Is Instant Coffee Bad for Your Health?
Instant coffee has obvious benefits: It’s usually cheaper than ground or bean coffee, and it’s quicker and easier to prepare. Not everything about instant coffee is good, though. When it comes to your health, instant coffee also has pros and cons.
The main 2 pros for instant coffee are ;
Lower Cholesterol
Instant coffee has less cafestol than coffee made in a French press or Turkish coffee, according to the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. Cafestol is a substance that can increase cholesterol. Both instant coffee and filtered coffee prepared in an automatic coffeemaker contain very small amounts of cafestol. If you already have high cholesterol or a family history of heart disease, instant coffee is a better choice than French-press or Turkish coffee.
Lower Caffeine Content
Instant coffee is lower in caffeine than brewed coffee. That’s not true for all brands, but you might be able to find instant coffee with as little as 27 mg of caffeine per serving with a serving equalling 1 tsp. A cup of generic brewed coffee has a minimum of 95 mg of caffeine.
Against these benefits are the high levels of toxic compounds
Instant coffee is high in acrylamide, a chemical compound that has been shown to cause cancer in animals. According to the Food and Drug Administration, acrylamide can also cause nerve damage. It happens naturally in certain foods during high-temperature heating. The presence of acrylamide in food wasn’t discovered until 2002 so scientists still don’t know the full extent of its dangers. The amount of acrylamide is measured in ppb, or parts-per-billion. Certain brands and types of instant coffee have very high amounts, compared with ground coffee. One popular brand of instant coffee contains 458 ppb, compared to only 13 ppb in their traditional coffee variety.
By Tammy Dray – Jan 2015

Up for auction - genuine vintage and antique coffee memorabilia

We all know coffee is a consumable item and to some a product of craft, but for others the interest extends to label design and packaging. From splashy colours and intricate hand drawings to clean minimalist lines, coffee packaging design is an important element in selling ones product.

There is today a somewhat artistic curiosity of past designs and labelling of products, earlier this year a fascinating auction took place in a New York based auction house - Weiss Auctions.

Barbara Shindler, co-owner of US Coffee had announced in June 2017 that she is auctioning thousands of pieces of genuine vintage and antique, coffee packaging, advertising materials and other commercial memorabilia from her extensive collection that she with her late husband, Lowell Shindler, the founder of US Coffee, had collected over 35 years.  Doug Shindler, co-owner of US Coffee said, “This is a very exciting auction of what is probably the largest collection of privately owned coffee advertising.” 

The first roughly 76 coffee-related lots were auctioned in June 2017 at Weiss Auctions on Long Island; Phil Weiss of Weiss Auctions confirmed that the auction will be part 1 of what could be 10 or more sales in all, considering the sheer abundance of stuff. With other auctions planned for later this year and going on into 2018.

British Coffee Association Launches First Sustainability Mission

The British Coffee Association has for the first time established a sustainability committee, today publishing its sustainability mission that outlines primary objectives toward providing a platform for a more sustainable UK coffee industry.

BCA membership represents many of the largest coffee companies in the UK, and much like the National Coffee Association of the United States; it has primarily to this point concerned itself with economic and regulatory issues.

The BCA said the new sustainability committee’s initial report is the first of its kind in the UK in setting industry-wide sustainability objectives. The initial publication is a rallying call, of sorts, encouraging BCA members throughout the UK coffee sector to engage in or more actively build upon collaborative and pre-competitive sustainability efforts.

Co-chaired by Krisztina Szalai from Taylors of Harrogate and Victoria Moorhouse from Costa Coffee, the committee’s initial report outline three broad goals:

·         Improving environmental sustainability of the coffee industry

·         Enhancing social responsibility across the supply chain

·         Driving measures that improve the economic viability of coffee production

Toward those goals, the group has outlined three priority focus areas:

·         Working towards a circular economy for the UK coffee industry

·         Driving responsible sourcing practices that enhance existing standards

·         Improving the long-term resilience of coffee farmers at origin

Credits to Nick Brown | September 21, 2017

Tom Hanks has explained why he donated an espresso machine to the press corps at Donald Trump's White House, continuing a personal tradition which dates back to 2004, in an effort to help reporters "keep up the good fight for truth, justice and the American Way".

Speaking on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Hollywood star said: "I've done that for Democrats and Republican administrations because those poor b******* need coffee."

The show's host replied: "I think this president might be keeping them up anyway."

The machine was accompanied with a typewritten note, addressed "to the White House Press Corps" and urging them to keep up the "good fight... especially for the truth part".

It was the third time the Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump and Toy Story actor has made such a gift. He first made a donation when touring the White House under George Bush's presidency in 2004, professing himself baffled at the lack of a decent coffee machine in the press room.

Returning in 2010 during Barack Obama’s first term in office, he reportedly asked: “How is it holding up? Do you need another one? I’m going to get you another espresso machine…. Let me see what I can do for the poor slobs of the Fourth Estate here.” 

PROMOTION / COMPETITION

‘Caer Urfa Arabica Blend’ – a unique blend of coffee hand roasted to perfection.
How to play

Answer the 10 questions below correctly and you could win
A FREE
250g bag of Caer Urfa’s Arabica Blend – wow!!

Write to us with your answers to www.caerurfacoffee.co.uk – found on our web page
With your Name / address (for delivery) / and stipulate beans or ground
We assure you that you will not receive any advertising from us except maybe a Christmas card.

Competition runs until the 16th October 2017

To view our T&C’s please visit www.caerurfacoffee.co.uk – coffee notes – Promotion / Competition T&C’s

Question 1
What language did the word 'coffee' evolve from?

Question 2
Who was the inventor of instant coffee in 1901?

Question 3
In the 17th century, France met and was charmed by coffee. Who was responsible for the introduction of the beverage in France?

Question 4
Grown primarily in a two-mile strip of land on an island, this uncommon ground is commonly worshipped as "kona." From which "big island" does this coffee waft?

Question 5
The international growth of coffee consumption is usually attributed to Arab influence spreading it throughout the Ottoman Empire to Europe, thence to Indonesia and the Americas during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In what country are coffee plants thought to have originated?

Question 6
What European people were responsible for introducing coffee to the European market?

Question 7
What color is a ripe coffee bean?

Question 8
In 1907, one country was recorded as producing 97% of the total world production of coffee. Which country was it?

Question 9
Coffee is greatly affected by the area in which it is grown and some varieties are more exceptional than others. With that in mind where would the blend called 'Blue Mountain' hail from?

Question 10
We all know that coffee is made from coffee beans. What kind of plant produces coffee beans?
Is it
1. Deciduous trees
2. Evergreen shrubs
3. Vines
4. Palm trees

Credits for the questions goes to -
www.funtrivia.com

www.caerurfacoffee.co.uk

While coffee can’t grow in Great Britain, it can most certainly be roasted here.

There’s nothing like freshly roasted coffee it tastes great, and with the help of the internet, there is no reason why you can’t have it delivered.

Here’s a few reasons why.

About roasting

Coffee can be roasted in such a way that a good roaster can bring out different flavours, exceptional nuances and intriguing tastes.

Coffee roasting isn’t just a case of shoving some beans in an oven and setting a timer. If done well, it’s a finely honed art that takes months to get right.

Specialist coffee tasters and coffee roasters obsess over the finer details so that they can bring you the most amazing range of coffee.

Small batch roasting.

Small batch roasting is the antithesis of mass-produced, mass-roasted, generic flavour coffee.

We believe as a UK specialty coffee roaster, by roasting in small batches and using our senses of smell, sight and sound we are able to bring out the flavours of each bean creating a coffee that’s has a fantastic aroma and that tastes delicious.

Coffee roasting to order

The fresher the roasting, the better your coffee - One of the best ways to make the most of British coffee roasters’ skills is to use their roasting-to-order services.

Whole bean or ground

Whilst buying your freshly roasted coffee in bean form and then grinding it yourself for same-day freshness is the ideal situation, the majority of people simply don’t have their own coffee bean grinders, although good quality grinders are getting cheaper.

Like us at Caer Urfa Coffee most UK coffee roasters will let you choose whether you want it whole bean or ground, and then what grind setting you’d like i.e. extra fine for espresso.

Here is a roundup of the benefits of buying from UK coffee roasters:

• Freshly roasted and usually delivered to you within a week or ordering

• You can choose the grind setting you want delivered

• A huge and ever changing range of flavours with unique nuances

• Supporting British industry

• Most UK roasters ensure their suppliers in poor countries are paid a living wage

• Often organic and Fairtrade

• High quality, small batch
  

Lighter roasts are better for flavour and health.
According to new research in the Journal of Food Medicine a study has been conducted that supports claims that lighter roasted coffee has more beneficial health properties than dark roast.
A group of scientists in Korea examined “the nutritional effects of roasting times on Arabica beans.” To do this, the scientists roasted 200g of Brazil Ipanema Euro Natural coffee to four different roast levels: light, medium, city, and French. Roast times ranged from 8:00 to 11:33 minutes, with loss percentages between 11.5% and 23.2%. The roasted coffee was then used to brew an espresso shot which was analyzed for caffeine and total phenolic compound content.
The researchers found that the levels of caffeine—whose health benefits have been extensively supported—remained mostly unchanged across roast levels. However there was a drastic decrease in chlorogenic acid compounds and antioxidant activity in darker roasts. Chlorogenic acid is responsible for coffee’s anti-inflammatory properties,therefore dark roasted coffee is less beneficial in this regard than light roasts.
So is light roasted coffee better for you? Science thinks so. It’s nice to have scientific backing for our belief at Caer Urfa Coffee that a lighter roast is better not just for taste profile but also for its health benefits Which is why we always strive to produce lighter hand roasted Arabica coffees from around the world.