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What is Caffeine?
This may seem like a ridiculous question but most people only know that caffeine is a chemical in coffee that gives you a lift. Caffeine is not as simple as it seems. Chemically it is an alkaloid stimulant naturally occurring in the coffee beans, which contain a rough average of about 4% caffeine in proportion to their weight. Strangely while caffeine stimulates your heart and lungs it actually relaxes your digestive system.
The Cup And The Brewing Temperature
Coffee is best ‘brewed’ between 86 – 94 degrees C. Any hotter and you will burn the coffee and produce a burnt taste in the final beverage. Any lower and most Australians will say it is too cold.
The maximum temperature is an adjustment of your coffee brewer. For Jura Impressa users, check that the ‘Temperature’ setting of each drink button is set to ‘high’.
Make sure you are using warmed cups. Use the cup warmer on top of your brewer or heat your cup with hot water before you make the coffee.
A cold porcelain cup will take 10-15 degrees C of temperature from the drink. Use thin cups to keep coffee hot. Thick cups absorb more heat, so delicate china is best to keep your cuppa piping hot. If using an auto-frothing attachment on your coffee maker, check that the milk flow is not too fast.
By adjusting the milk flow, you can adjust the temperature of the milk. The faster it flows, the lower the resulting temperature. Experiment with the flow rate. Remember that you do not want to boil the milk but it is sufficient to ‘heat’ the milk.
Above all, give yourself time to sit down and enjoy your finished drink.
Coffee and other caffeinated beverages may provide some protection from liver damage in people at risk for liver disease. Using data from the third US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted between 1988 and 1994, Drs. James E. Everhart and Constance E. Ruhl assessed the association between caffeinated beverage consumption and liver disease.
Among people at risk for liver disease due to excessive alcohol use or other factors, drinking more than two cups of coffee per day seemed to protect against liver damage. Compared with people who didn't drink the beverage, those who did were 44-percent less likely to show evidence of liver damage.
Dr Everhart said previous research has shown that one of caffeine's primary effects is blocking cell structures called adenosine receptors. The early effect of this blocking is stimulation of the immune system that could protect the liver, "but we don't know what the (ongoing) effects are," he added.
From an original article at www.paktribune.com
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