Instant Organic Coffee
How does instant organic coffee differ from healthy organic coffee that you grind and brew yourself? Both instant organic coffee and non-instant come through the same process of organic coffee certification. Both instant organic coffee and non-instant have the same organic coffee aroma and flavor. What are the differences?
Instant coffee and instant organic coffee are both processed the same way to make an instant product. Instant coffee is made by either freeze-drying or by a process called spray drying. The usual end result is a coffee power or coffee crystals to which the coffee drinker adds water or milk, usually hot. Instant organic coffee can be a good way to make iced organic coffee as well. There are, however, instant coffees that come as a liquid concentrate. The nice part about instant organic coffee is that it is quick to make and has a long shelf life. Those who prefer organic coffee because of its lower environmental footprint will be pleased to know that the shipping weight per cup of coffee consumed is less with instant organic coffee than with organic coffee beans or ground organic coffee. Less weight to ship means less energy consumed and a healthier environment.
Instant organic coffee is made by the same process as that used for regular instant coffees. However, the processor needs to avoid contamination of organic coffee with regular coffee in the process. Instant coffee has been around since the beginning of the 20 th century. The use of a high vacuum, freeze drying process dates to just after the Second World War and owes much to war time research into ways to process and protect things like penicillin and blood plasma for military use. In making instant coffee the bean is roasted just as with regular coffee. This process breaks down a number of chemicals in the coffee bean and creates a number of organic coffee antioxidants, the constituents so important to many of the health benefits of organic coffee. One process roasts or heats the beans in a moist environment which often results in a stronger aroma and stronger flavor. The beans are then ground and coffee is brewed.
The key part of making instant organic coffee is to remove the water after making the coffee. Freeze drying takes advantage of a natural process called sublimation. The brewed organic coffee is placed in a chamber at low temperature and a near vacuum. Water evaporates from the coffee, eventually leaving nearly dry coffee granules. The chamber is heated which caused the remaining water to evaporate and the individual granules of coffee to expand. This product is removed and packaged as instant organic coffee. An alternative process is by a more economical process called spray drying. In this process a very find spray of brewed organic coffee is passed into a large drying tower resulting in a dry coffee powder which requires further processing to create particles of appropriate, larger, size. Both of these processes preserve both coffee aroma and antioxidants in organic black coffee. Because of the preservation of antioxidants, more organic coffee leads to less diabetes whether it is organic coffee brewed traditionally or instant organic coffee.
Organic Coffee Calms The Heart
Drinking coffee which includes organic coffee calms the heart according to a recent medical study. This finding was surprising to some as it has long been known that large amounts of caffeine, such as is found in coffee, can increase the heart rate. Patients with heart rhythm problems have commonly been told by their doctors to reduce caffeine sources such as coffee. However, now we hear that coffee including organic coffee calms the heart. What the study found is that coffee in the amounts usually consumed by coffee drinkers seems to result in a nearly twenty percent reduction in hospitalization for heart rhythm problems. The amount of coffee required for a twenty percent reduction is four or more cups of coffee a day. This is only one of the useful facts about organic coffee.
Members of the Kaiser Permanente health care plan typically answer questions such as how much coffee they drink when having their yearly physical exams. The study in question looked at more than twenty years of data for over a hundred thousand people. Patients in this group ranged from those who drank no coffee to those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day. The four or more cup of coffee a day group had the lowest incidence of hospitalizations for cardiac rhythm disturbances with a twenty percent reduction. Half of the folks hospitalized for rhythm disturbances had atrial fibrillation which is a stroke risk factor. People who drank one to three cups of coffee a day also had a reduced risk of being hospitalized for heart rhythm disturbances of about seven percent. According to the study the findings were the same in males, females, and all defined ethnic groups. So, coffee in normal amounts can reduce the incidence of hospitalizations for heart rhythm disturbance. Organic coffee has the same amount of caffeine as regular coffee so we say that organic coffee calms the heart. This is not the only benefit of drinking healthy organic coffee.
Medical research has shown that more organic coffee can lead to less diabetes and that drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression. Organic coffee is grown, processed, and transported in such a way as to reduce the number of contaminants seen in regular coffee. Organic coffee promotes sustainable agriculture and improves the standard of living of small coffee growers in all parts of the world. Social responsibility and organic coffee go hand in hand. Usually we think of organic coffee antioxidants as being responsible for the beneficial effects of coffee in general and organic coffee in particular. However, in the case where organic coffee calms the heart, it may be just the caffeine. The researchers admit that they really do not know. They state the results are statistically valid. In other words, the results of the reduction in hospitalizations for heart rhythm disturbances, in coffee drinkers, is not a matter of chance. What they do not know is if the effects are due to the caffeine, antioxidants, or other ingredients in coffee. That will require more study. In the meantime enjoy your morning, mid-day, afternoon, and evening cups of coffee for it appears that coffee, including healthy organic coffee calms the heart.
Drinking Coffee Reduces the Risk of Depression
Drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression according to recently published research. An article published in volume 171 of the Archives of Internal Medicine by a team of Harvard researchers showed a lower incidence of depression in women who reported drinking at least four cups of coffee a day as compared to women who reported drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee or less each day. The difference was a twenty percent reduction in incidence of new depression in the high end coffee drinkers. The study included 50,000 women who were free of depression at the start of the study and subjects were followed over a decade. The same researcher demonstrated years ago that male coffee drinkers (five cups a day) have a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease. The study merely demonstrates that drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression. It does not say why drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression. What is clear is that the coffee needs to contain caffeine as decaf drinkers did not enjoy the same results. For those interested in the health benefits of drinking coffee we suggest healthy organic coffee. The benefits, in this case, of caffeine to reduce the chances of depression, are coupled with the reduction of the many contaminants that can be found in regular coffee.
Like drinking regular coffee more organic coffee can lead to less colon cancer and drinking organic coffee reduces prostate cancer risk as well. Although no one really knows why coffee drinking reduces depression there is speculation that nerve stimulation from caffeine may in some way keep nerves healthy. The researchers mentioned above merely say that more research is needed. For many of the other health benefits of organic coffee it appears that antioxidants can take the credit. Coffee, especially roasted coffee, contains a number of chemicals, called antioxidants, which work to reduce oxidative degeneration in many body systems. There is speculation that antioxidants can retard the effects of age as well. The nice part of drinking organic coffee is that one can enjoy the beneficial health effects of coffee and avoid the trace amounts of herbicides and insecticides as well as synthetic fertilizer residue that come with a cup of regular coffee. It is not only that drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression but that by drinking organic coffee you do not need to get depressed about the impurities that can show up in regular coffee.
A major health effect of drinking USDA organic coffee is that more organic coffee can lead to less diabetes. Researchers have shown that routine coffee drinking in the four cup a day range can reduce the incidence of Type II diabetes. A study from UCLA showed that women who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had half the risk of getting Type II diabetes when compared to those who did not drink coffee. Drinking coffee raises level of a hormone called sex hormone-binding globulin which in turn is related to lower incidence of Type II diabetes. While you are enjoying our morning, noon, afternoon, and evening cups of organic coffee you can remind yourself that caffeine and organic coffee antioxidants are also good for your health and drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression. And remember that drinking organic coffee promotes sustainable agriculture and better wages for the families that run small coffee farms throughout the world.
Less Diabetes with Daily Organic Coffee
According to a study published recently in the Nutrition Journal, five cups of coffee daily improve liver and metabolic function. Two years ago research reported in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine noted that three to four cups of coffee a day will reduce the risk of getting Type II diabetes by a forth. Healthy organic coffee is known to be rich in various types of antioxidants. Coffee grown under sustainable growing conditions has fewer unwanted contaminants as well. What we address here is the growing body of evidence that coffee, especially caffeinated coffee, has previously unseen benefits. Less diabetes with daily organic coffee is only part of the story. There is documented scientific evidence indicating help with colon and prostate cancer as well.
The recently published study in the Journal of Nutrition is entitled, Effects of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee on biological risk factors for type 2 diabetes: A randomized controlled trial. The authors of the study note that it has been known for a few years that coffee drinkers have a lower incidence of Type II diabetes but the precise reason has been unclear. In their study the authors asked 45 healthy, non-smoking volunteers to drink five cups of caffeinated coffee, decaf, or water daily. This went on for eight weeks. In the end doctors found that caffeinated coffee drinkers has improved levels of three separate substances, adiponectin, interleukin-6, and fetuin-A. The conclusion of these researchers is that improvement in liver function may be why consumption of caffeinated coffee has a beneficial effect on the incidence of diabetes. The benefits of coffee consumption are documented in many scientific studies. The relative purity of organic coffee with its organic coffee antioxidants has been recognized for some time. Thus the advantage of less diabetes with daily organic coffee is simply an additional benefit on top of what comes with drinking sustainably grown organic coffee.
Besides seeing less diabetes with daily organic coffee what else so researchers see? There is more evidence presented in a recent edition of Physiology and Behavior. The author, Mario G. Ferruzzi, says the evidence tells us that a number of degenerative and chronic diseases are seen in a lower incidence in coffee and tea drinkers. These include heart diseases, obesity, and a number of neurologic impairments. Sources such as USDA organic coffee are not only free of unwanted contaminants but are great sources of a number of healthy antioxidants including chlorogenic acids. As research on the beneficial effects of coffee move from finding connections to more precise means of improving health researchers like Ferruzzi are looking at just what formulations and combinations are best for health. The scientific word, bioavailability, comes into play as researchers look to see if adding antioxidants like Vitamin C to the mix will help with things like even less diabetes with daily organic coffee. Stay tuned in as research progresses the fact that organic coffee is healthy for us to more specifics about just how much organic coffee is necessary for which specific aspects of human health.
Organic Kona Coffee
Organic Kona coffee is grown on mountainous slopes on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kona coffee benefits from mild weather and moist growing conditions as well as the volcanic soil of the Hawaiian Islands. Because of its scarcity as well as its quality Kona coffee is one of the world’s most expensive coffees. Organic Kona coffee is therefore rarer and somewhat more expensive. Coffee was first grown in the Hawaiian Island in the early 19 th century from cuttings brought form Brazil. The Kona brand itself dates back to the 19 th century and an Englishman, Henry Nicholas Greenwell. Although Hawaiian coffee was first grown on large plantations a crash in the worldwide coffee market in 1899 led owners to lease or sell land to their workers. This started a tradition of family operated coffee farms of five to twelve acres. The fact that families continue to grow on the same land has led to the tradition of sustainable coffee growing that is the hallmark of growing healthy organic coffee. Top grades Kona coffee are Kona Extra Fancy, Kona Fancy, Kona Number 1, Kona Select, and Kona Prime.
Growers in Kona districts have used natural methods of controlling pests. For example there was an infestation of a pest called a root-know nematode in the 1990’s. Growers responded by using a resistant rootstock from the Coffea liberica type of plant. Grafting to this root stock provides growers with a superior coffee that is resistant to the infestation without the use of synthetic treatments. A later infestation by the coffee berry borer was found on Arabica coffee plants. A naturally occurring fungus, Beauveria bassiana, is known to deter this pest. A drought had reduced amounts of the fungus. By importing this naturally occurring fungus growers were able to keep producing safe organic coffee and other types of Kona coffee without resorting to pesticides.
When purchasing organic Kona coffee buyers should be aware than a Kona blend is not a blend of Kona coffees but a blend of Kona coffee with coffees from elsewhere in the world. The minimum amount of Kona coffee in a true Kona blend is ten percent. Pure Kona coffee is allowed by the State of Hawaii to be labeled 100% Kona Coffee. Unfortunately Federal Law does not protect the consumer against misleading labeling by those selling non-Kona coffees. Good organic Kona coffee is a high quality coffee grown in ideal growing conditions on small farms using sustainable growing techniques. It can often be a shade grown organic coffee although the cloudy conditions where Kona coffee is grown reduces the amount of direct sunlight that plants are exposed to anyway.
Organic Kona coffee, like all good organic coffee, contains organic coffee antioxidants that have been shown to have beneficial effects on human health. Medical research has indicated, for example, that more organic coffee can lead to less diabetes and that more organic coffee can lead to less colon cancer as well. In each case data indicates that persistent coffee consumption can reduce the risk of these conditions.
Starbucks Organic Coffee in China
The largest coffee retailer in the world is going to be selling more Starbucks Organic Coffee in China. The company opened its first outlet in China in 1999 and is now in 42 cities in Mainland China. Starbucks plans to triple its presence in China in the next four years. Starbucks prides itself in selling what it calls responsibly grown coffee. With the help of Conservation International Starbucks has developed guidelines to ensure high quality coffee, economic accountability, transparency, social responsibility, and environmental leadership. In this last category it is appropriate to note that fourteen percent of Starbucks coffee passes organic coffee certification. As the largest retailer in the world expands in what could eventually be its largest market it brings ethic of fairness to farmers and protection of the environment with it. According to Starbucks, suppliers must submit evidence of payments throughout the supply chain to assure that a fair share is received by the coffee farmer. Third party overseers verify safe and humane working conditions for coffee farmers and the use of measures to manage waste, conserve water, protect water supply and biodiversity and reduce the use of synthetic chemicals. The growth of Starbucks in China is likely to lead to increasing sales of Starbucks organic coffee and China and an increasing demand for organic coffee from producers around the world.
As the company sells Starbucks organic coffee in China its press releases indicate that roughly eighty-five percent of its coffee comes from approved suppliers and fourteen percent is certified healthy organic coffee. The company buys around 270 pounds of coffee a year. The goal of the Starbucks purchasing strategy is to support small coffee farmers organized into cooperatives in achieving a better standard of living and in developing sustainable growing practices that will in turn serve to preserve that standard of living on the same farms. Growing organic coffee is the most environmentally conscious part of this endeavor. Organic coffee is grown with the most conservation attentive practices and results in the purest coffee product.
Do not expect that Starbucks organic coffee in China will be the end of the story. The company is targeting fast growing economies including Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Australia. Starbucks, which has 17,000 stores in 55 countries, plans to introduce its Via Ready Brew instant coffee this month to South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Australia. Within the next year Starbucks organic coffee in China will be joined by the product with organic coffee antioxidants in Vietnam and India. China is a tea drinking culture with some five thousand years of tea drinking tradition. However, the growth of Starbucks and Starbucks organic coffee in China indicates success in starting a coffee drinking culture in the Chinese mainland. As this coffee drinking culture expands Starbucks hopes to increase sales and profits throughout China and the fast growing economies of Asia. The company is already reporting double digit same store growth in its existing stores in China. If this translates to increased sales throughout Asia Starbucks will have a strong and growing presence in the traditional tea drinking cultures of the world.
Health Aspects of Organic Coffee
Coffee is great waker-upper and the health aspects of organic coffee simply add to the benefit of a steaming hot cup in the morning or any time throughout the day. The general health aspects of organic coffee are twofold. First of all, healthy organic coffee is free of the many contaminants that are unfortunately found in regular coffee. Secondly, organic coffee contains antioxidants, chemicals with a wide variety of positive effects on the human body. These two health aspects of organic coffee combine with the fact that organic coffee is healthy for the environment as well. The sustainable growing practices used to produce shade grown organic coffee provide small growers with a better income than if they had grown regular coffee and serve to protect the watershed and water table as well. The drinker of organic coffee has the satisfaction of knowing that as he consumes a cup of organic coffee that he is helping individuals, often half way around the world, live a healthier and more prosperous life. In the meantime just what are the exact health aspects of organic coffee?
With the use of high yield growing techniques, growers plant coffee in full sun. They use synthetic fertilizers and crowd the plants to increase production. Crowding leads to an increase in plant diseases and insect pests. Herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides used to protect the coffee plant end up in the coffee bean itself. Reliable estimates are that there can be as many as 150 unwelcome contaminants in the regular coffee that you purchase at the grocery store. Safe organic coffee, on the other hand, is typically grown in the shade and spaced among a natural plant cover. By avoiding a closely bunched monoculture of coffee plants, organic coffee growers reduce the need to fight plant diseases and pests. Organic growers use natural fertilizers and protect not only the soil from erosion but the subsoil from artificial contaminants. When plant diseases or pests arise they are treated with natural remedies preserving the health aspects of organic coffee.
Antioxidants are responsible for the positive health aspects of organic coffee. Antioxidants in organic coffee are naturally occurring chemicals that impede the breakdown or oxidation of other chemicals. By impeding oxidation in various chemical and enzyme systems of the human body organic coffee antioxidants produce a number of positive health effects. For example, a naturally occurring antioxidant, trigonelline is found in coffee beans. When good organic coffee is roasted this chemical breaks down forming another useful antioxidant, methylpyridium. Recent scientific research shows us that methylpyridium increases the activity of phase II enzymes in the human body and higher levels of phase II enzymes are protective against the development of colon cancer. Thus the health aspects of organic coffee include the fact that more organic coffee can lead to less colon cancer.
Other health aspects of organic coffee include the fact that antioxidants have the ability to protect nerve cells and even reduce the incidence of diabetes. Research tells us that coffee drinkers can have an up to fifty percent reduction in the incidence of Type II diabetes, a disease that affects 20 million Americans. Beside the fact that more organic coffee can lead to less diabetes organic coffee antioxidants have the ability to reduce the risk of prostate cancer and even tooth decay. There is evidence that antioxidants in black organic coffee can lessen the rate of cell damage that leads to aging as well. So, the next time you are enjoying a good cup of organic coffee remember the contaminants you are avoiding, the good you are doing to someone across the world, and the health aspects of organic coffee provided by its naturally occurring antioxidants.
Limits to Organic Coffee Growth
Are there limits to organic coffee growth? Considering the benefits of drinking healthy organic coffee versus regular coffee and the health effects of roasted coffee in general it would be a shame to see organic coffee consumption peak or even decline. However, the reality of the situation is that there is only so much land and so many growers of food in general. And, there is an ever increasing need to feed the people of the planet Earth. Let’s look at organic coffee and limits to organic coffee growth from a couple of different viewpoints. From the point of view of the consumer, organic coffee is a safer product than regular coffee. Regular coffee has been shown to contain more than a hundred unwelcome contaminants. Herbicides, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers used to fight plant pests and to boost production tend to arrive along with you morning or mid-day cup of coffee. From the view of the coffee planter traditional, organic means of growing coffee can be beneficial but also at a cost that the planter does not wish to bear. The development of sun resistant varieties of coffee have boosted production of coffee and at the same time led to damage of the environment. Organic coffee growers cause less damage to the environment but there may be limits to organic coffee growth because of the work involved and the need to feed the world.
Planters often decide to give up producing shade grown organic coffee because they can boost production by 30 percent if they use sun resistant varieties. If they cannot make enough profit growing coffee they will grow something else. The alternative is for a coffee planter to stick with traditional, organic practices in growing coffee. As organic coffee sells for a higher price it is possible for a coffee planter to charge more for his product and make a better living. However, to sell coffee as USDA organic coffee the planter needs to refrain from using synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and be certified for doing so. In addition to using sustainable growing practices planting coffee a grower needs to follow precise procedures in picking, storing, processing, roasting, storing, and shipping organic coffee. The limits to organic coffee growth may, in the end, be set by the difficulty many have in following organic, sustainable growing practices.
Following the correct procedures lends to safe organic coffee but it is time consuming and can be difficult. For many growers it ends up seeming easier to grow coffee by more “modern” methods and increase production, especially in a market where much of the world’s reserves are down and where recently el Niño ravaged coffee growing areas of Brazil, the world’s largest producer. In a recent published interview the head of Nestle, the world’s largest food company, noted that feeding the people of the world is a constant challenge and that, in his opinion, organic foods in general are something that those from rich nations can afford while of the world simply needs to put something with calories in a food dish. The limits to organic coffee growth may simply be defined in the end by world hunger.
Organic Coffee Aroma
Organic coffee aroma, bird song before sunrise, dew on the grass in the early morning are things that give joy to life. Wake up and smell the coffee is an old expression telling us to pay attention. But, just what gives coffee its unique bouquet? What gives us organic coffee aroma? If you are heavily into science, healthy organic coffee gets its aroma from more than 300 heterocyclic compounds such as oxazoles, thiazoles, thiophenones, thiophens, indoles, quinoxalines, pyrazines, quinlines, pyridines, pyrroles, hydrofurans, and furans. Organic coffee aroma also comes from phenols, acyclic compounds, and over 150 aliphatic compounds. Even for a chemist that is a mouthful! The compounds that contribute most strongly to organic coffee aroma are those that are present in higher concentrations and in sufficient concentrations to cross the “olfactory threshold.” This is a scientific term which basically says that the lining of the nose, high up in the nose where we smell things, requires a given amount of any given compound for us to be able to sense or smell it.
Researchers tell us that the most important chemicals producing our perception of organic coffee aroma are furans. These chemicals have odors resembling caramel and come from the breakdown of sugars. Other research indicates that when sugars in coffee break down in the presence of sulfur containing compounds these secondary reactions also contribute to key aspects of organic coffee aroma. The next group of compounds includes pyrazines which give coffee its walnut-like and roasted flavor. Pyrroles give coffee its caramel-like, mushroom-like, sweet aroma. Thiophens contribute to a somewhat meaty aroma when present. Some of these compounds are present in coffee beans when they are picked. A larger number of these compounds are formed, along with some important organic coffee antioxidants, in the roasting process.
In general, organic coffee aroma unique to each coffee depends upon the type of bean, the soil in which it was grown, and the process of roasting. In addition the degree of roasting not only contributes to different variations of coffee aroma but to different degrees of taste and different levels of antioxidants, such as methylpyridium which is one of the organic coffee antioxidants and is created during the roasting process of organic coffee. This is a breakdown product of trigonelline which is found in the unroasted bean. Methylpyridium not only contributes to organic coffee aroma but also increases substances in the human body known as phase II enzymes. Research indicates that phase II enzymes help protect the body against colon cancer which is the second leading cause of death from cancer in the USA. Who would have thought that quite possibly more organic coffee can lead to less colon cancer?
Organic coffee aroma will vary from coffee brand to coffee brand. The degree of roasting determines the level of many of the substances that are formed. Also individual tastes vary. This has to do with our taste buds, our sense of smell, and, very commonly, with how we perceive smell and taste in combination. So, back to our organic coffee aroma on an early morning with a cup of shade grown organic coffee in our hand, birdsong in the air and dew laden grass under our feet and then just wake up and smell the coffee!