Organic Coffee for Diabetics
One of the great health benefits of drinking coffee is that coffee reduces your chances of getting type II diabetes. But if you already have the disease how are regular or organic coffee for diabetics? Healthline.com has some very useful information about coffee’s effect on diabetes.
For people without diabetes, coffee may help reduce the risk of developing diabetes.
Caffeine has been shown in the short term to increase both glucose and insulin levels. Because of this, people with diabetes should be cautious when consuming coffee.
Once sweetener is added to coffee, it removes the benefits of diabetes prevention. It can actually increase your risk of developing diabetes.
It turns out that caffeine and antioxidants in coffee have different effects in regard to diabetes. Many but not all health benefits of drinking coffee come from the antioxidants. In the case of Type II diabetes prevention, drinking coffee increases levels of sex hormone binding globulin which in turn is related to its effect in reducing diabetes incidence. However, caffeine has direct effects on insulin and blood sugar.
Black Coffee
Organic Coffee for Diabetics
Although drinking reduces your risk of getting Type II diabetes there may be problems if you already are diabetic. Caffeine with or before a meal causes a higher blood sugar. However there appears to be a protective effect with longer term coffee consumption as coffee’s effect on glucose and insulin sensitivity reduces with continual coffee drinking. Adding sugar to coffee dampens this effect to the detriment of diabetics. Diabetics who take good care of themselves routinely check their blood sugar. If a Type I or Type II diabetic is paying attention to their blood sugars and relating any changes to coffee consumption they may decide to cut out the coffee. Coffee consumption reduces your chances of getting Type II diabetes and continual coffee intake without sweeteners may be OK in diabetics. BUT drinking coffee is not how one controls diabetes. If you have this disease, go to see your doctor and follow his or her advice to the letter.
Health Benefits of Coffee
There are lots of health benefits of drinking coffee. If you have a mild case of Type II diabetes should you quit drinking coffee and forego the long list of things coffee can do for you?
The key would seem to be good diabetes management. Drinking coffee or not is an issue but calorie intake, exercise, blood urine and sugar monitoring and medications are the mainstays of diabetic management. If your diabetes is under good control even with a cup or two of coffee a day you can probably drink coffee when you have diabetes and get the health benefits of less cancer, lower incidence of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s and less likelihood of depression or cirrhosis of the liver. Ask your doctor. By the way, coffee even improves athletic performance and sex!
Organic or Regular?
All of the information we have listed applies to both regular and healthy organic coffee. The benefits of organic coffee include the benefit to the environment and the absence of impurities too often found in regular coffee. If you are going to consider the health benefits of drinking coffee then go all the way and stick with organic coffee from Colombia.
Colombian Coffee Helps Prevent Diabetes
How Do You Make Black Tie Coffee?
An exotic coffee drink is the black tie. This is a traditional drink of Thailand. A black tie contains black tea and espresso as well as a mix of spicy and sweet ingredients. Basically black tie coffee starts with traditional Thai tea and ends up with a double shot of espresso. Just how do you make black tie coffee?
Black Tie Ingredients
- Black tea mix = 1 cup or 4 bags of black tea
- Orange blossom water
- Star anise
- Crushed tamarind seed
- Sugar ¾ cup
- Condensed milk or cream
- Healthy organic coffee
You can gather all of the ingredients for the Thai tea base or you can purchase Thai tea mix with tea and all of the ingredients added. An alternative is to simply use black tea but then you miss out on a lot of the taste of this exotic drink.
Black Tie Steps
Make the tea first and cool it.
- Boil four cups of water and add tea and stir in sugar, boil for three minutes
- Let the tea steep for half an hour
- If using a Thai tea mix strain out the leaves
- Or remove tea bags
- Allow to cool and then put in refrigerator
Thai Tea
Make espresso, a double shot for each glass of Black Tie
Pour tea into glasses with ice and add your double shot of espresso.
Espresso
Top off with cream or condensed milk, pouring slowing to create a creamy layer on top of the drink and serve.
History of Thai Tea and the Black Tie
Folks in Thailand used to buy their tea from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) until it become too expensive. So they started using a semi wild tea that grows in mountainous regions of Thailand known as Bai Miang. They added orange blossom water, star anise, crushed tamarind seed and whatever other spices came to mind. They sweetened this beverage with sugar, coconut milk, whole milk or evaporated milk. This drink spread with Thai restaurants across Asia and to Europe and North America. There is little information about how people started adding espresso to this drink but a good bet is that this variation was created in a coffee house as a way to sell more espresso.
Black Tie Organic
If you want to go totally organic with this drink check our article about finding organic ingredients.
Variations on a Black Tie
This drink invites experimentation. Thai tea, which is the base of the drink, is made using a variety of spices and sweeteners in Thailand. The same applies to making it in your home. It is certainly a great drink for a hot day so make sure to prepare the tea early and cool in the frig and add a little ice before adding your espresso. Then sip and enjoy!
How Much Does Colombian Coffee Cost?
Colombia is the premier producer of high quality Arabica coffees, especially in wholesale quantities. But how much does Colombian coffee cost? Cost depends on the current coffee market, the quality of the coffee and export costs. A half-pound bag of ground coffee such as Aguila Roja in a Colombian grocery store will sell for around $2 (6,000 Colombian Pesos). A one pound bag of Juan Valdez organic coffee as a coffee of single origin from a specific part of the Colombian Cafetero will sell for around $9 (27,000 Colombian pesos) in Colombia. Unfortunately if you want to send via UPS it may cost as much as $100 for shipping of a kilogram of Colombian coffee! However, you can buy wholesale coffee from Colombia and the price is attractive provided that you deal with a trusted supplier and exporter and deal in larger volumes.
Single Origin Coffee From Colombia
How Much Does Colombian Coffee Cost? If you Air Freight to the USA
If you are interested in mid-size shipments of organic green Colombian coffee, air freight arranged by a supplier and exporter in Colombia can be cost efficient. The wholesale price of highest quality green organic coffee of origin in Colombia will run around $7 a pound. Air freight Bogota to Houston will run about $1.25 a pound. Ten 60 kg bags (132 pounds each = 1,320 pounds will cost around $8.25 x 1,320 pounds = $10,890. This works out to $8.25 a pound. The cost of basic green Colombian coffee is closer to $2 a pound which works out to $4,290 for ten 60 kg bags air freight Bogota to Houston.
Shipping Containers Full of Colombian Coffee
Large orders of wholesale Colombian green coffee are usually shipped by sea. Our suppliers in Colombia ship via Buenaventura on the Pacific coast or Cartagena on the Caribbean. Shipping containers are the most cost effective way to ship. A 20 foot shipping container holds 18 tons of coffee in bags and 21 tons in bulk. Shippers say that coffee in bulk arrives in better condition than coffee in bags. Special liners are used for bulk shipping of coffee. Shipping cost per pound is pennies on the dollar compared to air freight. The most coffee way to send is FOB which means that you employ a shipper to receive the shipment as it goes onto the boat and insure that it gets to you safe and sound.
Colombian Green Coffee Beans
Coffee Quality
The price of regular coffee futures is quoted on the NYMEX during every business day. This is the base from which all other prices are derived. If you want export quality Colombian coffee it will commonly cost a dollar to two more a pound than basic coffee beans. If you want organic, shade grown or coffee of a specific origin this is where the price moves from around $2 to around $7 a pound.
For Starters
We suggest that if you are interested in high quality Arabica coffee from Colombia that you try a 60 kg bag shipped by air freight. In November of 2015 Colombia changed its export laws making it easier to export smaller quantities of coffee. If you would like a quote for a 60 kg bag or a 20 foot shipping container of your favorite kind of Colombian coffee please contact us at Buy Organic Coffee.
Organic Coffee for Cancer
One of our readers asked about the use of organic coffee for cancer. Here is what we know.
- Coffee has been shown to reduce the incidence of at least two forms of cancer.
- Coffee has no known use in the treatment of cancer.
- Drinking very hot beverages including coffee is linked to esophageal cancer.
- And coffee has lots of other health benefits
Cancer Prevention with Coffee
There are a lot of health benefits of drinking coffee, including reduction of cancer risk. The New York Times quotes the World Health Organization. Coffee may protect against cancer.
An influential panel of experts convened by the World Health Organization concluded on Wednesday that regularly drinking coffee could protect against at least two types of cancer.
The clearest evidence is that ovarian and uterine cancer risks are reduced by coffee consumption. Other cancers that coffee probably helps prevent are colon cancer, prostate cancer, and endometrial cancer.
Treating Cancer with Coffee
Coffee enemas are suggested by some as a way to detoxify the body and treat cancer. We went to the Mayo Clinic web site for info regarding colon cleansing.
Colon cleansing is normally used as preparation for medical procedures such as colonoscopy. However, some alternative medicine practitioners also offer colon cleansing for other purposes, such as detoxification.
But colon cleansing – also called a colonic or a colonic irrigation – for such purposes isn’t necessary. That’s because your digestive system and bowel already eliminate waste material and bacteria from your body.
During a colon cleanse, large amounts of water – sometimes up to 16 gallons (about 60 liters) – and possibly other substances, such as herbs or coffee, are flushed through the colon. This is done using a tube that’s inserted into the rectum. In some cases, smaller amounts of water are used and are left to sit in the colon for a short time before being removed.
Proponents of colon cleansing believe that toxins from your gastrointestinal tract can cause a variety of health problems, such as arthritis, allergies and asthma. They believe that colon cleansing improves health by removing toxins, boosting your energy and enhancing your immune system. However, there’s no evidence that colon cleansing produces these effects.
And colon cleansing can sometimes be harmful. In fact, coffee enemas sometimes used in colon cleansing have been linked to several deaths. Colon cleansing can also cause less serious side effects, such as cramping, bloating, nausea and vomiting.
The bottom line is that there is no place for the use of regular or organic coffee in treating cancer but cancer prevention is another matter.
Human Colon
Is Your Coffee Too Hot?
Last year we wrote, do not to drink very hot coffee.
The one warning from WHO is that very hot beverages are associated with a higher incidence of esophageal cancer. It’s not what you drink but how hot it is served that increases the risk of cancer of the esophagus.
In reviewing the most recent scientific evidence over the past 25 years since its last analysis on the matter, the WHO concluded that coffee should no longer be considered a carcinogen and that it may actually have positive effects for your body when it comes to two types of cancers – liver and uterine cancers.
There was another significant finding: “Very hot” beverages “probably” cause cancer. This is mostly based on studies related to the consumption of a traditional drink called mate or cimarrón in South America where the tea can be taken at temperatures around 158 degrees Fahrenheit (or 70 degrees Celsius). That’s significantly hotter than people in North America or Europe usually consume their drinks.
So, if you are used to drinking your boiling hot coffee before it cools, think again.
Boiling Hot Coffee
More Health Benefits from Coffee
Coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Type II diabetes. And the more coffee they drink, up to six cups a day, the less likely they are to develop the disease. Other conditions that coffee helps prevent include depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, liver cirrhosis, and many more. Coffee drinkers tend to live longer as the antioxidants in coffee reduce the effects of inflammatory conditions seen with aging. This may well be part of why coffee helps prevent various cancers. And, along the way coffee enhances athletic performance can even makes sex better!
Coffee – Athletic Performance
How Long Do Freshly Roasted Coffee Beans Last?
There is nothing like a cup of freshly roasted coffee to start the day. Ideally you would buy green coffee beans and roast your own coffee each day. Green coffee when properly stored retains its freshness for as long as a three years. So, this is the ideal route to take if you want the freshest coffee full of active antioxidants, aroma and flavor. But, most of us are pressed for time and find it easier to buy roasted coffee. Then the question is how long do freshly roasted coffee beans last? And how do you get the most freshly roasted coffee considering that your store bought roasted coffee may be months old?
Cooling the Beans after the Roasting Coffee
Coffee Roasters
In our Houston Coffee Roasters article a few years ago we covered the basics of why freshly roasted is best.
In search of high quality, freshly roasted healthy organic coffee? There are Houston coffee roasters from whom you can purchase a wide range of regular and organic coffees. Freshness of coffee comes down to a few facts.
-
- Properly stored green coffee beans last for about two years.
- Roasting coffee brings about a number of complex chemical reactions in the coffee bean.
- Antioxidants formed in roasting coffee are responsible for its unique taste and many health benefits.
- Anti-oxidants break down with exposure to oxygen.
- Roasted beans can maintain most of their flavor for up to six months if vacuum packed.
- Once they are exposed to air but kept in a cool and dry place roasted coffee beans maintain flavor for no more than two months.
- Once you grind roasted coffee beans you expose all of the inner antioxidants to the air and you lose flavor by the hour if not the minute.
So, if you want to preserve those organic coffee antioxidants buy and store green coffee beans to roast and grind at home or, better yet, purchase small quantities of freshly roasted coffee of your choice from any of a number of Houston coffee roasters.
So, freshly roasted coffee lasts for a couple of months when stored in a cool and dry place in your home. But, how old are the green coffee beans that the roaster is using?
Too-Old Green Coffee
Years back we wrote about Brazil coffee storage.
It appears that Brazil is going to copy a practice from United States agriculture, storing excess crop production.
Coffee farmers want the best price for their crop. When there is a good growing year there is a lot of coffee and prices fall. Farmers who are able will often store part of their green coffee crop as they wait for better prices. The problem for you, the coffee consumer, is that they may wait several years before selling that coffee. We noted that green coffee can retain a reasonable amount of freshness for up to three years. There is no way that coffee stored for longer than that will be fresh!
Long storage is also a problem for the coffee roaster who must buy in bulk and then store his green coffee until he roasts and sells it.
Freshly Roasted Coffee from Colombia
We at BuyOrganicCoffee.org deal directly with coffee roasters in Colombia. When we get an order for freshly roasted coffee, that coffee is recently picked and processed. It is promptly roasted at our request and shipped air freight to the buyer. These folks do not need to worry about how long freshly roasted coffee beans last. They only need to grind their beans and make their coffee each morning.
Colombian Coffee in the Valleys and on the Mountain Sides and Even in Back Yards!
Should You Drink Coffee While Pregnant?
Many scientific studies have demonstrated that coffee is good for you. More coffee leads to less type II diabetes, for example. Drink coffee, live longer was the title of one our articles about increased longevity in coffee drinkers. But how about when you decide to have kids? Should you drink coffee while pregnant? How much is too much? Pregnant moms go through a lot. They need to give up smoking if that is their vice. And they need to avoid alcohol. Do they have to give up that morning cup of java as well? The quick answer, mom, is that you can have that morning cup of coffee but not six cups more.
Should You Drink Coffee While Pregnant? How Much Is Too Much?
The concern about drinking coffee during pregnancy comes from the possibility of stillbirth with moms who drink excessive amounts of coffee (like eight cups a day) and both low birth weight and miscarriage in women who drink too much coffee. So, how much is too much and is there an acceptable amount of caffeine during pregnancy? According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology up to 200 milligrams of caffeine a day are OK according to their web page entitled Is It Safe to Drink Coffee during Pregnancy?
Yes, but hold the refills. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends limiting your caffeine consumption to fewer than 200 milligrams (mg) per day. That’s about what you’d get from drinking one 10-ounce cup of Starbucks coffee.
Going over that amount could be risky. Some studies have linked drinking more than 200 mg of caffeine a day with an increased risk of miscarriage and low birth weight. And drinking large amounts of caffeine (eight cups of coffee or more a day) has been linked with stillbirth. More research needs to be done to confirm these links, but it’s a good idea to err on the side of caution when you’re pregnant.
The good doctors remind us that coffee is not the only dietary source of caffeine. Tea and soft drinks are part of the picture as well. And, if you are going to drink coffee in pregnancy stick with healthy organic coffee to avoid unwanted impurities in your cup.
Arabica versus Robusta
Coffee comes in two basic types, Arabica and Robusta. Robusta coffee beans supply the caffeine that goes into most caffeinated soft drinks and bean for bean Robusta contains about 50% more caffeine than Arabica. Arabica coffee is better tasting as well as less likely to put you over the 200 milligram limit for your daily caffeine intake during pregnancy. The amount of caffeine in an Arabica espresso is between 30 and 50 milligrams and an 8 ounce cup of black coffee house Arabica will have no more than your 200 milligram limit.
Coffee in Moderation while Pregnant
The point of this seems to be that in pregnancy as in all of life moderation is a good idea. If you are a pregnant mom. And you need your cup of java to get through the day. Drink organic, Arabica, and preferably Colombian coffee.
Colombian Arabica Organic Coffee
Do you like great organic coffee? If so, buy Colombian Arabica organic coffee. We often write about coffee from Colombia. That is because Colombia is a major coffee producer. They reliably grow commercial quantities of the best high quality Arabica coffee in the world.
Arabica Coffee
Why buy Arabica coffee? If you are looking for a pick me up, Robusta coffee beans contain more caffeine than Arabica beans. And Robusta coffee futures are sitting at around $1.10 a pound while Arabica futures are more than $2 a pound for lowest quality Arabica beans. So why buy Arabica coffee? People buy Arabica coffee because it tastes better and has a better aroma. Arabica is higher quality coffee than Robusta. Now the question is where do you get your Arabica coffee?
Brazil may produce more Arabica coffee than Colombia but if you are looking for reliably higher quality buy Colombian Arabica organic coffee.
Coffee from Manizales Colombia
Manizales is the city in the heart in the Colombian coffee growing district, the eje Cafetero. Coffee from Manizales, Colombia is an example of Colombian Arabica coffee at its finest.
Some of the best coffee in the world comes from a place where the highway signs give you a choice of heading to Bogota or Medellin.
This piece of coffee heaven is Manizales, Colombia. The main highway to neighboring Pereira is even called the coffee highway, the Careterra de Café. Coffee grows everywhere from lowlands to mountain tops. Coffee loves cloudy skies, rain and moderate temperatures making the daytime highs of 70 degrees and nighttime lows of 58 degrees perfect.
The highway connecting to the neighboring city of Pereira is even called the coffee highway, “Carretero de Café.” This is a region with volcanic soil, high altitude at which Arabica coffee grows slowly to Supremo and Excelso bean sizes. The weather is often overcast and it rains a lot. Coffee growing on slopes gets lots of water but never too much as the excess runs off. And the folks here have been growing coffee for generation after generation.
Coffee Growing Near Manizales Colombia
Organic Coffee
If you are going to drink good coffee you might as well drink healthy organic coffee.
Start the day with a hot cup of healthy organic coffee and you can receive a number of health benefits. Healthy organic coffee contains calcium. It contains antioxidants such as polyphenols which are also called condensed tannins and help prevent tooth decay in addition to their antioxidant activity. The antioxidant properties of a healthy cup of organic coffee include the ability to lessen age associated cellular damage, prevent new blood vessel formation in cancerous tissue, and inhibit the long term inflammation seen in atherosclerosis. Ongoing research points to uses of polyphenols as treatments for specific age related conditions. And all of this from a cup of healthy organic coffee!
Healthy organic coffee has been around for a long, long time. Unfortunately in the modern era the use of pesticides and herbicides has entered the picture in growing many crops, including otherwise healthy organic coffee. Although non-organic contaminants do not necessarily reduce the beneficial health effects of a healthy cup of organic coffee the non-organic contaminants cause problems of their own.
If you want good coffee, drink Arabica. If you want great coffee, look for Arabica coffee from Colombia. And if you want the best, look for Colombian Arabica organic coffee. If you want this great coffee shipped directly to you, contact us at Buy Organic Coffee.
Mice with Alzheimer’s Should Not Drink Coffee
We have reported numerous health benefits from drinking coffee. Included in our reports was one entitled Forget Your Alzheimer’s and Drink Your Coffee.
Research carried out at the University of South Florida implies that it may be time to forget your Alzheimer’s and drink your coffee. Alzheimer’s disease is the condition seen often in old age in which a person is unable to remember recent events. It is also the stuff of jokes about every time a person in mid-life or older forgets something.
The scientists at South Florida studied a strain of mice that has been bred to get Alzheimer’s disease, or at least the mouse variety. These critters develop high levels of beta amyloid in their brain and then the plaques inhibit nerve transmission. These are the same findings that researchers see in humans. Because mice live shorter lives than humans, old age comes sooner. Thus scientists can see sooner if whatever they have been doing to the mice has had an effect. Now these folks have been having their little research subjects drink coffee.
Results
The result of that study was this.
Coffee is a natural for this purpose. Caffeine and something else in coffee reliably reduce beta amyloid levels in the brain of mice.
That is to say the damaging plaques that seem to lead to the Alzheimer’s equivalent in mice are reduced by drinking coffee.
So, if drinking coffee is likely to reduce the precursors of Alzheimer’s we should drink coffee. Right?
But, now researchers have studied mice that already have the mouse equivalent of Alzheimer’s. And they have found that consuming the equivalent of what would be 5 cups of coffee a day worsens symptoms in the rodents.
And, if grandpa already has Alzheimer’s he should not drink coffee. Right?
Applying Mouse Research to Humans
Is it a valid assumption that what applies to mice will apply to humans as well? To make sense of this we looked online at an article in Science: How Things Work.
The mouse’s DNA looks startlingly like ours; in fact, we share more than 90 percent of the same genes as a mouse.
But dogs and pigs are more closely related to us. But people are uncomfortable sacrificing large numbers of these animals in the name of science.
Mice might not be the closest animals to us genetically, but they are one of the closest that we feel comfortable using in studies.
And mice mature faster so that researchers can test various treatments and get results in a year or two instead of waiting a dozen or more years in other animals of six to eight decades in humans.
As a practical matter mice are easier to study and the studies produce quicker results. But, there is not a one to one correlation between people and rodents. Thus, it might provide useful insight to look at how mice with Alzheimer’s react to coffee but a more reliable way to test this is to give Grandpa a cup of coffee or two and see how he does. In the case of drinking coffee the results are virtually immediate so the mice do not give us anything useful in terms of an early result.
Organic Coffee: No Caffeine
There is really only one organic coffee without caffeine and that is made using the Swiss Water method. People have been removing caffeine from coffee for decades. The earliest methods are still used these are the direct and indirect solvent methods. They get the caffeine out of the coffee but are not organic methods.
Indirect Solvent Method
Coffee beans are soaked for several hours in hot water just below the boiling point. This removes caffeine but also other chemicals that give coffee its flavor and aroma.
Then the water is drawn off to another container and where a solvent is added. The solvent binds to the caffeine. Then the mixture is re-heated the caffeine and volatile solvent combination evaporates. When the beans are added to the remaining mixture, they reabsorb the remaining chemicals and regain some of the coffee flavor.
Direct Solvent Method
In the direct solvent method coffee beans are steamed for about half an hour. For the next ten hours they are repeatedly rinsed with the solvent. Finally, the solvent is drained off and the beans are steamed one las time.
Neither of these methods qualifies as organic.
CO2 Method
This is a non-solvent means of decaffeinating coffee. It works for very large batches and is used for regular coffee in a huge scale. The problem is that the process is very expensive and is only economical when used on a large scale.
Coffee beans are put under pressure of 1,000 pounds per square inch with liquid carbon dioxide in a stainless steel tank. The CO2 dissolves the caffeine and leaves the other coffee constituents alone. When the CO2 is removed from the tank it passes briefly though a gas phase when it loses its caffeine and can be used again.
This process qualifies as organic but is too expensive to use except for huge batches of regular coffee.
Swiss Water Method
This is an organic method to decaffeinate coffee and is certified as such. It is also applicable to reasonable batch sizes making it appropriate for organic coffee.
This means of decaffeination was discovered 80 years ago but has only be in use for about 30 as it required adjustments to make it cost effective.
Caffeine is removed from coffee beans with hot water. The hot water is passed through a large pore activated charcoal filter which traps the caffeine but allows smaller antioxidant and other molecules to pass through.
Then new beans are soaked with the caffeine poor but antioxidant rich water. Via osmosis caffeine leaves the beans while antioxidants remain. This process provides a coffee that is 99.95% caffeine free and is certified as such. Swiss Water decaf is labeled as such and is the only commercially available organic coffee without caffeine.
Unfortunately, there is no good way to decaffeinate coffee at home so you cannot purchase your favorite coffee and then remove the caffeine. But you can buy Arabica coffee which is lower in caffeine than Robusta and you can buy organic coffee from Colombia.