Did you know that caffeine is the world's most popular psychoactive drug? It is the cover story of the January 2005 issue of National Geographic. The article is very informative and the coffee cup with the foam-shaped heart on the cover to really cool. I bought my copy at the bookstore and enjoyed it in the cafe. I read it over cup of strong coffee. The website features an interactive quiz to test your caffeine IQ, sights & sounds, a poll on your need for caffeine, and a forum - "What's your secret for brewing a good pot of coffee? Enjoy!

COFFEE IN THE NEWS:

Erowid Caffeine Vault - think you know all about caffeine? "How Caffeine Works" - by Marshall Brain's "How Things Work".The Coffee and Caffeine FAQ - find answers to all your questions. Caffeine - the Encarta Encyclopedia. The Analyst - Caffeine intoxication. Read what Chuck has to say about caffeine.

FAMOUS COFFEE QUOTES:

Coffee, n. break fluid. - Author Unknown

Coffee falls into the stomach...ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop... the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similies arise, the paper is covered with ink... - Honore de Balzac

Coffee makes us severe, and grave, and philosophical. - Jonathan Swift

If you'll excuse me a minute, I'm going to have a cup of coffee. - broadcast from Apollo 11's LEM, "Eagle", to Johnson Space Center, Houston July 20, 1969.

Coffee in England is just toasted milk. - Christopher Fry, British playwright "New York Post" (29 Nov. 1962).

After all, coffee is bitter, a flavor from the forbidden and dangerous realm. -- Diane Ackerman

Many people claim coffee inspires them, but, as everybody knows, coffee only makes boring people even more boring. - Honore de Balzac, Treatise on Modern Stimulants

Decaffeinated coffee is the devil's blend. ~Author Unknown

It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep." - Malcolm X "Message to the Grass Roots, speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 1, 1965).

If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee. - Sydney Smith

Among the numerous luxuries of the table...coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication; and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions...is never followed by sadness, languor or debility. - Benjamin Franklin

He put the coffee in the cup. He put the milk in the cup of coffee. He put the sugar in the white coffee, with the tea-spoon he stirred. He drank the white coffee and he put the cup down. Without speaking to me. - Jacques Prevert, "Dejeuner du Matin"

Coffee has two virtues: it is wet and warm. - Dutch Proverb

Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water. - The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674

The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself. ~Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995

CAFFEINE HELPS RELIEVE TENSION HEADACHES

Caffeine fiends already know that missing their morning coffee can trigger a raging headache. Now, new research shows that a dose of caffeine may also help treat common tension headaches. In a study of 301 regular headache sufferers, researchers found that a combination of ibuprofen and caffeine bested either drug alone in relieving pain. Eighty percent of patients on the drug combo saw their pain significantly improve within 6 hours, compared with 67% of those on ibuprofen alone, 61% of caffeine-only patients, and 56% of those taking an inactive placebo. In addition, patients who received ibuprofen and caffeine got pain relief nearly an hour sooner than those taking only ibuprofen. Dr. Seymour Diamond of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, Illinois, led the study. The findings were published in the September issue of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Other studies have shown mixed results in using a shot of caffeine to boost headache treatment. According to Diamond's team, the caffeine-ibuprofen combo has also been shown to help menstrual cramps and certain types of post-surgery pain.

Patients in the current study endured tension headaches known as episodic tension headaches, 3 to 15 times per month. Diamond told Reuters Health that chronic headache sufferers should avoid caffeine because it might exacerbate symptoms. For others, however, the benefits of caffeine are "fascinating," Diamond said. He noted that half of the patients in the caffeine-alone group initially reported as much pain relief as those on either ibuprofen or the drug combination. However, their headaches came back shortly after they waned. Diamond said caffeine appears to give an early boost to the painkilling effects of ibuprofen. He speculated that because caffeine restricts blood vessels, it counters the painful effects of blood vessel dilation in the head. And, according to Diamond, caffeine may not need to come in pill form to treat a headache. A "big mug of good coffee" may also do the trick, he said. Source: Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2000;68:312-319. (Rueter's Health - Oct. 2000)

Interesting little tidbits about my favorite beverage: The Japanese word for coffee shop is Kissaten. • Dark roasted coffees actually have LESS caffeine than medium roasts. • In the year 1763, there were over 200 coffee shops in Venice. • Bach wrote a coffee cantata in 1732. • In 1900, coffee was often delivered door-to-door in the United States, by horse-pulled wagons. • In Greece and Turkey, the oldest person is most always served their coffee first.• Many Africans enjoy coffee beans, soaked in water and spices, and chewed like candy. • The British drink instant coffee ten-to-one over fresh brewed. • It takes over 600,000 beans to fill a coffee sack. • Citrus has been added to coffee for several hundred years. • The Europeans first added chocolate to their coffee in the 1600's. • Frederick the Great had his coffee made with champagne and a bit of mustard. • One of the first poems about coffee was written in Mecca in 1511. • Lloyd's of London began as Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse. • King Louis IV is believed to have started adding sugar to coffee. • October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan. • The human body will absorb only 300 milligrams of caffeine at a given time. • Coffee was once used as medicine in a mixture of heated butter, honey and oil. • Ground coffee goes stale in a few hours, no matter how you store it. • Regular coffee drinkers have about one-third less asthma symptoms than those non-coffee drinkers. • A cup of coffee contains the same amount of antioxidants as three oranges. • Iced coffee in a can has been popular in Japan since 1945.

DID YOU KNOW...

Until the tenth century, coffee was considered a food Ethiopian tribesmen would mix the coffee berries with animal fat, roll them into balls, and eat them on their nomadic journeys.

The word "tip" dates back to the old London coffeehouses? Conspicuously placed brass boxes etched with the inscription, "To Insure Promptness," encouraged customers to pay for efficient service. The resulting acronym, TIP, has become a byword.

Dark roasted coffees actually have LESS caffeine than medium roasts? The longer a coffee is roasted, the more caffeine burns off during the process.

When coffee supplies became scarce during the American Civil War, soldiers desperate for a cup of coffee used roasted sweet potato and Indian corn as a substitute.

Coffee: Induces wit. Good only if it comes through Havre. After a big dinner party it is taken standing up. Take it without sugar -- very swanky: gives the impression you have lived in the East. - Gustave Flaubert, French author

CAFFEINE MAY BE GOOD FOR YOU

Caffeine is not addictive for most people, a new study concludes, and has little effect on human health. No, really. According to a much-promoted French study released Monday during the American Chemical Society's annual meeting, drinking up to three cups of coffee a day has no effect on the part of the brain responsible for addiction. And it may actually be good for you. If you're a rat. After spending two years with 30 rodents, researcher Astrid Nehlig of the French National Health Medical Research Institute found moderate consumption increases energy and renders addiction "quite unlikely."

THE PHYSICS OF COFFEE STAINS

When a droplet of coffee or ink dries, why is the residue ring shaped rather uniform across the footprint of the original drop? Scientists at the University of Chicago suggest that as the droplet dries the outer boundary of the droplet remains pinned to the surface and that evaporating liquid at the frontier is replaced by liquid from the interior. Along with this flow comes most of the particles (e.g., coffee grounds) suspended in the solution. Source: Philip F. Schewe and Ben Stein - The American Institute Physics Bulletin of Physics News #345 (Nov. 97)

HOW CAFFEINE KEEPS YOU AWAKE

By making your heart beat more often and stronger, much like adrenalin does. Erin Cram (the Administrator of the MAD Scientist Network), says caffeine blocks the receptor molecule responsible for sensing adenosine and this, in turn, causes the heart to pound. But there's more to the story: Caffeine, a stimulant, also stops certain enzyme molecules (cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases) from working. These molecules normally turn off a stimulative signal. So, when caffeine turns them off, the signal remains on and continues stimulating the cells. adrenalin works the same way and so you get a similar (although much milder) effect from caffeine as you do from adrenalin. Source: April Holladay, USA Today, Nov. 00)

COFFEE MAY HELP PREVENT GALLSTONES

A few cups of regular coffee per day might help prevent gallstones. A study found men who drank two to three cups a day had a 40% lower risk of gallstones than those who did not drink regular coffee. Men who drank four or more cups a day had a 45% lower risk. But hold the decaf: Only coffee with caffeine stimulates contractions in the gallbladder and lowers cholesterol in bile that can form painful gallstones. Exactly why is unclear. Caffeinated tea and soda don't have the same effect, the researchers reported. Source: Journal of the American Medical Association. (June 99)

THE COFFEE NICKNAME LIST:

Artificial sleep, bean, bean soup, black gold, the black horse, black juice for hell, bucket of black snakes, caffeine sandwich, the everlasting (the keep on going, all night coffee), that evil black brew, fourth cushion on the sofa of pleasure, go juice, good ole fashioned Java (the deep black coffee), the healing elixir, insomnia in a cup, jet fuel, joe, jolt juice, jus de pipe (too strong coffee), leaded/unleaded, lifeblood, liquid death, liquid life, liquid love, low crank, magic elixir, Mrs. Olsen’s elixir, mud, nap suppressant, nerve oil, nut snake, Peruvian love drops, a quick pick me up, Swedish gasoline, the timeless good (the whenever coffee), Turkish black top and zoom.

Source: Partically gathered by Krister Lindmark from Sweden in the mid 1990s.

COOL COFFEE LINKS:

H2G2 - Coffee - a great reference for coffee, Life, The Universe and Everything.

- a coffee fanatics clique.

- an excellent source on my favorite brew - articles, history, cafe culture, roasting, brewing, health and much more. Maybe they should rename it Coffee 101 - it has all the information you need.

Appealing Coffee - Check out the gourmet coffees at Appealing Coffee.

The Caffeine Archive - devoted to caffeine and those of us who imbibe, brew, relish, and just plain love it!

Too Much Coffee Man - great comics and magazine by Shannon Wheeler.

The Coffee Cantata - Taglines & Coffee Quotations.

History of Coffee - a wonderful online book about the by Daniel C. Barkey. It is published by CafePRESS who specializes in digital publications that focus on the culture of coffee.

Mocha Jet Fuel - kd's column at bad samaritan.com - I dare you to try this drink!

? <- Caffeinated -> #

 

 

 
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