Coffee!

Coffee and Health

Well, not a superfood perhaps, but not bad either. No, literally, contrary to previous scientific opinion: not bad!

On the other hand, maybe it is a superfood:

Coffee and Mold

Mold grows in the moist dark areas and is an issue for coffee-makers, according to the article, Your Coffee Maker is full of Mold, which also tells how to prevent this.

Mold? Water? What about the wet fermentation process typically used to prepare coffee beans for sale? Yes, you’re right. It is an issue. HealClick Blog says the mold issue, “has more to do with the quality control of the water tanks and water sources than the methodology.” This makes sense. This is the gist I got from reading a thread at Sweet Maria’s discussing mold. If you buy good quality coffee it will have been tasted by the buyers and won’t have mold issues since mold produces flavor issues. Sweet Maria’s also says that moldy coffee will light up under U.V. light. Also, according to HealthLine newsletter, the levels of mycotoxins (from mold) in coffee beans and brewed coffee is negligible.

Coffee Freshness

I have read that what matters to both the health benefits and the flavor of brewed coffee is the roasting date. Brew your coffee between one and two weeks from roasting! Unless you can find a source that pays attention to this, that’s going to mean buying green beans and roasting your own. For this you can go to Amazon, or for a site with really good guidance on buying and roasting try Sweet Maria’s or The Coffee Advisor or Burman Coffee Traders or Bean Fruit Coffee Co.

For larger quantities at lower prices try Coffee Shrub

Coffee and Mushrooms

Alex Jones of InfoWars swears that the coffee he is selling (it contains mushrooms) does not give him headaches, whereas coffee by itself always did. Sorry this information is so scant. If you can help, please comment!

Brewed Coffee Recipes

Brewed Reishi Mushroom Coffee

  1. Add 1 tsp. of reishi mushroom powder and 32 oz. of purified water to a pot and boil. (Consider the Boletus Badius mushroom for its L-Theanine, which reduces caffeine jitters, giving a calm alertness. It grows in late summer and fall in the U.S. and said to be common in spruce and pine forests.) Chaga is a possibility. The Alaskan chaga that I tried was pretty flavorless. The taste was vanilla or cream, if anything.
  2. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10-20 minutes. The simmering is important. Surprisingly, the mushroom powder takes on a sort of roasted aroma and taste while simmering. A quicker alternate is to use roasted mushroom, but I don’t know if that reduces any health benefits. I put some powder under the oven broiler and it roasted in like half a minute.
  3. Measure 5-10 tbsp. of ground coffee (according to preferred strength, but a little less than you would use for 100% coffee) and place in french press. Pour the simmered reishi water mix over coffee grounds and steep for 4 minutes. The steps 4 and 5 below are optional. I drink mine black. But see steps 6-8.
  4. Return to pot and heat on medium-low. Add a healthy tbsp. of coconut oil and maybe some butter or ghee. Or add some almond milk or cream.
  5. Blend together using an immersion blender until frothy. Have a nice day!
  6. This would follow step two, I think. Add 2 roasted and ground pecans (3, if almonds) per cup to the simmering process. To my taste the nuts seem to pull the mushroom and coffee flavors together. Almonds give a brighter black coffee taste, and pecans give a more blended, creamy taste. Walnuts are out.
  7. You might want to filter this coffee. The nuts have a lot of oil that you may want filtered out.
  8. Use your imagination! A touch of dried pomegranate juice brightens and brings out the coffee taste. Goji is not working. I didn’t like dried and roasted fig. Roasted dandelion root and/or chicory are possibilities.

Different mushrooms? Here is a recipe with chaga and rhodiola.

Sweet Maria’s Green Coffee Beans – The mushroom recipe calls for a robust coffee-like coffee, imo. For health reasons, you want to avoid chemicals as well as mold. Certified organic is not always available, nor is it really necessary. From what Sweet Maria’s says, while shopping their site I would avoid Kenya and probably Brazil:

Specialty Coffee of the Arabica variety (what we sell on sweetmarias.com) comes from smallish traditional farms. A lot of coffee farmers in Ethiopia and Yemen are essentially organic simply because the farmers are too poor to afford pesticides, but on the other hand, they also can’t afford the official organic certification. Kenya is a different story – while still not mega-agri-business style farms, they do use pesticides and other more western methods of pest and weed control and so it is rare to find an organic Kenyan. Most Central and South American coffee farms will use some fungicides due to Roya, the coffee rust disease, but such use is targeted and occurs long before fruit begins to grow on the tree. …  It is the robusta variety of coffee grown in the mega-agri-business coffee areas like Brazil, Vietnam, and China that are more worrisome. 

The following coffees are under $10/lb in 2018.

  • Cajamarca Nuevo Trujillo – A great coffee for a fully city roast. It has aggressive taste and good body, with a bitter touch. Astringent smoke, black tea, or tobacco flavors highlight. Good in the above recipe drinking it black.
  • Ethiopiues Blend – A delicious light and fruity coffee, but unsuitable for the mushroom recipe, even at a full city roast. Not coffee-like enough for the above recipe drinking it black.

Bulletproof Coffee Recipe

Coffee and the Homestead

Grow Mushrooms in Coffee Grounds

Feed Coffee Grounds to Redworms – Redworms can be the basis to a food-chain for your farmstead. Feed them to fish in a barrel (and add an aquaponics system) and/or to your chickens for eggs and meat.

Redworms and Rabbits – Alright, this is a bonus. Nothing to do with coffee. Rabbits can be raised on kitchen scraps. Raise redworms under their pens in the rabbit manure.

And lastly(?),

Coffee, the Other Opinion

It may not be good for you!

Your Comment