Three Good Reasons to Drink Coffee
There are three good reasons to drink coffee. Coffee wakes you up and puts you in touch with the world. Coffee contains antioxidants that help prevent various forms of cancer and even Type II Diabetes. And coffee helps prevent depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and more. These three good reasons to drink coffee come on top of the fact that a great cup of healthy organic coffee tastes great. We at Buy Organic Coffee typically write about the benefits of coffee grown under sustainable conditions and delivered to you without many unnecessary impurities. But, today our focus is on coffee in general, and three good reasons to drink coffee.
Coffee, Diabetes and Cancer
Quite a while back we wrote about how more coffee can lead to less diabetes. Drinking organic coffee reduces the incidence of Type II diabetes, the type that affects 95% of people with the disease. Researchers have found that women who drink at least four cups of coffee a day have less than half the incidence of Type II diabetes as women who do not drink coffee. The American Diabetes Association says that nearly 24 million Americans have diabetes of which more than 9 in 10 have the Type II variety. That comes to about 22 million people with Type 2 diabetes. The fact that more coffee can lead to less diabetes could be a significant issue in US public health. Drink four cups or more a day and you can expect to reduce your chances of getting this type of diabetes by half. And, you can avoid cancer by drinking coffee. Cancers of the prostate, endometrium, colon, liver and skin all appear to be reduced in incidence in coffee drinkers. Browse our site for articles about this issue.
Other Disease That Coffee Helps You Avoid
Studies of large populations over many years show us that coffee drinkers typically have lower incidences of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and suicide. In some cases it is the caffeine in coffee that helps and in some cases antioxidants in coffee are responsible for the beneficial health effects. Either way there several bad diseases and conditions that are less prevalent in coffee drinkers.
Drink Coffee Because You Like To
If drinking coffee were just about the health issues our three good reasons to drink coffee would be about three good reasons to take a pill with coffee extract in it. Coffee is a great morning wake up drink. And coffee is a social drink. We meet friends for a cup of coffee. Whether you like coffee from Sumatra or Colombian organic coffee brands, Panama Mountain Grown organic coffee or Kona coffee from Hawaii, coffee is not only good for you but an enjoyable experience. Make sure to buy freshly roasted coffee beans and grind just enough for the amount of coffee that you want to make. Or, if you like, buy green coffee beans and roast enough for the week. If you want the taste of a great cup of coffee avoid letting ground coffee sit on the shelf above the stove where it loses its flavor and its therapeutic value. The three good reasons to drink coffee do depend to a degree on the coffee being fresh!
Environmentally Friendly Coffees
In general environmentally friendly coffees are organic brands of coffee. Organic coffee is grown using sustainable agricultural practices. Environmentally friendly coffees are grown without resorting to herbicides, insecticides, fungicides or synthetic fertilizers. Drink healthy organic coffee and avoid the more than one hundred impurities that can be found in a cup of regular coffee. To be sure that you are buying environmentally friendly coffees look for a certification seal on the package. There are three that you can trust when looking for environmentally friendly coffees. These are the USDA seal of the United States Department of Agriculture, the UTZ seal of certification and the seal of the Rainforest Alliance.
USDA Certified Coffee
When coffee is certified organic by the USDA we know that sustainable agricultural practices were used and that the organic coffee is free of many of the pesticide, herbicide, and synthetic fertilizer residues that can be found in regular coffee products. However, USDA organic coffee certification has primarily to do with supporting sustainable agricultural practices while delivering a healthier cup of coffee to your breakfast table. But the USDA does not concern itself with an issue critical to the small organic coffee farmer, finding buyers for their organic crop.
UTZ Certified Coffee
The UTZ label tells you that the bag of coffee comes from a coffee farm that employes sustainable agricultural practices, good environmental practices and efficient farm management. Environmentally friendly coffees with the UTZ label are traced from grower to roaster. UTZ certified coffee is sold in North America, Europe, and Japan, in nearly fifty nations. According to UTZ,
UTZ Certified stands for sustainable farming and better opportunities for farmers, their families and our planet. The UTZ program enables farmers to learn better farming methods, improve working conditions and take better care of their children and the environment. Through the UTZ-program farmers grow better crops, generate more income and create better opportunities while safeguarding the environment and securing the earth’s natural resources.
Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee
The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization working to preserve biodiversity. It does so for agricultural products by influencing consumers to buy environmentally friendly coffees and other produce such as bananas, cocoa, oranges, cut flowers, ferns, and tea. Rainforest Alliance certified means that the coffee that you buy was produced using good land use practices. Certified coffee farms meet a strict set of environmental standards that include preservation of the ecosystem and reduction in use of synthetic chemicals of all sorts. Like UTZ, Rainforest Alliance helps small organic coffee growers find buyers for their environmentally friendly coffees.
Environmentally Friendly but Not Certified
There are, unfortunately, many small coffee farmers who abide by strictly organic sustainable practices in growing, harvesting, processing and storing their coffee and end up selling their product locally. This is because they cannot find buyers for their coffee. One of our goals at Buy Organic Coffee is to find buyers of wholesale organic coffee who are interested in connecting with small coffee farmers, especially in Colombia and Panama. If you are interested in organic coffee in small or large quantities and especially if you would like to work with us to connect small organic coffee growers to the wider market contact Buy Organic Coffee today.
Natural Organic Coffee
Natural organic coffee is your best bet for great coffee without traces of pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers in the cup. Healthy organic coffee is grown using strict environmentally friendly farming practices. In fact, for natural organic coffee to be certified as USDA organic coffee it must meet a strict set of criteria.
Natural Organic Coffee
Natural organic coffee may simply grow beneath the forest canopy on the side of the side of mountain rain forest. Or it may be planted, interspersed with fruit trees, plantain and other trees to provide shade cover. In either case someone tends the coffee farm, harvests the coffee, sorts and stores it and ships it. According to the United States Department of Agriculture the following applies to USDA organic coffee as well as to all organic food production.
“… Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled ‘organic,’ a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.”
Natural organic coffee certification reliably gives you a safe and flavorful coffee.
Best Brands of Natural Organic Coffee
Our strong preference is for Colombian organic coffee brands. This is coffee from the land of Juan Valdez. It turns out that the Juan Valdez trade name came from the Colombian Coffee Growers Association nearly half a century ago. It is meant to give the buyer assurance that the coffee they purchase is 100% Colombian. So, what are some Colombian organic coffee brands? Here is a thumbnail sketch.
| Colombian Organic Coffee Brands and Retail Prices in Colombia | |||
| Brand | Retail/Pesos | Retail Quantity | Retail in Dollars |
| Volcan | 20000 | 500 grams | $11.11 |
| Linea Roja | 19000 | 500 grams | $10.56 |
| Sostenible | 24500 | 500 grams | $13.61 |
| Origen | 25000 | 500 grams | $13.89 |
| Frailes | 18600 | 500 grams | $10.33 |
This table lists Colombian organic coffee brands available in the Colombian Cafetero. Prices are retail in Colombian Pesos and the US dollar equivalents are based on an exchange rate of around 1,800 Colombian Pesos to the US dollar. Purchasing Juan Valdez organic coffee, that is to say Colombian organic coffee brands, is easy in Colombia and is easy if it has been exported from Colombia. However, getting Colombian organic coffee brands sent from Colombia can be difficult. You can carry coffee out of Colombia in your luggage but expect to have to soldiers at the airport pin prick your bags of coffee and present them one at a time to a mechanical sniffer and a really large dog to check for drugs. You cannot mail coffee from Colombia to any country in the world. If you are interested in natural organic coffee from Colombia, especially in wholesale quantities and at wholesale prices, talk to us as Buy Organic Coffee today.
Wholesale Organic Fair Trade Coffee
Where do you find wholesale coffee if your preference is healthy organic coffee? Commonly, wholesale batches of organic coffee are purchased directly from coffee growers and cooperatives, whereas standard coffee commonly enters a worldwide supply chain and ends up where price, supply, and demand dictate. Coffee giants like Starbucks send their people throughout the world to find huge quantities of coffee. What do you do if you want organic coffee at wholesale prices? And what if you want to coffee grower to get a fair price for his coffee? That is where you want wholesale organic fair trade coffee.
Fair Trade Coffee
The essence of fair trade coffee is that it is produced by farmers who are members of a democratically run cooperative. The coffee is grown without the use of child labor. The coffee is organically grown in that the use of pesticides and herbicides is limited. And, importantly, the farmer receives both a minimum price for his crop and a premium for abiding by the criteria involved. Strictly speaking Fair Trade coffee is certified by one of the Fair Trade related agencies. However, there are other coffee certifications that assure one of a fair trade results without necessarily having a fair trade sticker on the bag of coffee. UTZ and Rainforest Alliance are two good choices for wholesale organic fair trade coffee without a specific fair trade label on the package.
Making a Living Growing Organic Coffee
About one percent of the seventy million tons of coffee produced each year is organic coffee. The premium paid for organic versus regular coffee runs from ten to forty percent. At issue for small organic coffee producers is the price of being certified by an agent of the United States Department of Agriculture. It can cost a small coffee grower in the mountains of Panama $500 a year to get and retain certification. If he is not getting a sufficient premium for his organic coffee the extra effort and the cost are not worth it. One route that many small growers take is to affiliate with UTZ or Rainforest Alliance. Both of these agencies teach and require an organic approach to coffee farming, avoidance of child labor and sustainable agricultural practices. They also help the small coffee grower find buyers.
Wholesale Organic Fair Trade Coffee from the Grower
What if you want to purchase wholesale organic fair trade coffee directly from the grower? How do you find coffee growers without tramping up and down the mountains of the Colombian Eje Cafetero (coffee growing axis of Colombia)? And how do you get the coffee from the farm and export it to the USA, Japan or Europe? How can you get a few bags of coffee and how can you get a ton of wholesale organic fair trade coffee? You can book a flight to Manizales, Colombia in the heart of the Cafetero, put on your hiking boots and start walking, or you can deal with folks who live and work in Latin America, specifically Panama and Colombia, and are native English speaker as well as native Spanish speakers. For more info about access to wholesale organic fair trade coffee, contact us at Buy Organic Coffee.
Organic Shade Grown Coffee
If you are looking for the best coffee, the best healthy organic coffee, you are probably looking for organic shade grown coffee. As the name implies, shade grown organic coffee is grown in the shade of a tree canopy. These habitats are commonly in a cloudy part of a mountain range. Coffee growers plant coffee where there are already trees or plant coffee along with a variety of shade trees. This sustainable agricultural practice results in high quality organic coffee. Birds nest in the shade trees which are the cornerstone of this healthy habitat. Many coffee farmers plant plantain or fruit trees along with their coffee. This practice provides shade for the coffee and a secondary crop or two to harvest. Look for USDA, UTZ or Rainforest Alliance certification when you want organic shade grown coffee. Unfortunately, there are many coffee farmers who simply harvest coffee that grows in the forest and sell locally because they cannot afford fees necessary to gain official USDA organic coffee certification of their product. The United States Department of Agriculture certifies organic shade grown coffee through its many offshore affiliates but the USDA does not help a small grower in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia or Ecuador to find buyers. On the other hand both UTZ and the Rainforest Alliance work with coffee farmers to help them market their products.
UTZ Organic Shade Grown Coffee
UTZ Organic Shade Grown Coffee
The long term goals of UTZ are good agricultural practices, safe and healthy working conditions, abolishment of child labor, and environmental protection. A UTZ grower learns to do the following and then continues to do what is needed.
- Reduce and prevent soil erosion
- Keep records of fertilizer and chemical use and use these products responsibly
- Follow good farming practices including integrated pest management
- Avoid deforestation
- Protect water sources, native and endangered species
- Use native fauna for shade grown coffee
- Train workers properly in their own language
- Implement and follow through on health and safety requirements
- Teach and require good hygiene
UTZ follows coffee from planting to the roaster, carries out yearly inspections and promotes the organic shade grown coffee brands of its clients.
Rainforest Alliance Organic Shade Grown Coffee
Rain Forest Alliance Organic Shade Grown Coffee
An alternative to organic coffee certification is for a grower to be Rainforest Alliance certified. The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization that works to conserve biodiversity. It does so for agricultural products by influencing consumers to buy what is good for the environment and good for small farmers. Rainforest Alliance certified means that the coffee that you buy was produced using good land use practices. Rainforest Alliance certified coffee is part of a broader sustainable agriculture program of tropical crops, including coffee, bananas, cocoa, oranges, cut flowers, ferns, and tea. Certified coffee farms meet a strict set of environmental standards that include preservation of the ecosystem and reduction in use of synthetic chemicals of all sorts. Like UTZ, Rain Forest Alliance helps its clients promote their organic shade grown coffee brands.
For help finding small growers of organic shade grown coffee deal with people who work where it is grown. Contact Buy Organic Coffee for more info.
Wait Five Years for a Cup of Coffee
For folks who are used to stopping by Starbucks for a cup of coffee on the way to work it may be a little difficult to imagine that they might have to wait five years for a cup of coffee! This thought is occasioned by an article we read in the online Arizona Daily Star. The article had to do with indigenous coffee growers in Mexico and the damage done to their organic coffee crops and their lives by coffee leaf rust. Mexico is the biggest exporter of USDA certified organic coffee. Many of the producers of organic coffee in Mexican state of Chiapas are indigenous families living in the cloud forest. They produce shade grown organic coffee in the Mexican highlands under the shelter of a cool forest canopy. This environment is conducive to high quality organic coffee. Unfortunately, coffee leaf rust has arrived in the highland of Chiapas. If you get your organic coffee from this region you may have to wait five years for a cup of coffee.
Coffee Leaf Rust and Organic Coffee
Leaf rust attacks coffee crops and leaf rust kills organic coffee crops. If an organic grower is unable to treat the problem with non-chemical means he risks losing his crop and his livelihood. The fungus’ proper name is Hemileia vastatrix. When it is not controlled the disease kills coffee plants and reduces coffee growers to poverty. It is known among Latin American coffee growers as roya. The issue for organic growers is that quarantine and destruction of individual plants is not always effective. Thus a grower who has put the time, effort, and money into getting organic coffee certification may lose everything unless he turns his back on organic practices and spays the heck out of his coffee plants. Then he can only sell his produce at regular coffee prices and not the higher prices that good quality organic coffee commands. If he loses his crop he needs to replant, probably after spraying the soil, and wait five years for new organically grown coffee plants to reach maturity.
Colombian Alternatives
Do you really want to wait five years for a cup of coffee? There are alternatives. We wrote some time back about the efforts of the Colombian coffee growers association in developing high quality strains of Arabica coffee that are resistant to la roya, the leaf rust. This Colombian rust resistant coffee has successfully reduced the incidence of leaf rust in Colombian crops to less than five percent. In the early 1980’s Cenicafé started work on producing a Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee. The Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee comes in two varieties, Colombian and Castillo. The first is a cross between an old Colombian variety, Caturra, and a rust-resistant strain from Southeast Asia, the Timor hybrid. Castillo is an offshoot of further cross breeding of the first Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee strain. Replanting with Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee in Colombia has reduced the incidence of leaf rust from 40% to 5% from 2011 to 2013. Need to wait five years for a cup of coffee? You will not if you buy Colombian brands of organic coffee. Check in with us at Buy Organic Coffee for more info.
Leaf Rust and Drought Drive Arabica Prices Higher
The price of Arabica coffee beans is twice what it was a year ago. It turns out that both leaf rust and drought drive Arabica prices higher. Both problems also devastate the finances of small coffee farmers. A recent article in the New York Times notes the terrible damage done as a leaf rust fungus cripples coffee production across Central America.
A plant-choking fungus called coffee rust, or la roya, has swept across Central America, withering trees and slashing production everywhere. As exports have plunged over the last two years, the effects have rippled through the local economies.
La roya as it is known in Latin America, was the culprit that devastated coffee plantation on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the mid-19th century and led British planters to switch to tea! The disease spread from the East Indies to South Asia and Africa and eventually arrived in the new world, almost a century later around 1970. It is possible to defeat the disease as we note in our article, Colombian Leaf Rust Resistant Coffee While a plague of coffee leaf rust threatens the livelihoods of coffee growers and workers throughout Central America, in the coffee producing nation of Colombia, the workers at the Cenicafé have found a cure. Cenicafé is a research organization funded by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation – the folks who bring you Juan Valdez coffee. In the early 1980’s Cenicafé started work on producing a Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee. Today it comes in two varieties, Colombian and Castillo. The first is a cross between an old Colombian variety, Caturra, and a rust-resistant strain from Southeast Asia, the Timor hybrid. Castillo is an offshoot of further cross breeding of the first Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee strain. Replanting with Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee in Colombia has reduced the incidence of leaf rust from 40% to 5% from 2011 to 2013. Until other nations can replant with resistant strains leaf rust, and drought, drive Arabica prices higher.
And Drought in Brazil
Although the effects of La Roya on coffee production in Central America are severe they are not the main reason for higher coffee prices. Brazil produces a third of the coffee consumed in the world. And now coffee prices are double due to the Brazil drought.
Coffee prices have doubled since late last year, and drinkers of the black stuff may soon start to notice. The culprit: a severe drought in Brazil, the origin of roughly a third of the world’s coffee. The dry spell has wreaked havoc on this year’s harvest of Arabica beans, which are used for the vast majority of global coffee production.
As a combination of leaf rust and drought drive coffee prices higher where can a person go for good quality Arabica coffee at a fair price? Colombia may be the answer as there are lots of rust free organic coffee brands in Colombia and production seems to be going up. For more info feel free to contact us at Buy Organic Coffee today.
Arabica Gourmet Coffee
If you are looking for Arabica gourmet coffee your best choice for quality and a wide selection is from the Colombian brands of organic coffee. Colombian coffee comes from the Cafetero, the mountainous region of Colombia between Bogotá and the Pacific. This region comprises the departments or administrative regions of Caldas, Risaralda, Quindío, parts of the Valle de Cauca and Antioquia the region Northeast of Tolima. The major cities in the Cafetero are Manizales, Pereira and Armenia.
Arabica Gourmet Coffee in Colombian Cafetero
In the Cafetero of Colombia they grow Arabica coffee, some of the finest in the world. Colombia has slipped behind Vietnam in volume of coffee production because Vietnam produces lower quality Robusta coffee beans they are no threat to Colombia in Arabica Gourmet Coffee. Colombia does not produce as much coffee as Brazil because it is a smaller country. However, Colombia specializes in Arabica gourmet coffee.
Brands of Colombian Arabica Gourmet Coffee
If you want into the Éxito supermarket on the lower level of the Fundadores Mall in Manizales you can buy Arabica gourmet coffee off the shelf for a few dollars a bag. Here are a few easily available examples of Arabica gourmet coffee.
- Café Colombia Export by Casan: Northern región of Cauca Valley
- Café La 14 by Cafexcoop S. A.: Sevilla, Cauca Valley
- Café Excelso by Oma: Roasted in Bogotá
- Café Aguila Roja: Cauca Valley
- Olimpica Café: Barranquilla
- Café Sello Rojo: Roasted and packed in Medellin
- Medalla de Oro: Pereira, Risaralda
- SR Coffee: Nariño, near Manizales
These coffees typically sell for around 7,000 Colombian pesos or $3.50 a pound on the shelf in Colombia. These same brands of Arabica gourmet coffee are found on Amazon selling for up to $20 a bag!
Gourmet Coffee Taste and Aroma
Ideally your gourmet coffee is healthy organic coffee. This means that the coffee free from many impurities found in regular coffee. However, the bulk of coffee production in Colombia follows sustainable agricultural practices. As such even Colombian coffee that is not certified as organic is commonly grown according to organic practices. Because Colombia has effectively dealt with the problem of coffee leaf rust there is no need to spray Arabica gourmet coffee for this fungus. The Colombian Cafetero is mountainous, usually cloudy and rainy. These are ideal conditions for growing Arabica coffee. Coffee is picked at the peak of perfection, carefully dried and sorted and then either shipped as green coffee beans or roasted and put in bags for retail sale. Careful attention to detail leads to many brands of Arabica gourmet coffee in Colombia where they are basically spoiled by having wonderful coffee every day. Coffee aroma is also affected by roasting. The aroma of the original coffee predominates at lower roasting temperatures while the caramelization caused by roasting lends a burnt taste seen in French and Spanish roasts at higher roasting temperatures. No matter how you like your coffee roasted you will find many excellent brands of gourmet Arabica coffee in the Cafetero of Colombia.
Wholesale Green Coffee
The best way to store coffee is before it is roasted. The most cost effective way to purchase coffee is in wholesale quantities. Thus wholesale green coffee is what roasters around the world buy. Green coffee beans retain their flavor and antioxidant potency for two years if stored properly. Once coffee beans are roasted they retain their flavor and potency for six months when correctly stored. Once roasted coffee is ground and exposed to the air, it starts to lose its flavor and antioxidant properties immediately. So, if you want to ship one of the great brands of Colombian coffee to the USA, Europe or Japan you will want wholesale green coffee.
Wholesale Coffee
The majority of coffee enters a worldwide supply chain and ends up where price, supply, and demand dictate. On the other hand healthy organic coffee is commonly purchased directly from coffee growers and cooperatives while standard Big coffee chains commonly have multiyear contracts with growers. But what about a smaller company that wishes to purchase organic wholesale green coffee? Where do they go? Who do they deal with and what are the problems they need to overcome? Coffee importers typically buy and hold very large quantities of coffee and sell at optimum prices as the market allows. Roasters are to a degree at the mercy of importers for quantity, quality, and price of their coffee beans. Nevertheless, roasters, who sell prepackaged coffee to large retailers, are said to have the highest profit margin of any individual segment of the supply chain.
Your Man in Colombia, Panama or Costa Rica
It is usually the large coffee chain that can afford to deal directly with producers around the world. But, as a smaller chain of coffee houses or marketer of selected brands of organic coffee, you have an option. You can deal with someone who speaks your language, lives in the heart of the coffee growing regions of the Americas and can deal directly with coffee farmers and exporters. We have written before about the difficulty in getting bags of roasted coffee out of Colombia and the need to pass sniff tests by a machine and then a sniffer dog at the airports in Pereira or Bogota. If you would like to get wholesale green coffee from Colombia, Panama or Costa Rica consider dealing with the folks at Buy Organic Coffee.
Wholesale Organic versus Regular Coffee and Finding a Source
Organic coffee is roughly one percent of world production (67,000 tons versus 69,000,000 tons) and sells at a premium to regular coffee. The average premium over regular coffee has ranged from ten to forty percent in the last ten years. However, when coffee prices go down in general, so can the price paid for organic coffee. Well known and trusted producers commonly command a higher premium than unknowns. This presents a problem for unknowns who pay for Bio Latina organic coffee certification or certification by other reputable certification agencies. Certification does not guarantee sales or profits! For the individual who would like to buy, roast, package, and sell organic coffee in the USA or Europe how does he go about finding an organic grower with products to sell? If you want organic wholesale green coffee talk to the folks at Buy Organic Coffee.
Coffee and Weight Loss
Is there are relationship between coffee and weight loss? According to the Mayo Clinic, the caffeine in coffee
may slightly boost weight loss or prevent weight gain, but there’s no sound evidence that increased caffeine consumption results in significant or permanent weight loss.
They go on to say this in regard to coffee and weight loss, appetite and metabolism:
Appetite suppression: Caffeine may reduce your desire to eat for a brief time, but there’s not enough evidence to show that long-term consumption aids weight loss.
Calorie burning: Caffeine may stimulate thermogenesis — one way your body generates heat and energy from digesting food. But this probably isn’t enough to produce significant weight loss.
Green Coffee Bean Extract
On the other hand there are folks selling coffee bean extract and promoting it as a weight loss tool. One study regarding coffee and weight loss demonstrated short term weight loss with coffee bean extract.
Some commentators have remarked that it is probably the caffeine that helps one lose weight with coffee bean extract. However, the study author believes that a chemical called chlorogenic acid in unroasted beans is what does the trick. A next logical step would be to take another group of overweight volunteers and give half of them caffeine pills and the other half coffee bean extract with the same amount of caffeine and compare the results.
This author would rather be in a test group that drank healthy organic coffee with the same amount of caffeine. What concerns objective observers likes the doctors at the Mayo Clinic is that there is no evidence of a long term relationship between coffee and weight loss. This is similar to what was seen decades ago when doctors routinely prescribed amphetamines and thyroid extract for weight loss. Both methods increased metabolism in the short term and neither resulted in weight loss without sustained, lifetime use. In each case the bad side effects of long term stimulation with amphetamines or excessive amount of thyroid hormone outweighed the moderate loss of weight caused by these substances. At least with a good cup of organic coffee you get to enjoy the coffee and its other health benefits without worrying about side effects.
Other Good Things from Coffee
While the question of coffee and weight loss is not yet resolved there are lots of good reasons to drink coffee, especially healthy organic coffee. Coffee drinkers experience half the incidence of Type II Diabetes and lower rates of cancers of the colon, prostate, and liver. Drinking coffee reduces the frequency of depression and the risk of suicide. The antioxidants in coffee appear to be responsible for lower rates of both Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. And we have even found recently that coffee can lower the mortality from liver cirrhosis that was caused by drinking alcohol. And if you choose to drink organic coffee you can exclude all of those pesticide and herbicide residues that can occur in regular coffee. And, if you want to try caffeine or the antioxidants in coffee for weight loss, healthy organic coffee is a tasty and healthy option.