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Coffee Filters
Coffee and Health
The debate rages, and most likely will continue to rage, about the effects that coffee drinking has on our health. It all depends on which report or study you read as to whether coffee drinking is good for you or bad for you. Everybody seems to have an opinion, and both camps are adamant that their opinion is the correct one.
There is one school of thought that says that coffee is addictive…and, of course, ANY kind of addition is a very bad thing and should be avoided at all costs. This group says that coffee is a stimulant and that it makes those who drink coffee nervous. It increases the heart rate, they say, and it also raises the blood pressure. It is true that, for health reasons, some people should eliminate or at least limit the amount of caffeine that they
consume, and I am not advocating otherwise. If you doctor tells you to lay off the coffee, then you should follow his or her orders to the letter.
Then there is the school of thought that says that coffee is actually good for you. This group of people, and the reports and studies that they cite, will tell you that coffee is a stimulant that actually increases your concentration and productivity. They will tell you that drinking coffee "relieves boredom, decreases depression, increases alertness, increases physical stamina, and increases performance on boring or repetitive tasks." That sounds like a list of good things!
Drinking coffee is often part of many social situations. We drink coffee first thing in the morning for its stimulating effect, of course, but then we drink coffee at other times of the day with friends or family as part of a ritual of human interaction. And sociability is part of human health, too.
See Also:
Espresso Makers 101 - A Guide to Espresso Makers and Machines
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River Coffee
Coffee Filters
One of the secrets of making really good coffee is the filter that you use in your coffee maker. The standard paper filters are abundant, and the ones that are most often used. Barring other choices, they are at least sufficient. You certainly should not ever make coffee in an automatic drip coffee maker or in a percolator without using a filter. If you do, there will be little coffee grounds floating in the pot of coffee.
If you are going to use the paper coffee filters in your coffee maker, you need to buy the ones that actually fit your coffee maker. Paper coffee filters do come in various sizes and are made for specific brands of coffee makers. The reason that it is important that the coffee filter is a perfect fit for the coffee maker is that a coffee filter that is either too large or too small for your coffee maker will allow coffee grounds to get into the coffee -- not a good thing.
While paper coffee filters are the ones most often used, they are not the only choice in coffee filters. There are permanent filters for coffee makers that can be purchased. These permanent filters must be cleaned thoroughly after each and every use. Believe it or not, there is even a permanent coffee filter that is actually lined with gold!
The very best choice of all coffee filters, though, is the cloth variety. Yes, it does have to be cleaned after each use, but coffee made using paper filters has a slightly papery taste to it, and cloth filters add no taste at all to the coffee. Cloth coffee filters are available in the same sizes as paper coffee filters. They are more expensive initially, of course, but they last much longer. Cloth coffee filters are made from unbleached cotton, so they are environmentally friendly as well. |
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Home Coffee Roasters
There are people out there who really prefer to roast their own coffee beans at home rather than buying coffee that is already ground and ready to put into a coffee maker. These people swear that home-roasted coffee beans make a far superior cup of coffee than any pre-roasted and pre-ground coffee bean ever dreamed of.
Coffee beans can certainly be roasted using a regular stove or even a popcorn popper, but if you are serious about roasting your own coffee beans at home, you should probably invest in a coffee-roasting machine. You will have far better control of the temperature and other conditions.
The prices of coffee bean roasters seems to range from a low of about $70 to a high of about $595. The smallest and least expensive coffee roaster will only roast enough green coffee beans to make one 10-cup pot of coffee at a time. The most expensive coffee-roasting machine that I located would roast about nine ounces of green coffee beans at a time.
There are varying aspects of coffee-roasting machines that you will want to consider before you purchase one. For example, you will want to know just how long it will take to roast coffee beans, how many coffee beans can be roasted at a time, and how much control you will have over how long the beans are roasted. Some coffee roasting machines (the more expensive ones) will give you greater control over the coffee bean roasting process than the less expensive ones.
However, before you invest any big bucks in a coffee roasting machine, it would probably be an excellent idea to start out with the least expensive variety and work your way up.
Related Topics: All About Coffee,
What to Look for in a Coffee Maker, Health Benefits of Coffee
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