GRAGSON'S COFFEE TIPS

MISCELLANEOUS

Tips Index

Although Kenya's coffee is some of the world's best, Kenyans drink their tea crop, but sell all of their coffee crop.
Here's a list of the major coffee producing countries: Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mexico, New Guinea, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Tanzania, Venezuela, Yemen, China (Yunan Province), Zaire.
True Viennese coffee is sweetened with dried figs.
Middle Eastern coffee drinking etiquette requires the highest ranking person to be served first, the oldest second, and men usually before women.
If you've never tried a toddy, you are missing a treat. Toddy is a cold-brewed coffee which minimizes the acidness. Mix it with chocolate syrup and ice, and you have a delicious iced chocolate toddy. This is a mellow tasting drink with the punch of a triple latte.
Ever tasted coffee that has sat around long after it was brewed? The taste of this coffee is generally briny. Some folks taste it as salty, others as burnt. Either way, it is not a pleasant experience when you are used to a quality cup of coffee.
Pastries with coffee are a common combination these days. The tradition comes from Austria.
For an after dinner treat, try your coffee with rum, Tia Maria, or Kahlúa. Fruit liqueurs also go well with coffee as does Scotch or Irish whiskey or American bourbon.
If you or your guests like chocolate, try serving your coffee with a square of chocolate on the saucer which can either be eaten separately or added to the coffee as one prefers.
Though there are some good methods of decaffeination (e.g., Swiss or European water methods), many others add chemicals with unknown effects on the body and that adversely effect the flavor of the coffee.
Wonder what to do with those leftover coffee grounds? Use them as compost in your garden or sprinkle them around your plants. Or, believe it or not, you might even try using them as deodorant or antiseptic.
Cinnamon sticks are commonly used in Italy for stirrers with coffee. Cardamom however is the spice of choice in Arabian states and is often used directly in the brewing process.
San Francisco has developed into a major center of specialty coffee because for many years it served as a first port of entry for coffee from both Asia and Central and South America.
Bedouins in the Middle East often make their coffee using half-roasted beans and adding cardamom. The spice gives the drink a yellowish appearance and sweet taste. Because of the lightly roasted beans, the coffee would taste weak by American standards.
Whatever cup or mug you use to drink your coffee, be sure to heat it first with hot water. Pour in hot water, cover, and remove the water just before pouring in your coffee. This ensures your coffee will stay hot longer.
Contrary to popular opinion, much of the canned coffee in the U.S. is not Robusta beans, but rather lower grade Arabica beans. However, it is nonetheless far more stale and far less flavorful than freshly roasted specialty coffees made from the highest grade Arabica beans.
For great coffee, the key word is "fresh." Your coffee will be best when it is freshly roasted, freshly ground, and freshly brewed.
Second only to Brazil in coffee production, Colombian coffees account for 15% of world production. The best Colombian coffees grow in the Andes at altitudes of 4200 feet or more. The highest grade of coffee from this country is Supremo.
A true Turkish coffee cup is a very small china cup (smaller than a demitasse cup) with no handle or metal holder, often cylindrical rather than round, and holds two ounces of coffee at most.
Hot coffee in Greece is served sweet and thick made in a briki, a version of the Arabic ibrik, and often served with Greek pastries. In the Greek kafe or kafeneia, one orders coffee by naming the degree of sweetness corresponding to how much sugar is to be added.
If you ever notice oily droplets floating on the top of the coffee you are drinking, you will know that the coffee has been either overroasted or improperly brewed.
With each cup of coffee you drink, you get about 10% of the U.S. recommended daily requirement of niacin.
If you are going to buy a flip-drip pot, look for stainless steel instead of aluminum to avoid metallic interactions with coffee acids. Also, get one that has a heatproof handle so you won't burn yourself.
In packaging of coffee, looks do not count. There is no substitute for buying whole beans roasted in the last week stored away from air, light, and heat, and packed simply in a plastic bag than can be sealed. At Wild Goats, this is what you will find! Simple, but effective.
Since your body will only absorb 300 mg of caffeine at any given time, for some variety you might try a decaf coffee after you've had your first morning cups of caffeinated coffee.
Although caffeine does affect flavor, it is however difficult for even the coffee connoisseur to distinguish between a caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee of the same type and roast.
Caffeine contributes to the flavor of coffee, and the darker the roast, the less caffeine in the cup.
Concerned about your caffeine consumption? Try making your own 50/50 blend. For example, if you drink Sumatra Mandheling, mix it equally with Sumatra Mandheling Decaf before grinding and brewing.
The serving of your coffee is every bit as important as the brewing. Clean everything from your brewer to your cups with a mixture of baking soda and water.
Milk contains lactose (a sugar) and casein (a protein) that when added to coffee lessen its bitterness.
If you buy coffee in a can, what are you buying? After roasting, coffee beans begin giving off carbon dioxide gas as they start the oxidation process. Before being canned, the coffee must be given time to lose this gas so the can does not swell. This may take days. Grinding the coffee helps it lose its gas more quickly. However, the end result is stale coffee by the time it is sealed into the can. Even coffee that is "vacuum-packed" still has oxygen within the can (about 10%) which will continue to oxidize the coffee and increase its staleness.
People metabolize caffeine at different rates. Sensitivity to caffeine usually increases with age. Caffeine can be disruptive to sleep, but studies have shown that it does not interrupt REM sleep. Although caffeine reaches the body's tissues within five minutes and the highest concentrations are reached in the first 30 to 60 minutes after consumption, the half-life of caffeine is usually three to six hours and can actually remain in the body up to 12 to 14 hours in most people and up to 24 hours in some.
The FDA requires that brewed decaffeinated coffee have 0.3 percent or less (that is 1 to 5 mg per 6 oz. cup) caffeine. This compares to 100 mg caffeine in a 6 oz. cup of caffeinated coffee.
When you travel you may notice differences in the taste of your coffee simply from the altitude at which you are located. Apparently, human taste buds are less sensitive at higher altitudes than at sea level.
Ever think about how your tongue is processing that cup of coffee? Your taste buds immediately detect the sweetness and bitterness of any coffee. Sweetness is detected on the tip of your tongue and bitterness on the back. Sweetness is the most sought after taste among coffee drinkers. Yet it is sweetness that disappears most quickly because the tip of the tongue is awash in saliva. The back of the tongue is less often washed by saliva so bitterness will tend to linger. This is one reason why it is important not to have coffee that is overroasted or overextracted (in brewing) since this will enhance its bitterness.
Milk adds a film to the lining of the stomach and slows caffeine absorption into the bloodstream.
How important is a coffee's aroma in our decision as to whether or not we like it? Consider this.... We can recognize over 3,000 smells and can continue to notice the aroma of an espresso up to ten minutes after we have finished drinking it. Some studies indicate that over 80% of what we taste is actually what we smell.
Apparently the caffeine in coffee speeds you up by not slowing you down. One theory on the effects of caffeine on the body indicates that caffeine interferes with the depressant effects of adenosine, a chemical produced by the body to control neural activity. Adenosine triggers slowing effects including depressing mood and alertness and slowing gastric secretion and respiration. Caffeine may act as an adenosine imposter and lock into the adenosine receptors in the brain, thus fooling the body that adenosine is circulating yet producing no depressant effect.
Even coffee tasting experts find it quite difficult to determine the difference between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.
What is coffee's thirst-quenching ability? Here is a rank ordering according to some scientists: (1) plain water, (2) club soda, (3) iced tea, (4) COFFEE, (5) diet cola, (6) presweetened Kool-Aid®, (7) beer, (8) ginger ale, and (9) milk.
The flavor of your coffee is directly related to its freshness. That is why at Wild Goats you will not receive any coffee that is more than two weeks past the roast date. Roasted coffee is vulnerable to moisture, light, and most of all oxygen. Roasted coffee will begin to lose its flavor within two weeks. When it is ground or brewed, it begins to lose flavor within minutes.
Though it is better to seal all coffee (whole bean and ground) in an air-tight container and store at room temperature, be absolutely sure not to freeze espresso beans. Because of the darkness of the roast, the oil on the surface of these beans can congeal and ruin the flavor.
Rather than using a spoonful or a packet of sugar to sweeten your coffee, you might try making a sugar syrup. Simmer equal amounts of sugar and water for 5 minutes while stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. Cool, cover, and store in the refrigerator.
The process used to brew coffee extracts nearly 100% of the caffeine content of the coffee beans. However, the process for making espresso only extracts about 65% of the caffeine content. The remaining caffeine is thus thrown out with the grounds.
Ever wonder how some folks can drink coffee all day long and not seem phased by it? Part of this phenomenon may have to do with the body only being able to absorb about 300 mg of caffeine (the equivalent of a couple of cups of coffee) at any given time. The body can remove about 20% of what it has absorbed each hour. Of course, the more coffee you drink throughout the day, the longer your body will be operating with the maximum absorption limit, and it will still take about five hours for your body to remove the caffeine after you've had your last cup for the day.
Ever heard of "cowboy" coffee? Legends from the past indicate that when out on the range, cowboys would put their ground coffee into a clean sock and immerse it in hot water heated over the campfire. When this decoction was done, the sock and coffee were removed and the coffee was ready for drinking.
If you make a dessert that calls for coffee, you might consider using decaf. Desserts are usually eaten later in the day and those requiring coffee may contain a considerable amount of caffeine for the late afternoon or evening eater. Considering that caffeine remains in your system for up to five hours, some of those enjoying your delicious dessert may find themselves staying awake longer than usual in the evening from having enjoyed your delicious treat.
Coffee can help offset the sweetness in baked goods and it matches well with chocolate in particular. The simplest way to enjoy this is to eat a piece of chocolate cake accompanied with a black, unsweetened espresso.
There has been some concern that there is a link between caffeine consumption and osteoporosis. However, several studies earlier in the decade lend little credence to this. For example, in 1994, a University of California at San Diego study did show a correlation between caffeine consumption and bone density loss in women, but also found no such correlation for those who drank a glass of milk a day as an adult. One might conclude that it is more important to drink and eat calcium-rich foods than to eliminate caffeine from the diet.
Ever wonder why that cup of decaf seems to keep you awake at night? The FDA requires that coffee labeled "decaffeinated" have no more than 0.3% caffeine content, but that might still be up to 12 milligrams of caffeine for a 12-oz. mug.
When mixing desserts and coffees, the more plain the dessert, the lighter the roast of the coffee you may want to accompany it. Espresso goes well with richer desserts and lighter roasted coffees with less rich desserts.
The way to become a better judge of blended coffees is to try blending on your own. Get a supply of the two or three roasted coffees you enjoy most and vary the proportions of the beans making notes as you go. You may be amazed at your experience.
Since coconuts are more common than cows in the Caribbean, you might find that you would use coconut milk instead of cow's milk to add to your morning coffee.
In general, West Coast coffee drinkers prefer darker roasted coffees than East Coast coffee drinkers who prefer a lighter roast. Midwesterners fall somewhere in between. Northern Californians generally prefer a lighter roast than Southern Californians who drink darker coffee. The same patterns exist in Europe where northern Europeans generally prefer a lighter roast than southern Europeans.
Organic coffee is grown without insecticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers and growth regulators.
The number of supermarkets selling specialty coffees quadrupled from 1980 to 1990. Projections are for another 50% increase by the turn of the century. Specialty coffee accounts for over 35% of all coffee sales now in the United States. The most fresh and highest quality specialty coffees can be bought at specialty coffee shops like Wild Goats Espresso Cafe.
According to an Entrepreneur magazine article last year, in 1989 there were 200 specialty coffee shops in the United States. In 1995, that number had grown to about 5,000. Projections for the year 2000 are for 10,000.
There are over 15,000 already today in Tokyo alone. The Japanese have quite a taste for fine coffees.
How important is coffee in the lives of people? Enough so that one of every 175 people on the planet are employed in the coffee industry. No wonder coffee is the second largest export next to oil!
Yes, superior-quality specialty coffee can be expensive if bought by the pound in comparison to the price of canned supermarket brands. However, coffee is much less expensive than it used to be. For example, William Penn bought a pound of coffee in 1683 for the price of $4.68 -- about the cost of four acres of land.
Compare caffeine levels:

Single (1-1/2 oz.) shot of espresso	80-150 milligrams
12 oz. cup of coffee	200-275 milligrams
12 oz. can of caffeinated soda pop	37- 53 milligrams
Chocolate candy bar	80 milligrams
2 aspirins	50-130 milligrams

Ever wonder from where the name cappuccino came? It is thought to have been derived from the chocolate color of the Capuchin monks' robes and/or hoods, the color of which is copied in the foamed milk atop this espresso drink.
Costa Rica is noted for its consistency in processing its coffees, and, as a result, has earned the nickname the Switzerland of coffee-producing countries.
The best way to store whole or ground coffee is in a zip-lock bag with as much air removed as possible. Then insert the bag into a dark, airtight container. This keeps the coffee away from both air and light as much as possible. Store the coffee at room temperature.
The Italian word for milk is latte. If you ask for a latte in Italy, you will get a glass of milk. To get the espresso drink made with foamed, steamed milk, you would need to ask for a caffé latte.
If you are unable to use dairy products due to allergies but still want a latte or prefer "cream" added to your coffee, try 1/3 soy milk (for foaming and texture) to 2/3 rice milk (for flavor).
In a study of over 20,000 people, a Harvard researcher found that regular coffee drinkers have about 1/3 fewer asthmatic symptoms than people who do not drink coffee.
A trend to watch during the next few years will be the growth in purchase of home espresso machines. Some folks predict that 20 years from now that over half the households that consume coffee in the United States will be making their coffee in home espresso machines instead of the more common electric and manual drip brewing systems of today.
In the early 1990s, U.S. consumers bought only 12% of their coffee in whole bean form for home use. Today this number may be twice as high as consumers have become more conscious of freshness and quality in their home brewing processes.
Ever notice you have some increased alertness even before you finish your first cup of coffee in the morning? Apparently, increased alertness can occur with as little as 30 mg of caffeine which is equivalent to 20-35% of that first 12 oz. mug of your morning coffee you enjoy.
In Europe, the highest quality coffee and highest coffee consumption is found in Finland. The lowest quality coffee and lowest coffee consumption is found in Great Britain and Italy. Scandinavians consume 26.4 pounds of coffee per capita per year compared to 10 pounds for Italy.
The workers in coffee fields hand pick 130 to 170 pounds of coffee cherries per day. (Each coffee cherry contains two coffee beans.) It takes about 2,000 coffee cherries (or 4,000 coffee beans) to ultimately provide one pound of coffee. More hand labor goes into producing coffee than any other food product.
When using milk with your coffee or espresso, you might consider the following provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Information is for one cup or 8 ounces of milk.)

Type	Fat Grams	Calories	% Cal. from Fat
Whole milk	7.7	150	46
2% milk	4.9	121	37
1% milk	2.4	102	22
Skim milk	0	86	0

Apparently, downturns in the economy have little effect on the sales of specialty coffee and espresso drinks at the retail level. Good coffee and espresso are considered by many consumers as an "affordable luxury."
With cherries and peaches, we eat the fruit and throw away the pit. With coffee, we throw away the fruit of the coffee cherry and use the pit -- the coffee bean.
The pit, or seed, of the coffee cherry usually has two halves. If you look at one of these halves, you will see that the coffee bean is flat on one side and rounded on the other. However, if the seed fails to split in two, it forms one concave seed known as a peaberry. Because of the unique way these seeds develop, they generally are quite flavorful and demand for them is high.
So what is required in the early stages of development of the coffee you sip from your cup or mug? The original coffee plant, the Arabica, makes up 70-80% of coffee production. However, only about 10% of these beans are of the quality to be used for high-quality specialty coffees. For a coffee plant to thrive, it needs over 60 inches of rain a year. Much care and cultivation are needed to bring you your fine cup of coffee or espresso. Coffee is the most labor-intensive perishable product on the planet.
Syrups and sweeteners are best dissolved if poured into the cup before the espresso.
Syrups with high acid content can tend to curdle an espresso drink if not added to the cup first. Caution also needs to be used to not overheat the steamed milk to be added.
If you are going to drink coffee from a Styrofoam cup, be sure to rinse it before you use it to remove any loose particles that might affect the taste of your coffee.
The growth rate of the specialty coffee industry is about 13% each year. As of 1998, there are over 100 million coffee drinkers in the United States.
Caffeine does contribute to a coffee's flavor. Caffeine content decreases as the darkness of the roast increases.
Since heat intensifies the sweetness of sugar, use less sugar or syrup in a hot espresso drink than a cold one.
Women buy more specialty coffees than men by a 3 to 2 margin.
During the 1990s, full-bodied coffees have become more popular.
As flavored coffees have grown in popularity, so have the number of flavor varieties. A decade ago there were only a few from which to choose. Now there over 200.
While caffeine is the most active chemical in coffee, there are other chemicals that can also affect you. For example, chlorogenic acid more prominently found in less expensive robusta beans can speed up your digestive system and irritate the lining of the stomach.
The effects of caffeine seem to vary by personality type (e.g., extroverts vs. introverts) and can only increase intellectual speed, not intellectual power, generally only under conditions of fatigue or boredom.
Caffeine does speed up metabolism and help the body burn calories faster, but not to the extent of being effective as a weight loss method.
People enjoy their coffee in various ways throughout the world. Here are some of the more exotic examples:

Africa & the Middle East:	With cardamom
Ethiopia:	With salt
Mexico:	With cinnamon
Morocco:	With peppercorns

Coffee is bought and sold 4 to 6 times before it finally reaches the consumer who drinks it.
There are five basic coffee characteristics all of which affect our senses: fragrance, aroma, taste, aftertaste, and body.
Ever wonder why the price of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is so expensive? It is the rarest specialty coffee, and the Japanese buy up most of the 100,000 pounds of this coffee produced annually.
The size of the coffee bean has no relationship to its taste or aroma although the coffee industry usually considers a larger bean a good or premium grade.
If you enjoy iced coffee at home, you might pour some coffee into ice trays and freeze them to use in your iced coffee drinks. This will prevent your iced coffee beverage from getting watered down as the ice melts. If you use milk in your coffee, you might try making milk ice cubes as an alternative.
During the summer, more folks turn to iced coffee drinks as a refreshing way to beat the heat. Though most iced coffee sales still occur in Europe and Pacific Rim countries, they have continued to catch on in the United States.
There is a difference between the body and the strength of coffee. The body is a measure of how much richness (heaviness) in the coffee's taste while the strength is actually how much coffee is in the brew.
Your coffee may taste differently at various elevations because taste buds are more sensitive at sea level than at higher elevations.
The strength and texture of a coffee is called its body.
Of the hundreds of Italian-style syrups available on the market, the nut-flavored ones are generally the best taste match for espresso style drinks. Choose the fruit-flavored ones for specialty sodas or steamers.
Like vanilla flavoring and sugar in your coffee? You can try making your own vanilla sugar. Bury sliced vanilla beans in sugar for a few days, and you will have a tasty, vanilla sweetener that will last for months at room temperature.
A good test for freshness of a coffee is to actually bite into a bean. If it has a crisp bite and a strong, full-flavored aftertaste, it is fresh. However, if it is chewy or bitter, it is not.
Italy has nearly ¼-million coffee houses and the government has been known to regulate the price of espresso because it is considered an essential element of life in the country.
Operators of espresso vending carts face different health regulations depending upon the city ordinances in effect where they set up.
Coffee is a chemically complex substance. There are over 1,200 chemical components in coffee and over half of these contribute to the unique flavor of coffee.
Flavored syrup preferences vary from city to city and region to region. At Wild Goats, the favorite flavored syrups are vanilla, hazelnut, and caramel.
Some studies show almost a 30% increase in alertness after only a few sips of coffee.
As a dairy substitute in espresso drinks, try a 1:2 mixture of soy milk and rice milk. The soy milk provides the texture and the rice milk adds the flavor.
There are more than 1,000 chemical components in a single coffee bean. It is the combination of many of these components that provide the flavor and aroma of any particular coffee.

GRAGSON'S COFFEE TIPS

MISCELLANEOUS

Although Kenya's coffee is some of the world's best, Kenyans drink their tea crop, but sell all of their coffee crop.

True Viennese coffee is sweetened with dried figs.

Middle Eastern coffee drinking etiquette requires the highest ranking person to be served first, the oldest second, and men usually before women.

If you've never tried a toddy, you are missing a treat. Toddy is a cold-brewed coffee which minimizes the acidness. Mix it with chocolate syrup and ice, and you have a delicious iced chocolate toddy. This is a mellow tasting drink with the punch of a triple latte.

Ever tasted coffee that has sat around long after it was brewed? The taste of this coffee is generally briny. Some folks taste it as salty, others as burnt. Either way, it is not a pleasant experience when you are used to a quality cup of coffee.

Pastries with coffee are a common combination these days. The tradition comes from Austria.

For an after dinner treat, try your coffee with rum, Tia Maria, or Kahlúa. Fruit liqueurs also go well with coffee as does Scotch or Irish whiskey or American bourbon.

If you or your guests like chocolate, try serving your coffee with a square of chocolate on the saucer which can either be eaten separately or added to the coffee as one prefers.

Though there are some good methods of decaffeination (e.g., Swiss or European water methods), many others add chemicals with unknown effects on the body and that adversely effect the flavor of the coffee.

Wonder what to do with those leftover coffee grounds? Use them as compost in your garden or sprinkle them around your plants. Or, believe it or not, you might even try using them as deodorant or antiseptic.

Cinnamon sticks are commonly used in Italy for stirrers with coffee. Cardamom however is the spice of choice in Arabian states and is often used directly in the brewing process.

San Francisco has developed into a major center of specialty coffee because for many years it served as a first port of entry for coffee from both Asia and Central and South America.

Bedouins in the Middle East often make their coffee using half-roasted beans and adding cardamom. The spice gives the drink a yellowish appearance and sweet taste. Because of the lightly roasted beans, the coffee would taste weak by American standards.

Whatever cup or mug you use to drink your coffee, be sure to heat it first with hot water. Pour in hot water, cover, and remove the water just before pouring in your coffee. This ensures your coffee will stay hot longer.

Contrary to popular opinion, much of the canned coffee in the U.S. is not Robusta beans, but rather lower grade Arabica beans. However, it is nonetheless far more stale and far less flavorful than freshly roasted specialty coffees made from the highest grade Arabica beans.

For great coffee, the key word is "fresh." Your coffee will be best when it is freshly roasted, freshly ground, and freshly brewed.

Second only to Brazil in coffee production, Colombian coffees account for 15% of world production. The best Colombian coffees grow in the Andes at altitudes of 4200 feet or more. The highest grade of coffee from this country is Supremo.

A true Turkish coffee cup is a very small china cup (smaller than a demitasse cup) with no handle or metal holder, often cylindrical rather than round, and holds two ounces of coffee at most.

Hot coffee in Greece is served sweet and thick made in a briki, a version of the Arabic ibrik, and often served with Greek pastries. In the Greek kafe or kafeneia, one orders coffee by naming the degree of sweetness corresponding to how much sugar is to be added.

If you ever notice oily droplets floating on the top of the coffee you are drinking, you will know that the coffee has been either overroasted or improperly brewed.

With each cup of coffee you drink, you get about 10% of the U.S. recommended daily requirement of niacin.

If you are going to buy a flip-drip pot, look for stainless steel instead of aluminum to avoid metallic interactions with coffee acids. Also, get one that has a heatproof handle so you won't burn yourself.

In packaging of coffee, looks do not count. There is no substitute for buying whole beans roasted in the last week stored away from air, light, and heat, and packed simply in a plastic bag than can be sealed. At Wild Goats, this is what you will find! Simple, but effective.

Since your body will only absorb 300 mg of caffeine at any given time, for some variety you might try a decaf coffee after you've had your first morning cups of caffeinated coffee.

Although caffeine does affect flavor, it is however difficult for even the coffee connoisseur to distinguish between a caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee of the same type and roast.

Caffeine contributes to the flavor of coffee, and the darker the roast, the less caffeine in the cup.

Concerned about your caffeine consumption? Try making your own 50/50 blend. For example, if you drink Sumatra Mandheling, mix it equally with Sumatra Mandheling Decaf before grinding and brewing.

The serving of your coffee is every bit as important as the brewing. Clean everything from your brewer to your cups with a mixture of baking soda and water.

Milk contains lactose (a sugar) and casein (a protein) that when added to coffee lessen its bitterness.

The FDA requires that brewed decaffeinated coffee have 0.3 percent or less (that is 1 to 5 mg per 6 oz. cup) caffeine. This compares to 100 mg caffeine in a 6 oz. cup of caffeinated coffee.

When you travel you may notice differences in the taste of your coffee simply from the altitude at which you are located. Apparently, human taste buds are less sensitive at higher altitudes than at sea level.

Milk adds a film to the lining of the stomach and slows caffeine absorption into the bloodstream.

Even coffee tasting experts find it quite difficult to determine the difference between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.

What is coffee's thirst-quenching ability? Here is a rank ordering according to some scientists: (1) plain water, (2) club soda, (3) iced tea, (4) COFFEE, (5) diet cola, (6) presweetened Kool-Aid®, (7) beer, (8) ginger ale, and (9) milk.

Though it is better to seal all coffee (whole bean and ground) in an air-tight container and store at room temperature, be absolutely sure not to freeze espresso beans. Because of the darkness of the roast, the oil on the surface of these beans can congeal and ruin the flavor.

Rather than using a spoonful or a packet of sugar to sweeten your coffee, you might try making a sugar syrup. Simmer equal amounts of sugar and water for 5 minutes while stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. Cool, cover, and store in the refrigerator.

The process used to brew coffee extracts nearly 100% of the caffeine content of the coffee beans. However, the process for making espresso only extracts about 65% of the caffeine content. The remaining caffeine is thus thrown out with the grounds.

Coffee can help offset the sweetness in baked goods and it matches well with chocolate in particular. The simplest way to enjoy this is to eat a piece of chocolate cake accompanied with a black, unsweetened espresso.

Ever wonder why that cup of decaf seems to keep you awake at night? The FDA requires that coffee labeled "decaffeinated" have no more than 0.3% caffeine content, but that might still be up to 12 milligrams of caffeine for a 12-oz. mug.

When mixing desserts and coffees, the more plain the dessert, the lighter the roast of the coffee you may want to accompany it. Espresso goes well with richer desserts and lighter roasted coffees with less rich desserts.

The way to become a better judge of blended coffees is to try blending on your own. Get a supply of the two or three roasted coffees you enjoy most and vary the proportions of the beans making notes as you go. You may be amazed at your experience.

Since coconuts are more common than cows in the Caribbean, you might find that you would use coconut milk instead of cow's milk to add to your morning coffee.

Organic coffee is grown without insecticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers and growth regulators.

According to an Entrepreneur magazine article last year, in 1989 there were 200 specialty coffee shops in the United States. In 1995, that number had grown to about 5,000. Projections for the year 2000 are for 10,000.

There are over 15,000 already today in Tokyo alone. The Japanese have quite a taste for fine coffees.

How important is coffee in the lives of people? Enough so that one of every 175 people on the planet are employed in the coffee industry. No wonder coffee is the second largest export next to oil!

Compare caffeine levels:

Single (1-1/2 oz.) shot of espresso

80-150 milligrams

12 oz. cup of coffee

200-275 milligrams

12 oz. can of caffeinated soda pop

37- 53 milligrams

Chocolate candy bar

80 milligrams

2 aspirins

50-130 milligrams

Ever wonder from where the name cappuccino came? It is thought to have been derived from the chocolate color of the Capuchin monks' robes and/or hoods, the color of which is copied in the foamed milk atop this espresso drink.

Costa Rica is noted for its consistency in processing its coffees, and, as a result, has earned the nickname the Switzerland of coffee-producing countries.

The best way to store whole or ground coffee is in a zip-lock bag with as much air removed as possible. Then insert the bag into a dark, airtight container. This keeps the coffee away from both air and light as much as possible. Store the coffee at room temperature.

The Italian word for milk is latte. If you ask for a latte in Italy, you will get a glass of milk. To get the espresso drink made with foamed, steamed milk, you would need to ask for a caffé latte.

If you are unable to use dairy products due to allergies but still want a latte or prefer "cream" added to your coffee, try 1/3 soy milk (for foaming and texture) to 2/3 rice milk (for flavor).

In a study of over 20,000 people, a Harvard researcher found that regular coffee drinkers have about 1/3 fewer asthmatic symptoms than people who do not drink coffee.

In the early 1990s, U.S. consumers bought only 12% of their coffee in whole bean form for home use. Today this number may be twice as high as consumers have become more conscious of freshness and quality in their home brewing processes.

Ever notice you have some increased alertness even before you finish your first cup of coffee in the morning? Apparently, increased alertness can occur with as little as 30 mg of caffeine which is equivalent to 20-35% of that first 12 oz. mug of your morning coffee you enjoy.

In Europe, the highest quality coffee and highest coffee consumption is found in Finland. The lowest quality coffee and lowest coffee consumption is found in Great Britain and Italy. Scandinavians consume 26.4 pounds of coffee per capita per year compared to 10 pounds for Italy.

When using milk with your coffee or espresso, you might consider the following provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Information is for one cup or 8 ounces of milk.)

Whole milk

7.7

150

46

2% milk

4.9

121

37

1% milk

2.4

102