“Smell the roses. Smell the coffee. Whatever it is that makes you happy.”
Rita Moreno
What is your preferred hot beverage?
Some of us would have a popular malt chocolate beverage whereas some would prefer tea and the rest of us love coffee. Whether iced, with milk, with syrup or just by itself, every coffee drinker prefers coffee a certain way at different times during the day.
Just for you coffee lovers or the curious, here’s more to know about coffee.
- In Malaysia, a typical breakfast is a cup of kopi, half-boiled eggs and toast with butter and kaya. This is an ideal breakfast as long as you go easy on the butter and kaya. Eggs provide protein, vitamin D and vitamin B12 while the toast provides carbohydrates which gives you energy.
- Every region has their preferred way of making coffee. In Vietnam, their preferred brew is called ca phe sua made with a French drip filter where the dark and strong coffee is mixed with sweetened condensed milk.
- Kopi luwak (civet coffee) is actually a process where a civet eats coffee cherries and the cherries are then defecated and its faeces collected. This coffee is one of the most expensive coffees in the world and can reach prices five times higher than high quality local arabica coffee. The price of this coffee has caused civets to be farmed to make this coffee where they are isolated, given a poor diet and locked in small cages. Many civets have died due to this inhumane act.
- Besides giving you that pep in your step, coffee has some health benefits as well. Drinking coffee could help reduce risks cardiovascular disease, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Parkinson’s disease, and liver cirrhosis.
- Researchers from Istituto di Richerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri (Institute for Pharmalogical Research, Milan) found that coffee consumption could lower the risk of liver cancer by around 40 percent.
- Coffee grounds make excellent fertiliser to increase the acidity of the soil. This is great for plants such as roses, azaleas and makes your hydrangeas bluer than ever.
- According to researchers at the University of Scranton, coffee is where Americans get most of their antioxidants from compared to other dietary sources. Additionally, caffeinated and decaffeinated versions have almost the same levels of antioxidants.
References: Harvard Health Publishing; Lonely Planet; Medical News Today.
