Caffè La Tazza

restotheme

2008-12-13T22:47:00.001+07:00

Coffe the basic

2008-10-06T16:14:00.008+07:00

1. Overall factors

Coffee quality depends on a combination of factors. Fresh beans, measured by both how long it's been since the beans were roasted and the time elapsed since grinding the beans, are imperative. High quality beans (measured by the specific crop, processing, handling, etc.) are, obviously, desirable, but the highest quality beans are all but useless if stale. Clean good-tasting water must be used, and the coffee must be brewed with clean equipment at the proper temperature for the proper amount of time.
Simply buying top-quality beans is no guarantee of great coffee; if those beans are stale, the water quality poor, the brewing temperature low, or your equipment dirty, you will have wasted money on those expensive beans. Lesser quality yet freshly roasted beans, ground before use, will almost certainly be superior to a higher quality sample that is stale.
With all brewing methods, the goal is to balance strength and yield. These two elements are distinct but often confused. As noted in the section on water quality, brewed coffee is over 98 percent water; this is a measure of its strength--i.e., how much extracted coffee there is as a ratio to water. Not counting espresso or Turkish coffee, this mainly refers to the concentration of solubles; with espresso, that can be broadened to include emulsified oils (Turkish coffee often has a significant component of suspended solids). If your ratios fall outside of the proper range, the coffee is perceived as too weak or too strong. Most commonly this is a function of the quantity of ground coffee used for any given volume of water. However, the quality of solubles that are extracted determine another factor, the yield. If too little is extracted from the ground coffee (because the grounds are too coarse or the water contact time is too short), then the coffee will miss essential taste components. If too much is extracted (the coffee was ground too finely or the contact time is too long), then the brew will be bitter. Rather than being a measure of the total quantity of solubles extracted, yield is a measure of the desirable range of extracted solubles. To put it grossly, if you mix hot water and coarsely ground coffee in a one to one ratio and allow it to extract for thirty seconds, you will have a cup with a very strong grassy taste. A lot was extracted just because of the sheer quantity of coffee, but not enough of the desirable components. Similarly, if you add a tablespoon of finely ground coffee to a quart of hot water and let it steep for ten minutes, you will have a weak yet bitter brew.

2. Temperature

For coffee brewing, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) prescribes a water temperature of 92 - 96 degrees C (195 - 205 degrees F); see The Basics of Brewing Coffee by SCAA Executive Director Ted Lingle. Avoid boiling then cooling the water to the proper range, or at least letting it boil for more than a few moments; boiling hot water rapidly loses dissolved air and will taste flat. If the water is too cool, the brew will be sour and underextracted. The temperature range during brewing should not vary by more then a few degrees, or extraction will not be optimal. Temperature loss often occurs as a result of heat absorption by the equipment itself (for example, if an espresso machine's portafilter is not kept warm between shots by storage in the machine) or into the atmosphere (as in a uninsulated glass French press during the approximately four minute steeping period). Pre-warming the equipment or insulating it, respectively, will solve these problems.

3. Water quality

Coffee is 98.5 to 99 percent water, so water quality will critically affect the resultant brew's taste. When making coffee, you should only use water that tastes good enough to drink straight. As a result, the best cups of coffee are made with filtered tap water or bottled water. Carafes or sink-based filters will likely perform better and have a lower per-gallon cost than the modest charcoal filters that some manufacturers include with their auto-drip machines. Do not mistake distilled water for filtered: the former is missing minerals that contribute to the water's taste and aid in extraction. When certifying a coffee brewer, the SCAA uses fresh cold water containing a formulation of between 50 to 100 parts per million dissolved minerals. The water should be fresh; it it has been sitting too long (or has been heated then cooled), it will be missing the dissolved air that is an important component of the water's taste.The water should also start cold: hot water has lost some of its dissolved air, and may have picked up minerals or solubles from your pipes.
Read Jim Schulman's The Insanely Long Water FAQ for much, much more information.

4. How much ground coffee should I use?A standard "cup" of coffee uses six ounces (177 ml) of water. The SCAA's standard measure of ground coffee for this quantity of wateer is 10 grams (+/- 1 gram) or slightly over a third of an ounce (or, simply, two tablespoons). Since the ground coffee will absorb water, you will be left with approximately five and one-third ounces of coffee. Unless stated otherwise, the preceding is the ratio used in the FAQ's descriptions. Most coffee scoops and water chambers will be calibrated to this standard, but that is not necessarily so; the country of manufacture may result in different calibrations, and some measures may simply be wrong. Accurate scales can help verify how much a particular scoop holds.
In parts of the world where a coffee cup is defined as a different quantity, the coffee/water ratio remains the same (e.g., in Europe, 7 grams per 4.25 ounces).
For larger quantities, use 3.75 ounces (+/- 0.5 ounce) of ground coffee per half-gallon water, or 2.25 gallons water per pound of coffee (for commercial, urn-style brewing devices), slightly less than the ratio for a single cup. For metric measures, use 55 grams (+/- 5 grams) per liter.
For those who find that the two tablespoon/6 ounce ratio produced too strong a cup, simply reduce the quantity of coffee used until the desired strength is reached.
Recommendations to grind more finely and thereby use less coffee are simply wrong. Grind fineness is related to steeping time; using less but finer coffee will make the resultant product bitter; using less coffee under these circumstances will make a weak, bitter cup.

5. How do I keep coffee hot?Optimally, brew a fresh batch whenever you want coffee. To keep coffee hot for shorter periods of time, or for travel, use a thermally insulated container; an enclosed container will reduce the loss of the aromatics that constitute an essential part of the overall flavor (but see here). Insulated containers with glass internals, though somewhat delicate, have the least effect upon the coffee taste, followed by good quality stainless steel. Coffee with significant residual sediment, such as coffee brewed in a French press, fares less well when kept hot for extended periods; the sediment continues to extract, making the coffee bitter.
Optimal flavor is obtained by holding the coffee at high temperatures, at least 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
Direct heat—e.g., via a warming plate—should not be applied to brewed coffee, at least not for more than few minutes; continued heating will make the coffee bitter. This issue is primarily a concern for autodrip coffee makers; choose a model that dispenses into an insulated carafe over one that uses a warming plate.
Reheating coffee in the microwave is controversial; the key issue may be the uneven heating microwaves are known for. There are those who theorize that parts of the coffee that overheat may taste unpleasant, thereby spoiling the cup as a whole.

6. Coffee cups

The issue of the "right" coffee cup seems to have mainly anecdotal responses. In theory, the best containers are simply those that keep the coffee hot and do not add flavors of their own. Heavy, pre-warmed ceramic cups probably serve those criteria best.
Insulated plastic and metal containers are commonly used for travel mugs, as they can be durable and relatively lightweight. Theoretically, they are inert (assuming stainless steel or a quality plastic), but some aficionados swear that they can detect off-flavors, thought this may merely be evidence of lower-quality material.
Disposable cups are almost invariably made from paper or expanded polystyrene ("foam"), the latter often incorrectly referred to as Styrofoam (a trademark of Dow Chemical and a different product). There are instances where coffee tastings and sensory skill sessions have been ruined by a perceived "papery" aspect from paper cups, and other people avow that foam cups contribute similar off-tastes. Paper cups usually have a wax or plastic coating to prevent the liquid from soaking through the paper, and this substance may create a brand-by-brand difference in cup quality.
Drinking from a lidded container is detrimental to the coffee's flavor, as the lid will prevent aromatics, vital to the overall perception of taste, from reaching your nose. On the opposite end, the very wide "bowl style" cups lose their heat very quickly—the high surface area to volume ratio causes rapid evaporation. Optimally, choose a shape that both retains heat and channels the aromas to your nose.

6. Are paper cups more environmentally friendly than foam?
Endless debates occur as to which material is more environmentally harmful, without specific conclusion. At least one paper, Paper Versus Polystyrene: A Complex Choice, (Hocking, Martin B., Science 251:504-505 (February 1, 1991)), noted that foam cups may be less damaging to the environment than paper cups: the chemicals and energy required to make paper cups combined with the emissions from incineration or the effects of burial may exceed the environmental impact of making and disposing of cups made of plastic foam

7. Why is coffee bitter?

Good quality coffee will commonly have some bitter elements, but they should exist in balance with other aspects; bitterness should not be an overwhelming component. Unfortunately, most people are rarely served anything but poorly prepared coffee that may also have been sitting on a warming element for extended periods, so the standard experience is that coffee is bitter.

8. What if my coffee is too strong or too weak?

First, be certain that the problem is that your coffee is too strong or too weak. Often people will confuse "bitter" with being "strong." If your coffee is unpleasantly bitter, one cause may be that your grind is too fine for the steeping duration; use a coarser grind. A lower-quality grinder will also produce a lot of dust, which will make the coffee taste bitter. If the coffee is too coarse for the brewing technique, your coffee will be underextracted; use a finer grind. Your coffee isn't weak in the sense that the taste is diluted, it's because many of the desirable flavor elements (which don't all extract at the same time) are still in the grounds and simply never made it to your brew. See also section 1. Overall factors.
There also is a myth that conflates weakness and bitterness in that some people believe that using too little coffee (a weak cup) will also almost invariably cause bitterness. The theory appears to be that since using an insufficient amount of ground coffee will result in there not being enough desirable coffee components available, the bitter elements will rush in to make up the difference. This is an erroneous belief; the various components of the bean are extracted over the course of the steeping period (the length of which varies as a function of grind coarseness) in a definite progression, with the desirable components mainly extracted during the first third of the extraction period, the extraction sharply dropping off during the second third, and the bitter and astringent components becoming predominant during the final third.
Another issue is degree of roast. Some roasters over-roast their coffee as a matter of course, and the distinctive taste of charcoal may therefore cause the coffee to be labeled as strong. It isn't: the roasted beans are defective. Buy a different coffee, perhaps from another roaster. Or, the roaster may also have "baked" the coffee, which means that certain physical and chemical changes didn't occur during roasting, and the coffee will taste flat no matter what you do.
Ultimately, if your beans are good, and the grind is appropriately fine for your brewing technique, then simply adjust the amount of coffee you use. If your grind is right, then you'll be extracting a desirable profile of solubles from the grounds, just in different quantities.

Cafe culture - Brief Article

2008-05-18T22:04:00.010+07:00

Whole Earth, Summe r, 2002 by Buzz Poole

I go to coffee shops to watch people, not for the coffee. I can make coffee at home. People rustle their papers, peck away at their laptops, and chit-chat, choreographed by the cafe soundtrack: the obligatory jazz, the grinding of the grinders, the frothing of the milk or appropriate nondairy substitute, the tinkling of glasses, cups, spoons, and saucers.
Twice for this article, all my footwork complete, questions asked, I set out to actually write it in a cafe. It seemed apropos. Twice I failed. At one cafe my attention was consumed by a large painting hanging across from me. The heads and shoulders of Bill Clinton and Vladimir Putin had been painted onto the canvas. They bent towards one another, conspiratorially, diplomatically, Bill's big white head in the foreground, his lips ever so slightly agape as if caught in a whisper conveying matters of grave political importance. Or was he just asking for the sugar?

I can't think of another place where a buck entitles you to stay for as long as you like. If you go to a bar often enough, you'll be dubbed a drunk. Spend enough time lurking about a laundromat or even a library, and people may just find you plain old creepy. Go to a coffeehouse--and be like many others.
One coffee shop regular in San Francisco's Mission District told me that he was going to let the lease run out on his studio space because it was cheaper and more productive for him to come to the cafe "I don't know who got the design down. The funky tables, all these mismatched mugs. The music [Mingus], the old protest posters. It all feeds into this great environment. Everybody always seems busy doing something." Politics and levels of productivity aside, it is this setting that has seduced cafe goers from the get-go.
As space and privacy become more and more of a premium, coffeehouses proliferate. As people have clamored for a space apart from their kids, roommates, coworkers, and families, cafes have filled these needs. Ubiquitous to be sure, cafes in America have transcended the beverages, serving as sanctuaries and escapes for people hampered by the confinements of home and office.

Romanticized and commercialized, modern cafe culture has undergone a conversion. The sheer volume of consumers has simultaneously homogenized it, as well as reigniting enthusiasm for it. Cafes, once home to marginalized members of society, now stand proudly in the mainstream, encouraging customers to stay for as long as they like and to continue to return, again and again.
Unfortunately, the modern American cafe chain is an iconoclast, robbing cafe culture of what was once its greatest attribute--its ability to create an arena for diversity.
The king of the cafe chains is Starbucks. With enough fake exposed wood to hint at tradition; lots of glass; stools, sofas, tables, and chairs; and some notion of funkiness; you have any one of the more than 4,200 Starbucks flecked all over North America (with another 1,100 in twenty-five other countries). Some people adore it. Starbucks has created a singular cafe experience, the same in New York as in Des Moines. What was once a pastime for idle vagabonds has become a pursuit as American as baseball and apple pie.
Espresso: Made by heating water to just below boiling, then forcing it through a crucible of densely packed, finely ground coffee.
Caffe Latte: A shot of espresso topped with a generous amount of steamed milk, with foam.
Caffe Mocha: A shot of espresso mixed with cocoa powder and sugar, and topped with steamed milk.
Caffe Misto: A mix of 1/2 drip-brewed coffee and 1/2 steamed milk. Also known as cafe Au Lait or cafe Con Leche.
Ristretto: "Short pull" espresso made with less than the usual hot water for a highly intense shot that highlights espresso's caramelly sweetness.
Cappuccino: Traditionally made with milk foam and espresso, but little or no steamed milk.
Buzz Poole is a Bay Area freelance writer posing as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. He can be reached at liquidsecret @yahoo.com.

Are you a coffee addict?

2008-05-14T16:13:00.007+07:00

Are you denying the coffee addict in you?

I don't remember what my first tip-off was. Perhaps it was when I chose coffee-flavored hard candies over fruit flavoured candies. Or was it when I downed the mocha chip ice cream instead of my usual mint-chocolate chip? Perhaps it was when I started salivating every time I drove by an unaffordable-on-a-student-budget Starbucks shop. Actually, I must have clued in when I started having headaches if I hadn't had a cup-o-joe by noon.

So, it's true. I am addicted.
I always said that I just drank coffee for the 'warmth' and 'flavor' of it. It was the experience of coffee I said I kept returning too, not the black liquid itself. You know the scene: snuggling into a comfy coffee-shop seat with a large, foaming cup of coffee in hand. It's always over coffee you talk to friends about life, love, philosophy and politics. Sigh. A day in the life of a coffee-lover. Okay, by addicted, I don't mean obsessed. But is enjoying the experience of a cup of coffee obsessed? Nah. There are worse things in life.
But I would argue, for all the students who do not drink coffee, and quite proudly so - you are missing part of the student life. Perhaps I'm not addicted to it, but 'enhanced' by it. Let me explain.
Here are 10 reasons why I enjoy my java that will convert any coffee-hater into a coffee-addict that each one of you actually desires to become. I have numerous arguments to appeal to different kinds of students and individuals out there. (And no, I do not, and have never worked at a coffee shop. This is not some sort of marketing ploy! I write this just for the personal satisfaction of seeing some of the adamant coffee-haters become coffee-lovers out there).
1. To all students: Alcohol makes you silly. Drugs make you out of it. Both are expensive. But coffee, the cheaper alternative, makes you more aware. Heightened senses means better listening skills in class, more open eyes to see the board, a greater awareness of falling objects, and just general heightened senses.
2. To all students looking for a new university personality and identity: Out here on the west coast, coffee drinking is an art. Those who drink coffee come across as cultured. Downtown Vancouver you see it all over: unique coffee personalities. I am convinced that these personalities began in university and were perfected with the addition of coffee:
Business and economics students

The business associate coffee drinkers: You see these personalities walking beside the high rise buildings with their newspaper, briefcase, and business attire. If you can't drink coffee after university, how will you ever make it in the business world? Meetings, clients, proposals, and three year plans all have one thing in common: coffee.
Arts students
The artsy coffee drinkers: These are the ones who are connoisseurs. Funky eye-glasses and artistically clashing clothing mark this individual. In theatres at intermission, in parks, and painting outside, they have coffee in their hands to complete their image.
Fashion-conscious-female
The modern woman coffee drinkers: High class fashion, high heeled shoes, faux-fur, and a cup of coffee. You see these women sitting in coffee shops chatting with friends and 'sipping.' They carry coffee in one hand and shopping bags in another while wearing a suit. They are the epitome of 'chic' and are established working women.
Athletic and healthy type
The 'still looking good at 40' coffee drinkers: joggers, cyclers, rollerbladers...the general health nuts show up at coffee shops in their exercise attire. These are the ones who run with their kids in a stroller and bike the distance to work. They stay fit and healthy even later in life. To survive work after an early work-out, how else could they stay awake without coffee?
The list goes on. It's more than the coffee, it's the personality.
3. For those who want autonomy and independence: You get to decide what you want and how you want it, and from an endless variety! There are whole shops and restaurants based around the enjoyment of coffee. This means that you can discover yourself and what you really like. Did you have smothering parents? When you drink coffee you get to choose what you want. You can have small sizes or big sizes. You can have it warm or cold, hot or slushy. You can buy it in mugs to stay or cups to go. In fact, you can just linger in the shop and enjoy your coffee as long as you want. It doesn't even look bad to be alone in a coffee shop! There is no hurry either. You can just enjoy your quiet corner, or share a table. Really, want a step towards independence- figure out what you like in a java!
4. To the guys looking for girls: It can be summarized in one phrase, "Wanna go for coffee?" Guys - it's a way to woo women! It's a first date invitation or a way to reconcile after a fight. If she is angry at you and she hears those words, she will feel as though you care to listen to her share her heart. If she is sad and needs comfort it says you want to console. Those four words can say that you have time for her, that you want to talk without any other distractions, and that you want to get to know her better. Try it men! Women scream for communication and this phrase is dripping with it. It is guaranteed to work! Especially amidst a busy university schedule, time spent chatting over coffee is the best gift.
5. To the over-achievers and academic whizzes: This is obvious - coffee keeps you awake or wakes you up. That commercial about Folgers- hits the nail on the head. "The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup" (sung to a little ditty). The smell of brewing coffee in the morning opens your eyes just a bit faster and palpitates your heart getting your blood moving faster to your limbs than otherwise. The smell alone gives you a fresh start to a day of essay writing. Late at night, chugging back coffee then keeps you working on that paper a bit longer than you could without it. Many study groups survive long hours with a pot of coffee on. Without it, how do you sit through a 2 ½ hour lecture anyways?
6. To outgoing and sociable students (or psychology and social work students): Coffee is all about the conversation. Coffee is an ideal conversation starter (or the ideal thing to have while conversing). There is an instantly mutual understanding of another when a coffee-addiction is shared by both of you. The bridge from stranger to friend- whether in class or in a coffee shop line-up, can be crossed with a conversation about coffee. As students, most drink it. What better way to get to know someone by discussing favorite drinks, or buying a cup for the person beside you in class? You can also get to know someone by the type of coffee they choose to drink. For example, if someone orders an organic coffee, they are concerned about world affairs and equality of workers. Coffee says a lot about someone.
7. To the kid in you: Whipped cream. Need I say more? Without the calories of a full sized dessert, you can have a drink complimented with a dollup, a great big dollup of whipped cream. Not just that, but sprinkled with things. Oh, but that's not all! Not just sprinkled, but with sauces poured on it. Remember the ice cream sundae and how much fun that was as a kid? This is the adult version! You can sprinkle coffee with chocolate chunks, pour chocolate and caramel over it….the coffee syrups and flavors are up to you. Not just that, but you have a straw! Remember blowing bubbles in your cups as a child? You can use the straw as a spoon, lick it, chew on it, blow bubbles through it, bend it, poke people with it, and spit things through it. Oh the options! (I know the kid in you is loving this).
8. To penny-pinching students: Coffee shops are renowned for free stuff. Want to bake but can't afford tons of sugar? No problem! Stock up on mini-sugar packages at your local coffee shop. Out of milk for cereal? Don't worry! Coffee shops have little packages of cream (or 2% milks for more health-conscious students). Having guests in your dorm room and want to be a good host? Get some nicely folded and crisp napkins 'from your local coffee shop. What if you want to brew your own coffee, but you don't want to buy the fixings? Fill up your pockets the next time you're in a shop! But, the trick is that the employees usually frown on this practice without the purchase of a drink. Once you purchase a coffee, then you can grab whatever you want! Plastic spoons, brown-sugars, and stir sticks 'oh-my'!
9. To the young 'adult' in you: University is a transition stage to adulthood. Adults drink coffee. Basically, you better get used to it now. When at other people's houses they will offer you coffee. In the morning when you have to get your kids ready for school, you'll need it to be awake. Business meetings, student-teacher conferences, job orientations and in-laws offer it. Dare you say no to what may be frowned upon by the person offering it?
You're going to have to face it at some point. The reality is, you want to be a coffee drinker, its part of aging and becoming a more mature and established 'you.' All of us start thinking that we won't like it. We don't start off by drinking it black. Instead we start with the fun frothy and sugary ones. Don't be intimidated by the various kinds and don't be afraid to ask for help. Get a coffee buddy and get your feet wet! You won't regret it.

Coffee and cholesterol

2008-05-11T23:37:00.026+07:00

Does your daily morning jolt boost the risk of heart disease?

By Merritt McKinney special to msnbc.com
For the millions of people who depend on coffee to jumpstart their day, cholesterol is probably the last thing on their mind as they wait for the morning jolt of caffeine to kick in. In the past few years, though, more and more evidence hints that coffee can increase cholesterol levels.
Experts say that the majority of coffee-drinking Americans do not need to worry about the impact of a cup of joe on cholesterol levels. That's because most Americans drink filtered coffee, which is believed to have much less of an effect on cholesterol than unfiltered coffee. Filters seem to remove most of the cholesterol-boosting substances found in coffee.
But a cholesterol check may be in order for people who use a French press or percolator to make their coffee or who prefer espresso or other varieties of unfiltered coffee, according to Dr. Michael J. Klag, the vice dean for clinical investigation at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

In 2001, Klag and his colleagues reviewed more than a dozen studies that looked at the relationship between coffee consumption and cholesterol levels. They found that drinking an averagecups of of six coffee a day was associated with increased total cholesterol and LDL, the harmful type of cholesterol.Nearly all of the rise in cholesterol was linked to unfiltered coffee.

The coffee culprit

Although caffeine is often cast as a villain, the stimulant is not to blame for unfiltered coffee's effect on cholesterol levels.

According to Klag, the increase in cholesterol is believed to be caused by oils called terpenes that are found in coffee, but are mostly removed by filters.
"Persons who drink unfiltered coffee should get their cholesterol checked to make sure it is not elevated," says Klag.
The Johns Hopkins researcher notes that in a 1994 study he and his colleagues found an association between coffee consumption and an increased risk of heart disease. But most of the increased risk was linked to coffee drinking before 1975. It was during the mid-1970s, Klag points out, that drip coffee makers became widely used in the United States, making filtered coffee the norm.
Although Klag advises his patients who drink unfiltered coffee to switch to filtered brew, he says that not everyone needs to be overly concerned about the effect of unfiltered coffee on cholesterol. He notes that cholesterol levels are a "combination of how you live, what you eat and what genes you inherit." A healthy person with low cholesterol probably does not need to worry too much about the effect of coffee on cholesterol levels, he says.
A Dutch researcher who has also documented the cholesterol-boosting effect of unfiltered coffee agrees that the risks need to be seen in perspective.
"Unfiltered coffee has much less effect on your heart disease risk than smoking, high blood pressure or being overweight," says Dr. Martijn B. Katan, a professor at the Wageningen Center for Food Sciences and Wageningen University. "But if you want to optimize your cholesterol levels, you should avoid large daily amounts of unfiltered coffee."
Unfiltered coffee seems to boost cholesterol the most, although a handful of recent studies hint that filtered coffee may have an effect on cholesterol, too. In one study, researchers in Sweden found that people who normally drank filtered coffee experienced a small drop in cholesterol levels when they stopped drinking coffee for a few weeks. The results were "surprising," according to Dr. Elisabeth Strandhagen, of Sahlgrenska University Hospital(CK) in Goteborg, who led the study.
"We have done some tests on coffee filters, but we cannot explain why the filtered coffee had this effect on serum cholesterol," she says.
Despite the findings, filtered coffee seems to have a much smaller effect on cholesterol than unfiltered coffee. Strandhagen encourages people with high cholesterol or who are at high risk of heart disease to choose filtered coffee. They should also avoid coffee filters that have "aroma holes," which are very common in Sweden, she says.
Pieces of the puzzleBut filtered vs. unfiltered may not be the most important question to ask about coffee and cholesterol, according to a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "People try to pin a culprit" when it comes to coffee and cholesterol, "but people do not live in an isolated world," says Dr. Gail C. Frank, a professor of nutrition in the department of family and consumer sciences at California State University Long Beach. According to Frank, there are "several pieces to the coffee story," including not only whether people drink filtered or unfiltered coffee, but how much they drink and what they are doing besides drinking coffee‹such as smoking.
While unfiltered coffee may contain substances that raise cholesterol levels, many popular coffee drinks sold at coffee houses seem more like desserts than beverages to Frank. The "bolts" of cream and sugary calories raise questions of their own about coffee's effect on cholesterol, she says.
When making decisions about coffee, Frank encourages people not to look for a yes or no answer. It's not a simple question of "do drink coffee" or "don't drink coffee," she says.
Instead, Frank encourages people to "filter through" their own lives and their own cardiovascular risk factors to make a decision about how much and what type of coffee to drink.
Merritt McKinney is a health writer based in Houston.
© 2008 MSNBC Interactive