#koffee express

When it comes to decaf coffee, it's pretty much a black and white option. Most people drink regular or decaf, and would never consider switching from one to the other, but how much difference in taste is there? Many coffee lovers report the inferior flavor of decaf, but is it just because it's something they're not used to, or is there something in its production that affects the flavor?

A type of coffee plant that produces naturally low-caffeine beans was recently discovered, but until this reaches commercial production, we will have to rely on more traditional methods of decaf production.

The most common treatment to remove caffeine from coffee beans is to soak them in hot water or steam them to open the pores and then rinse them with methylene chloride which binds the caffeine and washes them away. So it may be that the difference in decaf flavor has more to do with the remaining chemical in the bean than the actual absence of the bitter caffeine.

There is another method that reduces the amount of chemical the beans come into contact with. The beans are soaked for a long period of time in hot water, which induces the caffeine and much of the bean's flavor to seep into the water. The beans are removed and methylene chloride is added to bind with the caffeine. This is then filtered and the beans are replaced in the water to reabsorb some

These methods are relatively inexpensive and are therefore preferred by manufacturers, despite constant doubts about how the final flavor of the coffee is affected. There is another method that is more expensive and seems to have less of an impact on flavor.

This is known as the Swiss method and does not involve adding any chemicals to the beans. The beans are soaked in hot water for a long time, and then the whole mixture is filtered through activated carbon. This is similar to pure charcoal and its molecular composition attracts the caffeine particles to bind with it during the filtering process. This is a more expensive process and is therefore generally used for superior decaf coffees.

If you feel like you need to cut back on your caffeine intake, whether for health reasons or just to get a good night's sleep, you don't necessarily have to switch to decaf. Simply changing the type of coffee you drink can have an impact. Many darker roasts, like the Italian roast often used in Espresso, naturally have less caffeine because much of it has been burned off during the roasting process. You can reduce the effects of caffeine without skimping on the taste.

Of course, it's a matter of personal choice which type of coffee you use in your espresso machine, but if you need to cut back on your caffeine intake, there are options, and you don't have to settle for inferior flavor if you do. finds that standard decaf produces this.

The cost of your average store is rising, with a new estimate from Eurostat suggesting consumer prices here rose 8.2% in the year to the end of May.

That translates into significantly higher shopping bills: according to Kantar, it means the average household will pay €330 more each year.

But not all price increases are created equal, and a host of factors affect different products in different ways.

To help make sense of what's going on, we've taken a closer look at a selection of everyday grocery items.

Each has seen significant price increases, but each has a different story to tell as to why.

In this article, we will look at coffee prices.

What is driving up coffee costs?

We need your consent to load this route player content and use the player to manage additional content that may set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your data and accept it to load the content. Manage references Adam Maguire discusses the cost of coffee on RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne

Brexit has caused significant disruption to Ireland's supply chain, but it has not been the only problem. The pandemic is the other big one.

That's because, in the early stages of the pandemic, all but the largest factories in the world closed their doors, and the world's ports essentially closed as well.

That resulted in huge cargo ships queuing at ports with nowhere to go, and piling up empty shipping containers because there was no way to store them and put them on the ships.

And it's not the case that everything flows smoothly again once the ports are reopened: these delays take time to resolve.

The fact that we also had the Suez Canal blockade and continued closures at ports in China has only made the situation worse.

So what impact does that have?

Before the pandemic, the global supply chain meant it was easy and often cheap for companies to source products from the other side of the world.

According to the International Monetary Fund, around 80% of the goods traded in the world are transported by sea. And it worked like clockwork, too; companies knew that they could order products now and that they would arrive in a predictable number of days.

As a result, many companies operated on what is called a "just-in-time" model. The idea of ​​this is that they order parts and products as they are needed, instead of building up a bit of a stockpile that needs to be worked on.

The benefit is that companies don't tie up a lot of cash in goods that are just sitting in storage, but the downside is that when there's a major lockdown on the other side of the world like there was with Covid, they don't have their reserves to fall back on.

And when the pandemic hit, that led to bidding wars for space on the few containers leaving the ports. The greater the shipping distance, the more companies had to pay.

But shipments have also become much slower and less predictable, because ports seem to be prioritizing premium goods, and those deemed less valuable end up having to wait longer to get space on a ship.

The disruption was such that there is also this strange phenomenon of empty shipping containers piling up in some parts of the world, waiting to be filled, while at the same time there are goods in other parts of the world waiting for a container to be put on a ship.

It has even led some companies to pay top dollar to ship empty boxes from one part of the world to another, just to try to get their supply chain back on track.

What does that have to do with coffee?

There is no local sourcing possible when it comes to coffee: you have to go to faraway places like Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, or India to get it.

So you have no choice but to pay the shipping costs, whatever they are.

And they have increased since the pandemic.

According to the IMF, the cost of shipping a container across the oceans has increased sevenfold in the 18 months since March 2020.

But other factors beyond shipping are also affecting coffee prices.

Higher energy prices mean it costs more to roast beans and transport the finished product to stores, for example.

And the price of coffee is also going up.

US Coffee C Futures is a commodity market that tracks the price of specialty coffee and is used as a benchmark when pricing orders.

It rose about 50% last year and has more than doubled in the last two years, in part due to weather warnings coming out of Brazil that traders had feared would impact the harvest.

Perhaps your coffeemaker is set to turn off every morning at 7 a.m. so you can get out of bed and pour yourself a cup, or maybe you're the kind of person who has a cold beer brewed waiting in your fridge at all times. Either way, if you rely on coffee to go from having cloudy eyes and barely functioning to being ready and ready to take over the world, we can't blame you.

But what if we told you that you will probably get more for your money, from an energy perspective, if you wait an hour for coffee instead of first thing in the morning? If this sounds completely awful to you, listen to us - there's a solid reason why we recommend this. This is what you need to know.

However, if you're looking for a big dose of caffeine and don't tend to get nervous about coffee, don't worry about waiting. Dr. Steven Gundry, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the International Heart and Lung Institute's Center for Restorative Medicine, says that combining caffeine with a natural morning energy spike can be a great way to take on a difficult task, like a morning workout.

“Cortisol generally starts to rise around 4 a.m., as does epinephrine (adrenaline), to get you ready for the day. They both cause blood sugar (glucose) to rise, so there is enough fuel available, ”he explained. "The caffeine in coffee also increases glucose, so if you want to get up and start, especially for exercising or just walking the dog, have that cup of coffee."

His body naturally increases cortisol and adrenaline production around 4 a.m., which could make his coffee hit a lot harder if he's sensitive to caffeine.

That said, this effect will be more like a short-lived energy jolt, and may not last all morning.

There could also be a psychological advantage to waiting to sip your morning drink. "The anticipation caused by delay can heighten your senses and satisfaction with any substance, including caffeine," explains Peter Douglas, licensed clinical social worker and founder of Humantold. “Plus, once your morning cup of coffee becomes part of your routine, it's predictable. Consistency is a dulling agent and you will create novelty by delaying your first cup. "

Alison Stone, LCSW and holistic psychotherapist based in New York, adds that it might also be worth experimenting with delaying your coffee until you can savor and enjoy it, not when you're doing a million things and running off. "If your mornings are chaotic and you find yourself drinking coffee out of habit, it might be worth trying to delay that cup until you have two or three minutes to enjoy it," she said.

How to schedule your breakfast

If you're someone who tends to get flustered over your morning cup of coffee, you might want to take Lockwood's advice on Gundry's advice, as caffeine on top of a natural spike in cortisol and adrenaline is probably not a great deal. the idea for you.

Then there's breakfast time - if you're prone to caffeine nerves, you should probably sip your morning coffee with your meal. "For calm energy, I would recommend taking it along with breakfast so you don't pour caffeine into your system without a protective layer of food to dampen its rapid absorption," Lockwood advised. "Make sure you drink a good glass of water, too."

She adds that reactions to caffeine vary from person to person. So if you're not someone who gets nervous about caffeine, try experimenting with different breakfast times.

"Make this a morning experiment and test your energy levels after one day of coffee before breakfast and the other day after breakfast," Lockwood suggests. "Caffeine is an extremely individualized experience, so it's important to tune in to your own body and make decisions based on that."

We sure love our coffee. Even during the lockdown, many of us managed to keep buying our daily ground coffee or single-serve cups for Americano or flat coffee. Therefore, we should all be happy to know that those drinks may have helped us stay healthy. The latest evaluations of the health effects of coffee and caffeine, its main active ingredient, are truly reassuring. Its use has been linked to a reduced risk of all types of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, depression, suicide, cirrhosis, liver cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer.

In fact, in numerous studies around the world, consuming enough coffee to provide 400 mg of caffeine per day has been associated with reduced death rates. It's about four or five cups of regular coffee. In terms of takeout, a shot of espresso contains 60-65mg of caffeine, and a latte, cappuccino, or flat white generally contains at least one or two shots. (At liquid coffees , you'll get 150 mg of caffeine from a Grande cappuccino and 225 mg from a Venti cappuccino.)

In general, despite various concerns that have come up over the years, coffee is very safe and has several important potential benefits.

In a study of more than 200,000 participants followed for up to 30 years, those who drank three to five cups of coffee a day, with or without caffeine, were 15 percent less likely to die prematurely from all causes than people who avoided coffee. Perhaps most dramatic was a 50 percent reduction in suicide risk among men and women who were moderate coffee drinkers, perhaps by increasing the production of brain chemicals that have antidepressant effects.

As a report published last summer by a Harvard School of Public Health research team concluded, although current evidence may not justify recommending coffee or caffeine for disease prevention, drinking coffee in moderation "may be part of a lifestyle. healthy "for most people.

It was not always like this. I've had decades of sporadic warnings that coffee could be a health hazard. Over the years, coffee has been considered a cause of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, pancreatic cancer, anxiety disorder, nutrient deficiencies, gastric reflux disease, migraine, insomnia, and premature death. As recently as 1991, the World Health Organization listed coffee as a possible carcinogen. In some of the now-discredited studies, smoking, not drinking coffee (the two often went hand in hand), was responsible for the alleged danger.

"These periodic scares have given the public a very distorted view," says Dr. Walter C Willett, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. "In general, despite various concerns that have arisen over the years, coffee is very safe and has several important potential benefits."

Even if you can easily fall asleep after coffee in the evening, it can affect your ability to get enough sleep.

That is not to say that coffee justifies good health. Caffeine crosses the placenta to the fetus and drinking coffee during pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage, low birth weight, and preterm labor. Pregnancy alters the way the body metabolizes caffeine, and pregnant or breastfeeding women are advised to abstain completely, stick to decaf, or at least limit their caffeine intake to less than 200 mg up to date.

The most common harmful effect associated with caffeinated coffee is sleep disturbance. Caffeine blocks at the same receptor in the brain as the neurotransmitter adenosine, a natural sedative. Dr. Willett, a co-author of the Harvard report, says: “I love coffee, but I only drink it occasionally because otherwise, I don't sleep very well. A lot of people with sleep problems don't recognize the coffee connection. "

Discussing his caffeine audiobook with Terry Gross on US National Public Radio last winter, Michael Pollan called caffeine "the enemy of good sleep" because it interferes with deep sleep. He confessed that after the challenging task of giving up coffee, he "went back to sleep as a teenager."

Willett, now 75, says, "You don't need to go zero to minimize the impact on sleep," but he acknowledges that a person's sensitivity to caffeine "probably increases with age." People also vary widely in how quickly they metabolize caffeine, allowing some to sleep soundly after drinking caffeinated coffee at dinner, while others have trouble sleeping if they have coffee for lunch. But even if you can easily fall asleep after a late-night coffee, it can disrupt your ability to sleep soundly, Pollan writes in his forthcoming book, This Is Your Mind on Plants.

Willett says that it is possible to develop a degree of tolerance to the effect of caffeine on sleep. My 75-year-old brother, a heavy caffeinated coffee drinker, claims he is not affected by it. However, gaining tolerance to caffeine could reduce his benefit if, for example, he wanted it to help him stay alert and focused while he was driving or

taking a test.

All the things that people put in a coffee can result in junk food with up to 500 to 600 calories.

Caffeine is one of the more than 1,000 chemicals in coffee, and not all of them are beneficial. Among others with positive effects are polyphenols and antioxidants. Polyphenols can inhibit the growth of cancer cells and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes; Antioxidants, which have anti-inflammatory effects, can fight heart disease and cancer, both of which are top killers.

None of this means that coffee is beneficial regardless of how it is prepared. When brewed without a paper filter, as in the French press, Norwegian boiled coffee, espresso, or Turkish coffee, oily chemicals called diterpenes are leaked out that can increase your artery-damaging LDL cholesterol. However, these chemicals are practically absent in both filtered and instant coffee. Knowing that I have a cholesterol problem, I dissected a coffee pod and found a paper filter that covered the plastic cup. Phew!

Also counteracting the potential health benefits of coffee are popular additions some people use, such as cream and sweet syrups, that can turn this zero-calorie drink into a high-calorie dessert. "All the things that people put in a coffee can result in junk food with up to 500 to 600 calories," says Dr. Willett. A Grande Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino, for example, has about 36.8 g of sugar, 16.3 g of fat (11.5 of them saturated), and 312 calories.

With the arrival of iced coffee season, more people are likely to turn to cold-brewed coffee. Now gaining popularity, cold brew counteracts the natural acidity of coffee and the bitterness that results when boiling water is poured over ground coffee. Cold brewing is made by soaking the grounds in cold water for several hours, then filtering the liquid through a paper filter to remove harmful grounds and diterpenes and maintain the flavor and caffeine for your enjoyment. Cold-brew can also be made with decaffeinated coffee.