Batangas Coffee Organic Soap
Batangas coffee is my coffee of choice. It has a very bold flavor which makes many other blends pale in comparison. Unsurprisingly, I have only used this coffee for drinking purposes. To my delight, however, I discovered another use for Batangas coffee. Last month, a colleague of mine went around the office selling organic soaps, and guess what? She had something made of Batangas coffee!
The manufacturer is called Cycleina and they specialize in all sorts of organic soap. I have actually used a lot of their other varieties (flavors, if you will) but nothing has made me more satisfied than their Batangas coffee one. The soap bar is square shaped and not too thick. The best thing about it is that it has coffee grounds incorporated into the bar. The result is silky smooth skin because the grounds serve as a gentle exfoliant!
Seriously, I do not even have to use my loofah anymore when I use this soap when taking a shower. I am not so sure about its effectiveness as a facial soap – I am a bit iffy about using it as I am particular when it comes to facial products – but I do not see any serious problems with it. My bar is now gone, and I need to stock up. Oh, the best thing about it is it’s so cheap! Less than 2 dollars for one bar of sheer happiness! I wish they made lotions in the same variety. That would complete the bath set, wouldn’t it?
What’s Up With Slimming Coffees?
About two weeks ago, a friend of mine gave me a box of “coffee.” She said that she’d been drinking the stuff for a week and it helped her lose weight. Naturally, I couldn’t say no to that!
I did try the coffee and I think that if I had continued to drink it on a regular basis, I would have shed some pounds. However, I can’t get rid of the habit of going straight to the espresso machine the moment I get out of bed. As a result, I keep forgetting to drink the slimming coffee.
What’s this coffee all about anyway? It seems that I have been hearing a lot about it but I am not really sure what it is. After all, everything is in Chinese! All I can say is that it doesn’t really taste like coffee – at least not the coffee that I drink. Even if you put only half a cup of water, the resulting mixture is a very pale brown and the flavor is very very strange.
I did notice that I lost my appetite when I drank the coffee – maybe that’s how it makes you lose weight. I also felt that I needed to drink lots of water all throughout the day because I had this dry feeling in my mouth. You know how you feel after walking under the blazing sun for hours? It’s similar to that but not exactly the same.
Now I really am curious as to what’s in these slimming coffees. Anyone know?
Drink Coffee And You Won’t Die
Alright, that title is quite exaggerated, I know; but I just read something on how coffee can actually help lessen your chances of dying. This is no joke.
Roy Edroso from Village Voice writes about a study that the Wall Street Journal recently published. To make the long story short, the study found out that the more you drink coffee, the less likely you are to die during the period you drink coffee. So let’s say that I drink 5 cups of coffee a day for the next 5 years. This means that my chances of dying in the next 5 years are going to decrease. Sounds good to me!
Of course, the study has a disclaimer – the word MAY. Every time I read a study on anything, the conclusion always includes that word: MAY. If so and so, you MAY so and so. It’s the same thing with this study, I guess.
As much as I love coffee, I know that there are adverse effects if I drink too much – I don’t need a doctor or a scientist to tell me that. More than 5 cups (sometimes even less) and I would need antacids to keep my stomach acidity at bay. I also have to admit that you do develop a dependency on caffeine after being used to taking it into your system regularly. Anything you’re addicted to can be bad…
So what’s the verdict? Chug down as much coffee as you can to lessen your chances of dying in 2010? I think not. I’ll stick to my 3-5 cups a day and see how it goes.
Protect Your Liver With Coffee
I bet you didn’t know that – I didn’t! I know how too much alcohol can damage one’s liver beyond repair, but I had never associated coffee with the liver. Then again, everything that we ingest goes through the liver so it makes sense.
Anyhow, a new study has found out that perhaps, coffee can help with the retardation of the damage on the liver caused by hepatitis C. This form of hepatitis is viral and can be contracted through infected needles, sexual activity, and mother to child. In a few cases, the virus does not cause much damage. However, in most cases, the infection stays and causes damage to the liver, including chronic inflammation, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), and even cancer of the liver.
So what exactly did this new study find out? According to the researchers, their subjects who drank at least three cups of coffee on a daily basis were more protected against the long term damages wrought by hepatitis C. The figures play around 53 percent. Reuters has more details:
Freedman’s team found that the risk of progression declined as patients’ coffee intake rose. Compared with those who were non-drinkers at the outset, patients who had one to three cups of coffee per day were 30 percent less likely to progress. Those who drank three or more cups each day had a 53 percent lower risk.
Again, as with most other studies, the researchers have a standard disclaimer that they need further studies and analysis to have conclusive results. Still, even if you don’t have hepatitis C, you have another reason to drink more coffee!
Coffee Poisons Harvard Lab Workers
I have heard people say that coffee is a drug but I haven’t heard of anything about it being a poison, have you? Ask the six Harvard lab workers and I am sure they will tell you just how poisonous coffee can be!
Apparently, in August, these lab workers drank some coffee from a machine which was located near their laboratory. Soon after, they had to be taken to the hospital due to symptoms such as dizziness and ringing in the ears. One of them even passed out. While they were released not long after, the incident prompted an investigation.
The results were released just yesterday, and they showed that the coffee in the machine was tainted with a chemical called sodium azide. This chemical is commonly used in laboratories as a preservative. They don’t know whether its presence was intentional or not.
So who cares about this piece of news? I do! And people who drink coffee from their office coffee machines should think twice as well! Whether you are talking about those instant coffee machines or machines that dispense brewed coffee, it always pays to make sure that what you are getting is safe and clean.
Come to think of it, though, the story is actually a bit funny. I am sure the workers don’t think so, but who would have thought that such a chemical would find its way into the coffee? Anyhow, next time you think of grabbing coffee from “just anywhere,” you might want to think twice.
Dutch “Coffee Shops” Gets Government Support
Every year, millions of tourists flock to The Netherlands. This European country has so much to offer its visitors, but perhaps of the most distinct features are the coffee shops that dot the city of Amsterdam. We all know, however, that while the coffee may be good, there is another reason altogether for people wanting to visit the shops.
Cannabis. Weed. Marijuana. Call it what you wish, but the well known Dutch coffee shops are places where one can buy and use cannabis at will. This practice has been going on for many decades, but lately, the government has been cracking down on it.
Many coffee shops have closed, and the supply of cannabis has been restricted. Police are more vigilant, some say oppressive. The rationale behind the move is that tourists clog the city with the purpose of visiting the coffee shops. The crime rate and other activities related to drug use and sales have escalated, which is of course not a good thing.
Naturally, this move did not sit well with most everyone involved in the industry. In a surprising twist of events, however, it seems that there are some people in the Dutch government who want to retain some of these coffee shops. A leaked report shows that some officials want to continue allowing these coffee shops, but only on a “members only” policy. This means that members can procure up to 3 grams of weed each. The means of payment has to be a Dutch bank card. The idea is to discourage tourists who go there for the sole purpose of buying weed, while allowing the locals to enjoy what they have always enjoyed.
Do you think this will solve their problems?
Aussie Doctors: Gulp Down More Java!
What do you do when you have been up for a day and a night working feverishly to finish a deadline and you still have 12 hours or so to go? Option number 1 – go to sleep, deadline be darned. Option number 2 – drink your favorite energy drink. Option number 3 – drink all the coffee that you can.
I would choose the first option if I could, but that is not always possible. If the Queensland Health Department is to be followed, though, doctors should just increase their caffeine intake if they find themselves in a similar situation. Based on a policy paper on fatigue risk management, Queensland Health proposed a plan for the “strategic use of caffeine” that will be “beneficial to doctors.”
Initial thoughts: I can’t believe they even considered the idea, much less wrote it down on paper! This is what the paper says:
“The recommended dosage for a prolonged and significant reduction in sleepiness during a night without sleep has been suggested at 400mg of caffeine… equivalent to about five to six cups of coffee.”
Now if they were talking about an office worker, maybe I wouldn’t be so befuddled. But they’re talking about doctors here – people who actually work to save lives! If they are exhausted, shouldn’t they get some rest instead of trying to keep going?
This is exactly what medical associations in Australia are saying:
“Lives are being put on the line, that’s why the AMA has repeatedly drawn attention to this, we’ve got to change the attitude, we’ve got to change the rostering.”
Well I hope they do something about it. We all love coffee but having your doctor see you (or operate on you!) while on a caffeine high is a scary thought!
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Green Coffee Can Help You Shed Pounds
Coffee has been touted as a weight loss aid for quite some time now. Scientific studies claim that coffee – pure black, that is – helps increase one’s metabolism, which in turn helps one lose weight. But have you heard of green coffee?
I don’t know if this is an offshoot of the green tea trend, but from what I have been reading, it might have potential. An Australian company is marketing a product called Coffee Shape Slimming Green Coffee. It is made from green coffee beans plus roasted coffee beans.
The idea is that green coffee beans have weight loss inducing properties that may not be found in the roasted variety. According to the manufacturers, the green coffee beans assist in reducing the sugar that is absorbed by the body, and instead turns the sugar into energy immediately. This also works to make your body look to stored fat for energy, resulting in weight loss.
Of course, the web site also has a pretty obvious disclaimer that the green coffee works best with regular intake, regular exercise, and a balanced diet. This is practically what every other diet pill and supplement out there has in fine writing.
Anyhow, if you are interested in trying this green coffee out, you can get it at Coffee Shape for $49.95 – about $3.45 per cup. I think that it’s a bit too expensive for me. Then again, it’s practically the same amount that you would spend at Starbucks – minus the calories, I suppose.
Iced Coffee For Lunch, Please!
I prefer hot coffee most of the time. Unless it is very hot and I need something to cool me down, you will not really find me downing a glass of iced coffee. But did you know that iced coffee can replace one of your meals? Yep, you can actually have iced coffee for lunch and not have to eat anything else!
According to the World Cancer Research Fund, certain iced coffees have as many calories as a full meal. Alright, get ready for this (courtesy of BBC):
The “venti” or largest version of Starbucks’ Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino, a limited offer for the summer, contains 561 calories – more than a quarter, WCRF notes, of a woman’s daily calorie intake.
Whoa! I never really think of calories when drinking coffee but this is crazy. Now how about if you choose the “healthier” alternative, like skimmed milk and such? This is what you get:
At Caffe Nero, the skimmed version of a Double Chocolate Frappe and a Mocha Frappe Latte contain 452 calories.
That’s still a lot isn’t it? Thinking about it now, I understand why I get so full off of a Starbucks mocha frappe. I don’t really get ventis – more like grandes – but I do not ask for skimmed milk and stuff like that.
Don’t despair, though. The same study shows that “basic” iced coffees contain much less calories. An iced Americano at Starbucks, for example, only has 11 calories while an iced latte with skimmed milk has 68. I guess we better stick to plain black coffee most of the time then, huh?
No Such Thing As Coffee Breath?
I seriously find this hard to believe. I mean, I would hardly admit to having bad breath (and, no I really don’t!) but you would know a coffee drinker by his breath if you stood close enough together, right?
According to Tel Aviv researcher Mel Rosenberg, an extract from coffee can actually kill the bacteria that lead to bad breath! Before you rejoice and start using coffee as mouthwash, I have to tell you that Rosenberg also has a disclaimer. He said that this extract is actually mixed in with the rest of the coffee. That is why what they are working on right now is to isolate this molecule that kills the bacteria that cause bad breath. Obviously, they have not been able to do this as of yet.
You can imagine the potential of this project though. Coffee-flavored mints? Coffee-flavored mouthwash?
In the meantime, we have to be realistic. It is highly unlikely that the coffee that we drink on a daily basis will serve as a bad breath bacteria killer. More so, Rosenberg also asserts that the common perception that coffee can cause bad breath is true. Here comes the bad news, guys…
Everybody thinks that coffee causes bad breath, and it’s often true, because coffee, which has a dehydrating effect in the mouth, becomes potent when mixed with milk, and can ferment into smelly substances.
Now that is why, as I sit and write, I can feel my mouth drying up from the two mugs of coffee that I have had so far. Needless to say, I shall be using Colgate and Listerine in a little bit.
