Brews N News

Sodas appear to affect blood pressure more than coffee

by Linda Searing
Special to The Washington Post

• THE QUESTION: With coffeehouses and soda machines aplenty, consumption of these drinks is widespread in the United States.  So, too, is the number of people with high blood pressure.  Might the two be connected?

• THIS STUDY reviewed information on the caffeinated beverage consumption of 155,594 women with normal blood pressure readings.  During a 12-year period, 21 percent of them were diagnosed with hypertension.  Coffee drinkers were no more likely to have developed high blood pressure than were women who drank no coffee;  in some instances, those who drank several cups a day were slightly less likely.  However, those who drank caffeinated sodas (regular or diet) were more likely to have hypertension, with the risk growing as consumption increased:  from about 15 percent added risk for one soda a day to more than 60 percent for those who drank four of more daily.

• WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS?  Women, especially those who drink sodas frequently.

• CAVEATS  Most of the women in the study were white; whether the findings apply to other races, or to men, is unclear.  Further study would be needed to determine whether some compound other than caffeine that is present in sodas is responsible for the increased risk of hypertension.

• FIND THIS STUDY:  Nov 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association; abstract available online at www.jama.com.

• LEARN MORE ABOUT high blood pressure at www.americanheart.org and www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health.

The research described in Quick Study comes from credible, peer-reviewed journals.  None the less, conclusive evidence about a treatment's effectiveness is rarely found in a single study.  Anyone considering changing or beginning treatment of any kind should consult with a physician.

The Importance of Purchasing Organic – The Environment is Only the Beginning

by Jane M. Bell

By now many are aware of how the purchasing power of organic coffee drinkers has lead to improvements in the environmental health of our planet. Fair Trade Certified has also become more of a household term as well. But we are only scratching the surface. Coffee as an industry is so much more.  Sustainable farming has played a huge role in the US war on drugs and increasing the quality of life in many Central American countries.

By creating an economically sound alternative for regional farmers and their families, sustainable coffee farming keeps growers above the poverty line and more importantly, out of the drug industry. A few more pennies per cup at home or the local coffeehouse is not too much to ask if it means fewer drugs on our streets.

Your daily brew, depending on your purchasing decisions, can be more a lot more then “Just a cup of coffee.” The $9 billion specialty coffee industry, with recent growth in the organic coffee market, creates huge social and political impact all over the world. The personal economic impact on your wallet isn’t as much as one may think.

Coffee, when compared with other beverages, is the best deal by far. Even with recent increases in prices as a result of last December’s Tsunami disaster and other global influences, coffee is still a great value. Currently Consumers pay about 27 cents per 6 oz cup of the world's best home brewed Organic, Fair Trade coffee.

We realize that asking coffee drinkers to dig a little deeper into their pockets is a very touchy and difficult subject to broach. Consider the last time you paid 27 cents for the finest glass of wine the planet had to offer? We are not talking about bottom of the barrel dregs. If one takes into consideration the social impact of that 27 cents, it’s value is multiplied exponentially and it’s impact on our wallets is practically nothing.

There is a lot of bad coffee that is served in the $23 billion coffee industry. A great cup of organic, Fair Trade coffee is a far better value then a fancy named, over-priced, flavor-less “coffee drink” from a cookie cutter coffeehouse that relies on hype and gimmicks instead of real consumer value. We may be a small company in this industry, but we will not compromise our promise and commitments to our planet, farmers, consumers and communities.  It’s more then a cup of coffee to us.

About 65% of our coffee come from South and Central America. Our buyers are committed to teaching sustainable and organic growing methods. They spend weeks working with these farming coops. It’s not always easy to convince them that organic coffee is the way for them to go. Growers want to know that their energy and efforts are worth while. If they commit to organic growing methods, we commit to buy their coffee for a minimum of five years at prices much higher then they’d get from regular coffee market buyers. These are areas where kidnappings and encounters with roadside “death squads” and guerilla fighters are common. Over the years, with each repeat visit from our buyers, we have developed alliances and create quality of life improvements visible throughout entire communities.

Copyright 2005 Jane Bell. All rights reserved. OrganicPlanetOnline.com.

The Campaign to Humanize the Coffee Trade

Be honest: When you drop by your local coffee house...

...do you ever think about the farmers who grew that coffee, thousands of miles away?

When you pay the bill...

...do you ever wonder: How much of this money will the coffee farmers and their families actually get?

An international network of activists wants you to start thinking about it, because they say they've figured out a simple way that you can affect the global economy and transform the lives of farmers: Look for coffee with the special label marked "Fair Trade." Read the full story here...

The Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Coffee

Flooding from Hurricane Katrina has placed approximately 8 per cent of the world’s coffee supply - which is stored in warehouses in New Orleans - under threat.

In a statement issued by the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), Dr Néstor Osorio, executive director of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), said he estimated that the loss of 96,000 tonnes of coffee stored in New Orleans would take a year to replace and would raise the price of coffee.
 
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) has said that “no further delivery notices may be issued for coffee to be delivered in the Port of New Orleans until the condition of the warehouses and the coffee located there can be determined”.
 
The port stores green coffee from Central and South America bound for US roasters. About 1.6 million bags are stored in and around New Orleans, according to Judy Ganes of J Ganes Consulting in New York, which is about 27 per cent of green coffee stored in the US.

According to CNN Money news report, coffee futures advanced about 4 per cent on Thursday, extending this week's gains on continued concerns about hurricane damage to coffee storage and roasting facilities in New Orleans.

CNN Money said NYBOT’s washed Arabica contract for December delivery rose 3.90 cents to settle at US$1.0495 cents a pound, after trading between US$1.0110 and a three-week high of $1.0550. March Arabica climbed 3.70 cents to reach US$1.0805 cents a pound, while more distant deliveries rose 3.30 to settle at 3.65 cents.

"Today we had index funds buying more," Rodrigo Costa, vice president of institutional sales at Fimat USA, told CNN Money, attributing the growing fund interest to uncertainty about some 1.6 million bags of green coffee stored in New Orleans. “You will have a big draw down of US stocks if the coffee was damaged by the hurricane,” said Costa.

“Today we have no extent of the damage. It's still being evaluated,” said New York Board of Trade Chairman Frank Schoenhut. “As far as being able to characterise the loss of coffee or the impact to the market is difficult,” he explained, noting that the extent of the damage - which will probably determine future price movement - will not be known for some time.

Coffee Review: Finesso Espresso

Organic Planet Coffee & Tea	Finesso Espresso
Las Vegas, Nevada	Reviewed: September 2005
Overall Rating: 90 points Aroma: 7 Body: 8 Flavor: 8 Aftertaste: 8 With Milk: 9 Roast (Agtron): Dark (40/48)
Origin: Not Disclosed Notes: All of the components of this blend are certified organically grown. Organic Planet Coffee & Tea is a small-batch coffee roaster and tea merchant specializing exclusively in organic and sustainable products. Its motto is "Only the best the planet has to offer." Visit www.organicplanetonline.com or call 707-396-2370 for more information. Blind Assessment: A full-bodied espresso with exotic aromatics. Floral and fruit tones throughout the profile, with pungent notes that read as herbal for co-taster Ted Lingle (90) and licorice-like and smoky for Ken Davids (89). For Ken the full body and heavy mouthfeel seemed partly to stifle flavor in the small cup, but for both Ken and Ted this blend came into its own in milk, where it rounded and sweetened richly without losing power or nuance. Nominated by Kemp LaMunyon of Las Vegas. Who should drink it: Those who prefer Verdi to Mozart.

To read more Coffee Reviews by Ken Davids Please click here.

Coffee for Most, Is Safe

Coffee has been blamed for everything from moral turpitude to cancer. But none of the bad raps have stuck. Coffee may even be good for you.

Despite 20 years of reassuring research, many people still avoid coffee because they worry about its health effects. Their concerns are understandable. Older studies had linked coffee to a range of health problems, including pancreatic cancer and heart disease. But this early research didn’t take into account the real culprit: cigarette smoking, which was once a common habit of many coffee drinkers. We now know that in moderation — that is, a few cups per day — coffee is a safe beverage. New research suggests it even offers some health benefits. Read the full story...

Coffee Top Source of Antioxidants for Americans

Reuters Health

Monday, August 29, 2005

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Coffee provides more than just a morning pick-me-up; it's also the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet, according to research reported over the weekend at the American Chemical Society's national meeting.

"Because Americans drink so much coffee, they get more of their antioxidants from coffee than from any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close," Joe Vinson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania told Reuters Health. Get the full story here...

Coffee May Help Prevent Liver Cancer

A recent study of more than 90,000 Japanese found that people who drank coffee daily or nearly every day had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank coffee. The protective effect occurred in people who drank one to two cups a day and increased at three to four cups. Click here to read the full story.