Coffee Point

KEEP IT TO ONE CUP PER DAY.
For starters, one cup is not a Starbucks twenty-plus ounce mega-grande french vanilla frappuccino with whip cream and chocolate syrup. Nor does it resemble a giant caramel coffee coolatta from Dunkin Donuts. It’s eight ounces. Your liver can handle that. I know more than a few people who drink coffee all day long – five, ten, fifteen cups. If you’re one of those, don’t even think about cutting down to one cup right away. Reduce it slowly. If you’re drinking ten cups, get it down to eight in a week. Then get it down to five, and so on and so forth. Other strategies for reducing the caffeine content include a second brewing from the same beans and including half decaf (Swiss mater method only) in each cup.

BUY WHOLE BEANS AND GRIND THEM AT HOME
Coffee beans, like anything, will begin to break down and become rancid once the inner contents are exposed to oxygen and moisture. To see this process with the naked eye cut open an apple and see what happens. The white flesh starts turning brown pretty fast. This is due to its exposure to oxygen and moisture, the enemies of freshness.

They’re also the enemies of anti-oxidants, those things you hear about that create stability and health in living systems and ward off disease. I’m skeptical about the anti-oxidant health benefits you hear about in coffee. But if it’s true, those anti-oxidants will start to oxidize immediately after grinding, which is OK if you drink the coffee soon after. After a few days however freshly ground coffee doesn’t taste so fresh anymore. And if you get the sugar out, you can start to taste this pretty easily (which is not good for healthier coffee drinking).

GET THE SUGAR OUT!
This is probably the most important tip for healthier coffee drinking. I realize this is a tough one for a lot of people. It was for me. Until I did this I never realized that what I was really craving in my coffee was the sugar more than the caffeine. But once I ditched the sugar, my palette became more attuned to the various types of roasts and regional variations. I actually started enjoying the taste of coffee instead of the taste of sugar.

Try adding just cream (preferably raw if you can get it) in place of sugar. That helped me get the sugar out once and for all. The fat in cream will cut the bitterness of coffee. Cream also has a natural sweetness that can help you wean off the refined white stuff.

Lastly, please do NOT use those flavored cream/creamer concoctions! They’re made with hydrogenated vegetable oils, corn syrup and a whole host of other chemicals. Now some of you might be saying, “Cream?! What about low fat milk? Isn’t that healthier?” No. A famous comedian once said, “Show me the cow who makes skim milk and then I’ll drink it.” Low fat milk and all manner of low fat products are not health foods. But that’s another blog topic for another blog day.

CHOOSE ORGANIC
Healthier coffee drinking definitely starts here. Conventional coffee is heavily sprayed with pesticides. There’s a plethora of organic choices out there. At the very least, do this. Better yet, support companies that promote fair trade practices. You can usually find a few of these in your local health food store. If not, here’s a few I recommend:

Anyone who thinks that all single serve coffee makers are made equal should think again.

Not only can your daily cup of joe help you feel more energized, burn fat and improve physical performance, it may also lower your risk of several conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. In fact, coffee may even boost longevity.

I judge a restaurant by the bread and by the coffee.

Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second.

Coffee is a beverage that puts one to sleep when not drank.