Coffee Exports Up 41%

Costa Rican coffee exports in December, the third month of the new 2008-09 crop cycle, rose 41% to 88,966 bags of 60 kilograms each, the official Costa Rican Coffee Institute, or Icafe, said Monday.

This compares to Costa Rican exports of 63,316 bags in December 2007 during the 2007-08 crop cycle (October-September), an Icafe said, citing first preliminary figures for the month.

Total Costa Rican coffee exports in the first three months of the 2008-09 crop cycle from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, meanwhile, were up 25% to 204,663 bags from exports of 163,337 bags in the October-December period of the 2007-08 year.

Physical harvesting of Costa Rica's 2008-09 harvest is now underway across most of the country's producing regions and is expected to start in earnest this month in most of the country's key producing high-altitude areas.

Coffee from the new crop normally doesn't start reaching the market until December and exports shipped in the first few months of the new cycle traditionally consist almost exclusively of previous-crop beans.

Inside Costa Rica

Coffee and Chocolate Holding Up in Down Economy

By Martin Zimmerman, Los Angeles Times 

In the United States, the true comfort foods are chocolate and coffee -which may provide relief for investors battered by plummeting prices for oil, gold, wheat and other products.

The prices of most commodities have tumbled this year as recession has spread around the globe, hammering consumer demand for the raw materials that go into a loaf of bread, your car’s gas tank and much more.

But cocoa and, to an extent, coffee have bucked that trend, and some analysts think they can keep doing so.

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Coffee may protect against oral cancers

By Megan Rauscher Megan Rauscher – Tue Jan 6

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – New research indicates that drinking coffee lowers the risk of developing cancer of the oral cavity or throat, at least in the general population of Japan.

The consumption of coffee in Japan is relatively high, as is the rate of cancer of the esophagus in men. To look into any protective effect of coffee drinking, Dr. Toru Naganuma of Tohoku University, Sendai, and colleagues, analyzed data from the population-based Miyagi Cohort Study in Japan.

The study included information about diet, including coffee consumption. Among more than 38,000 study participants aged 40 to 64 years with no prior history of cancer, 157 cases of cancer of the mouth, pharynx and esophagus occurred during 13 years of follow up.

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For the caffeine-sensitive: D+caf Caffeine Test Strips

CNET.COM
Posted by Brian Krepshaw
  
I've always assumed prankster-loving baristas might substitute decaf coffee for the real thing. I'm sure there are those out there who would not think twice about slipping some caffeine to an unsuspecting customer. Whether accidentally or on purpose, for some, this unexpected addition of caffeine could be a serious health threat--at least serious enough to warrant caution.

Those who have high blood pressure or a heart condition should probably be avoiding caffeine. However, as many people tend to do, the doctor's advice goes out the window when in the real world of cafes, restaurants, and soda pop machines. For people who simply must monitor their caffeine intake, there is help in the form of D+caf Caffeine Test Strips.

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