BARISTA: The Italian name for the master of the espresso machine.

BITTERNESS: A catchall term used to express displeasure with the taste of coffee. Coffee is naturally bitter, but should not be unpleasantly so. When the natural bitterness of caffeine is removed in decaffeinated coffee, the flavour balance is thrown off, bitterness becomes unpleasant when coffee is under-roasted, highlighting its chlorogenic acid, or when it is overheated on a burner.

BLEND: A mixture of beans from different parts of the world and sometime at different roasts, as opposed to a straight coffee, which is coffee from one region. A roaster usually has secret recipes for signature house blends.

BODY: a tasting tem to describe the weight of coffee on the palate. Paper filtered coffee is typically light in body; coffee brewed through a metal screen, as in a plunger pot and in all espresso, typically has more viscous and at sometime syrupy body. Beans themselves have different degrees of body depending on  where they are grown and on  their species, Arabica beans have lower body than robusta beans.

BOILER: The small tank in an espresso machine used to heat water and steam milk. Room temperature water for espresso is drawn by pump directly from the reservoir through a copper pipe that travels through the boiler before delivering the hot water to the filter holder.

BOURBON: A hallowed variety of the Arabica species, named for the French island colony off Africa (today Reunion) where it once grew. Bourbon, the basis of the Latin American trade for hundreds of years, is an impractical choice for a farmer, today, because its yield is one-third to one-half that of many newer Arabica  varieties. Because connoisseurs prize its flavours and willing to pay more for bourbon trees where they were torn out or abandoned.

BRICK PACK: Coffee beans or, more frequently, ground coffee that has , in effect, been shrink wrapped in thin plastic bags. Brick packs, which save both the price mental for cans and storage space, were developed in Germany the 1950’s but only decades later came into wide use in the United States. They are no better than a can for preserving flavour, because both storage methods require that the coffee first be degassed.

Let’s start with the ‘A’s

ACIDITY:  Not a defect , acidity is one if the reasons the best    high grown Arabica coffee beans fetch the highest prices. As a roast gets going, flavourful acids form, giving coffee life and sparkle. The lighter the roast, the more the acids are highlighted; very dark roasts destroy most acids. Not be confused with bitterness.

ADENOSINE: One of the chemicals, or neurotransmitters, the body makes to control neural activity; adenosine triggers a series of slowing effects in the body. Researchers think caffeine acts as an adenosine imposter, locking into special receptors on brain cells and fooling the body into thinking that adenosine is circulating when it is not. Caffeine thus speeds up by not slowing you down.

AGED COFFEE: Green coffee beans that have been stored in the climate, typically hot and humid ,on which they were grown, for a year or two ore even three before being shipped similar to monsooning , which takes less time, aging bean is expensive, because stocks are tied up. Aged coffee has a soft roundness many connoisseurs seek, especially for blends.

AIR QUENCHING: The cooling of roasted beans with blown air rather than with sprayed water. (see water-quenching)

ARABICA:  One of the two main coffee species. Coffee  Arabica is named for its original popularizes, the Arabs, who   bought it to native East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula in the fifteenth century. All the delicate, prized flavours possible in coffee are found in Arabica and not robust, the other main species , although not every Arabica is fine. Arabica beans, which produce the best flavors when grown at high altitudes in semitropical climates near the equator, naturally contain about half the caffeine (an average of 1.1 percent) of robusta beans (which have an average of 2.2 percent).

The Italians simply call their espresso “caffe” and actually it doesn’t matter if you prepare it with a professional machine or the traditional stovetop maker. Espresso is the essence of coffee and the basis for many drinks, such as cappuccino and latte macchiato. Espresso is famous for being small, strong and black. Its okay to sweeten it with sugar, but milk is a no-no.

All you need to make the basic espresso recipe is freshly ground dark roast espresso coffee (Arabica is ideal) and really hot water.

• Unscrew espresso maker and pour in the right amount of water (do not cover valve).

• Place one spoonful of the ground coffee in the filter basket per cup and spread smooth – don’t tamp it down. Then insert the basket in the lower section of the pot.

• Heat pot on the stove at the highest setting. As soon as espresso starts to hiss in the tube remove from the stove.

• Stir finished espresso once in the pot and then pout it into the cups (preferably use prewarmed). If desired, add sugar to taste.

Have you noticed that within the last few years organic products have been the craze?  A conspiracy that I’m convinced was started by those vegan hippies; society tells us that organic products are healthier. But the only difference I can tell is that organic products are much more expensive. And as a just-starting-out career woman, frankly I don’t have the money to splurge on fancy foods when I can buy the same products for less.

The irony of this story is that, as it turns out, there is one organic product I’ve come across that is a regular part of my grocery list – organic decaf coffee. It’s without a doubt the best beverage to savor in the evenings. Warm and rich, its soothing aromas melt my senses delivering me to state of ultimate relaxation, just before bed. And so organic freaks, coffee lovers and troubled sleepers, I recommend this product with full confidence that your experience will be just as tasty.

INGREDIENTS:

Makes 12 Muffins

6 tbs cream cheese

¼ cup whole cranberry sauce

2⅔ cups flour

2 tbs cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

⅔ cup sugar

⅞ cup milk

⅓ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup double-strength cold espresso

Muffin pan and 12 paper-lined baking cups

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 25 minutes

Calories/serving: About 220

1~ Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with paper baking cups. Combine cream cheese and cranberry sauce; set aside. In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder.

2~ Whisk egg and combine with sugar, milk, oil, and espresso. Add to flour mixture and stir.

3~ Pour half the batter inot the baking cups. Pace about 2tsp cranberry-cream cheese mixture on top of each, and pour remaining batter on top. Bake in the oven (middle rack) for 20-25 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan10 minutes before removing.

Time to taste your Coffee Cappuccino Muffins, pour yourself a cup of  coffee sit back and enjoy, yum!

What is Caffeine? It is an alkaloid found naturally in such foods as coffee beans, tea, kola nuts, Yerba maté, guarana, and (in small amounts) cacao beans. Caffeine is created in plants as a form of pesticide, to kill of insects feeding on them. In its true form caffeine is a whitish-yellow powder substance, bitter in taste.

Caffeine’s main drug producing effects are: a stimulant that affect the central nervous system, effect the supply of oxygen to cells, the heart rate, and is a mild diuretic. Some studies show that small amounts of caffeine may increase our cognitive functioning and improve our mood.

One common source of caffeine is the coffee plant, the beans from which are used to produce coffee. Caffeine content varies substantially between Arabica and Robusta species  and to a lesser degree between varieties of each species. A single serving (6 to 8 fl oz) cup of  drip coffee contains around 100 to 125 mg of caffeine. However the world over coffee varies considerably in caffeine content per serving, and range from 75 mg to 250 mg.

Tea is another common source of caffeine in many cultures. In general tea contains half the amount of caffeine per serving than coffee, though certain types of tea, such as Lapsang sou chong smoked teas, and oolong contain less caffeine.

Just how much is a safe amount of caffeine, it is generally agreed that consuming up to 300 mg of caffeine per day is safe. That is the equivalence of drinking three cups of coffee or six cups of tea a day.

Coffee probably originated in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and presumably takes its name from the Kafffa province there. Coffee cultivation moved form Africa to Yemen, which soon supplied coffee to the entire Arab world. At the beginning of the 17 century, the first coffee beans were brought to Italy from the Yemeni port city of Mocha. With siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683, coffee began is triumphal march through all of Europe.

When the Turks retreated, they left behind hundreds of sack of coffee. A clever Viennese took advantage of the opportunity and immediately opened the city’s first coffee house. At first coffee was a rate and expensive and therefore reserved for the aristocracy. To meet the large demand, colonial powers established plantations in all suitable, subtropical areas. But coffee didn’t become a drink for the common people until the arrivals of the new industrial age, when the methods for processing coffee were simplified and the luxury drink became slightly more attainable.

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In today’s tough economic times we face the daily barrage of the struggling economy, which subconsciously contributes to a negative effect on our psyche. We need to be aware of our health, in mind, body and spirit. One of the ways we can take care of this is to take the time to indulge in one of life’s simple pleasure of sipping a cup of freshly brewed coffee or tea. So if you enjoy your morning or afternoon ritual, then by all means indulge. Just keep it traditional, pure, simple, and pleasurable.

Have you ever gone without your morning cup, how do you feel, when you finally press your lips to the cup and take that longed-for sip…doesn’t it feel wonderful !

Decaffeinated coffee is less about the beans; it is all to do with the process of extracting the caffeine out of the bean. The process and method of extracting the caffeine from the beans is a complex one. The decaffeinating process is done with green and unroasted coffee beans.

There are several varying methods to decaffeinating coffee. In short the initial step involves the process of steaming the beans. Thereafter the coffee beans are rinsed in solvent between 8 and 12 times or until a minimum of 97% of the caffeine has been extracted for the coffee beans, as required by international standards.

It a true tried and tested method and the beauty of the process of rinsing the beans, is it does not remove any of its essential oils, chemicals, aroma or flavour, key components to good coffee.

It is important to mention that all decaffeinated coffee retain some caffeine between .01 and 3%. Although it doesn’t appear to be a great amount to most of us, those that are highly sensitive to the chemical might like to know that they are getting small amounts of caffeine that may make them excitable and affect their sleep. You should simply know that when you drink any coffee you will be introducing some caffeine, into your system.

When choosing a decaffeinated coffee, choose one form the Arabica bean as it contains lesser amounts of caffeine than the Robusta coffee bean.

Becoming a morning person is usually quite a shock, followed by a bumpy road, for most young adults working their first job. After 4-and-a-half years of college and becoming spoiled by afternoon classes and sleeping in until noon, waking up at 6 am every day was an inexplicable transition. Needless to say, it took weeks of social adjustment to learn that I couldn’t stay up until midnight and still be perky and attentive the next day t work. Reality crept out of nowhere and then bam, there it was like a semi truck running me over.

Caffeine became a daily must in the mornings to fully awaken my brain and jumpstart my day. The few times I had drank coffee in the earlier years of my life, it was always doused with cream and sugar. Then quickly I learned that all of that rich and sugary mumbo jumbo was an easy way to get an upset stomach. My savior became gourmet flavored coffee – introduced to me by a friend – its bold and delicious flavors come in many varieties: mocha, cinnamon, hazelnut, French vanilla, and the list goes on. It’s a coffee that’s perfect just as it is.\