Coffee Cuts Risk of Diabetes Development

The words "bad" and "habit" just seem to go together. People can have good habits, sure, but we typically associate habits with bad things. Coffee drinking is one such example. The brown libation stains teeth, is loaded with caffeine, and is a pesticide-riddled crop. What could be worse? But a new study from the University of Sydney shows how coffee drinking is a great habit to have for diabetes prevention.

Diabetes affects an astounding number of people today. According to the American Dietetic Association, 23.7 million people in the United States alone have it, and there's no indication the rate will lower any time soon. In fact, a study published in the journal Diabetes Care estimates that over 44 million people will have diabetes 25 years from now, more than tripling the cost diabetes treatment doles out in medical expenses (from $113 billion to $336 million).

So any news that shows even the potential of slashing diabetes risk is good news. The Australian researchers discovered this link after poring over 18 studies that looked into how much coffee was drunk by people with and without type II diabetes (type II diabetes is the clear leader in diabetes diagnosis, accounting for 95 percent of cases). The pool of participants included some 500,000 individuals with approximately 21,000 different types of type II diabetes.

Not only did researchers find that people who drank coffee had a lower risk for diabetes, but that every additional cup they drank brought a decreased risk. For example, if a participant drank two cups of coffee per day, they were about 14 percent less likely to have diabetes. But if people had five cups of coffee a day, they were 35 percent less likely to have diabetes. And this finding held true if people were drinking coffee with or without caffeine.

The Australian study piggybacks on one reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association earlier this year, which found that coffee decreased the risk of developing diabetes with every additional cup consumed.

Now, just because a study links coffee drinking to diabetes prevention doesn't mean that any old coffee brand will do. As aforementioned, many coffee brands are boiling over with pesticides. You don't want to be poisoning your body with pesticides, but perhaps more importantly, you don't want to be giving environmentally-unfriendly coffee growing practices the go-ahead. Because by purchasing non-organic brands of coffee, that's essentially what you're doing. So, so long as your coffee is organic-certified, may your cup overflow with joe! But not too much, or you're bound to get burned!

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Coffee risk confuses health staff

More than a third of health workers believe coffee causes cancer despite no evidence of a link, a survey has found. Health professionals are less likely to be clued up than the public, with 36% thinking coffee can cause the disease compared with 12% of the general population.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) commissioned the survey of 143 NHS workers, including nurses, health visitors and GPs.

However, health professionals did score highly on knowing that poor diet increases risk of cancer (81%), compared with 63% for the general public.

Overall, 79% of workers were aware that being overweight increases the risk of cancer, compared with 60% of the public, and 78% knew of the link with alcohol, compared with 51% of the public. But the percentage who were aware that not exercising increases the risk of cancer dropped to 64% among NHS workers and 47% of the public.

Silvia Pastorino, health professionals publications manager for the WCRF, said the survey was small but revealed some health workers are still not aware what lifestyle factors increase the risk. She said: "There is no strong evidence that coffee increases the risk of cancer.

"In fact, we often suggest drinking unsweetened tea or coffee as an alternative to sugary drinks. "While I am not surprised that many of the general public are not aware of this, it is worrying to think this may also be the case for some health professionals."

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Coffee, tea house opens in Oroville

When Sandy Williams and her partner were thinking about opening a coffee house, they wanted to offer something different. The Good Earth Coffee and Tea House opened in Oroville on Dec. 4. It offers organic and free trade coffee and tea.

"We're very proud of our product and what we offer the community," said co-owner Williams. "We feel it's very unique, and so do our customers." Coffee and tea that bear organic certification are grown and processed without toxic chemicals. The to-go cups at Good Earth are also made from environmentally friendly products.

Certified fair trade coffee and tea helps ensure living wages and safe working conditions for farmers in the countries around the world where they are grown. "It means that everyone, from the farmers to the harvesters, gets a fair price," Williams said.

Williams and her partner, David Schlanser, knew that a coffee house would have plenty of competition, so they took a lot of things into consideration before opening. Williams had two daughters who were experienced in the restaurant business, and they wanted to make it a family affair.

With that in mind, they chose Numi, a business owned by a brother and sister in the Bay Area, to supply the coffee and tea. Numi's vision is to inspire well-being of mind, body and spirit through the simple art of tea.

"Tea is liquid meditation, reminding us to enter a time and space to find our own thoughts and visions," according to the Numi brochure.

said they planned the house to offer several areas where people could enjoy a quiet, relaxing cup of tea.
The coffee house serves four types of flowering teas, which burst into a flower when put in hot water.

Flowering teas are made from a combination of tea leaves that are hand-tied into pods. Each pod makes three pots of tea served in clear pots to display the flower. Flowering teas include golden jasmine, dragon lily and sunset oolong tea. Williams said people often come in to share one pot of tea and relax and talk with family or friends.

The Good Earth Coffee and Tea House serves a variety of black, green, white and herbal teas, including a loose-leaf tea with a combination of berries and fruits. Tea lattes have been popular with customers, Williams said, and each month the coffee house offers different specialty tea and coffee drinks.

Yerba Mata tea, which grows on a small tree in the holly family in subtropical forests of South America, has also been a recent favorite because of medicinal properties. Yerba Mata is supposed to have an assortment of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. It's also supposed to be high in antioxidants.

The business subscribes to several newspapers, which are on hand for customers to read. Williams, who is a school teacher, also has a library of books to read, and people can bring in books to trade. Children's books are also on hand for customers.

Williams said they wanted to offer an extensive line of teas, because there aren't too many places to drink tea. "I drink tea, and a lot of my friends drink tea, so I wanted to have a place where tea drinkers can go and relax," she said.

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Nutty Popcorn Party Mix

• 3 quarts popped popcorn

• 1 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts

• 1 jar (3-1/2 ounces) macadamia nuts, halved

• 1/2 cup slivered almonds

• 1/4 cup flaked coconut

• 3/4 cup butter, cubed

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/4 cup light corn syrup

• 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• In a large bowl, combine the popcorn, nuts and coconut. In a large saucepan, combine the butter, sugars, corn syrup, coffee and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Pour over popcorn mixture and stir until coated.

• Transfer to two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. Bake, uncovered, at 250° for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread onto waxed paper; cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Yield: about 12 cups.

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Drinking coffee found to cut risk of Type 2 diabetes

People who drink more coffee -- either regular or decaf -- appear to have a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to a review of research reported in this week's Archives of Internal Medicine.

An estimated 23.6 million Americans -- about 8 percent of the total population -- have diabetes.

And experts say the condition, which can lead to serious health problems and even death, is on the rise.

Researchers from Australia's George Institute for International Health at the University of Sydney, reviewed 18 studies involving 457,922 participants to assess the link between coffee consumption and diabetes risk.

They found that each additional cup of coffee consumed per day was associated with a 7 percent reduction in diabetes risk. Those who drank three to four cups a day had about a 25 percent lower risk than people who drank zero to two cups a day.

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Drinking cups of tea and coffee can prevent diabetes

Tea and coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a large body of evidence shows. And the protection may not be down to caffeine since decaf coffee has the greatest effect, say researchers in Archives of Internal Medicine.

They looked at 18 separate studies involving nearly 500,000 people.This analysis revealed that people who drink three or four cups of coffee or tea a day cut their risk by a fifth or more, say researchers. The same amount of decaffeinated coffee had an even bigger effect, lowering risk by a third.

Type 2 diabetes usually starts after the age of 40 and develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly. Type 2 diabetes is treated with a healthy diet and increased physical activity. In addition to this, medication and/or insulin is often required. If the findings prove true, doctors may well start advising people to put the kettle on as well as take more exercise and watch their weight, say the researchers.

When the authors combined and analysed the data, they found that each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day cut diabetes risk by 7%. Lead researcher Dr Rachel Huxley, from the University of Sydney in Australia, said because of the finding with decaffeinated coffee, the link is unlikely to be solely related to caffeine.

Instead, other compounds in coffee and tea - including magnesium and antioxidants known as lignans or chlorogenic acids - may be involved. Special brew"The identification of the active components of these beverages would open up new therapeutic pathways for the primary prevention of diabetes mellitus.

"If such beneficial effects were observed in interventional trials to be real, the implications for the millions of individuals who have diabetes mellitus, or who are at future risk of developing it, would be substantial." Dr Victoria King, of Diabetes UK, said: "Without full information about what other factors may be influencing the type 2 diabetes risk of the studies' participants - such as their physical activity levels and diet - as well as what the active ingredient in tea or coffee appears to be, we cannot be sure what, if anything, this observed effect is down to.

"What we can be sure of is that the development of type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to lifestyle, which means that many cases could be prevented by keeping active and eating a healthy balanced diet that is low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables."

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Coffee, tea can prevent diabetes

Drinking tea or coffee reduces the risk of diabetes, according to a review of 18 studies that covered hundreds of thousands of people. Previous research had shown that people who drank the most coffee were one-third less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank the least. In the years since then, the amount of research on coffee and diabetes risk has more than doubled, and other studies have suggested that tea and decaffeinated coffee may also be effective in preventing diabetes.

To update the evidence, researchers reviewed 18 studies on coffee (including decaffeinated coffee) and tea and the risk of type 2 diabetes published between 1966 and 2009 covering about 4.6 lakh people. It was found that for every additional cup of coffee a person consumed each day, a person's risk of diabetes was reduced by 7 percent.

In the six studies that looked at decaffeinated coffee, the researchers found that people who consumed more than three or four cups a day were at 36 percent lower risk of diabetes. And in seven studies that examined tea drinking and diabetes risk, people who drank more than three or four cups daily were at 18 percent lower diabetes risk.

The above analysis could have overestimated the effect of these beverages on diabetes risk due to statistical issues with the smaller studies. It's also not possible to conclude from the current evidence that heavy coffee drinkers (and tea and decaffeinated drinkers) don't have other characteristics that might protect them against developing diabetes such as eating a healthier diet.

The fact that the effects were seen with decaffeinated as well as coffee and tea suggest that if the effects are real, they aren't just due to caffeine, but may be related to other substances found in these beverages for example magnesium, lignans (oestrogen-like chemicals found in plants), or chlorogenic acids, which are antioxidants that slow the release of sugar into the blood after a meal.

However, further clinical trials are needed to investigate whether these beverages do indeed help prevent diabetes. If the benefits turn out to be real, health care providers might begin advising patients at risk for diabetes not only to exercise and lose weight, but to drink more tea and coffee, too.

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Coffee, tea cut diabetes risk

The finding is based on the analysis of previous studies reported in the December 14/28 issues of Archives of Internal Medicine, JAMA.

To reach the conclusion, Rachel Huxley, D.Phil, of The George Institute for International Health, University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues identified 18 studies involving 457,922 participants and assessing.

The association between coffee consumption and diabetes risk published between 1966 and 2009. Six studies involving 225,516 individuals also included information about decaffeinated coffee, whereas seven studies with 286,701 participants reported on tea consumption. When the authors combined and analyzed the data, they found that each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day was associated with a 7 percent reduction in the excess risk of diabetes.

Individuals who drank three to four cups per day had an approximately 25 percent lower risk than those who drank between zero and two cups per day. Additionally, in the studies that assessed decaffeinated coffee consumption, those who drank more than three to four cups per day had about a one-third lower risk of diabetes than those who drank none. Those who drank more than three to four cups of tea had a one-fifth lower risk than those who drank no tea.

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Study Shows Coffees Benefits

The consumption of coffee and vigorous exercise may have a hand in decreasing the risk of prostate cancer, according to separate findings recently presented by two researchers affiliated with the Harvard School of Public Health.

Kathryn M. Wilson, a research fellow in the epidemiology department at HSPH, found a correlation between the consumption of coffee and a decreased risk of the cancer, which afflicts more men than any other cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, Stacey A. Kenfield, a research associate in the department, determined that vigorous exercise may reduce the risk of mortality due to the same disease.

For her study, Wilson tracked the coffee consumption habits of 50,000 men ranging in age from their mid-50s to mid-70s, finding that men who regularly drank coffee over the 20-year span of the study developed advanced prostate cancer at a lower rate than non-coffee drinkers.

Subjects who reported consuming six or more cups of coffee every day were found to have a 60 percent lower chance of advanced or lethal prostate cancer than those who did not drink coffee. Both regular and decaffeinated coffee elicited the same results.

The study also found that men who drink large amounts of coffee are more likely to smoke, exercise less, and be overweight—factors that have been shown to increase the risk of prostate cancer. Wilson said these findings added support to her belief that coffee itself—and not, for instance, the life style choices related to the drink—may be responsible for the link between coffee consumption and the lower risk of prostate cancer.

But Wilson said that the study did not investigate the reasons behind the coffee-cancer connection.

“You can’t really say that this is a direct cause-and-effect relationship,” Wilson said, adding that she thinks the results may be somehow related to coffee’s association with a lower risk of Type II diabetes.

Other studies have shown that drinking coffee potentially decreases the risk of liver and endometrial cancer as well, according to Wilson. But despite all the potential benefits of coffee, more research needs to be done before people are encouraged to reevaluate their drinking choices, Wilson said. “I don’t think there is a reason to change your coffee drinking habits in either direction,” she said.

Kenfield’s study which followed 2,686 men who had already been diagnosed with prostate cancer and quantified their exercise habits after their diagnoses—found that vigorous activity decreased the risk of mortality due to prostate cancer.

Those who participated in non-vigorous activities equivalent to about 30 minutes of jogging, biking, or swimming per week, saw a 35 percent reduction in overall mortality, according to Kenfield. But these exercises had no measurable effect on the risk of mortality due to prostate cancer.

By contrast, those who participated in vigorous activities experienced a 12 percent decreased risk of mortality specifically due to prostate cancer. Kenfield said she plans to do more research to determine the cause of the results, focusing on insulin pathways and insulin growth factors.

Though the causality of the study’s results has yet to be determined, Kenfield said that the positive health benefits attributed to exercise make it a sensible habit for men with prostate cancer to adopt. Wilson and Kenfield presented their findings last Monday in Houston at the American Association for Cancer Research’s “Frontiers in Cancer Prevention” Research Conference.

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Coffee won't cure your hangover, and may lead to poor decision-making - study

Coffee may wake you up, but it won’t sober you up, a new study shows. Researchers have concluded that while drinking coffee after consuming alcohol may make you feel more awake, it doesn’t actually make you more sober - and that combination could lead to poor decision-making.

“Coffee may reduce the sedative effects of alcohol, which could give the false impression that people are not as intoxicated as they really are.

Gould added that people who have only consumed alcohol are more likely to feel “tired and intoxicated,” and more importantly, acknowledge that they’re drunk.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal “Behavioral Neuroscience,” first compared the drunk behavior of mice to that of mice given only a saline solution. The drunk and sober mice were tested on their ability to learn a maze while trying to avoid bright lights or sounds. The drunk mice did significantly less well.

After being drunk, the mice were given the equivalent of six to eight cups of coffee. While the caffeine and alcohol combination seemed to make the mice less anxious, it failed to reverse the negative effects that alcohol had on them learning the maze.

Alcohol also calmed the “caffeine jitters,” reports WebMD.com, which made the mice less able to avoid potential threats. In a press release, Gould concluded that “the bottom line is that, despite the appeal of being able to stay up all night and drink, all evidence points to serious risks associated with caffeine-alcohol combinations.”

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Coffee won't sober you up but makes you think it did

A new study on alcohol and caffeine usage suggests that coffee not only won't sober you up if you're drunk, it can be dangerous by creating the illusion that it is doing some good. That assessment comes in a study by by Temple University that appears in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, the BBC reports. In the study, mice given varying doses of alcohol and caffeine had to navigate a maze so as to avoid unpleasant stimuli, such as bright lights and loud noises.

The mice that got only alcohol seemed relaxed, but failed miserably, while those given only caffeine appeared more alert and fared better, although seemed to be uptight. But mice that consumed both alcohol and caffeine -- up to a human equivalent of eight cups of coffee -- appeared to be relatively alert and relaxed, but were still incompetent at avoiding nasty stimuli, the BBC says.

"The myth about coffee's sobering powers is particularly important to debunk because the co-use of caffeine and alcohol could actually lead to poor decisions with disastrous outcomes," says Thomas Gould, who conducted the research. He says those who consume both "may feel awake and competent enough to handle potentially harmful situations, such as driving while intoxicated or placing themselves in dangerous social situations."

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Drinking coffee cuts 'risk of prostate cancer'

Men should wake up and not only smell the coffee if they're hoping to stave off a deadly cancer.

Us scientists believe men who regularly enjoy the drink are 60% less likely to develop an aggressive strain of prostate cancer than those who avoid it.

But British experts want more research before people start drinking more coffee. Researchers looked at the intake of nearly 50,000 men over 20 years. Of these, nearly 5,000 developed prostate cancer. Dr Kathryn Wilson, from the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, said: "Coffee effects insulin, glucose and metabolism, as well as sex hormone levels, all of which play a role in prostate cancer.

"It is plausible that there may be an association between coffee and prostate cancer." But Dr Wilson said caffeine was unlikely to be key to the protective effect. Instead scientists believe that other compounds found in coffee, such as antioxidants and such as antioxidants and minerals could play an important role. Dr Wilson added: "Very few lifestyle factors have been consistently associated with prostate cancer risk, so it would be very exciting if this association is confirmed in other studies."

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in the UK with nearly 35,000 men diagnosed each year and more than 10,000 killed by it. Helen Rippon, of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: "We would not recommend that men cultivate a heavy coffee drinking habit on the back of this research because a high caffeine intake can cause other problems. More investigation is needed."But men enjoying a regular cup of coffee do not need to give this up for the sake of their prostate."

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Kenya coffee farmers get international

Lucy Murumba the Chief Executive Officer of the new organisation that is owned by cooperative societies and unions said on Sunday that the coffee marketing initiative would help to ensure good returns to their members and also raise the country’s standing on the world coffee market.

“Farmers want to get involved directly with their markets where they can select customers they can profitably serve,” she said.

“Our desire is to promote, organise and undertake the marketing of coffee in the local and export markets in order to maximize returns to the members,” the CEO said adding that KCCE officials had been going round the country recruiting members.

Small scale farmers have in the past been unable to directly market their coffee due to limited market knowledge and a lack of a platform to transact with roasters and other buyers globally.

“Due to the low returns from their coffee they have seen little reason to invest in higher quality of production leading to a vicious cycle of declining earnings and lower yield per hectare,” Ms Murumba.

However she expressed confidence that the entry of the Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters would lead to increased prices for farmers; higher productions, better quality coffee and higher foreign exchange earnings for the country.

The overseas markets have received the entrance of KCCE into the market well; she said adding that the buyers were happy to work directly with the farmers who would also be the main beneficiaries.

Ms Murumba said that last week, KCCE started receiving coffee and has paid Sh20 per kilo in advance which amounted to Sh692,000 to Mugama Cooperative Union, Murang’a.

The company expects to start receiving more coffee from this week.

“To-date, the company has signed contracts with coffee farmers amounting to 20,000 metric tons. The figure is expected to rise as more farmers continue signing our marketing agreements,” she disclosed.

KCCE is supported by Co-operative Bank of Kenya whose majority shareholders are the Co-operative societies and their Unions.

The Bank has pledged to support KCCE with seed money to ensure that the farmers are paid promptly as the organisation works towards securing better markets for their coffee.

This will ensure that the farmers are financially empowered thus avoiding any disruption in production.

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Recipes for COFFEE LOVERS

Actually there are great number different Coffee Recipes from regular and simple ones to make to very exotic ones needing definite practice and skills.

Now you can put some spice into your morning cup of coffee with some of Coffee Recipes from 89 ORIGINAL RECIPES FOR “COFFEE LOVERS” recipes book.

1. Alexander Espresso
Ingredients:
? 1 cup Cold water
? 2 tb Ground espresso coffee
? ½ Cinnamon stick (3″ long)
? 4 ts Crème de Cacao
? 2 ts Brandy
? 2 tb Whipping cream, chilled
? Grated semisweet chocolate to garnish.

How To: Break out your espresso machine for this one or just make really strong coffee with a small
amount of water. Break cinnamon stick into small pieces and add to hot espresso. Allow to
cool for 1 minute. Add crème de cacao and brandy, and stir gently. Pour into cute
demitasse cups. Whip the cream, and float some cream on top of each cup. For looks,
garnish with grated chocolate or fancy chocolate curls. Multiply proportions by six and it’s
perfect for a party. Serves 2.

Cardamom-spiced Coffee
Ingredients:
3/4 c Ground Coffee
2 2/3 c Water
Ground Cardamom
1/2 c Sweetened Condensed Milk
How To:
Using amounts specified, brew coffee in a drip-style coffee maker or percolator. Pour into
4 cups. To each serving, add a dash of ground cardamom and about 2 tablespoons of the
condensed milk; stir to blend.

Easy Iced Cafe Au Lait
Ingredients:
2 1/4 c Cold freshly brewed coffee
2 c Milk
2 c Crushed ice
Sugar (opt)
How To:
Blend ingredients. Add sugar and continue blending until frothy. Pour over ice.

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Diedrich Bid Raised for the Second Time by Green Mountain

To ensure that it is way ahead of its competition, essentially Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., in acquisition of Diedrich Coffee Inc., the maker of single- serves coffee packets, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. has, for the second time since the bidding started, raised its offer to a new high of $290 Million.

As confirmed by the company today, Green Mountain put in a new proposal, under which each share would be valued at $35, cash, which is a substantial rise from the earlier two bids of $30 and $32. Also, the new offer is now way above Peet's, which offered to buy Diedrich on November 02 and pegged the price of each share at $26 initially, and yesterday raised it to $32.50 a share.

Both the companies are racing to get their hands on Diedrich's K-Cup business, which is the manufacturer of prepackaged coffee cups, used extensively in Green Mountain's Keurig brewing equipment. According to experts, the K-Cup manufacturing business is nearly two times as profitable as collecting royalty fees.

The acquisition, which is very important for Green Mountain's future profits, is being advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and law firm Ropes & Gray LLP. Peet's financial advisors are Morgan Stanley and Jesse Capital Management and Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, while Diedrich has employed the services of Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin Capital Inc. and law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

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Coffee order heated, not iced, in Winchester incident

Police responded to the Dunkin’ Donuts on Main Street on Tuesday after employees alleged a teenage boy got into a heated argument with his coffee-server.

According to the police report, when officers arrived they observed a woman later identified as the store’s assistant manager speaking with a group of teenagers.

The woman pointed to one of the teenagers, a 15-year-old boy from Billerica, and said he had been involved in a verbal dispute at the establishment the previous evening.

“[She] informed me that last night at approximately 8:30 p.m., [the boy] came into the establishment and ordered some coffees,” police wrote. “The employee who was making the coffees … was preparing the hot coffees when [he] yelled to her, ‘I wanted [expletive deleted] iced coffee.”

Police said the assistant manager said she was working at the time and heard the teenager yell additional obscenities at the server, at which time she told him to leave and advised him that if he had a problem he should come back in the morning with his parents to speak with the store manager. “[The teenager] left Dunkin’ Donuts but came back 30 minutes later with his 18-year-old brother.” The employee again told him to come back in the morning.

The woman said the two returned at 4:45 p.m. that night and demanded to see the security tape of what happened the previous night. She said she told them they would need to speak with the manager in the morning and asked them to leave, at which time they refused and she called police. The teenager told police a different story.

“[He] stated that when he ordered he asked for iced coffee but [the server] prepared hot coffee instead. When [he] corrected her by asking for iced coffee, he heard [her] say, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ [He] said he kept on returning because he wanted to see the security tape of what happened … [and] denied using obscenities toward [the server].” Police called the store manager, who said she did not want the teenager in the store until he came to speak with her about the incident. She said she would also speak to the server regarding what happened.

Police asked the assistant manager whether she heard the employee make threats. “[She] stated that she did not hear that, but if she did say it, she probably said it jokingly, as she is only 17 years old.” As of Dec. 1, police had not yet updated the report with information from their follow-up investigation.

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Coffee shops to inform on World AIDS Day

On Tuesday, people who buy their favorite drink at Strictly Organic Coffee, Thump Coffee and Mocha Jane's will see an unfamiliar sticker on their coffee cups and sleeves. “In 2009, one-third of new HIV cases reported in Deschutes County had progressed to AIDS at the time of infection diagnosis,” the sticker reads.

Tuesday is World AIDS Day, and Deschutes County's HIV and hepatitis C prevention coordinator, Tuesday Johnson, is hoping that along with a jolt of caffeine, coffee drinkers will be reminded that local residents are still living with the disease, and more people continue to become infected with HIV.

So far in 2009, there have been nine new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in Deschutes County, which is higher than in recent years, when there were three or four new cases annually, according to the county. This is the county's first effort to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS with coffee cups, and county health workers said the virus still carries a stigma in Central Oregon and other rural areas.

“The stigma is a huge issue, the stigma about a disease in a rural area where people aren't informed on the real risks of the disease and how it's spread,” said Susan McCreedy, the HIV Ryan White case manager for Deschutes County.

The federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides funding for primary medical care and support services for people living with HIV and AIDS.

McCreedy said she works with an average of 60 clients, and most of them keep their HIV-positive or AIDS diagnosis secret. The stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS causes some people not to get tested for HIV because they fear being identified as gay or a drug user, and some HIV-positive people do not tell their sexual partners about their diagnosis, McCreedy said.

“One in five people with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. doesn't know they're infected,” McCreedy said. “Three of (the nine new cases this year) already had full-blown AIDS, which means they'd been infected for a long time, from three to five years.”

People can contract HIV through unprotected sex with an infected partner, shared drug paraphernalia such as needles and, in rare cases, through health care, McCreedy said. HIV-positive mothers also can pass the virus to their babies.

The majority of HIV and AIDS cases in Deschutes County involve men who have sex with men, who might not necessarily identify themselves as gay, and people who used intravenous drugs at some point, she said. Women account for about 17 percent of McCreedy's caseload.

McCreedy said the people whose cases she manages need financial assistance to pay for treatment. Some HIV and AIDS patients can pay for treatment in the beginning, but with prescription costs of $2,000 to $3,000 a month, many eventually need help. More patients in Deschutes County have sought help during the recession, McCreedy said.

Johnson printed about 360 World AIDS Day stickers on ordinary office labels to go on cups and coffee sleeves.

The World Health Organization and the United Nations General Assembly declared World AIDS Day in 1988 to raise awareness of the disease, and Johnson will deliver the coffee cups and sleeves to cafes today. Volunteers from the Central Oregon Community College Gay Straight Alliance and the Queer Youth Space, a project of Human Dignity Coalition, helped put stickers on the coffee cups and sleeves.

“A big aim when we do awareness and education (work) is to decrease the stigma of this disease,” Johnson said. “We have people coming in with an AIDS diagnosis that didn't have to get to that point. In countries like the United States, (HIV) doesn't have to get to the point where it develops into AIDS.”

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Tangy Baked Beans

• 2 bacon strips, cut into 1-inch pieces

• 2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee

• 4 teaspoons brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 can (8.3 ounces) baked beans, undrained

• 1/2 cup chopped onion

• In a small skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until partially cooked but not crisp. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the coffee, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard and salt. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Stir in beans and onion.

• Drain bacon on paper towels. Divide the bean mixture between two 6-oz. ramekins or custard cups coated with cooking spray. Top with bacon. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield: 2 servings

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Mr. Coffee, Meet Mr. Fist

I have a phrase I’ve used in my professional life that’s followed me my entire career. Anyone who’s worked with me knows the phrase, as I’ve invoked it early and often everywhere I’ve worked:

NWBC. No Work Before Coffee. Bosses and underlings alike have come at me with a question or problem shortly after I’ve arrived at the workplace, only to be shown the palm of my hand, and be told, “NWBC.”

If pressed, I have always shown them why it’s unwise to expect anything lucid or productive (or even civil) before I’ve had my morning cup. I won’t go into detail here, but let’s just say it’s a good thing I work alone. And I’ve never been convicted of assault.

For most of us functioning adults, we just can’t start the day without that steaming mug of joe. It’s not just the caffeine, but it’s also the ritual, the comfort of the warm cup between the hands, the jolt of heat and aromatic bitterness with every sip. There’s also the communal aspect, taking a little time between work crises to slurp a little mud with your coworkers and talk about who got beat up and/or lucky over the weekend.

So when there’s no coffee, there’s no life. There’s no light. There’s no liftoff. I’ve run out of coffee before, but there’s always been some backup plan, some forgotten stash, some workable alternative. Run out of filters? Use a paper towel. Sugar’s gone? Honey will do in a pinch. Last time I ran out of coffee beans, I rooted through the camping box until I found a packet of instant. The kids were asking their mother why daddy was swearing at the camping box.

Last Saturday, though, was a worst-case scenario. I’d hosted a poker game the night before, and Barb was out of town. I had to get up early with the kids, and I needed that java more than usual. I ground the beans, filled the Mr. Coffee with water, and pressed the GO button. I headed for the shower, knowing a fresh cup would be waiting for me by the time I dried off.

But when I padded into the kitchen after washing off the stink of my poker defeat, Mr. Coffee had Mr. Completely. There was no coffee. I pushed the BREW button with increasing fury and despair, and it soon became clear that this three-year-old contraption was dead. I checked the cupboard. No instant. I went to the garage and rooted through the camping box. No dice. Only hot chocolate and tea, and a half-empty can of Vienna sausages. (They tasted like they might have gone bad.)

I went back upstairs to the Mr. Coffee, which is some fancy model that was designed to look like someone’s idea of the future in 1982. In three years, I’ve replace the carafe four times because it breaks if you so much as fill it with hard water. It’s got an LED analog clock, auto shut off, and all sorts of bells and whistles. It beeps when the coffee is ready. It beeps again when it shuts off. It filters the water. But now it wasn’t doing any of those things. It was just depriving me of my morning cup of jamoke. I punched Mr. Coffee right between the eyes, cracking the housing.

“Kids, get your coats. We’re going to the store.” Rusty and Speaker had watched my increasing panic over the coffee crisis, and were smart enough to go along without argument. “NWBC,” I heard Rusty whisper to his sister.

We drove to Albertson’s, the closest place I could score a triple latté before I continued my quest for a new coffeemaker. “I’ll tell you what,” I said as we pulled into the parking lot. “I am DONE with Mr. Coffee. That cheap piece of crap doesn’t deserve the name. Mr. Coffee is an a-hole.” The kids chuckled in the backseat.

We entered the store and I went straight to the coffee bar. As I was looking up at the menu board to see what they call a Large here, the woman behind the counter said, “Just so you know, our espresso machine is broken.”

I looked at her and my eyes must have signaled impending homicide because she quickly added, “But we have plenty of drip coffee!” Placated, I bought a Grande drip coffee. Then we walked through the appliance aisle, where they offered three different models of Mr. Coffee. “Fuck Mr. Coffee,” I said, sipping my hot joe. The kids repeated my exclamation as we marched out of the store.

I’d taken a few minutes to eyeball the ads in the Sunday paper before we left the house, and I decided to pull the trigger on a very nice KitchenAid model that was on sale at Sears. I’ve gone through a parade of $30 coffeemakers over the years, and I figured that I’d bite the bullet and spring a hundred bucks for this deluxe model that comes with a lifetime warranty. Hell, I thought, after four or five years, it will have paid for itself. Clinging to this desperate logic and my near-empty Grande cup, I wheeled into the Sears parking lot, which was strangely empty. We drove slowly by the front doors.

“They’re closed,” said Rusty, nose pressed up against his window.

“They don’t open ‘til 11:00,” said Speaker, reading the store hours on the door. I looked at my watch. 10:05. I needed a coffeemaker NOW. I wanted desperately to just go home, hook up a new machine, brew a pot, and read the Sunday paper while watching some football. Is that too much to ask? Yes, said Sears.

So we drove to Shopko, which was open. Ha! I’d already had enough of this turd hunt, and the kids were anxious to get back home so they could continue screwing off. We made our way through the store to the home appliance department. There was a decent variety of coffeemakers, but nothing like that glorious KitchenAid I’d seen in the Sears circular. There was a basic Mr. Coffee, on sale for half price: $19.99. “Screw it,” I sighed, and I grabbed the box. As we walked toward the cashier, Rusty grabbed my sleeve.

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Frosty Coffee Pie

Prep 15 min + freezing

• ¼ cup Hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

• 1 Chocolate crumb crust (9 inches)

• 3 cups coffee ice cream, softened

• 1 pkg (5.9 oz) Instant chocolate pudding mix

• ½ cup Cold strong brewed coffee

• ¼ cup Cold Milk

• 1 ¾ cups Whipped Topping

• 1 cup Marshmallow crème

• ¼ cup Miniature semisweet chocolate chips

• Spread ice cream topping into crust. In a large bowl, beat the ice cream, pudding mix, coffee and milk until blended; spoon into crust.

• In another bowl, combine the whipped topping and marshmallow crème; spread over top. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips. Cover and freeze until firm

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First marijuana coffee shop opens in America

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give people who have been prescribed marijuana by a doctor a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it, although they have to remain out of public view. Patients who have been prescribed marijuana usually have to buy it from a licensed dispensary and then take it elsewhere.

Eric Solomon, the owner of the cafe, said he is looking forward to holding marijuana-themed weddings, film festivals and dances. "I still run a coffee shop and events venue, just like I did before we converted it to the Cannabis Cafe, but now it will be cannabis-themed," he said.

Madeline Martinez, who runs NORML, a group seeking legalisation of the drug, said: "This club represents personal freedom, finally. Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana. "We hope to have classes, seminars, even a cannabis community college, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis."

The cafe is in a two-story building which formerly housed a speak-easy and adult erotic club called Rumpspankers. It is technically a private club, but is open to any Oregon residents who hold an official medical marijuana card.

There are about 21,000 patients registered to use marijuana in the state. Doctors have prescribed marijuana for a host of illnesses, including Alzheimer's, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Tourette's syndrome.

The creation of the cafe comes almost a month after the Obama administration told federal lawyers not to prosecute patients who use marijuana for medical reasons or dispensaries in states which have legalized them.

About a dozen states, including Oregon, followed California's 1996 move to adopt medical marijuana laws, allowing the drug to be cultivated and sold for medical use. Growing, possessing, distributing and smoking marijuana are still illegal under US federal law, which makes no distinction between medical and recreational use.

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Does coffee make you fat?

Coffee is king at Seven Sisters Coffee House in the Mills 50 district of Orlando. But owner Alisha Kearns isn't buying the theory that black coffee could make you fat. “I do believe if you're mixing coffee with milks, and half-and-halves, and creams, and you're having one every day, I'm sure that would contribute to it. As far as caffeine and coffee itself, I have not researched that or heard of any of that,” says Kearns.

Few people have. But since the 1980s, Dr. Ann de Wees Allen has studied caffeine's effect on humans. “Coffee will make you fatter than a pig. Coffee will make you fatter than eating five hot fudge sundaes. That's the mechanism that the human body works with,” says Dr. Allen.

Dr. Allen is the Chief of Biomedical Research at the Glycemic Research Institute near Tampa. "When one fat cell touches another fat cell, guess what ladies? That's the trigger in our bodies to make cellulite. Every fat cell in the human body has a key code. When you turn that key code in the human body, the actual hormone is called Lipoprotein Lipase, and we call that the gatekeeper for fat storage in the fat cell. When you turn that nasty little key code for LPL, the fat cell says, ‘Yeah! Come on in baby!’”

Orlando-based registered dietitian, Tara Gidus, doesn't buy it though. She says Americans drink so much coffee, that dietitians would firmly know if it’s a major contributor to obesity.

"Too many skinny people drink it," she submits. “There's some hypothesis out there that when we eat food that doesn't have any calories, our body is still releasing insulin, and that insulin is then looking for something to store as fat. But I find it hard to believe that you're actually going to get fat from consuming something that is calorie free. We know that its calories in versus calories out,” says Gidus.

Karen Beerbower, a registered dietitian in Winter Park, believes coffee could lead to weight gain if you're putting in sweeteners.

Even no-calorie sweeteners cause cravings.

“If that sweetness then stays with you, and you're looking later for other foods that are also sweet, then you'll take in more calories a day,” says Beerbower.

“A product, a food, or a beverage doesn't have to have any calories, any carbs, or any sugar to trigger the key code. When something goes in the mouth, it has a choice: does it burn as energy, or does it go in a fat cell? Those are the choices it has,” submits Dr. Allen.

If coffee is staying in your life, Gidus recommends no more than two cups a day. Dr. Allen says: add sugar to the black coffee, or some low fat milk. Protein, she says, helps blunt the fat cell trigger.

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Is it liqueur? Is it coffee? It's liqueur coffee!

Pour some caramel sauce in a glass, add one espresso shot and half a cup of hot water. Now add 30 ml Irish whisky and top it up with loads of creme and your Golden Irish coffee is ready. Golden Irish coffee is a liqueur coffee and in India its availability is restricted only to five-star hotels or some bars. A liqueur coffee is a coffee drink with a shot of liqueur that is topped with creme and served both hot and cold.

Italian coffee chain Lavazza has launched liqueur coffees in its cafe outlets Barista. "People are bored of drinking regular cold and hot coffees, they needed a refreshing change and liqueur coffees are just for that. We have always pioneered in innovations and understanding our customers.

Through our R&D we constantly try to understand our customers and our study showed that they wanted change in the menu," Barista Coffee Company chief operating officer Sanjay Coutinho told IANS . "We have always tried to excel and move ahead of our contemporaries. Earlier, the idea of having a liqueur coffee was only restricted to five-star coffee shops but now one can have it in a regular coffee shop," he added.

At present, the liqueur coffee will be available in Barista's Defence Colony outlet only as getting a licence to serve liqueur is "very difficult". "You need L-4 licence to serve liqueur and it is very difficult to get one because there are many protocols associated with it. Like you can't have a liqueur shop near institutional areas, religious places, hospitals," Coutinho explained.

"Hence right now we are offering these coffees only in one outlet and we will offer these coffees in other cities as well depending on the feedback. Also, we have applied for licence in other cities which will take some time," he added. While Barista is the first coffee chain to serve liqueur coffee, Cafe Mocha was the first to introduce the idea of liqueur coffee in a coffee shop. They don't use the liqueur, but a replica instead.

"We don't use liqueur in these coffees, we use flavours that have been designed by our in-house chefs. We don't have licence to serve liqueur in our coffee shops but in our Mocha bars, we serve liqueur coffees," said Deepali Gupta, brand manager of Impressario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt Ltd that has brands like Mocha and Smoke House Grill under its umbrella.

"We have got that special whisky developed that serves the base of our liqueur coffees and they are very popular among coffee lovers," she added. Ankush Singh, 20, wants to try these liqueur coffees but is not sure whether he would be allowed to drink as the minimum age for consumption of liquor is 25.

Commenting on this, Coutinho said that the coffee shops would adhere to the protocols by asking for identity cards where they have doubts about the age of the customer. "Well, it would be tough to ask each and every customer for their identification cards but, yes, wherever we have doubts, we would ask for their I-cards," Coutinho maintained.

The quantity of liqueur in these coffees is restricted to 30-60 ml as they don't want their customers to get drunk. "We normally use 30 ml liqueur for hot coffees and 60 ml for cold coffees. We don't want to cross that 60 ml limit because we don't want coffee lovers to get drunk," Barista's brew master Atul Sudharm told IANS.

Adding to this, Coutinho said that for liqueur coffees one has to develop a taste. "As we all know that one needs to acquire taste for liqueur, the same goes for liqueur coffees - you need to cultivate the taste. So I can assure you that a person can't drink more than two at a time," explained Coutinho.

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Layered Mocha Cheesecake

CRUST

• 1 1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs

• 1/4 cup butter, melted

FILLING: • 2 tblsp plus 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules

• 1 tblsp boiling water

• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 4 eggs lightly beaten

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled!

GLAZE: • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

• 3 tblsp butter

• chocolate-covered coffee beans, optional

• Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press onto the bottom of a greased 9" springform pan. In a small bowl, combine the coffee granules, and water; set aside.

• In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and flour until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. divide batter in half. Stir melted chocolate into one portion; pour over crust. Stir coffee mixture into the remaining batter; spoon over chocolate layer.

• Place pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 16 in square) (NOTE: buy the really wide foil..from personal experience if there's any seam in it, water will leak through while baking!!). Securely wrap foil around pan. Place in a large baking pan; add 1" of hot water to larger pan.

•Bake at 325 for 45-50 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. refrigerate overnight.

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Coffee houses 'a third place' between work and home

EFFORTS TO revive Dublin’s 18th-century tradition of lively coffee houses are to be actively supported by Dublin City Council, a conference on “cafe culture” heard yesterday. The conference was told by Dublin City architect Dick Grogan that a high-level group was seeking ways to promote activities such as coffee houses, which he said had an important role in fostering discourse within the city and “enlivening the public realm”.

The conference was organised by the Cafe Culture Project, which included many of those who campaigned to keep Bewleys open in Grafton Street in 2004. The conference also featured a number of audience renditions of Leo Maguire’s Dublin Can be Heaven, along with lots of sticky buns and coffee.

Prof Kieran M Bonner of St Jerome’s University, Canada, said coffee houses, like pubs, were essentially a “third place” between the private realm of home and the place of duty which was work. The third place was a forum for public discourse, enjoyed particularly by lawyers, actors, journalists and politicians and one in which Dublin had a long tradition, he said.

He postulated the theory that a decline of the “third place” represented a decline in the life of the city, with the urban environment becoming just a “passageway” between work and home. This may have been why, he suggested, the threatened closure of Bewleys “had raised an issue of whether Dublin was in danger of losing its soul”.

Actor Glynis Casson read from a history of Bewleys by journalist and author Hugh Oram, which recalled the cafes as forums for Dublin characters such as Micheál MacLíammóir, “with a cape and a magnificent toupee”, singer and wit Noel Purcell, author JP Donleavy and broadcaster Terry Wogan, among others.

Divisional librarian with Dublin City Council Maire Kennedy said 18th-century Dublin had a rich tradition of coffee houses, in which lawyers particularly met to gossip and swap news. Printers and publishers as purveyors of the news were also popular in the coffee houses, she said.

One late 18th-century coffee house at the Royal Exchange later became City Hall where the city council now meets, a fact recalled by Councillor Oisin Quinn.

The chairwoman, journalist Victoria White, said she was “only here for the coffee” but the gathering was fortunate to have Mr Gleeson as he was developing the city development plan.

After a number of coffee house owners said they were in difficulty because of high rents and competition from international chains with deep pockets, Mr Gleeson said the city council might relax licensing regulations for cafes using outside seating.

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Coffee, late-night shifts can affect sleep

Night-shift workers should keep their distance from coffee machines if they wish to have quality sleep, researchers have said. Julie Carrier.

A Université de Montréal psychology professor and a researcher at the affiliated Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur Sleep Disorders Centre, discovered that coffee’s main by-product caffeine meddles with sleep. The lead investigator of the study further found that the side-effect grew worse with age.

Carrier said, "Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant to counteract sleepiness, yet it has detrimental effects on the sleep of night-shift workers who must slumber during the day, just as their biological clock sends a strong wake-up signal. The older you get, the more affected your sleep will be by coffee."

She added, "We all know someone who claims to sleep like a baby after drinking an espresso. Although they may not notice it, their sleep will not be as deep and will likely be more perturbed.” Carrier advised those over 40 to particularly cut down on their coffee intake, explaining the combined influence of age and caffeine that made the sleep of middle-aged subjects vulnerable to the circadian waking signal.

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Colombian coffee benefiting from volcanic ash

With two volcanoes threatening to erupt in the days ahead, Colombian coffee farmers have been told they may have to evacuate despite the fact that so far the volcanic ash emissions have done nothing but nourish their fields.

The alert level for the Galeras and Huila volcanoes in the south of the country indicates that eruptions are likely to happen within the next few days or weeks, according to the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining, Ingeominas.

Seismic activity in the two areas has increased, Ingeominas said in a recent report. But the country's coffee growers' federation claims that the ash from the volcanoes is not hurting coffee production.

On the contrary, the federation says, ashes fertilize the soil.

The real risk only happens when volcanoes erupt as it can wipe out coffee plantations.

Colombia, the world's No. 3 coffee producer and top exporter of high-quality arabica beans, expects to report coffee production of 9.3 million 60-kilogram bags this year with output expected to pick up in November and December.

Juan Fernando Gutierrez, an official of the Narino coffee committee, a unit of the country's coffee federation, meanwhile said volcanic ashes are showering the coffee-rich municipalities of La Florida, Samaniego and Consaca but causing no damage.

"Ashes give more nutrients to the soil," Gutierrez said.

The Galeras volcano is located in Narino province, which produces one of the best specialty coffees in the country as it grows on high volcanic slopes.

The volcanic soil along with the cloud-covered climate in the area provides an ideal environment to grow high-quality coffee. Narino accounts for 3.4 percent of Colombia's total coffee output.

Galeras, located at 4,275 meters, has registered nine minor eruptions so far this year. The volcano is closely observed because of the threat it poses to nearby populations.

An eruption of the volcano, located near the Ecuadorean border, killed 10 people in 1993.

The Huila volcano, located in southeastern Colombia, is expelling ashes that pose no risk to coffee plantations, Hector Falla, who represents produces for the province, said.

"The ashes that reach coffee plantations bring potassium and phosphorus which nourish the soil," Falla said. "But if there is an eruption we are in trouble."

The province of Huila expects to produce 1.6 million 60-kilogram bags this year, down 18.8 percent from last year due to bad weather and a plant renovation program that took some fields out of production.

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Minnie's Coffee Recipe

Makes 4 servings

What you need:

· ¼ Cup water

· 3 Tablespoons brown sugar

· 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

· 4 cups strong, hot coffee

· 4 Tablespoons whipped cream for garnish if desired

What you do:

1. Put water, brown sugar and cocoa powder in saucepan and heat over medium-high heat.
2. Stir frequently while bringing to a boil.
3. Boil for 5 minutes until thick and smooth.
4. Spoon 2-3 teaspoons of cocoa mix in each of 4 coffee mugs.
5. Pour hot coffee into each mug, filling close to the top.
6. Float a dollop of whipped cream on the top of each mug (if desired).

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Coffee culture - a symbol of middle-class lifestyle

Before I ever made my way to the Middle Kingdom, just hearing the name China would conjure up powerful pictures in my mind. I imagined colorfully robed men sitting around lacquered tables, leisurely sipping tea to the soft sounds of an erhu. The first time I visited China, I learned this vision was far from reality. One thing was correct though, China is a nation of tea drinkers.

I was a bit surprised when I first noticed a Starbucks pop up next to the Beijing Friendship Store in 1999. I curiously entered and ordered a Frappachino to see how it tasted in China. After scanning the cafe, I noticed most of the customers were foreigners and wondered how long it would last.

Luckily for Starbucks, they actually became instrumental in establishing the niche coffee culture now so prevalent in Beijing and Shanghai. While in the west, coffee culture focuses on things like blends, tastes, and brewing techniques, this is not the case in China. To highlight this point, consider the story one of my Italian friends told me of a Chinese man who bought whole coffee beans and then tried to make a homemade cup of Joe. He popped a few beans in a cup and poured boiling water over them.

Coffee culture in China is more a symbol of lifestyle than anything else. It represents the young, hip, emerging middle class with money to burn. Most of these young coffee drinkers are more open-minded to Western influences that have made their way into China and are eager to show it through coffee consumption. To simplify, tea is for the traditional and coffee is for the connoisseur.

As a result, whenever Chinese visit coffee houses they expect to be pampered with an experience of relaxation and comfort. They don't want a coffee production line, they prefer the coffee experience and companies like Starbucks have given that to them by providing a uniquely different atmosphere with comfortable couches. In America most people want a coffee to go, but in China they like to sit down and talk with their friends.

According to International Coffee Organization, it is estimated that China's coffee consumption will grow by about 15 percent per year, far above the global average of 2 percent. However, most of this growth is based on China's unique coffee culture, representing a fashionable symbol rather than habitual usage.

Because of this, you can bet your bottom dollar that large coffee companies will push to educate Chinese coffee consumers about enjoying the finer aspects of coffee such as tastes, blends and brews to make sure coffee consumption is more about habitually enjoying a product rather than using it to be fashionable. It remains to be seen whether they will be successful, but these coffee companies should remember one thing: China will always be a land dominated by tea drinkers. Perhaps one day those men in colorful robes, sipping tea to the sounds of an erhu, will be doing it in a Starbucks.

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No Link Seen Between Coffee and Heart Failure

Contrary to findings from an earlier study, new research suggests that coffee lovers do not face an increased risk of heart failure. Researchers found that among more than 37,000 middle-aged and older Swedish men, those who regularly drank coffee were no more likely to develop heart failure than those who infrequently, if ever, drank the beverage.

The findings, reported in the American Heart Journal, add to evidence that coffee may not be the heart-health threat it was once suspected to be. The initial studies suggesting that heavy coffee consumption might contribute to heart attacks or other cardiac problems were mainly retrospective -- asking heart attack sufferers about their coffee consumption and comparing them with people who had never had a heart attack, for example.

But more-recent studies have been better designed to weed out a true association. These so-called prospective studies have first asked people about their coffee intake and then followed them over time to record new cases of heart trouble.

Those studies have generally linked coffee to either a neutral or even a protective effect on heart health, said Dr. Emily B. Levitan, one of the researchers on the new study.

Heart failure, however, has been little studied as compared with heart attack, noted Levitan, who was with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston at the time of the study and is now based at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Heart failure is a chronic condition in which the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump blood efficiently enough to meet all the body's needs -- leading to symptoms like fatigue and breathlessness on exertion.

A 2001 study raised concerns that heavy coffee drinking might contribute to heart failure. It found that of roughly 7,500 Swedish men, those who drank five or more cups of coffee per day had a higher risk of developing heart failure than men who drank less than that.

Based on that study, a recent statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) noted that coffee consumption might raise the risk of heart failure, but added that more research is needed to confirm that possibility. The AHA statement motivated the current study, Levitan told Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues found that among 37,315 men ages 45 to 79, 784 went on to develop heart failure over nine years. The researchers found no clear relationship between the men's reported coffee intake at the outset and their risk of developing heart failure.

Whether the findings apply to men with existing heart problems is not known, according to Levitan. Going into the study, none of the men had a history of heart attack; heart-muscle damage from a heart attack is one of the major causes of heart failure.

Nor did the study include women. It's possible, Levitan noted, that the results could be different for women, but that would be unlikely. "I don't think there is any strong evidence of an association between coffee and heart failure," she said. It would be "premature," Levitan added, for people to give up coffee in an effort to prevent the disease.

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Coffee May Slow Liver Disease

Coffee slows the progression of advanced liver disease in people with chronic hepatitis C, new research finds. The study included 766 patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who were asked to report their intake of coffee, green tea and black tea. The patients were seen every three months during the nearly four-year study, and liver biopsies were taken at 18 months and 3.5 years to determine the progression of liver disease.

Patients who drank three or more cups of coffee per day were 53 percent less likely to have liver disease progression than those who didn't drink coffee. Green and black tea didn't appear to have an effect, but tea consumption was low among the study participants, the researchers noted in the report published in the November issue of the journal Hepatology.

"This study is the first to address the association between liver disease progression related to hepatitis C and coffee intake," study leader Neal Freedman, of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said in a news release from the journal's publisher.

"Given the large number of people affected by HCV, it is important to identify modifiable risk factors associated with the progression of liver disease," Freedman added. "Although we cannot rule out a possible role for other factors that go along with drinking coffee, results from our study suggest that patients with high coffee intake had a lower risk of disease progression."

The study authors cautioned that the findings about coffee's benefits shouldn't be generalized to healthy people. HCV infects about 2.2 percent of the worldwide population, including more than 3 million Americans. The virus is the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States and is responsible for 8,000 to 10,000 deaths in the country each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Anyone for ethical coffee?

Starbucks, the world's biggest coffee retail chain, buys 40% of its coffee beans through fair trade, a practice where it pays a price well above the market rate to poor and small growers in Colombia and elsewhere as its commitment to CSR (corporate social responsibilities).

Fair trade is also an assurance to its consumers that the beverage they drink was purchased under fair conditions. Indian coffee retailers are getting ready to follow suit to bail out the small-time growers who constitute about 70% of the coffee growing community in the country. But as the old adage goes, there may be many a slip between cup and the lip, with only a few takers for the concept in India.

R Shivshankar CEO, Fresh and Honest, part of the Italian coffee chain Lavazza, that also owns Barista India said, "We may get into fair trade. But the government should also ensure that minimum prices are given to the small growers."

India's largest modern retail coffee chain, Café Coffee Day too is exploring the possibility. "We see a demand for such coffee in India and we are looking to move into buying fair trade coffee," said Alok Gupta, director, CCD.

However, according to C.P. Chandan Cothas, partner in South India's largest traditional coffee retailer, Cothas Coffee, conscientious customers are already demanding such coffee and actually their numbers are rising. Cothas too is looking to get fair trade certification.

MH Ashraff, MD, Tata Coffee said, "If the Fair Trade Labeling Organisation (FLO) starts certifying large companies then we will definitely go in for such certification." Tata Coffee already has similar certifications like the Rainforest Alliance certification and the Utz Kapeh certifications for the coffee it exports labeling its compliant with practices to protect rainforests and other ecosystems.

Fair trade itself is not new. While it has been in prevalence for many years with NGOs demanding better prices for small growers of coffee, tea, fruits and other agri-produce, Starbucks started buying fair trade coffee in 2000 bringing into focus of small growers in Colombia and Argentina.

Fair trade certification to small growers and traders also comes with an undertaking to stringent criteria like paying a minimum price per kg, providing much needed credit and technical assistance to farmers, apart from a commitment to community development, health, education and adhering to environmental safeguards.

In India small coffee growers like Rajendra Parkash, CEO of Girijan Grama Swaraj Coffee Growers' Society in Andhra Pradesh, are rallying support for it seeking to put an end to intermediaries who eat into their margins.

But there are strong views as to why small growers will not benefit from fair trade. One argument is that fair trade price does not fluctuate according to market movements and the small growers could actually loose out when the price shoots up as in the present case.
Moreover, many like GV Krishna Rau, chairman, Coffee Board of India, feel fair trade certification alone may not help the plight of the small growers. "One should position coffee on the strength of quality and differentiation into the niche market. Ultimately it is a strong local market that provides greater support to the growers, than any other strategy, he said.

A trader in Kerala, who refused to be named, said growers would get better prices when they sell at prevailing market rates compared to those sold under the fair trade label.
Moreover the costs for certification are as high as 1,100 euros.

Another feature is that fair trade encourages organic farming practices which reduce the production level further lowering the profits, he pointed out indicating small growers may not necessarily be interested in it.

Moreover, internationally doubts prevail on how much the small growers actually get from that large procures and retail chains charge customers for the final coffee under the guise fair trade.

However, there could much play for fair trade coffee in India which consumed 94,400 tonnes of the bean in 2008 with a per capita consumption of just 82 grams. Encouragingly however coffee consumption is growing at 6% per annum compared to the global 2% plus.

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A few coffees a day keep liver disease at bay - study

Researchers in the United States have found another good reason to go to the local espresso bar: several cups of coffee a day could halt the progression of liver disease, a study showed Wednesday.

Sufferers of chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who drank three or more cups of coffee per day slashed their risk of the disease progressing by 53 percent compared to patients who drank no coffee, the study led by Neal Freedman of the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) showed.

For the study, 766 participants enrolled in the Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-Term Treatment against Cirrhosis (HALT-C) trial -- all of whom had hepatitis C which had not responded to treatment with anti-viral drugs -- were asked to report how many cups of coffee they drank every day.

The patients were seen every three months during the 3.8-year study and liver biopsies were taken at 1.5 and 3.5 five years to determine the progression of liver disease.

"We observed an inverse association between coffee intake and liver disease progression," meaning patients who drank three or more cups of java were less likely to see their liver disease worsen than non-drinkers, wrote the authors of the study, which will be published in the November issue of Hepatology.

The researchers put forward several ways in which coffee intake might protect against liver disease, including by reducing the risk of type two diabetes, which has been associated with liver illness; or by reducing inflammation, which is thought to cause fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver.

Even caffeine, the chemical that gives a cup of coffee its oomph, came under the spotlight, having been found in previous studies to inhibit liver cancer in rats.

But drinking black or green tea, which also contain caffeine, had little impact on the progression of liver disease, although there were few tea drinkers in the study. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) three to four million people contract hepatitis C each year. Seventy percent of cases become chronic and can cause cirrhosis or liver cancer.

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Instant coffee can wipe out wrinkles?

A cup of instant coffee has shown promising results in smoothing out facial wrinkles and overcoming the need for various lotions.

A new brand of Nescafe is reported to be rich in collagen, a compound found naturally in body tissue and is responsible for the shape of the skin.

The high content of collagen -- the compound commonly found in many anti-wrinkle creams and also administered as “filler” by cosmetic surgeons to remove fine lines and wrinkles can instantly smooth out wrinkles.

“Collagen is just one popular ingredient used to lend a more skin/beauty-friendly image to a product, and is increasingly found not just in beauty products but also in food and drink products - including coffee,” the Daily Express quoted David Jago, director of trends and innovation at market analysts Mintel.

The product is part of a much wider trend known as “nutri-cosmetics”, through which food and drink manufacturers focus on the positive effects of new products on the hair, eyes, skin and general appearance.

Health officials still doubt the effectiveness of such products, stressing that collagen simply breaks down by the gut before being excreted. Japanese women, however, had long been drinking collagen as a dietary supplement.

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Review - Grace Coffee Caf

Alongside the state-of-the-art gymnasium at the Tri-Point YMCA at St. Mary's Street/U.S. 281 sits the new Grace Coffee Café. Located in the former Albertsons building, Grace Coffee Café is run by Trinity Baptist Church with café profits supporting the church's ministry and San Antonio community.

While the café's menu is small, what is available is nicely prepared, with some healthful options. You can get regular potato chips, of course, but baked ones are offered. There are cookies and oversized muffins, but you can also order a healthful fruit smoothie.

And while you can get a mayonnaise-based chicken salad sandwich, there's also ham with mustard. The sandwiches, cookies and smoothies are made in-house; the pound cake and muffins are made by an area bakery.

Grace is a place to quickly grab something that's well prepared. The café offers a large, inviting and relaxing spot in which to enjoy your breakfast, lunch and dinner. No one is standing over your shoulder waiting for you to free a table for another diner, and free Wi-Fi is available. It appears you could spend several hours over one of Grace's nice coffee drinks and no one would try to rush you out.

It appears the café gets many of its customers from the YMCA; the café's fruit juices and smoothies in several flavors, including an excellent mango made with apple juice, appeal. Seattle's Finest Coffee, passion tea and Mexican cola are also available.

We found the sandwiches well-made, particularly a celery-rich chicken salad simply dressed with mayonnaise. The staff is also accommodating, offering to heat a muffin and making us a sandwich shortly before closing. Yet another way of serving the community.

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Coffee farming viable

SOLOMON Islands could go into coffee farming because it could provide jobs and income for rural people. Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua said highlanders in Solomon Islands are the ones who should be encouraged to go into coffee farming.

And visiting Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare assured Dr Sikua that his country could offer both technical and practical training to landowners who will want to go into coffee farming.

He said coffee was one of his country’s major export commodities and many of the farmers were highland based.Sir Michael said the PNG coffee industry employed many villagers and it could be the same case for Solomon Islands.

Meanwhile, Dr Sikua said people in the highlands of Isabel and Guadalcanal provinces have been growing and roasting coffee for a number of years.The locally roasted coffee was sold mostly in the communities and in Honiara.

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