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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