Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85691
removed by paper filters used in other brewing processes. According to this story, not even decaffeinated coffee is a better choice, as it still contains cafestol. So which advice do we follow? How much does research into the health effects of caffeine impact how much we "like" or "unlike" our daily cups of get-up-and-go? According to the Hartman Group's Abbott: not much. "There's a romantic feeling around coffee. It offers a sense of community, a sense of place—a sense of belonging, if you will, savvier in terms of understanding the health effects of caffeine on their body. published in the New England Journal of Medicine (May 2012) concludes that coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart and respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections. The study of 400,000 adults by the NIH and AARP tracked anytime soon. "That [feeling] will never go away. It will only continue to grow," said Abbott. WHITE NOISE At some point all of the research we hear about so frequently the coffee consumption habits of the subjects and their long- term health over more than a decade. It showed that drinking up to three cups a day correlated with a lower risk of dying. Once other risk factors, such as smoking or drinking alcohol, were taken into account, the subjects' longevity actually increased with each daily cup. At minimum, the researchers said, results show that coffee does not adversely affect health. The Hartman Group, a provider of consumer culture, behavior and trends, also recognized coffee's popularity. "Those coffee drinkers who, some 20 years ago, had completely eschewed caffeine out of fear of greater risks over the possible rewards, are now coming back to it," says Melissa Abbott, the Hartman Group's Senior Director of Culinary Insights. THE BAD SIDE But with the good news comes the bad. Consuming more than two to three cups o'joe a day appears to raise the risk for cardiovascular disease, including a rapid heart rate or high blood pressure and irregular heartbeats, Harvard Health Publications reported. In a number of epidemiological studies, overconsumption begins to fall on the deaf ears of coffee drinkers like white noise from the television. It remains on in the background, but aſter awhile we cease to be aware of it. "When customers read about this study or that study, they are reading it with a general distrust of the general medical community in regards to those claims," Abbott says. "There's a lot of back and forth around these claims, so customers simply go with their gut feeling. and a columnist for this magazine: "I find that research is taken 'tongue-in-cheek' by most coffee drinkers. If there is a good report, they don't mind accepting the fact that coffee may have a benefit beyond the fact it tastes great (and they need/ want the caffeine). When a negative report surfaces, I think it is easier to dismiss because to accept it would be to [go] against their beloved coffee. Adds Jack Groot, founder of JP's Coffee in Holland, Mich. " of caffeine in pregnant women has been linked to low birth weight babies and birth defects, for example. Further, let's not forget caffeine's addictive properties. Again, we recently heard a cautionary tale about coffee to gather accurate data in a scientific study on the health effects of diet on humans. It's nearly impossible to isolate subjects over the long term and strictly control their diet. Instead we're leſt with either "observational" studies or rat/mouse models. Observational studies rely on self-reporting by the That general distrust may stem from the fact that it's difficult " Abbott maintains that this "romantic" feeling will not abate " Abbott says. "Also, consumers are a lot smarter and a lot " consumption: Six cups or more per day of coffee, when prepared a certain way, raised levels of both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the harmful type). The study on mice, released in August, found that two naturally-occurring chemicals in coffee—cafestol and kahweol—raised cholesterol levels in coffee. French press coffee, boiled Scandinavian brew and espresso contain the highest levels of cafestol, which is 26 subjects. However, problems with observational studies include inaccurate self-reporting and failure to account for relevant health factors besides excluding what is being studied. Similarly, rat models have the obvious problem of transferability to humans. Given these reasons, Abbott notes, the scientific community would be hard-pressed to reveal a study to turn customers away. Quipped Marten vanEyk, owner of Mocha-n-Music Coffeehouse in Hudsonville, Michigan: "My customers have already decided to dismiss any negative press about coffee or else they wouldn't be in my coffeehouse to begin with." SCR