Beans

Farming Caffeine Through The Coffee Brew

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Coffee: The world’s favorite mildly addicting beverage has been the subject to many studies over the years. Some of these studies herald coffee as the second coming whose benefits are wonderful and forthcoming while others declare the drink to be the carefully crafted brew by the lord of the underworld itself.  Whether you sip in sin or delight is of little consequence considering the effects of this seemingly mystical beverage.

IN THE BREWGINNING.. (sorry the microphone was set a bit loud) Coffee is best grown on farms in between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn on the planet Earth.  Brazil is the number one producer of coffee beans boasting about 1/3 of the worlds coffee production. In 2011, Brazilian coffee farms produced a whopping 2.7 million metric tonnes (1 tonne= 2204.6 lbs) of coffee beans. Brazil has been at the top of the coffee business for about 150 years with Vietnam and Columbia acting as consistent runners up. Their efforts to grow coffee plants give the world that “best part of waking up” feeling every morning.

The coffea arabica and coffea canephora plants account for almost all the worlds coffee “beans.” The main fruit of the coffea plant is actually an epigynous berry. This means that the berry grew from what herbalists deem an inferior ovary and developed with bits of the plant as well as the ovary. Theses cherries are pitted, dried, shelled, ground, roasted, mixed with some hot water, poured into a cup, and then poured into your belly. Throughout the process there are quite a lot of variations which can be implemented. Time, temperature, and quantity are all tweaked in order to achieve the perfect brew. The effects of this perfect brew are myriad and manifold.

Related Article: Beans, Cool! What Makes Beans so Great?

So now that the coffee has reached your digestive system and is being dispersed what happens to your body? Well caffeine, the mind altering constituent in coffee, has a conveniently clever shape which allows it to manipulate certain receptors in your brain and spinal cord. The reason why it is so clever is because of how similar the build of caffeine is to adenosine.

Adenosine plays many roles inside the human body. From Livestrong.com:

Your body makes adenosine from a combination of a nitrogen-based substance called adenine and a sugar called ribose. In addition to its designation as a neurotransmitter, adenosine belongs to a class of chemicals called xanthines. Every cell in your body contains some adenosine inside its DNA and RNA; it is also found in the energy source adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, and related chemicals called adenosine diphosphate, or ADP, and adenosine monophosphate, or AMP. In addition, adenosine acts as a natural painkiller, helps widen your blood vessels and helps steady your heartbeat.

Adenosine is a byproduct of firing neurons and adenosine receptors help gauge just how much adenosine is in your brain and spinal cord. Once this level reaches a certain point, the process of “drifting toward sleep”– or in my case “falling asleep immediately”– begins. So caffeine, being similar in shape to adenosine, is able to bind to these receptors without actually activating them.
This binding of adenosine receptors notifies the pituitary glands that there is “a pressing emergency.” The pituitary glands then call the adrenal glands– for the regular conversation of inner-body gland gossip– and say “Hey, you know all that adrenaline you’ve been hoarding… now is the time!” The adrenal glands are like “WAR!!!” and release their precious epinephrine (aka adrenaline) into the bloodstream. This plugging up of adenosine receptors also allows the dopamine and glutamate to get busy with less friction.
But, what’s most important, is that caffeine is not some magic drug that makes you more efficient or more skilled. Caffeine quickly brings the abilities of the brain to it’s normal state. It cannot facilitate “better thought,” rather it allows the user to think and act quickly. Simply stated: Caffeine improves speed not skill.

So from tropical farms to deep inside the annals of the body the effects of coffee are extremely widespread. Considered to be one of the greatest economic commodities, second only to oil, it is no small wonder the sheer volume of information available about coffee. So the next time you take a sip, take a trip through the whole process. Taste the beans from the start to the finish and truly appreciate the global and bodily effects of your morning potion.

And, as with all drugs, you should use caffeine with awareness and responsibility.

Beans, Cool! What Makes Beans so Great?

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BEANS! Glorious beans.

Well, folks, I have to admit something to you all. It has been a part of my life for some time now and frankly I’m at a loss. You see I have this problem- well it really is more than one problem. I have many problems. Tiny little problems. They’re a bit smaller than most marbles and generally larger than most seeds. I’m talking about good-old-fashioned-beans. And, with great apology, I must admit that I don’t think they’re a problem at all.

Did you know that on our home world Earth lays claim to over 40,000 different varieties of beans? Ranging from that start-of-the-day ground up coffee bean to the stew-simmering-supper-time Lima bean, beans are everywhere (check your pockets).

By the way, if you’re interested in growing lima beans there are plenty of ways to do that. Though, now that I think about it, you should probably wait until the start of next season. It’s never to early to get your bean poles!

There are also plenty of delicious recipes for the wonderful Lima bean. It could be as easy as throwing together some lemon-mint snap peas & lima beans or you can get real crazy and muster up the terrifyingly awesome and really not all that complicated herbed lima bean hummus. Beans!

Recipes aside, beans aren’t just a tasty little treat. They don’t just fill us up with joy and utmost inner peace for no apparent reason. The fact of the matter is this: beans are healthy (…and delicious).

Adzuki beans, one of my six favorite types of beans, are, you guessed it, a kind of bean! No beans about it! Beans! Here are some nutritional facts according to Lance Armstrong’s website.

Adzuki beans are a nutrient-dense food, providing a hefty amount of nutrients compared to their caloric content. They are a good food source of folate, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, manganese and zinc.

They’re also an excellent source of BEANS!
But beans aren’t only found in foodstuffs. You see, beans are also found in cultural outlets such as art. One such bean-laden work of physical expression is the Chicago’s Cloud Gate or more commonly referred to as, that’s right, The Bean.

The structure weighs 100 tons and measures 10 meters high and 20 meters wide (33 x 66 ft). People can walk through the 3.7 meter high central arch, where they can look up to the large ‘dent’ and see numerous distorted reflections of themselves.

That’s 99 tons more than these guns. Though some say (none on record) that Chicago Cloud Gate beans are just as nutritious as any other bean, many have attempted to digest them to no avail.

 

Bean Sources:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jun06/beans0606.htm?pf=1

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2001/5-11-2001/limabeans.html

http://www.ziplist.com/recipes/688819-Herbed_Lima_Bean_Hummus
http://www.livestrong.com/article/299196-nutrition-information-regarding-adzuki-beans/
http://www.aviewoncities.com/chicago/cloudgate.htm