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General Facts About Coffee
Coffee as a drink, usually served hot, is prepared from the roasted seeds (beans) of the coffee plant.
Due to its popularity, coffee is the second largest commodity market in the world (after oil). It is one of mankind's chief sources of the stimulant caffeine. Because of this, coffee's nutritional benefits are disputed, sometimes labeled a cure-all, other times labeled a health hazard.
Benefits Coffee increases the effectiveness of pain killers -- especially migraine medications -- and can rid some people of asthma. Some of the beneficial effects may be restricted to one sex, for instance it has been shown to reduce suicide for women, and prevent gallstones and gallbladder disease in men. It also reduces the incidence of diabetes in both sexes, but reduces the risk by about 30% in women and over 50% in men.
Coffee can also reduce the incidence of liver cirrhosis and prevent colon and bladder cancers. Coffee can reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, a variety of liver cancer (Inoue, 2005). Finally, coffee reduces the incidence of heart disease, though whether this is simply because it rids your blood of excess fat or because of its stimulant effect is unknown. Many people drink coffee for its ability to increase short term recall and increase IQ. It also changes the metabolism of a person so that their body burns a higher proportion of lipids to carbohydrates, which can help athletes avoid muscle fatigue. Some of these health effects are realized by as little as 4 cups a day (24 oz), but others kick in at 6 or more cups a day (32 oz or more).
There are two main species of the coffee plant; Coffee Arabica is the traditional coffee, and considered superior in flavor. Coffee canephora (Robusta) is higher in caffeine and can be cultivated in environments where Arabica will not thrive, leading to its use as an inexpensive substitute for Arabica in many commercial coffee products. Compared to Arabica, Robusta tends to be more bitter and acidic in flavour. Good quality Robustas are used as ingredients in some espresso blends to provide more bite and to lower cost. In Italy most espresso is based on dark roasted Robusta. Coffee is the world's second most widely traded product. Arabica coffees were traditionally named by the port they were exported from, the two oldest being Mocha, from Yemen, and Java, from Indonesia. The modern coffee trade is much more specific about origin, labeling coffees by country, region, and sometimes even the producing estate. Coffee aficionados may even distinguish auctioned coffees by lot number. The largest coffee exporting nation for a while was Brazil, but in recent years as the demand for coffee beans has risen, the coffee bean market has been flooded by large quantities of rougher tasting Robusta beans from countries such as Vietnam [2], which are preferred by large industrial clients (instant coffee producers, etc.) because of their lower cost. One unusual and very expensive variety of Robusta is the Indonesian Kopi Luwak. The beans are collected from the droppings of the Common Palm Civet, whose digestive processes give it a distinctive flavour.
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