HAS BEAN: International Day of Coffee. Did you miss it too?

HAS BEAN: International Day of Coffee. Did you miss it too?

October 1 was the International Day of Coffee. Did you miss it? Paul Whitelock only heard about it over a week later! He thinks it’s time to have a closer look at this drink which, according to latest figures, is the most-consumed beverage on earth.

What is coffee?

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, the seeds of berries from certain Coffea species. When coffee berries turn from green to bright red in colour – indicating ripeness – they are picked, processed, and dried. Dried coffee seeds (referred to as “beans”) are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavour. Roasted beans are ground and then brewed with near-boiling water to produce the beverage known as coffee.

Coffee is darkly coloured, bitter, slightly acidic and has a stimulating effect in humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways and is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is also common. Sugar, sweeteners, milk or cream are often used to lessen the bitter taste.

Clinical research indicates that moderate coffee consumption is benign or mildly beneficial as a stimulant in healthy adults, with continuing research on whether long-term consumption reduces the risk of some diseases, although some of the long-term studies are of questionable credibility.

The two most commonly grown coffee bean types are arabica and robusta. Coffee plants are now cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in the equatorial regions of the Americas, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa. As of 2018, Brazil was the leading grower of coffee beans, producing 35% of the world total. Coffee is a major export commodity as the leading legal agricultural export for numerous countries. It is one of the most valuable commodities exported by developing countries. Green, unroasted coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. The way developed countries trade coffee with developing nations has been criticised, as well as the impact on the environment with regards to the clearing of land for coffee-growing and water use. Consequently, the markets for fair trade and organic coffee are expanding.

Where did coffee originate from?

Many people think that coffee was brought to Europe from South America by returning explorers. Not the case!

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears in modern-day Yemen in southern Arabia in the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in a manner similar to how it is now prepared for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands via coastal Somali intermediaries, and began cultivation. By the 16th century, the drink had reached the rest of the Middle East and North Africa, later spreading to Europe.

Spanish coffee

The coffee served in Spain is universally acknowledged to be among the best in the world. And it remains cheap, typically around 1€ to 1.50€ in almost every bar, café or restaurant. A basic white is a café con leche, which is normally quite milky and comes with the foam on top, or a basic black is a café americano, an espresso is a café solo. Un café cortado, in a small glass with half espresso and half steamed or cold milk is milky but very strong indeed – although, surprisingly, low on the caffeine, because the dried, ground coffee only filters through the machine in split seconds, rather than being left to percolate.

You can ask for any of these descafeinado, however, or if you prefer, a glass or cup of hot milk with a sachet of instant coffee is a café con leche de sobre or café cortado de sobre.

Is coffee the secret to a long life?

A Spanish study concluded at the end of 2018 found evidence that drinking coffee may help you become the next Ana María Vela Rubio (Europe’s oldest and the world’s third-oldest woman, who passed away at age 116) or Francisco Núñez Olivera (the world’s oldest man, who lived to be just over 113), both of whom were alive at the same time and living in their native Spain.

The Biomedical Obesity and Nutrition Network Research Centre (CIBEROBN) studied 20,000 volunteers, all of them with at least university-level education, over 10 years, focusing on their coffee consumption.

Taking volunteers with the same or similar education levels was deliberate – so that this did not become a confounding variable, or leave any doubt that longevity may be due to education rather than coffee.

They found a direct relationship between drinking coffee and lower mortality, which applied both in ‘ordinary’ and decaffeinated, instant or filter coffee, based upon a consumption of between one and six cups a day.

The protection level found was greater in those aged 55 or more, according to the research report, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Dr Adela Navarro, cardiologist and author of the report, said the team had started by intending to debunk the idea that coffee causes high blood pressure long term, something they had long believed to be a myth.

And Professor Estefanía Toledo of Navarra University, who led the research, said the results supported those of other investigations which had used ‘rigorous methodology’ to evaluate the effects of coffee on lifespan, such as the ‘EPIC Study’ and the EUREYE-Spain research.

What came out of the CIBEROBN study that had not been found before was the optimum amount of coffee per day for a long life: The benefits were most pronounced among the elderly, and even among those who drank up to four or six cups a day.

In the elderly, the report says, mortality tends to be caused by chronic health conditions, so the key was to adjusting the study to how well these were controlled, in order to eliminate any other variables – and they found that higher coffee consumption actually increased longevity rather than the reverse.

This said, the study did not test results beyond six cups a day, so it may not be beneficial to overdo it.

The results did not seem to be linked to a single component in coffee, says the team: Coffee is a ‘complex mixture of substances’, and among these, ‘many contain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties’, so it would be ‘logical to believe they act together and complement each other’.

Given that the results seemed to be similar with decaffeinated coffee, it could be that the other substances are more necessary to long-term health; caffeine did not appear to have any bearing either way.

“Whenever we promote a healthy diet and lifestyle, it always seems as though we’re taking away from people everything they enjoy the most,” said one of the authors, Miguel A. Martínez-González.

“But there are lots of people who love coffee. These data are solid, and are now considered to be scientific evidence.”

We’ll drink to that. But unless you prefer americanos or solos, you might not want to raise your coffee cup in a toast, or only if you’re hoping to expand your family: According to an old Norwegian proverb, clinking glasses with a hearty ‘cheers’ should not be done with any drink containing milk, or you’ll end up pregnant!

With acknowledgements to thinkSPAIN and Wikipedia

Paul Whitelock

About Paul Whitelock

Paul Whitelock is a retired former languages teacher, school inspector and translator, who emigrated to the Serranía de Ronda in 2008, where he lives with his second wife, Rita. He spends his time between Montejaque and Ronda doing DIY, gardening and writing.