Caffeine fix

December 21, 2009

A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine revealed that drinking coffee or tea is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. The more you drink, the more your risk is lowered: Drinking 3 to 4 cups per day was linked to a 25 percent lower risk than drinking none or up to two cups per day.

This was good news to me because I love coffee. In fact, most weekend afternoons you are very likely to find me at a coffee shop in Leslieville (my hood, which lucky for me has turned into coffee shop heaven — with six-plus coffee shops all within walking distance).  

And I was thrilled to hear about this new research just as I was scheduled to learn even more about my favourite brew at a coffee cupping session at one of  my fave coffee shops, Te Aro.

Coffee cupping is a coffee tasting technique used to evaluate a coffee’s aroma and its flavor profile. The technique is also used to determine if a batch of coffee beans is tainted and to create coffee blends.

At Te Aro, Jessie and Andy (the cute couple who own the place) lead our group through the cupping, where we sniffed three different grounds, then added hot water and deeply inhaled each cup’s aroma. I love testing my nose and palette and was pleasantly surprised to find out I could actually make out the scent of blueberries in one cup and a nutty earthiness in another (after sniffing its aroma, the next step is tasting the coffee by taking loud, loud slurps of it — I don’t blame the dude who was working on his laptop in the seat next to mine for moving to another table…).

Broaden your own coffee knowledge by signing up for a free coffee cupping yourself — register in Te Aro and Jessie will email you about upcoming dates and times.

Filed under: Healthy Swellness

Tags: Leslieville