Every night before I go to bed, I make sure that I have my coffee pot set up and ready to go for the morning. I grind the beans myself, enjoying the rich fragrance, and set up the pot so all I must do in the morning is push a button. As soon as my feet hit the floor, the button to the coffee pot is pushed and soon the whole house is filled with the wonderful smell of brewing coffee. Nothing makes my eyes pop open faster and wakes me up quicker. That first taste of my coffee in the morning helps me feel ready for the day and gets me out of the door. I love my coffee, and I am not alone. According to statistics from the American Coffee Association from April 1, 2024, 66% of Americans drink coffee, totaling a whopping 517 million cups of coffee a day!
But coffee does more than just taste good and wake you up. For a long time, there was a lot of information to be found about the health benefits of tea. Coffee didn’t have the same reputation, but now a lot of studies are revealing that coffee can have some VERY good health benefits. Coffee gives you energy and helps you focus because it has caffeine in it (a stimulant) so it can help you get through your work out or your workday, but it is also very rich in something called antioxidants. Antioxidants help protect your body against free radicals. What are free radicals? They are unstable molecules which are missing an electron from their outer shell. The missing electron makes them want to bind to other cells in your body such as skin cells, blood cells or whichever cells they can find. This causes oxidative stress in your body which can lead to things like cancer, heart disease, aging skin, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and auto immune disease. Where do they come from? Some are produced by your body naturally, others come from outside sources like pollution, cigarette smoke, drugs and pesticides, ozone and ultraviolet radiation from the sun or tanning beds. (DiMarino, Wellness, 2022).
Some of the benefits of drinking coffee daily include:
Lowers your risk of Diabetes.
Protects your heart, decreases the risk of stroke and heart failure.
Helps your brain. Coffee drinking may lower the risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s.
Helps your mood, lowers the risk of depression.
Helps you perform better in the gym by improving circulation, endurance and muscle strength and decreasing inflammation.
Has a protective effect on your liver function.
Helps you live longer. (AARP, 2022).
Along with all the benefits of drinking coffee, there are a few caveats to consider. You might think that more is always better, but the daily limit should be no more than 400 mg of caffeine, and one cup has about 98 mg. Some people are more sensitive to caffeine and can get jittery or have trouble sleeping. Pregnant, or nursing women should not drink caffeine without discussing this with their healthcare provider. People with certain health conditions should limit or avoid caffeine AND, last but not least, sweetened lattes and cappuccinos are not the same as black coffee. They can be full of sugar and high in fat. If you can’t drink your coffee black something like almond milk is better.
Before I started researching coffee, I did not realize that there are flavor palettes in different coffees, like wine, I just knew I liked certain beans. For example, there could be notes of lemon, honey or cocoa. It is amazing but if you know how to look for it you can smell the difference. My current favorite is Peets Costa Rica La Candelaria Estate Dark Roast with notes of “warm cocoa and sweet Meyer lemon”. It smells heavenly and tastes very rich. They have a wide selection of coffees that are shipped directly to you from the roaster, so they are very fresh. I like the fact that Peets is committed to improving conditions in coffee communities around the world and that they are responsibly sourced, creating a positive impact for coffee producers around the world. The link to Peets with a Memorial Day coupon can be found on the resource page.
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