What is Coffee? – Benefits, Uses, Advantages, Disadvantages, and More

What is Coffee?

Coffee is a hot infusion that consumes in several western countries. Its name derives from a tree: it plant whose grain is used to make this infusion.

These grains use to prepare the infusion as they are roasted and mixed with hot water to make.

There are many different ways to prepare, one of the favorite drinks of various countries globally.

This infusion characterizes by its exquisite flavor and the combination with other drinks (such as cream, milk, or cocoa) that give different aromatic and taste variations.

What are the Benefits of Coffee?

1. Contains Essential Nutrients

• First of all, one cup contains vitamins B2 and B5, magnesium, potassium, and niacin. And also, it is the most significant source of antioxidants, more than fruit or vegetables.

2. Improves Aspects of Brain Function

• Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive in the world and the most critical asset in this drink.
• As soon as you consume it, it acts in the brain, increasing dopamine or norepinephrine, accelerating brain activity.
• For example,  supports concentration, memory, mood, energy levels, reaction times, or general cognitive function.

3. Helps Burn Fat

• Caffeine is present in most dietary supplements that help you lose weight.
• It is one of the few natural substances that promote fat burning. Eye! Excessive consumption reduces this effect.

4. Improves Physical Performance

• Another advantage of caffeine is that it increases adrenaline levels, which means that fat cells break down body fat and release it as free fatty acids, which we use for fuel when we exercise.

5. Prevent Diseases.

Another of its main benefits is that it directly affects the prevention of diseases and pathologies. It reduces the risk of diseases such as:

Diabetes: Various studies reveal that people who drink coffee have a lower risk of diabetes.

Neurodegenerative Diseases: Despite the progressive aging of the population, diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s still have no cure. However, it seems that caffeine makes you 65% less likely to have Alzheimer’s and up to 60% less likely to suffer from Parkinson’s. Consuming decaffeinated it has shown neither of these two advantages.

Cirrhosis: Who drinks more than 4 a day has an 80% less chance of suffering from Cirrhosis.

Depression: It is drinking 2 to 4 cups a day also reduces the risk of depression, especially in women. Research conducted by Harvard University ensures that it even reduces the possibility of suicide by up to 50% less likely.

Infarct: And here, the great paradox. Although it well knows that caffeine increases blood pressure, reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and even prevents the possibility of a heart attack.

Specific Types of Cancer: Finally, it benefits against cancer. It reduces the risk of preventing different types of cancer, such as colon, breast, or prostate cancer.

However, remember that its consumption should be moderate. Nothing in excess is good. That is why we recommend that you do not drink more than 4-5 cups a day.

What are the Uses of Coffee?

It has not only become a rich infusion to taste and combine with other drinks. It is also used today for different purposes:

• As a paint to make decorative pictures
• As an exfoliating soap, since crushed coffee beans allow the removal of dead skin cells.
• To remove stains from wooden furniture.

Physical Characteristics of Coffee

1. Within the fruit of the coffee, the tree is coffee beans.
2. Its plants have red fruits the size of small cherries.
3. Within these is the coffee seed. The beans of the plant are about 1 centimeter long.
4. In one of its parts, the grain is flat, and on the other side, it is curved, with a line running through it.
5. When extracted from the plant, the beans are light brown, and after the roasting process, they turn dark brown.

What are the Types of Coffee Preparation?

There are different types of coffee preparation. Thus, among the most prominent are:

Espresso: It is the standard coffee, prepared with ground coffee beans and hot water.

Cut Coffee: It prepares with coffee and a little milk (skim or whole).

Coffee Latte: It prepares with 1/3 of espresso and 2/3 of milk.

American Coffee: Espresso with more water. It’s espresso, water, and milk foam.

Taste and Acidity of Coffee

1. Coffee Latte

• The coffee from Latin American plants is more acidic than elsewhere.
• The taste of coffee can vary depending on the plant, the time from harvest its preparation, the type of combination with other beverages, etc.
• However, its infusion is measured worldwide by a table known as the “coffee flavor wheel.”
• The acidity will depend on the plant as well as the area where the harvest. It plants from Latin America are generally more acidic than from other parts of the world because they are volcanic soils rich in minerals.

2. Taste, Body, Aroma, and Bitterness of Coffee

• It has 800 compounds that stimulate the taste buds. It will affect and be modifiable in terms of flavor and aroma, depending on the coffee plant’s type of soil.
• The aftertaste relates to the time that taste it remains in the mouth after ingesting it. It can vary or be modified depending on the quality.
• On the other hand, the viscosity, weight, or thickness make up the body.
• In terms of bitterness, decaffeinated, it has a much less bitter taste than traditional roasted bean coffee.

What are the Advantages of Coffee?

• It drinking helps concentration and fights depression.
• Increases levels of concentration and attention
• Improves physical performance
• Fight depression
• Produces satiety and does not provide significant amounts of calories (as long as it consumes without other hot infusions)
• Enhances the effect of painkillers
• It is anticancer
• Prevents type II diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease
• Favors digestion.

What are the Disadvantages of Coffee?

• It can cause headaches and raise cholesterol.
• May cause headaches
• Alters the nervous system
• Unfiltered coffee can raise cholesterol levels
• May cause ulcers if consumed too much.
• May cause miscarriage
• Could produce hallucinations.

World Trade and Production of Coffee

Coffee from around the world produces in 70 countries, of which only 45 of them have control of 97% of world production.

There are many countries in which the export constitutes the primary source of gross national production. Among the countries that produce and export the most are:

• Burundi (59%)
• Ethiopia (33%)
• Rwanda (27%)
• Honduras (20%)
• Uganda (18%)
• Nicaragua (17%)
• Guatemala (12%)
• El Salvador (9%)
• Colombia (7%)
• Tanzania (5%)

Cultivation of Coffee Beans

1. A young tree will need 3 or 4 years before producing coffee beans.
2. The most critical coffee production comes from family businesses of less than 10 hectares of land, in many cases, with fewer than 5 hectares.
3. It makes farmers not very mechanized and labor-intensive. A young coffee tree will need 3 or 4 years before producing coffee beans for the plants.
4. This adult plant considers when it is between 6 and 8 years old and can live for many decades, but it will only use its production until it is 25 or 30 years old.
5. Its plantation can do outdoors, but half shades also use. The latter is known as shade coffee.
6. It’s the collection, sorting, polishing, and storage. During the harvest, the ripe beans are collected and then toasted.
7. It takes between 7 and 9 months until the plant can finally produce a harvest from the moment of flowering. This time varies on the climate and altitude of the area.
8. At harvest time, harvesters will only pick the ripe beans along with the fruit. These are known as coffee cherries.
9. The fruit must then remove, leaving only the coffee bean. The process that takes the coffee bean can be by the dry, wet, or semi-dry method.
10. Then classification is made, separating those decomposed or damaged grains from the rest of the production. The next to last step is polishing, in which the skin removed, improving the appearance of the grains.
11. Then they are stored (without roasting) since their durability is more excellent if they preserve properly: it requires a humidity of 12% so that they do not take on an unpleasant smell or produce fungus.

Conclusion

Organic coffee is one of the most produced and most exported crops globally and contains many health benefits.

It must achieve a good taste, aroma, and consistency so that it is pleasing to the customer. Besides, it is one of the most profitable products in an establishment and conscious.

Many specialized chains have grown from this in recent years. It has a good income since the production of these generates the producer greater.

Also Read: What is Taurine? : Benefits, Natural Sources, Side Effects, and More

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