor and aroma can vary depending on the country or region of origin. Coffee is one of the world’s five most popular drinks along with water, tea, chocolate and milk. Continue reading “What You Need to Know About Coffee”

A Brief Tour of Coffee’s Chemical Composition

Everyday millions of people around the world begin their day religiously with a morning cup of coffee. Though today we easily identify coffee in its beverage form, it wasn’t always this way in the beginning. Throughout history, coffee has taken on several physical transformations, initially serving as an energy source when nomadic tribes combined coffee berries with animal fat as an early form of an energy bar. Later it was consumed as a tea, then a wine, and finally to the beverage we’ve come to identify today. Since the beginning, coffee has always been a product of great mystery, having been discovered accidentally in wild forests of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and consumed in its native cherry form, then later, passed through fire to significantly alter its chemical state. And although coffee has been in existence for thousands of years, its only been in the past half century or so, that scientists have been able to truly identify and understand what exactly is contained in this mystical bean. To date scientist have identified over 1,000 compounds in coffee, which when compared to products such as wine of chocolate that are composed of a few hundred, pale in comparison to that of coffee. Luckily through advancements in technology, much of coffee’s chemical make-up has been unlocked and we now have a better perspective on the chemistry contained within this mystical bean.

Caffeine Continue reading “A Brief Tour of Coffee’s Chemical Composition”

What is 4C Common Code Coffee Certification?

The 4C Common Code’s mission is to achieve global leadership by emphasizing the economic, social and environmental factors in coffee growing. This emphasis leads to enhanced production, processing and trading conditions for coffee sector members.

4C Common Code was started in 2003. This certification has representation from countries such as Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Nicaragua, Papua, New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.

Is 4C a label?

No. 4C is not a label. It is a certification.
Coffee and farms are certified. There are specific checks to verify that the coffee in the pack meets the criteria noted on the label.
The label on the packaged coffee indicates the correctness of a claim such as coffee produced using sustainable standards. The label may read “Organic Coffee,” for example, and additional wording may state that the coffee is 4C certified.

Continue reading “What is 4C Common Code Coffee Certification?”

Coffee and Tea Are Good for Us? Yes! (First in a Series)

You’ll be pleased to learn that many of the foods and drinks you love are not just “okay” as an occasional indulgence–they’re good for you! Let’s begin with coffee and tea…and I invite you to read my related articles on wine and beer, and on chocolate.

Coffee is made from the roasted and ground seeds of several tropical trees or shrubs of the genus Coffea.

An Arabian legend tells of a goatherd who made a beverage from berries growing on strange shrubs, and after drinking it experienced extraordinary lucidity and wakefulness. The shrubs were said to have been planted by the descendants of the Queen of Sheba, who came from Ethiopia, where Coffea arabica originates.

Nearly 20,000 scientific studies to date have been conducted on coffee or caffeine. Here, in a nutshell, are the results: not only is drinking coffee in moderation no threat to health, it actually can be a boon. It is harmless even during pregnancy, and children are no more sensitive to caffeine than adults. Continue reading “Coffee and Tea Are Good for Us? Yes! (First in a Series)”

Cameroon Boyo Coffee – The Taste of West Africa

The Republic of Cameroon is an African nation well known for both its geographic and ethnic diversity. Lying in the Northwest province of Cameroon, there is a mountainous region known as Boyo that is seeking to improve the standard of living for its many farmers. In the late 1990’s a farmers’ cooperative initiative was started with the goal of delivering back to the farmers a fair price for their coffee. The means to do so has been through the standardization of the cultivation and processing steps to produce a consistently high quality Arabica coffee. They market their coffee under the name – Boyo – of their region.

The farmers appear to be on the right track, producing a high quality, robust coffee. The flavorful characteristics of Boyo coffee are purported to result from the nutrient rich, dark volcanic soil in climatic conditions ideal for coffee growing. The onset of the first rains coincides with the blossoming of the coffee plants. And then just as the coffee berries begin to ripen, the dry season begins. The abundant sunshine stimulates the coffee berries to quickly attain their optimal sugar content. That is the secret to Boyo’s distinctive flavor. Continue reading “Cameroon Boyo Coffee – The Taste of West Africa”

Unusual Facts About Coffee

There are many unusual facts about coffee and some are very surprising. Everyone probably knows by now that coffee beans were discovered in Ethiopia by a goatherd around 800 AD. He noticed that his goats became more frisky, after eating the ‘berries’ on a particular bush. He investigated and discovered coffee beans. How he managed to brew his first coffee after that is a matter of speculation.

You know perhaps that antioxidants are very beneficial to us. They can halt the aging process and combat those free radicals that can cause cancer. Red wine, grape juice, and green tea are rich in antioxidants, but a mug of coffee has more antioxidants in it than a mug of grape juice. Who would have thought it?

Apart from oil, coffee is the most traded commodity in the world. Americans usually start their day with a coffee and actually consume around 400 million cups of it per day. It was first taken to New York, then called New Amsterdam, in the mid 17th century. It was not hugely popular until after 1773 and the Boston Tea Party when the colonists threw chests of tea into the sea at Boston harbour. Before this, tea was as popular in America as it was in Britain. Increases in taxes saw its popularity decline. Continue reading “Unusual Facts About Coffee”

Essential Fishing Secrets For the Mighty Zambezi River

Fishing on the Zambezi River for the novice or experienced angler is possibly as close as one can get to absolute perfection. But what can one expect to catch and how? What are the best times of year and what are the potential dangers if any?

As all fishermen know it is not only about the catch but it’s about being at one with nature and your surroundings. Well what better place can you do this than on the Mighty Zambezi River?

It is ever changing through the seasons so one visit is never the same as the next keeping you spell bound every time. Wildlife and birds are in abundance and for me nothing much can be finer than a days fishing on the Zambezi River.

What you can catch Continue reading “Essential Fishing Secrets For the Mighty Zambezi River”