Wake-up Call

I’m out of coffee. I grab a can of artificial buzz juice from my prepper stash in the fridge. The label touts 120 grams of caffeine. I wonder how that compares to a cup of coffee? By the time I feel the buzz, I have discovered 5 things about coffee.

1) There are over 100 different coffee species in the world. Two types stand out: Arabica and Robusta . Arabica tastes better. This is the Arabian coffee first discovered by by Kaldi, a 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd, when he noticed how excited his goats became after eating the beans from a coffee plant. Robusta, or Coffea canephora. has more caffeine. But, it can taste nasty. Robusta is typically used for instant coffee, esspresso, and as a filler in coffee blends. Biohazard Coffee, a top brand of Robusta, has 928 mg of caffeine per 12-oz cup.

2) The amount of caffeine in a cup depends upon how you make it. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supplies generic guidelines. Note that this varies with the type of roast. The rule of thumb: The longer you roast the beans, the more caffeine gets burnt off. Light roast has more caffeine, dark roast has less.

3) Different brands have different amounts of caffeine in a single cup. I didn’t know this when I talked to my riding buddy Ren Doughty when we met up with a bunch of hooligans to view the solar eclipse. Look up your favorite brand here.

4) Chlorogenic acids and caffeine shape the flavor of coffee. Chlorogenic acids, like all polyphenols, are biological antioxidants. The acids control the “tang,” or the level of metallic taste. Caffeine controls bitterness.

5) Coffee is good for you. Yes, mamma told us coffee was bad for you, but modern research proves the opposite. Today, coffee is considered a functional food with antioxidant properties. It reduces the incidence of cancer in certain organs, diabetes and liver disease, protects against Parkinson’s disease and reduces mortality risk. My Doc told me that three cups of coffee a day will flush my liver better than milk thistle or Carters Little Liver Pills.

Oh man, I need a cup of coffee.