Coffee

[aresian]

So many abuse it but do we really know where it comes from? I know where my home brews come from at least from the package of coffee beans to my cup of brew. I've read some about coffee plantations and seen the process of how they harvest and cure the bean for consumption. It's pretty cool actually and of all the processing things for all the plants I just feel that coffee is rather interesting. Although I'm not sure what they do with the fruit part of it not much else really gets wasted so much. That being said. I do love fresh ground coffee and seek to find whole beans so I can at least know what I'm getting from that point. I don't like buying coffee, although I have to admit I've been in need enough to drive through somewhere for convenience and I go to Caribou Coffee when I feel like it.

Homemade is awesome though and definitely the best for your buck. The way I make it is really strong and just the way a caffeine fiend like me likes it.

I consume an ounce shot of espresso potency I make and that keeps well for me for a good 8 hours. My body tends to not need to keep up the caffeine intake it just uses the initial boost to wake up. I like it but admittedly I only consume coffee once in a long while (once a week maybe). It is a stimulant and has the affect of high-blood pressure, greater likely hood of anxiety, irritability, and gastrointestinal (stomach cramps and possible diarrhea when consumed in extremely large dosages. Even when I consumed one cup a day for a week I was finding myself experiencing higher blood pressure, irritability, and "jittery" behavior. That was when I forgot and drank soda pops throughout the day. I'm just giving a warning that caffeine is addictive and a powerful stimulant.

Coffee though when consumed moderately has a number of anti-oxidizing affects. It has an amount of protein and a small amount of caffeine tends to help with those whose bodies may have difficulty "starting." When used in moderation, from my experience, it has worked well and I find I do not need even my ADHD medicines because I have the stimulation to keep me on track. Also it depends what else you put in your coffee. I enjoy tea a lot more because I can put lemon and honey in it but with coffee I used to need sugar. I don't like cream in the coffee but it is really bitter. It worked for when I was working long hours and it was around.

I'm so going to write up an article on tea as well but I have to get going for now.

[aoz]

an interesting tidbit on coffee: due to caffination it increases estrogen levels, and also contains phytoestrogens, which are plant estrogens, a chemical that makes a weak bond with estrogen receptors. So even decaf coffee has some estrogenic activity.

[aresian]

Well, thank the goddess then I drink it in moderation. Of course isn't that key to so many of the substances we put into our bodies? At correct levels of moderation we rarely get any problems even if I drink one cup with processed sugar in it it still shouldn't be as harmful for me as say a single glass of soda pop. Ah, another beverage to discuss if I haven't already.

[aoz]

I always liked the story of how coffee was discovered as a stimulant.....a few Egyptian goat-herders supposedly watched their goats grazing on coffee cherries and within a half hour the goats were leaping around bleating and in all sorts of general merriment.....

Animals seem to have beat us to every drug we use....

[aresian]

Yeah, I heard something about monkeys eating certain fermented fruit on purpose to get drunk in the wild. There is another one.

[aoz]

yeah, I read about that once. In china if you find a hollow tree trunk with fruit stashed in it (intentionally placed there to ferment by monkeys) you can bring it to a market and fetch a good price, as it's considered a delecacy.

Macaws also eat decaying fruit to get drunk. And elephants have broken into breweries and drank all the stock. Some of them went into rampage mode while others got extremely affectionate....reminds me of people.

Deer will eat psilocibin shrooms.

and sharks will swim into caves fed by freshwater and get a narcotic effect from the brackish mixture.

And in Australia kangaroos get high from eating poppies...

Humans aren't the only ones that like altering consciousness by far

[Alice]

There should still be some videos on YouTube of a variety of animals getting drunk on the fruits of a particular tree which tends to ferment on the ground after it falls. Drunk elephants are amusing.

There was, to expand a point mentioned, a story about crop circles becoming a major phenomenon in a certain area in Australia, where there is a great deal of Poppy production. The farmers were coming out every morning and finding perfect circles of crushed Poppies.

Obviously they were rather upset by this. Poppies are more lucrative than Corn. Someone had the idea to set up hidden cameras overnight and find out who was responsible.

What they saw the next morning was kangaroos coming out into the field and eating Poppy flowers. When the narcotic effects set in, the kangaroos began hopping in little circles before finally falling over and twitching in the middle. By morning, they were sober and long gone.

I don't like the effect Coffee has on me. I'll take a little, mixed to around 10% with Chocolate, when I have to get up really early; but it makes me twitchy and jittery all day.

May you find what you seek,
Alice