Solis Maestro Plus, Scott Hepburn

Bottom Line: All in all I love this grinder.  For what I need it works perfectly and I have great coffee to enjoy everyday!
Read review…

INeedCappuccinoWhereverIAm
At last work has arrived and the coffee bar beckons me

Pricey coffee good to the last dropping (Reuters)
Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up.

My name is Shauna. In the spring of 2001, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. What a shock this was, not only for me but also for my entire family, especially my husband. I ve always been health conscious, eating well and working out at the gym, so consequently, I never saw this coming.

My symptoms were frightening. They ranged from vision loss with numbness and tingling in my limbs, to complete paralysis in my left leg. The hardest thing I had to deal with though was a mind-numbing exhaustion that just would not go away no matter how much sleep I would get. I literally felt as though I was weighted down with bricks. Even though I took a lot of anti-fatigue medications, I still needed to sleep as much as eighteen hours in a day, just to be able to function. In spite of this and to my frustration, I would still awaken in a fog.

I felt I was missing out on my life. Sleeping was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. If I decided to push it though and sleep less, I would pay the price by having to sleep more to undo the damage of overdoing it. I found myself becoming bitter with my new reality.

Then in the spring of 2003, a friend introduced me to a company called Usana Health Sciences. He urged me to try their vitamins because he knew I had MS. He said the Usana products had dramatically improved his children s health.

At first, I was skeptical since I had already tried a lot of other vitamins with no success. Then I thought to myself, what do I have to lose? I decided to give it a try and thank God I did. To make a long story short, I found out that not all vitamins are created equal. After less than two months, the fatigue disappeared completely, to be replaced by an unbelievable surge of crazy energy. It amazes me to imagine how powerful these vitamins must be to make such an impact on someone as unhealthy as me. My fatigue was absolutely debilitating! It was so bad I even had to go on disability insurance.

Now, it has been over two years and I am happy to say I feel like a million bucks. No more anti-fatigue meds for me; my daytime sleeping is now a thing of the past, thank God. Usana didn t cure me; I still have MS but WOW! My whole quality of life has been completely transformed. As long as I continue to take my vitamins faithfully (a small price to pay, considering the alternative,) I remain symptom free. And as if this isn t amazing enough by itself, this same company actually pays me to take these vitamins. How can I lose? I am definitely in a win-win situation. My husband and my family and friends are relieved to have the real Shauna back, and I m just plain enjoying my life again. If these vitamins can do what they did for me, imagine what they can do for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pricey coffee good to the last dropping (Reuters)
Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up.

Popular Espresso Machine Features
Cup warmers, frothing wands, water filters and so much more. What features are important to you in an espresso machine? Did you even know that espresso machines came with so many bells & whistles? Here are the typical features that…

Free Coffee And Tea For New Year’s Travelers (WGRZ-TV Buffalo)
A 40 year tradition will continue as the New York State Thruway Authority announced Friday it will offer free coffee and tea this weekend. The hot beverages will be available to help keep drivers warm and awake as they make their way to and from New Year’s festivities.

Many gallstones studies over the last twenty years have hinted at a relationship between consuming caffeinated coffee and a reduced risk of these issues, including cirrhosis of the liver, colorectal cancer, and gastrointestinal health.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, Norway, recently did a study of the correlation between coffee consumption and gallstones health; specifically, they evaluated the mortality rate from cirrhosis of the liver.

When the researchers looked at those who died from alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, there was no benefit to drinking coffee.
However, for those who suffered from cirrhosis of the liver not related to alcohol, drinking coffee reduced the effects of the liver cirrhosis.

When the Department of Medicine at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program (Northern California Region) in Oakland, California, did their study, they recognized that most heavy drinkers do not develop alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and other gastrointestinal disorders.

The researchers found that those patients who drank four or more cups of coffee per day had one-fifth the risk of cirrhosis of the liver as non-coffee and tea drinkers.

This relationship remained constant even when weighed against other risk factors such as other gastrointestinal health issues. The Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary in Canada examined the relationship of coffee consumption with various gastrointestinal cancers, including bladder, colon, and rectal.

The study was unable to find any correlation between coffee or tea consumption and bladder or rectal cancer. However, the study again found that drinking five or more cups of coffee daily significantly reduced the risk of colon cancer.

This was especially pronounced with cancer of the proximal colon rather than the distal colon. The Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, Italy, choose to look at a different gastrointestinal health issue, colorectal cancer.

They reviewed twenty-five studies published between 1990 and 2003 to try to determine any sort of statistical relationship between drinking coffees or tea and colorectal cancer. The analysis concluded that there was no benefit to drinking either decaffeinated coffees or any kind of tea.

However, drinking caffeinated coffees repeatedly was shown to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, regardless of any demographic biases.

This same facility also looked at the relationship between coffee consumption and cancers of the bladder, pancreas, colon, and rectum in a separate epidemiological study.

They found that, despite the highly publicized accounts to the contrary, the higher risk of bladder cancer for coffee drinkers is negligible and a relationship could not be found with either amount of coffees consumed or length of time over which it was consumed.

This was also true for pancreatic cancer; a study in 1981 showed a possible association with coffee consumption, but most studies since then have not shown a statistically significant relationship.

This study also showed that coffee consumption reduced the risk of colorectal cancer, particularly cancer centered in the colon.

The Department of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, also did a statistical analysis of twelve published articles pertaining to the relationship between coffee consumption and the reduced risk of colorectal cancer. This analysis determined that the lower risk of colorectal cancer due to coffees was particularly observed in studies from Asia, Northern and Southern Europe, and North America.

While the analysis could not definitively state that there is a relationship due to the difference in the ways the various studies were conducted, the results did indicate as previously published that coffee consumption lowered the risk of colorectal cancer.

The Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, looked at the possible relationship between coffees consumption and gallstones.

The researchers particularly examined the relationship between cholecystectomy, a surrogate of symptomatic gallstone disease, and coffees consumption in women. Over twenty years, over 80,000 women were studied to watch for various gastrointestinal health issues.

The researchers found that drinking caffeinated coffees reduced the risk of symptomatic gallstone disease in women. The same institute also studied this same relationship between coffees consumption and gastrointestinal health issues in men. Over 46,000 men were surveyed.

This study found that increasing the intake of caffeinated coffees (four or more cups daily) decreased the risk of symptomatic gallstone disease. In total, these studies have shown that there may be some relationship between the consumption of caffeinated coffees and the reduction of risk of several gastrointestinal health issues.

These studies showed that there is a significant probability of benefit with regards to cirrhosis of the liver, colorectal cancer, and gallstones. There was not enough data to conclusively state the same about other cancers, including that of the bladder and pancreas.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy is works with his son on Ultimate Coffees Info and daughter on Making Homemade Soap.

INeedCappuccinoWhereverIAm
At last work has arrived and the coffee bar beckons me

Coffee! Or, my love affair with the java bean
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is sniff the air, hoping to catch a whiff of the coffee that brewed itself for me ten minutes before I woke up.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is one of the most rapidly accelerating diseases today in terms of number of people afflicted. Theories abound as to why this is the case; however, scientists are now looking at new ways to improve the overall health of those both at risk for and suffering from this disease.

Many of these scientists have found that drinking coffees can significantly reduce the risk and effects of the disease.

In a recent study done at the Channing Laboratory of the Harvard School of Public Health, at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, researchers explored the link between long-term coffees consumption and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The study followed over 120,000 men and women for eighteen years. The researchers found that long-term coffees consumption actually reduced insulin resistance, which is the key factor in Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

They were able to conclude that long-term coffees consumption significantly reduces the risk for Type 2 diabetes mellitus in both men and women and therefore benefits the health of the coffees drinker.

The results of this study were affirmed in another student by the Department of Molecular Medicine, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. Although this study was of a lower scale (7949 subjects), it found similar results.

If the patient came into the study already suffering from Type 2 diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance (also known as insulin resistance or pre-diabetes), drinking at least 5 cups of coffees a day reduced their insulin resistance.

This was particularly true for women, who statistically suffer from a larger risk of insulin resistance than men. The health of those who drank coffees also benefited from enhanced insulin response.

The Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion of the National Public Health Institute; at the University of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland, also did a study of over 14,000 middle-aged patients to see if there is a relationship between coffees consumption and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

This study was particularly interesting because the Finnish people have the highest coffees consumption in the world. This study again found that the incidence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus decreased as the coffees consumption increased.

In doing this study, the researchers found that this relationship existed even when the results were statistically adjusted to account for other risk factors, such as age, smoking, weight, alcohol consumption, and filtered/non-filtered coffees.

As mentioned previously, women have a higher incidence of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes mellitus than men. That may be why the Department of Medicine at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Ostra in Goteborg, Sweden, concentrated their study on women exclusively.

When they studied 1361 women with no previous incidence of heart disease or diabetes over a period of twenty years, they found that the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus for women who consumed five or more cups of coffees daily was almost half of that of women who drank three to four cups each day.

The study also found that it s possible that the coffees had an affect on the women s cholesterol levels, further benefiting their overall health.

Finally, the Centre for Nutrition and Food Safety at the School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at the University of Surrey in Guildford, United Kingdom, again confirmed the benefit of drinking coffees with regards to reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

This study focused on the coffees effects on the gastrointestinal hormones that help regulate insulin secretion. The study found that caffeinated coffees actually lowered the absorption rate of the glucose, thereby reducing the effects of the Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Overall, these studies suggest that drinking caffeinated coffees can be beneficial to those looking to reduce their risk of developing or worsening Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy has more articles on coffee and coffee beans at Ultimate Coffees Info such as Are Coffee Enemas the Real Thing?.

Maayanot Eden buys Normat coffee firm (Haaretz Daily)
Maayanot Eden recently signed an agreement with the Norfolk Group food services company to buy Normat, Norfolk’s coffee activities, for NIS 8.4 million.

Keeping It Clean
We can’t stress this one enough: a clean French Press is vital to good tasting coffee. Fortunately, cleaning a French Press isn’t difficult and only takes a few minutes.

Grown at high altitudes and tended with painstaking care in the shade of banana and rubber trees, Colombian coffee is among the best in the world, rich, full-bodied, and perfectly balanced. Coffea Arabica L., more commonly known as the Arabica bean, prefers higher altitudes and drier climates than its cousin, the lower quality Robusta bean (C. Robusta). Therefore, the arid mountains and the well-drained, rich volcanic soil of Colombia provide ideal conditions for growing high quality coffee.

Colombian coffee is grown in two main regions, the central region around Medellin, Armenia and Manizales, known as MAM to aficionados, and the eastern, more mountainous region near Bogot and Bucaramanga. MAM varietals are known for their heavy body, rich flavor and fine, balanced acidity while the mountain grown eastern beans produce an even richer, heavier, less acidic coffee. The finest Colombian coffee comes from this region.

It is not known for sure when coffee first reached Colombia but many historians believe it to be around the same time Jesuit priests first began arriving from Europe in the mid 16th century. The first exports of Colombian coffee began in 1835 when around 2500 bags were exported to the U.S. By 1875 170,000 bags were leaving the country bound for the U.S. and Europe. The exports grew exponentially over the next hundred years or so and peaked in 1992 at around 17 million bags. Today, Colombian coffee exports are around 10 million bags per year.

For many decades Colombia was the world s second leading producer of coffee behind Brazil. Recently, Vietnam surpassed Colombia in coffee exports to take the number two seat and move Colombia into a close third. However, the old adage of quality over quantity certainly applies here. The Arabica bean does not grow well in Vietnam. Only the hearty, yet inferior, Robusta is suited for the low, wet climate of Vietnam. Colombian coffee is far superior and is considered by many coffee experts to be the finest in the world.

Any discussion on Colombian coffee would not be complete without mentioning the wildly successful marketing campaign created by the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers in 1959 which introduced the world to the friendly and affable Juan Valdez. Though a fictitious character, the poncho clad, sombrero wearing Juan Valdez gave a face to the humble coffee picker and created a mystique and aura of romance that still survives today. A recent survey reported that 85% of Americans still associate the name Juan Valdez with Colombian coffee. Quite an accomplishment, especially considering that only 75% acknowledged recognizing the name Dan Quayle.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

You can find more articles on coffee such as Hawaiian Coffee, Coffee and Alzheimers Diesease and Coffee and Health.

Spilling the beans: Secrets to great coffee (Saratogian)
SARATOGA SPRINGS — ‘Just breeeeathe it in, breathe in deep,’ he instructs, motioning deep breaths over a steaming Styrofoam cup of blueberry-flavored coffee — black. ‘Smell it? Taste it?’

American coffee? Technically there is no such thing, at least none that is grown in North America. There is such a thing as the American coffee consumer which might as well be an institution all their own for it s their money that drives a substantial portion of the market.

Americans consume more coffee than any other nation on earth. American coffee companies revolutionized coffee marketing, packaging, distributing, and even processing and roasting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. America has sent troops to other countries to protect coffee growers and exporters from civil unrest. Yes, America is in love with coffee.

Coffee even played a role in the birth of America. Early British colonists revolted against Britain taxing tea. They exerted their independence by throwing cases of English tea into Boston Harbor during the famed Boston Tea Party. The early American coffee drinker was seen as patriotic and independent.

American coffee retailers like Starbucks have created huge multi-billion dollar companies. They did this by providing the public not only a good cup of coffee but a relaxing place to socialize and drink their coffee. Starbucks did not invent the coffeehouse by any means. The earliest known coffeehouse opened in 1475 in Constantinople. But Starbucks definitely revolutionized the experience for American coffee drinkers and carried the modern coffeehouse into the 21st century.

Americans have taken coffee with them into every war since the Revolution of 1776. Whether to stay awake in battle or as a comforting, soothing reminder of home in the midst of bleak and frightening conditions or both.

In fact, many wars have been fought over coffee and the lands on which it is grown. From small scale turf wars to full blown civil wars and political revolt. Such as in Nicaragua in the late 1800 s and early 1900 s.

Coffee has become an integral part of every society it has ever been introduced to from the time it was discovered about 600 A.D. There is definitely something about the dark, mysterious and tantalizing beverage that captivates the spirit and captures the imagination. American coffee drinkers are no different and have adopted the age old addiction with gusto.

Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Randy has more articles on coffee such as Colombian Coffee, Are Coffee Enemas the Real Thing? and Arabica Coffee.