Cricketscoffee Blog

 The United States when it comes to coffee consumption is close to the top of the heap second only to  the European Union, Americans are among world’s greatest coffee drinkers, with the average person drinking over 20 gallons of it in 2013. However, research has suggests coffee is starting to lose its lead to Tea.  Tea consumption has grown 20 percent since the turn of the millenium and it’s becoming the first choice for the younger generation of Americans. If people under 30 were asked if they preferred coffee or tea, both proved equally popular, with a tie vote of 42 percent each. A likely explanation for tea’s rise is its perceived  health benefits, with green tea in particular proving a hit.  However with all of the positive health news about coffee the trend may not last.

Consuming four cups of coffee a day linked to reduced risk of MS   The good health news on coffee just keeps coming.  A Swedish study say's that people who did not drink coffee in the year prior to MS symptoms were about 1.5 times more likely to develop MS, compared with those who consumed six or more cups of coffee each day.  The researchers also identified a protective effect against MS among people who consumed large amounts of coffee at 5 and 10 years prior to onset of symptoms.  In a US study, the team also found that people who did not drink coffee in the year prior to symptom onset were approximately 1.5 times more likely to develop MS, compared with those who consumed at least four cups of coffee a day.   The team says the protective effect of coffee consumption against MS may be down to the main ingredient of the beverage - caffeine.

   KFC has joined forces with The Robin Collective's U.K. food scientists to create the "Scoffee" cups. The Scoffee cups are cookie cups that are "wrapped in sugar paper and lined with a layer of  white chocolate," the U.K. press is saying today. The cup has an outer wrapper with the KFC's logo, on it so the cup looks just like a regular like coffee cup   Scoffee cups sound nice in theory, until you hear about their "aromas": A spokesperson for The Robin Collective told the U.K. Press that the cups are infused with scents including "Coconut Sun Cream, Freshly Cut Grass, and Wild Flowers." The scents are meant to send the "positive memories associated with warm weather,"   For now, at least, the Scoffee cups will only be available at KFC locations in the U.K.  The cups have yet to be released tho. With a launch date of this summer at selected U.K. KFC locations.

A chemical long known to cause rapid, severe lung damage remains unregulated by federal labor officials, according to a recent report. The report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel concerns diacetyl, which is used in its liquid form to flavor an array of food products, including as candy, chips and popcorn. It has been cleared to eat in trace amounts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and occurs naturally during production of butter, beer and coffee. Inhaling diacetyl, however, causes severe damage to bronchioles in the lungs and results in additional scar tissue, an irreversible condition known as bronchiolitis obliterans. It has led to a handful of worker deaths and hundreds of injuries. The report said connections between diacetyl and lung disease dated to the mid-1980s, while officials at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had established the relationship between the two since the early 2000s.  A Journal Sentinel report chronicled workers at a Texas co...

  Coffee prices got downward pressure. Monday when forecasts for rain in Brazil added to the expectations of a bumper crop, adding to fears of surplus supplies in the market.   Contracts for both crops have been on a months long drop in coffee because the market is coming off a more-than-four-year high set last autumn. But on Monday, the contracts came under pressure for the same reason expectations of rains in Brazil, the world’s top producer of coffee  Light showers and normal temperatures are expected this week in Brazil’s coffee-growing regions and showers and thundershowers with cooler temperatures last week eased stress on the developing coffee crop. Brazil supplies about one-third of the world’s coffee. Arabica coffee for the most actively traded May contract fell 3% to settle at a one-year low of $1.4825 a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange.  The weather conditions in Brazil are as good as it gets right now....

  Coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S., according to researchers at the University of Scranton.   Joe Vinson, Ph.D., lead author of the study, said that "Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close." The authors of the study emphasize moderation, stating that only one or two cups a day appear to be beneficial. Coffee may help prevent Parkinson's disease  Researchers in the U.S. carried out a study that assessed the link between coffee consumption and Parkinson's disease risk. The authors of the study concluded that "higher coffee and caffeine intake is associated with a significantly lower incidence of Parkinson's disease". In addition, caffeine in coffee may help control movement in people suffering from Parkinson's, according to a study conducted at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC). Coffee may be good for the hea...

 Imperial Tobacco, the world's third largest cigarette manufacturer owns the world's best-selling e-cigarette brand, Blu, acquired from Lorillard in July. Although e-cigarettes are growing in popularity, sales are still dwarfed by regular cigarettes. According to Euromonitor, global e-cigarette sales were only $3 billion compared to over $700 billion for cigarettes.   A new brand, which is also available online in the U.K., is being promoted with the line, "Reon. Bring it on," and is aimed at professionals aged 25-to-45. A pack of eight strips costs $4, with each stick containing 20mg of caffeine, or roughly a third of the amount in a shot of espresso. The sticks, which are sugar-free and contain only one calorie each, dissolve on the tongue to give an instant energy hit.  As of yet Cricketscoffeeblog has yet to find an e-cigarette with caffeine flavor. Well keep you updated if we come across one.

 In a time when the government at one level or the other is nagging us on what not to eat or drink. It's a little refreshing to hear that coffee is not only not bad for your health but drinking more than the average 2 cups a day could be helpful to your health.  However as is almost always the case at some point in time in the near future some study will list the reasons we should stop drinking coffee or anything else short of purified water from some mountain stream.  So as for now bottoms up and have a third cup of your best coffee. It's good for you.

  You can drink up to 5 cups of coffee a day, or up to 400 milligrams of caffeine, without detrimental effects, according to a new report that will help shape the official government dietary guidelines.    This is the first time caffeine has been mentioned in the advisory report, which is submitted by a panel of experts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services every five years.    The advisory committee determined moderate coffee consumption was not associated with health risks, including but not limited to cardiovascular disease and cancer. In fact, the committee noted that there's evidence coffee has some health benefits, including reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There's also some evidence caffeine offers protection against Parkinson's disease, the committee wrote.    Still, pregnant women and children should limit their caffeine consumption, the...