Some of you out there may have heard the rumor that coffee is actually more helpful to your health than harmful.  And guess what, vast research shows that this may be more truth than rumor.  According to WebMD, coffee may actually help lower the risks of diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and colon cancer.  They even speculate that coffee can be used to treat headaches and lift your mood, as well as lower the risk of forming cavities.  Take Parkinson’s disease for example; the link between coffee and Parkinson’s disease is fascinating. Let’s first take a look at Parkinson’s disease and what it is.  Parkinson’s disease is a disorder that affects millions of people and can be found in all ethnic groups and in both men and women equally.  The disease occurs when neurons lose their ability to function normally in the substantia nigra part of the brain.  These neurons that degenerate contain dopamine, a neurotransmitter.  The degeneration subsequently causes dopamine levels to fall and the balance between dopamine and other neurotransmitters in the brain is thrown off.  The imbalance between the neurotransmitters affects the way muscles work and leads to movement problems, including trembling of the legs and arms, coordination, involuntary movements and speaking difficulties among many.  These symptoms tend to surface after about 80% of the dopamine-producing neurons have been damaged.  There is no known cause of Parkinson’s disease.  While there are treatments to help in controlling the symptoms of the disease, there is no known cure as of yet.  So how does coffee figure in?  In layman’s terms, it’s probably the caffeine of the coffee.  The natural antioxidants of the coffee are a bonus as well.  In more scientific terms, caffeine is part of the xanthine chemical group.  Adenosine is a naturally occurring xanthine in the brain that acts as a neurotransmitter in some synapses.  When adenosine receptors are blocked, the levels of dopamine increase.  Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors and in doing so, increases the amount of dopamine in the brain.  In a nutshell, caffeine affects dopamine levels.  In fact, consumption of caffeine from other sources such as green tea, chocolate and soda all affect Parkinson’s disease; however, out of these, coffee has been recognized by many experts as the number one source of antioxidants, outranking chocolate and tea.  Reviewing some of the studies that have been performed on the link between coffee and Parkinson’s disease, the overwhelming findings indicate that the incidence of the disease is much lower in people (specifically men) who drank coffee vs. those who did not.  While the study concludes that coffee overall impacts men and women in a positive way, there is some confusion over the role it plays in women and how hormone levels in women may affect this.  In one of the studies, it conclusively showed that men who drank the most coffee were the least likely to develop Parkinson’s disease and the men who did not drink any coffee were five times more likely to display symptoms of Parkinson’s disease than those who drank 28+ ounces of coffee each day.  In another study, those who drank 10+ cups of coffee per day had a 74% lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.  If you don’t drink ten cups of coffee each day, don’t fret!  Even those drinking only one cup per day gain some benefit.  While this story absolutely is not meant to take the place of any physician, one must admit that it gives you something to consider.  Coffee therapy, anyone?

Many people believe that the brewing process affects the outcome of caffeine content in your coffee. For instance the longer you brew a pot of coffee, the higher the caffeine content in a regular cup. That’s why many people like to let coffee sit and percolate, they believe it increases the caffeine and makes the coffee ‘stronger’. That is where the old saying ‘coffee you can stand a spoon up in’ comes from… longer brewing= more caffeine, but practically sludge-like coffee!
And that is why many people mistakenly think espresso has less caffeine than a regular cup of coffee, because brewing time is much shorter.
In actuality, a serving of espresso is pretty much the equivalent to a strong cup of coffee caffeine wise. But because servings of espresso are very small in comparison to regular coffee, the actual caffeine content per milliliter is actually much higher.
Caffeine is assimilate more quickly when it’s in a concentrated form. Espresso is like concentrated caffeine! If you want actual numbers, there can be anywhere from 77mg up to 185mg in a double shot of espresso. In a cup of coffee, there is roughly 135-150mg of caffeine, depending on the type of bean and your brewing methods.
Many people are confused by the whole espresso and caffeine situation because of the myth regarding the darker roasted coffee beans that are used in making espresso. The idea is that those beans have less caffeine than regularly roasted coffee beans because of the roasting process, but there are no scientific studies so far that support that idea.
One thing that DOES affect the caffeine content of your espresso habit is the type of coffee beans you are using to make it. Robusta coffee beans have double the caffeine content of Arabica coffee beans, so when you brew your Joe with mostly Robusta coffee beans, your caffeine content will be MUCH higher, regardless of whether you’re making coffee or espresso. The bottom line? Espresso can be slightly higher in caffeine content if you do a double shot, but otherwise, it runs pretty neck in neck with a regular cup of coffee.

We have a lot of fun at JumpinGoat’s new retail location, and we get to meet some pretty cool people.
Many times folks are amazed to learn interesting facts about coffee. I love to tell people about coffee, and I really like it when someone tells me something I did not already know about coffee.
• A coffee drinker averages 2-3 ounce cups of coffee a day or around a pound of coffee per week. JumpinGoat.com Coffee drinkers may average more because of the taste (tee-hee)
• Coffee is only grown near the equator, from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn, within a 1,000 mile limit. This fact is not 100% true because I am growing coffee in my building.
• 1,200 different chemical components are in coffee. More than half of these components make up the distinguished flavor of coffee, but who’s counting?
• There is between 80 and 140 milligrams of caffeine in a seven once cup of coffee. How many milligrams in 1,000,000 cups? That sounds like my a high school math problem.
• 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide, making it the most popular beverage. Actually, water is the most popular, but coffee is second.
• 91% of coffee consumed is taken at breakfast. Sometimes it is breakfast.
• 79% of coffee consumed is served from the homes of coffee drinkers. Do you know how much coffee it takes to fill up a home? That’s why it may be easier to serve it from a coffee pot.
• The second place where coffee is most consumed is in the workplace. That was untill I got laid off…now I consume it on a boat, on a train, on a house, with a mouse.

Did you know that Caffeine content of a single serving of coffee can vary greatly?

On average, the following amounts of caffeine can be expected in a single cup of coffee

Drip: 115–175 mg
Espresso: 100 mg
Brew: 80–135 mg

What most folks find interesting is that dark roasted coffee has less Caffeine than lighter roasted coffee, YUP, that’s right.

If you like coffee and you get an upset tummy from drinking coffee…you can try darker roast (less caffeine). Also try a pinch of baking soda to reduce acidity.

To add to the health benefits of coffee, I use honey in my coffee as a natural sweetener. Although honey only has trace amounts of vitamins and minerals, I feel it’s a very stable and natural food source. In fact honey is one of the oldest foods in existence, and it never spoils. Honey was found in the tomb of King Tutt, and it was still editable.

What’s up with that anyway? Who is the brave soul who found that out?
I’m not sure I would have the courage to dig some guy up and start randomly sampling food for spoilage.
No, wait a minute; I’m absolutely positively sure I wouldn’t.

Anyway…honey is perhaps one of the most stable foods sources on earth.
I have had it with my coffee for over a decade.
It’s one of nature’s great creations (next to coffee)…here are the Properties of Honey:
Fructose: 38.5%
Glucose: 31.0%
Sucrose: 1.0%
Water: 17.0%
Other sugars: 9.0% (maltose, melezitose)
Ash: 0.17%
Other: 3.38%

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