Cool Beans: A Crash Course in Coffee

by Debbi Donovan

We Americans are passionate about our coffee. Though we're drinking less coffee today than 30 years ago, more than half of us can't start off our day without a hot cup of java. We socialize with a cup in hand, we welcome its stimulating effects as a pick-me-up during our workday, and we sip it at the end of our meals. Coffee drinking is an enjoyable and important daily ritual to millions of Americans.

Evidence of our love affair with coffee is everywhere: Specialty coffee shops are found at almost every mall, and on every street corner. Gourmet coffee is now sold in neighborhood grocery stores. High schools are even selling cappuccino and latte in their lunchrooms.

Coffee 101: A Basic Crash Course

Selecting the Brew That's Right for You

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Coffee Glossary

by Deb Donovan

Ordering a cup of coffee in today's coffee houses and restaurants can be a confusing undertaking. Here's a guide to your choices. (Hint: most specialty coffee drinks are based on espresso -- a rich, flavorful brew.)

• Cappuccino: Espresso topped with equal parts foamed and steamed milk.

• Cafe Americano: American drip coffee--Italian style. Made from equal portions of espresso and boiling water. This results in a stronger version of brewed coffee.

• Cafe au lait: This traditionally French drink is made with equal parts of brewed coffee and steamed milk.

• Cafe breve: This is a milk-based espresso where half-and-half is used instead of milk.

• Cafe con leche: 1.5 ounces of espresso with steamed milk to fill an eight-ounce cup.

• Cafe con panna: Espresso topped with whipped cream.

• Cafe corretto: Espresso with a shot of brandy, cognac, or liqueur.

• Cafe creme: 1.5 ounces of espresso combined with one ounce of heavy cream.

• Cafe doppio: A double shot of espresso with one shot of hot water.

• Cafe freddo: Chilled espresso served in a glass, often iced.

• Cafe latte: 1.5 ounces of espresso in a six-ounce cup filled to top with steamed milk, forming a dense drink. This may be topped with foamed milk. • Cafe latte macchiato: A glass of hot milk, with a teaspoon of espresso.

• Cafe Latteccino: Espresso with two parts of steamed milk and one part foamed milk.

• Cafe lungo: A long espresso made by adding boiling water to a 1.5 ounces espresso. (The same as an Americano.)

• Cafe macchiato: 1.5 ounces of espresso in a demitasse, topped with a dollop of foamed milk. (Macchiato means marked in Italian.)

• Cafe mocha: Espresso, chocolate syrup, and steamed milk, often topped with whipped cream and cocoa powder or chocolate shavings. (Like a latte with chocolate.)

• Cafe ristretto: This is highly concentrated espresso (3/4 to one ounce of water used for extraction), resulting in a denser, and more aromatic espresso.

• Cafe romano: Regular espresso, served with a twist of lemon or lemon peel.

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Espresso Machines

Sick of paying $4 for a tiny shot of extra-dark coffee? Then it might be time to invest in a home espresso machine. That way, you only have to go to your kitchen for a delicious freshly roasted coffee drink. The Good Housekeeping Institute's Food Appliances department picked their four favorite espresso machines so you can whip up espressos like a barista (Italian for an espresso master) in the comfort of your own home -- without breaking the bank. Each model is pump-powered and produces espresso topped with crema (golden foam, the sign of a great espresso) every time.

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Cup O' Joe Millionaires

A quarter for a cup of joe? Feh. There's big money in them there beans. Starbucks started the revolution. Now Rick Munarriz checks in on the coffee wars to see if anyone has enough buzz to compete with the giant.

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz (TMF Edible)

It's been nearly a decade since the infamous McDonald's coffee lawsuit. An elderly woman leaving a Mickey D's drive-thru window, trying to add some cream and sugar into her steaming cup of joe, mishandled the coffee and suffered third degree burns. She sued the world's largest restaurant chain and won. It was a $2.7 million award that was ultimately reduced to $480,000 on appeal. Both parties eventually settled out of court.

In retrospect, there is one amazing McNugget to this hot molten java story that rarely gets mentioned. That errant cup of coffee? McDonald's was charging just $0.49 for the stuff! Flash forward to the amazing growth of Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and its elasticity -- if not audacity -- to charge $2 for a cup of coffee or even more for flavored bean water.

There is money in them there beans. Lots of money.

Too bad McDonald's is still nursing its wounds.

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Make An Extraordinary Cup Of Coffee

By Peter Richmond

Ever wonder why the French are known to be so particular about their coffee? Why the Italians spend hours "singing" while sipping on their precious miniature espressos, or why the Turks and Arabs leave the fortune telling to the muddy waters found at the bottom of their cups?

That's because there is actually history behind this cultural phenomenon. And if more Americans knew about it, we would also cherish and appreciate this beverage to the last drop. You see, the evolution of coffee encouraged cultural interaction through trade, and eventually influenced the political landscape of many nations. It even went so far as starting disputes between countries set on the pursuit of wealth and power thanks to this sacred bean.

To a true coffee aficionado, a cup of coffee isn't simply hot water mixed with an instant brew. To drink a cup of coffee is to ingest a part of history and some of the sacrifices made in order to have the honor of enjoying the "devil's fruit."

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The keys to becoming a master barista

1 BEANS Beginners think that only dark beans make great espresso. Not true. While light beans won't work, even for expert baristas, anything in the medium-to-dark spectrum will. Microroasters have popped up all over the place; a good dark roast to try is the award-winning Morning Star Coffee Ethiopian Yirgacheffe ($13; 888-854-2233 or morningstarcoffees.com).

2 TEMPERATURE To get the ideal brewing temperature (190 degrees), preheat the portafilter handle (the thing the coffee goes in) by running hot water through the machine before you put in the grounds. Also, to maintain your coffee at the ideal drinking temperature of 160 degrees, preheat your cup for about ten seconds using steam or hot water.

3 TAMPING Creating great espresso requires compacting the coffee grounds into the portafilter handle, a process called tamping. (Most machines come with a round, flat tamper with a short handle.) The proper technique: Apply about 30 pounds of pressure, then finish with a twist to polish the top of the grounds. Not sure how hard to push? Practice by pushing down on a bathroom scale with one hand.

4 GRINDING If possible, avoid blade grinders; they "precook" the coffee, leading to a bitter taste. Instead, use a burr or crush grinder, like the Solis Maestro Grinder ($130; cooking.com), which has multiple settings and a consistent grind. Don't grind the beans too fine. The rule of thumb is, the darker the bean, the coarser the grind. Flavor varies from machine to machine and from bean to bean, meaning that the perfect layer of crema is ultimately a matter of trial and error.

By: Steven Kotler

Men's Journal

The Truth About Caffeine

By Simon McNeil

What's better then waking up beside a buxom blonde and finding out that she actually looks as good in the morning as she did on the dance floor the night before? Nothing much -- but a fresh cup of coffee could really kick start your day.
Even though the taste -- bitter and caustic -- needs to be adopted, once you acquire it, you won't be able to go one morning without having your daily cup of joe.

You sure won't have any problems finding freshly-brewed coffee, since there is a coffee shop practically on every street corner in most major North American cities.

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Fighting Cavities One of Coffee's Perks

By Dennis Kleinman, HealthAtoZ writer

Thinking of kicking your coffee habit? Have another cup instead. Research has come up with a startling discovery. Drinking coffee can help prevent tooth decay.

Putting on the anti-bacterial skids

Italian researchers from the University of Ancona in Italy led by Gabriella Gazzani, Ph.D., tested samples of green and roasted arabica and robusta coffee. They concluded that every sample of the roasted coffee had the unique ability to inhibit some microorganisms, particularly Streptococcus mutans, from binding to tooth enamel, the hard outside surface of our teeth. S mutans bacteria produce acid, which breaks down the enamel, causing cavities. Trigonelline, a component of coffee responsible for its aroma and bitter taste, is the anti-adhesive that prevents dental caries from forming.

"All coffee solutions have high anti-adhesive properties due to both naturally occurring and roasting-induced molecules," says Gazzani. The study concluded that coffee from green, unroasted beans was only somewhat protective, coffee prepared from roasted beans was more protective, and instant coffee provided the greatest protection. The degree of protection was unrelated to the amount of caffeine.

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Coffee: The New Health Food?

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

By Sid Kirchheimer
WebMD Feature Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

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

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

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

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Everything Stops for Coffee, Not Tea

by Geraint Thomas
South Wales Evening Post

More tea? No thanks. Swansea shoppers have gone designer coffee crazy. We love our latte and can't get enough cappuccino, according to a survey which shows we're a nation of coffee drinkers.

Big chains like Starbucks and Costa Coffee are brewing up a small fortune in profits every day in the city centre, while others cafes and coffee shops also enjoy a booming trade.

Market analysts Mintel has found that 81 per cent of people in Britain class themselves as coffee drinkers.

When it comes to caffeine, the UK is the most addicted country in Europe, leaving France and Germany standing.

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Coffee Drinking in Europe

Germans still account for almost two fifths of European spend on coffee, according to Mintel, but the German market has declined by 39% in 5 years while spend in the rest of Europe remains fairly constant. The net effect is a decline in the European market (excluding coffee shops) from 8.5 billion Euros in 1998 to 6.8 billion Euros in 2003.

More than 80% of the population in Germany, France, Spain and Great Britain (GB) drink coffee in one form or another according to the report, ‘Coffee in Europe’. Germany accounted for about half the market value in 1998 but its spend has since fallen from 4.2 billion Euros to just 2.6 billion Euros, accounting for almost all the above European decline. A dip in the UK market (by 10%) has roughly balanced out slight growth in the Italian, French and Spanish coffee markets.

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How to Get the Most Kick from Coffee

Go for many shorts over one tall, grande or vente—small doses of caffeine ward off sleepiness better
By Keri Schram
Betterhumans Staff

Put away that extra large coffee mug: Researchers have discovered that small, frequent doses of caffeine keep you awake better than one large cup of java in the morning.

A study conducted by scientists from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts has provided key insight into how caffeine interacts with the sleep cycle.

"I hate to say it, but most of the population is using caffeine the wrong way by drinking a few mugs of coffee or tea in the morning, or three cups from their Starbucks grande on the way to work," says study leader James Wyatt of Rush. "This means that caffeine levels in the brain will be falling as the day goes on. Unfortunately, the physiological process they need to counteract is not a major player until the latter half of the day."

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Jolt for Seattle's coffee grind: Juan Valdez

By Jake Batsell
Seattle Times business reporter

The Starbucks siren soon may have to contend with another coffee icon in her hometown: Juan Valdez.

A budding chain of coffeehouses named after the fictional, mule-towing Colombian farmer plans to open stores in several U.S. cities, including Seattle, later this year.

Long before Starbucks hit the mainstream, Valdez was the face of coffee to many Americans, leading his mule through coffee fields and grocery-store aisles on TV ads sponsored by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia.

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