What if coffee beans were never discovered?
I wonder what waking up with an alarm would have felt like before there was a magic golden potion to look forward to in the morning. How and when were these special beans discovered? Was there even life before coffee? What did they do on cold or rainy days, when the sun would refuse to shine? How come my addiction helps me to function instead of taking me down? Alright, let’s slow down (too much caffeine).
The Legend
Allegedly, there was a goat-herder in the 9th century, who witnessed his goats acting jumped-up after eating red berries from a tree. Curious, he tried them himself and found his body, and mind, all hyper. According to this legend, he brought some of the berries to a monastery where their stimulating effects were used for day-long prayers. Seen as out-of-this-world though, they were thrown into a fire in an attempt to be destroyed. The smell of the roasted beans then made it decidable to give ‘coffee’ a second chance. And as they already did with the well-known tea, the beans were put into warm water and our black-golden wake-up call was born.
There are much more stories going around. Like about how Sudanese slaves used to chew on the beans to survive their long journeys. And originally the berries didn’t grow anywhere else then in Arabia. But, as we people do with anything nature, we replicated and shipped it into places we created ourselves. That’s how coffee spread and how it eventually ended up being one of the most wanted beverages around the world. Almost 30 million people are supported that way and it’s an industry that makes about 100 billion dollar a year.
Good state of mind
I mean, who doesn’t like a good cup of Joe right? Me myself, I work as a barista in my daily life and wouldn’t wish it any other way. One for a customer, one for me. Who doesn’t want their time spent full of caffeine? While it’s been around for ages, and I find it this world’s biggest addiction, we can’t seem to live without it. I try to quit, or decrease my caffeine intake, at least once a week, but I don’t function anywhere close to well if I skip any of my regular coffees, and there are a lot. It’s dangerous enough that we can access alcohol and tobacco, let alone energy drinks, from an early age, but coffee is as legal as an apple a day. People talk about addictions as a bad thing, without knowing they are a victim themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I am pro coffee all the way, but being aware of what we tend to feed our bodies is a good state of mind.
To raise awareness to the good and bad additions of coffee to our lives, I tried to put together the most understandable pro’s and con’s, as objectively as I found necessary.
As explained, coffee comes from a bean, therefore, it contains phytonutrients and polyphenols; to explain, chemical compounds found in plants that are believed to have antioxidant benefits. But, the nutrient most of us do know is the well-known caffeine. This source of nourishment enters your bloodstream and finds your brain fairly quickly, so it can take less than ten minutes to start working, causing alertness and giving you a boost of energy. In the brain, the caffeine binds to adenosine receptors. Adenosine is a depressant for the nervous system, and its function to promote sleep is lessened when the caffeine molecule binds to these receptors and therefore we feel stimulated. As it increases the brain activity with this, the release of adrenaline is stimulated, which gives us the boost of energy and attentiveness we recognise in coffee.
Cocaine?
Unfortunately, like every good thing in this world, our magic potion has it’s less good sides too. If you have caffeine later in the afternoon, it increases the risk of developing insomnia. Or, if you already struggle with this, it can make it even worse. The advise is to stop your caffeine intake in general around noon if you feel it’s keeping you awake at night. This because the caffeine level in your blood decreases in half-lives, which means, generally speaking, the amount of caffeine in your blood reduces with 50 percent every four to six hours. Of course, this time-frame, of how quickly we metabolise coffee, differs with every individual body chemistry and genetics. But this way, it takes ages for caffeine to be completely out of your bloodstream.
Next, comparing coffee to cocaine seems like a big step, but it’s much smaller than men may think. Caffeine not only helps us getting more alert and reactive, it can also pep you up, and your mood is influenced greatly by it. Like, most drugs, cocaine in this example, coffee increases the level of dopamine in our brain, which gives you that feel-good, all powerful feeling. Cocaine does this in a much stronger way, but the intention is the same. The release of more dopamine improves your happiness and your mood’s as good as after a good night of sleep, for that short while. For regular users of the daily cups of coffee, it can create dependence, which ends in withdrawal symptoms if they leave their morning coffee be. They may even wake up grumpy and get headaches if they don’t fuel themselves. And that is where it becomes an addiction.
From experience I can also say, too much coffee can provoke anxiety and panic attacks, with this nervousness and a shaky feeling throughout your body. Instead of that control over your mood you feel more out of control than ever. It taught me to be careful with the amount of coffee you use and to always keep some sort of track. Added to this, caffeine’s impact on hormones and neurotransmitters, concluding in coffee increasing your heart rate, but an average of three cups of day, won’t do any healthy adult any harm, don’t worry. People who drink habitually too much might have a slightly higher blood-pressure, but most, like me, develop an intolerance and won’t suffer at all. The reason behind this increase of blood-pressure isn’t sure, but is most likely due to the high, consequent amount of adrenaline and a response of other hormones.
Weight loss by coffee?
Done with the down sides, there is a lot of good your daily fix can do for you. Associated with it, apart from the peppy feeling, probably too; the feeling of having to go to the bathroom after a good cup of Joe, right? Experts tend to believe that caffeine stimulates the colonic muscles, and when the muscles in the gallbladder itself are stimulated, the increase of emptying reduces the risk of gallstones.
Moreover, ever were extremely hungry, drank a cup of coffee and lose that need to eat? It’s not you, it’s the coffee, which is known to be an appetite suppressant. Plus, it stimulates our body’s process to produce heat, which, theoretically leads us to burn more calories. Although, unfortunately, there is no clear evidence is can lead to any long-term weight loss, if you drink your coffee black as the night, it’s a good, low-calorie way to get your daily stimulants.
So, yes, there was life before coffee came around the corner, but people have been loving more tenderly since little miss sunshine lit up our lives. On cold and rainy days they probably drank tea and we should thank them for that, because it’s the reason our drug was discovered. And even though we should be careful of the consequences of too many cups a day, we should be able to enjoy it more so. Just with a boundary, which we may set ourselves.
I can’t, myself, imagine a live where coffee is absent. I check in with my friend, several times even, well before ten in the morning. I can only step out of bed with the thought I can make some beautiful roasted berry beverages and enjoy some more in peace. I have to come clean by saying that it was easier for me to quit smoking than it is to quit drinking coffee. But, let that be a secret and I won’t tell anyone about your lingering thought to a fresh cup of coffee right now. All I can say; if those Arabic berries were never discovered, I would have zero motivation to start my day, to live my life. Who’s with me?
Love, Stephanie Garland
"I don't need an inspirational quote, I need coffee."
~Any person, ever.~
