Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.
~ Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
Its a rare sight to see someone drinking their coffee black these days especially with all the Starbucks on every corner people tend to lean towards cappa and frappa cino’s!
Here are five reasons to drink your coffee black
1. Learn the taste of real coffee.
When you have a milk based coffee it is hard to appreciate and recognize the notes of the actual coffee bean all that can be tasted is the slight bitterness of the coffee. Drinking coffee black allows you to pickup of the subtle differences from bean to bean and different roasts. You will be surprised how diverse the flavors can be from fruity and chocolate to oaky and floral.
It is a nice thing to be able to appreciate coffee for what it really. You will find that once you enjoy drinking black coffee you will take pleasure in picking and choosing your own blends in supermarkets or specialist coffee shops.
2. Do it for your health;
Black coffee is calorie and sugar free, it contains fiber and we know that regular consumption of coffee decreases the risk of type II diabetes:
Scientists tracked 41,934 men from 1986 to 1998 and 84,276 women from 1980 to 1998. These were free of diabetes, cancer, or cardiovascular disease at baseline. Coffee consumption was assessed every 2 to 4 years through validated questionnaires. What did they find?
These investigators documented 1333 new cases of type 2 diabetes in men and 4085 new cases in women. The authors found an inverse association between coffee intake and type 2 diabetes after adjustment for age, body mass index, and other risk factors. In other words, those who drank the most coffee tended to have the least risk of diabetes. Even more intriguing, total caffeine intake from coffee and other sources was associated with a statistically significantly lower risk for diabetes in both men and women; meaning that decaffeinated coffee may not be as good for you as the caffeine-filled. The author’s concluded that the “data suggest that long-term coffee consumption is associated with a statistically significantly lower risk for type 2 diabetes.”
What more could you ask for? when drinking your coffee black you get all this with no excess calories.
3. Mental and Physical Energy
By drinking Americano’s, Expresso’s and other black coffee you will get the energizing effect and mental clarity far quicker as there is no milk/cream/soy in the coffee to slow its absorption and dull down the effects. This makes Black coffee before exercise work as a great performance enhancer as has been proven in several studies.
Caffeine is the most versatile and effective ergogenic aid (i.e. something that enhances exercise performance). A prominent exercise physiologist, David Costill, Ph.D., performed the ground-breaking study on caffeine and exercise 26 years ago! He took nine competitive cyclists (two females and seven males) and had them bike until exhaustion at 80% of V02 max. (Note: V02 max, also known as maximal oxygen uptake, is a measure of how well you cardiopulmonary system functions).
Each subject consumed coffee containing 330 mg of caffeine 60 min before the exercise or a placebo (decaffeinated coffee). Following the ingestion of caffeine, the subjects were able to perform an average of 90 minutes of cycling as compared to an average of 76 minutes in the placebo trial. This reflects an 18% increase! They also found that subjects burned more fat (aka lipolysis) as shown by measurements of plasma free fatty acids, glycerol and respiratory exchange ratios. In fact, fat oxidation or burning was significantly higher (107% greater) during the caffeine trial (118 g or 1.31 g/min) than in the placebo trial (57 g or 0.75 g/min). Also, the perception of effort was much less in subjects after consuming subjects indicating that exercise felt easier.
4. Its Easy to Make
All you need is some ground coffee and a french press or a stovetop percolator and you are good to go, leaving you flexible to brew up a great coffee before a workout or during your mid afternoon slump.
Great post on using a French Press
How to brew with a StoveTop Expresso Maker
Or if your feeling adventurous and want a strong coffee look into brewing Turkish Coffee.
You will soon find that brewing your own coffee is a very relaxing and rewarding experience and look forward to brewing up a fresh coffee for breakfast or before a workout.
5. Its CHEAP
Ever had a look at what the cheapest coffee at Starbucks is, you guessed it Black Coffee. This is the case at any coffee shop. As well as this brewing a good cup of straight coffee will be your cheapest option at home so you will save money in all walks of life. I can get a small bag of freshly ground beans at my local wholefoods for around $2-3 which will last me about 8 coffee’s in a french press thats about 3 coffee’s for $1 and that’s 3 of the best!
So to stay in great shape learn to appreciate your coffee the way we are meant to, start drinking black coffee.
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