Is There Really Any Decaf Coffee?

I had to switch to decaf recently. The caffeine was making me too wired and I didn’t want to give up on the good things coffee brings to me. But guess what? After several cups, I was hyped up again.

Why Does Decaf Coffee Give You the Jitters?

Decaf coffee is not always completely caffeine free—there’s often trace amounts of caffeine in every cup.

I think this is good news.

Instead of drinking ten cups of decaf coffee—because you will, you know you will—drink one piping hot cup of caffeinated coffee. Drink fully and enjoy. Then be certain to drink water, eat frequently and healthfully, and exercise. Don’t be like those people who have diet drinks all day. Diet drinks are bad for you, especially if that is all you drink. Have one regular soda and enjoy it, really taste it. Then move on with your life.

The only thing we should be drinking all day long is water. Let all the other drinks be a small but wonderful gift we give to ourselves once or twice a day. It is far better to drink one or two cups of caffeinated coffee (far, far, far better), then to drink one cup of decaf after the next.

You will enjoy it all the more!

3 Reasons College Students Should Become Coffee Drinkers

Lauren’s goal is to make finding a Student Credit Card easy to those in and out of college.

Everyday, over two billion people drink coffee all over the world. A lot of people believe that coffee is beneficial to one’s health and well-being. That’s why as college students, coffee should be included in your diet.

Here are three good reasons why college students should become coffee drinkers:

1. Coffee improves brain function.

Did you know that coffee is actually a good fuel for the brain? Since it contains caffeine, coffee is considered as a very good stimulant. It helps stimulate the brain, making you feel more alert. If you drink coffee in the morning, you would notice how easily you can concentrate on your classes. If you feel tired in the afternoon after a lot of school work and club meetings, why not grab a cup of hot or iced coffee so you will feel more energized and ready to face the rest of the day? When you have exams coming up and you need to study so many things, the secret is to drink coffee at night so you can stay as late as you can to finish reading your notes and references. A student who drinks coffee will be able to focus on his studies better compared to someone who doesn’t.

2. Coffee is rich in antioxidants.

Did you know that aside from caffeine, coffee is a rich source of anti-oxidants? Anti-oxidants are compounds that help fight free radicals in your body, which are known to cause cancer. Free radicals also cause a lot of cardiovascular diseases and they also lead to wrinkles and faster skin aging. Coffee also contains quinine. Quinine is another compound that increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin. If the body contains quinine, it can absorb insulin better, thus, reducing the risk of diabetes. Coffee also helps reduce the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. In fact, research has shown that 80% of people who drink at least two cups of coffee a day reduce their risk of Parkinson’s disease. It also reduces risks of Alzheimer’s disease by 60%. In a way, drinking coffee helps boost your immune system so that you can be protected from many forms of harmful diseases. A college student like you has to be fit and healthy since you have tons of work to do!

3. Coffee helps reduce weight.

Aside from its positive effects on the brain and body, coffee also helps reduce weight. Caffeine increases the metabolism process of the body. If metabolism takes place fast, weight is reduced faster. A lot of weight loss pills contain caffeine. So if you want to lose some weight or maintain your figure, then coffee is perfect for you!

Although coffee is considered both good and bad, it definitely has a lot of great perks! Not to mention, having a cup or two before that test can help keep you awake and functioning better!

Caffeine, Health, Literature, and a Longing for the Sacred

The Great Connection Between Literature and Caffeine

So, we all remember the great German novelist, poet, playwright and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, right?  Well, believe or not, he had a hand in the discovery of caffeine. In The 100 Most Important Chemical Compounds (p. 56), Myers discusses this discovery.

On one fateful day, Goethe visited a lab where Runge (a German chemist and physician) was working. After witnessing Runge dilate the eye of a cat with a substance he removed from a nightshade plant, “Goethe awarded Runge with a sample of rare coffee beans and challenged him to determine the compound that gave coffee its stimulating effects. After several months, Runge isolated caffeine from coffee in 1819.”

Caffeine has Quite the Family

Caffeine is an alkaloid. Alkaloids occur in nature in both plants and animals. Cocaine, morphine, and caffeine are all examples of alkaloids. The color, of most alkaloids, is white and the taste is bitter, as is with the alkaloid caffeine. As stated in The World of Caffeine (p. xx), “Many alkaloids present a double face, exhibiting both poisonous and curative properties.” It then comes as no surprise that coffee, in the early days, was used as a medicine.

What Caffeine Really Does

In An Orchard Invisible (p. 161), Silvertown tells us what caffeine really does. In our body, there is a natural substance that builds up in us throughout the day causing us to relax. This natural substance is called adenosine and it eventually puts us to bed. I sum up the process like this: caffeine is like a bouncer who won’t let adenosine in the club. Inside the club is the central nervous system, and caffeine isn’t going to let adenosine in to ruin the party. Caffeine keeps the club (nervous system) nice and hype. Well, for while anyway. Caffeine does not stay in the body for long.

Caffeine and Your Heart: Literally & Figuratively

As stated above, caffeine does stimulate the nervous system but it does not stay in the body for long. It does raise blood pressure, but as stated in an article entitled “The Caffeine Advantage” in Men’s Health, those who drink coffee on a regular basis have half the chance of dying from heart failure as non-coffee drinkers. The article also says, according to Harvard researchers, there are some advantages to drinking caffeinated coffee in regards to preventing Parkinson’s disease as well as diabetes. Just lay off the sugar and take care if you are someone who is sensitive to caffeine or has high blood pressure

I have to admit that my favorite discussion on the benefits of caffeine came to me from Stairways to Heaven (p. 136) which states that “coffee has a ritual element” and finishes that thought with these wonderful words:

This ritual element helps lift persons out of their workaday mind-sets and prepares them to embrace the “finer” things in life. The physiological effects of caffeine consumption, no less than the set or setting, also help produce a Zen-like “fresh way of seeing things.” Enhanced mental alertness and increased sensory alertness combine to help us appreciate new dimensions or an added richness to what are otherwise ordinary experiences. Few Americans consume coffee in social or ritual contexts that might transform their experiences into one of quite the same spiritual magnitude as Zen Buddhism’s satori. Yet by the hundreds of thousands they have found coffee drinking to be crucial to such spiritual activities as flowing conversation, intimate readings, and intellectual discovery. And in this sense these Americans have found that coffee, in a matter at least approximating Zen satori, is capable of awakening them to the fact that the sacred (i.e., what is precious, truly important, intrinsically worthwhile) is in the here and now of everyday life if we can but learn to see it.

And I think that sums up an article about caffeine in a way I could never even attempt.

So, go forth and enjoy your coffee.

Reference List

Bealer, B & Weinberg, B 2001, The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug, Routledge, NY, p. xx.

Myers, R 2007, One Hundred Most Important Chemical Compounds, Greenwood Press, CT, p. 56.

Fuller, R 2000, Stairways to Heaven: Drugs in American Religious History, Westview Press, Colorado, p 136.

Griffin, L March 2008, ‘The Caffeine Advantage,’ Men’s Health, pp. 102-104.

Silvertown, J 2009, An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. 161.