Coffee may help ward off dementia, study suggests

Coffee and caffeine supplements might block the damaging effects of cholesterol and cut the risk of dementia — at least in New Zealand rabbits, according to research just published. Those findings support earlier studies looking at Alzheimer's disease.

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Drinking coffee? Say thanks to the bats

Science Centric | 3 April 2008 18:00 GMT

If you get a chance to sip some shade-grown Mexican organic coffee, please pause a moment to thank the bats that helped make it possible. At Mexican organic coffee plantations, where pesticides are banned, bats and birds work night and day to control insect pests that might otherwise munch the crop.
Until now, the birds got nearly all the credit. But a new study from University of Michigan researchers shows that during the summer wet season, bats devour more bugs than the birds at Finca Irlanda, a 740-acre organic coffee plantation in Chiapas, Mexico.
And they often do it using a 'perch and wait' hunting technique that is proving to be far more common than bat researchers had believed. A report on the study appears in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

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Characterization of green coffee beans

The following was clipped from sciencedirect.com concerning metal and chemical content differences in green beans.

Storing Green Beans; Factors to consider

And just think that I been putting my green beans in a brown paper bag without considering these storage factors pointed out on sweetmarias.com.

Revitalize old rubber vac pot gaskets

I love vac pot coffee. What's not to love? It's fun to brew and the coffee is as good as brewed coffee can be, without the sediment you get with a press pot.

I also love to buy old vac pots, but as pretty as they are, if the rubber gasket is old and hard, they are just dust-catchers on the shelf because they don't create a seal. Without the seal, air escapes around the gasket and you don't get the vacuum necessary to pull the coffee back into the lower decanter. I broke an upper bowl on one that was difficult to remove after brewing. What a mess that was!

I recently ran across a solution for the gasket problem. Go to the auto parts store and get a can of transmission stop leak. This stuff works on the seals and gaskets in the transmission just as it works on your vac pot gasket. Take the gasket off the upper bowl of the vac pot and soak it in the stop leak for 2 or 3 days. I have had good results on one of my gaskets and I am now soaking the others. I don't know if it will work on cracked gaskets.

It won't make them as new, but will soften the old rubber just enough to make the seal. It may not work on all, but for about $4, it's worth the try.

The stuff stinks so don't do it in the kitchen. It's hard to wash off, but the rubber doesn't come in contact with the coffee, so it's safe. Let's rephrase that. I think it's safe, but you decide for yourself. There is a possibility that some residue of the stop leak could get onto the mouth of the decanter and into your coffee.

Please let other readers know how it works in the Comments.

Robert

Why Wall St. Hates Starbucks (SBUX)

By 24/7 Wall St.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) has been a disappointment recently. Same-store sales in the US slowed over the last couple of quarters. The company pushed down its guidance. Founder Howard Schultz kicked out his CEO and took over
In late 2006, Starbucks traded over $40. It is well below that now, under $18 on most days.
Right as the stock peaked, the then-CEO Jim Donald made the audacious statement that the company would eventually have 40,000 stores. On the day he said that Starbucks had 12,440 stores. Looking back, it is almost certain the his prediction had no chance of becoming a reality. But, the $40 share price had gone to his head. He had become delirious with success.

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