Enjoy your morning coffee while you can. As a new report by Lina Zeldovich of Quartz notes, your caffeine supply faces “an existential threat” from fungi, beetles and climate change. It’s a rather eye-opening examination of the problems faced by the coffee industry, where half the land needed for production could disappear by 2050. But the biggest problem might be diversity (or lack thereof) in the beans themselves. Most of the beans we like are produced by just one plant species, known as Coffee arabica. First discovered in Ethopia, C. arabica can be grown pretty much anywhere, but its uniformity means it may have lost important disease-resistant traits. So scientists are actually hunting down wild coffee species (there are up to 125 non-domesticated species) and sequencing the...
Coffee is certainly the first drink of choice for a majority of people around the world. Being an epitome of caffeine source, most working people resort to a cup of coffee when it comes to plodding through tiresome projects late at night. Even the youth is not behind! And why not? Caffeine is a stimulant that, when consumed in adequate amounts, is known to give a boost to focus and alertness. But coffee itself comes in various varieties, each with its unique taste as well as a different price depending upon its quality. One of the most sought-after is the Blue Mountain Coffee or Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. What is the Blue Mountain Coffee? Simply stated, Blue Mountain Coffee is...
There are many questions than answers these days about the pros and cons of the caffeine that is found in many drinks, especially in coffee. Coffee has been around for hundreds of years and was first developed as a common, cultural beverage in the Middle East. Over time, coffee grown into an international preferred hot drink used to complement other foods. However, Caffeine, which is one of the major ingredients of coffee, has attracted so many debates among the people. What is caffeine exactly? Caffeine is found in different plants and majorly works as a pesticide. Precisely, it is a naturally-occurring pesticide that kills the insects that try to feed on those plants. Caffeine is generally toxic to most insects....
A hot cup of coffee is often a good approach to warm up the stomach early in the morning. It helps to rejuvenate the mind and prepare the body for the work of the day. In fact, hot coffee is very popular among the average working people across the world. To this extent, people used to hot coffees never thought it could be otherwise. You’d definitely be amazed to hear that a coffee can be brewed cold! The truth be told, a cold coffee is as good as a hot one. In fact, it also gives almost the same caffeine boost in the body system. Many people think that cold brewing is never possible because brewing coffee requires a particular...
Does a cancer risk lurk in your morning cup of coffee? Many coffee addicts are skeptical about a California judge's recent ruling requiring cancer warnings on coffee purchased within the state. The ruling came after an eight-year legal struggle by the Council for Education and Research on Toxics. The not-for-profit took the coffee industry to court under a California law that requires warnings if chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects are present. Coffee-roasting creates a chemical byproduct called acrylamide that's a carcinogen; it's found in many foods that are cooked. CERT fought a similar legal battle over potato chips several years ago, and the industry agreed to remove the chemical. Many coffee and healthcare professionals, oppose the court's...
