Coffee!

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I got this from Wired.com ...I love geeks.

What's Inside a Cup of Coffee?
by Patrick di Justo


Caffeine
This is why the world produces more than 16 billion pounds of coffee beans per year. It's actually an alkaloid plant toxin (like nicotine and cocaine), a bug killer that stimulates us by blocking neuroreceptors for the sleep chemical adenosine. The result: you, awake.

Water
Hot H2O is a super solvent, leaching flavors and oils out of the coffee bean. A good cup of joe is 98.75 percent water and 1.25 percent soluble plant matter. Caffeine is a diuretic, so coffee newbies pee out the water quickly; java junkies build up resistance.

2-Ethylphenol
Creates a tarlike, medicinal odor in your morning wake-up. It's also a component of cockroach alarm pheromones, chemical signals that warn the colony of danger.

Quinic acid
Gives coffee its slightly sour flavor. On the plus side, it's one of the starter chemicals in the formulation of Tamiflu.

3,5 Dicaffeoylquinic acid
When scientists pretreat neurons with this acid in the lab, the cells are significantly (though not completely) protected from free-radical damage. Yup: Coffee is a good source of antioxidants.

Dimethyl disulfide
A product of roasting the green coffee bean, this compound is just at the threshold of detectability in brewed java. Good thing, too, as it's one of the compounds that gives human feces its odor.

Acetylmethylcarbinol
That rich, buttery taste in your daily jolt comes in part from this flammable yellow liquid, which helps give real butter its flavor and is a component of artificial flavoring in microwave popcorn.

Putrescine
Ever wonder what makes spoiled meat so poisonous? Here you go. Ptomaines like putrescine are produced when E. coli bacteria in the meat break down amino acids. Naturally present in coffee beans, it smells, as you might guess from the name, like Satan's outhouse.

Trigonelline
Chemically, it's a molecule of niacin with a methyl group attached. It breaks down into pyridines, which give coffee its sweet, earthy taste and also prevent the tooth-eating bacterium Streptococcus mutans from attaching to your teeth. Coffee fights the Cavity Creeps.

Niacin
Trigonelline is unstable above 160 degrees F; the methyl group detaches, unleashing the niacin—vitamin B3—into your cup. Two or three espressos can provide half your recommended daily allowance.

Replies

  • Dive_Girl
    Dive_Girl Posts: 247 Member
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    Now there are some fun facts!!!! Great to read over my morning cup-O-Joe!
  • 2kaizen
    2kaizen Posts: 64
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    I love coffee! :bigsmile:
  • TCASMEY
    TCASMEY Posts: 1,405 Member
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    Where's the potassium? I thought coffee contained potassium.
  • Jovialation
    Jovialation Posts: 7,632 Member
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    *shrug* this may not be all the things in coffee...i dont know.
    This is what the geeks are concerned with, though. lol
  • bettersusan
    bettersusan Posts: 240 Member
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    I :heart: LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee:heart: coffee!! :wink:

    Susan
  • Chiny
    Chiny Posts: 321
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    Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, I can't resist it! :sad:
  • azwildcatfan94
    azwildcatfan94 Posts: 314 Member
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    that reminds me... I haven't been to starbucks in a couple of days...
  • chulie
    chulie Posts: 282
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    i think someone could tell me there is arson in coffee and i still wouldn't care!hahaha..
  • Jovialation
    Jovialation Posts: 7,632 Member
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    Im just glad no coffee haters have popped in here yet lol
  • Wecandothis
    Wecandothis Posts: 1,083 Member
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    I don't hate coffee - I just don't love it. I have a cup from time to time. I'm a tea drinker - all kinds.
  • Dive_Girl
    Dive_Girl Posts: 247 Member
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    i think someone could tell me there is arson in coffee and i still wouldn't care!hahaha..

    LOL yeah.....I got it that bad also!
  • Jovialation
    Jovialation Posts: 7,632 Member
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    I don't hate coffee - I just don't love it. I have a cup from time to time. I'm a tea drinker - all kinds.
    oh thats fine! tea is awesome!

    I just mean some of the people around here that are convinced that coffee is so bad for you lol
  • jdp21
    jdp21 Posts: 155 Member
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    I work at a coffee shop. So I drink coffee alllllllllllllllllll the time. Haha.
  • blakgarnet
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    I LOVE coffee, just can't have it without cream or half and half, so I drink tea since I like that without the additional calories that I consume with coffee.
  • klybarger
    klybarger Posts: 214
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    I'm a leaf person that can co-exist well with bean people. Considered black sheep of my ever-loving, die-hard coffee-drinking family! Enjoy!

    PS - I'm sure the "anti-coffee" people are lurking out there somewhere
  • chrissyh
    chrissyh Posts: 8,235 Member
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    I think it's time for some....
  • magglett
    magglett Posts: 2,000
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    Nope ... I'm not an anti-coffee person. I love it. But I did cut down since I heard it was bad for you. I finally got it down to 1 cup a day in the morning. But guess what happened. I was talking with my chiropractor this week about constipation (yes, they help with that problem too) and he suggested I should drink at least 3 cups a day ... apparently it's great for colon function. WOO HOO!!! I LOVE COFFEE!!!!