Is Coffee Good or Bad for you?

[loreta]

Thanks for your comments concerning the Celestial Seasonings. I have also many boxes of the brand YogiTea, they say it is very "natural" and ecologic too. But I don't know anymore. Do you know a brand that is secure? When you go to your naturalistic store there are so many teas!

Gandalf: I love your tea pot. Is it a Japanese one? I like the simplicity of it, that is also beauty.

 

[Goemon_]

I also use some YogiTea. I had buy a tonne of it to have lower prices. When I stop gluten, I realized that there was gluten in some of the YogiTea so now I have a lot to give away to people that are staying on gluten.

 

[anothermagyar]

Thanks for your comments concerning the Celestial Seasonings. I have also many boxes of the brand YogiTea, they say it is very "natural" and ecologic too. But I don't know anymore. Do you know a brand that is secure? When you go to your naturalistic store there are so many teas!

Gandalf: I love your tea pot. Is it a Japanese one? I like the simplicity of it, that is also beauty.

I can give you some list of ingredients especially when it comes to tea it's always suspicious when you have a lot of strange chemical names instead of simple herbal list.
Lot's of times I read the label and too many of them I just drop it.

Here is a list:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,22916.msg347021.html#msg347021

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/07/12/how-to-find-hidden-msg-on-food-labels.aspx

I learned this when I worked for a biochemist in a Health Food Company watch out for "natural flavor" among others.

 

[Scottie]

I also use some YogiTea. I had buy a tonne of it to have lower prices. When I stop gluten, I realized that there was gluten in some of the YogiTea so now I have a lot to give away to people that are staying on gluten.

With Yogi Tea, you must read the ingredients.

For example, the chocolate-flavored Yogi Tea sold in France contains barley, aka gluten.

But in Austria, the exact same tea does NOT contain gluten - and it tastes exactly the same.

I'm not sure what the deal is with that, but there you have it...

 

[anart]

I also use some YogiTea. I had buy a tonne of it to have lower prices. When I stop gluten, I realized that there was gluten in some of the YogiTea so now I have a lot to give away to people that are staying on gluten.

With Yogi Tea, you must read the ingredients.

For example, the chocolate-flavored Yogi Tea sold in France contains barley, aka gluten.

But in Austria, the exact same tea does NOT contain gluten - and it tastes exactly the same.

I'm not sure what the deal is with that, but there you have it...

Maybe in Austria they're not required to list all the ingredients, only those that constitute, say, over 2% or something and in France they are required to list all ingredients, even trace ones? That might explain why they taste exactly the same (they are).

 

[Jacques]

Gandalf: I love your tea pot. Is it a Japanese one? I like the simplicity of it, that is also beauty.

It is a chinese one and I only make my oolong tea in it. I use another one for my other teas (blach, puerh, green and white)

By the way, I only use natureal leaves with no other ingredients in it.

And when you are use to it, you can find many flavors in your cup of tea, going from flowers to nuts, from chocolate to veggie and even to tobacco.

As they say in China, it is an art.

 

[Goemon_]

I also use some YogiTea. I had buy a tonne of it to have lower prices. When I stop gluten, I realized that there was gluten in some of the YogiTea so now I have a lot to give away to people that are staying on gluten.

With Yogi Tea, you must read the ingredients.

For example, the chocolate-flavored Yogi Tea sold in France contains barley, aka gluten.

But in Austria, the exact same tea does NOT contain gluten - and it tastes exactly the same.

I'm not sure what the deal is with that, but there you have it...

Maybe in Austria they're not required to list all the ingredients, only those that constitute, say, over 2% or something and in France they are required to list all ingredients, even trace ones? That might explain why they taste exactly the same (they are).

That does make sense.

In France there is a lot of product where they list the engredients in several languages and if you compare them they are not always exacly the same. That is to say they would list an engredient in French and not in Spanish for example.

 

[loreta]

Thanks a lot for the information about YogiTea- I checked the ingredients, so far so good, no gluten. But maybe here in Spain they are not force to put it? I don't know.

Thanks anothermagyar, I will look the links you put.

Gandalf: you are right, make a good tea is an art, an art that I am not good at all. I have a huge quantities of teas, infusions, etc, and they taste nothing. And all are bought in a naturalistic store. So I really don't know where to buy a good tea, you are lucky to have natural leaves. If someone has a good brand to look for it, it will help me alot. Even YogiTea is not my favorite. Too strong and too spicy. Oh well, I will see what I can buy next time.

 

[Gaby]

My preliminary observations with this experiment is that it seems coffee has the same effect as DL-Phenylalanine (DLPA) on me. DLPA is a precursor for dopamine. I can feel good but then my mood levels crash afterwards. So I have to be careful and just take it when I already "feel crashed". Specially in these times when our brains are in need for finer energy sources and are not keen to abrupt chemical changes.

I do seem to detoxify coffee pretty well, as it really doesn't wake me up. It just does something to my mood and I'm always able to sleep. No sickness or irritations. The only time I noticed something off was when I had a rather huge dose of black coffee. It was big. Same with DLPA, if you take more than enough, it can be pretty bad, which is why starting with the minimal doses is always recommended.

I'm speculating I have a "Parkinson's gene". As it is, I would continue this experiment by taking a small cup around 3 times a month. Unless it compromises my ketogenic state, then I would stop. I think ketosis is far more useful.

 

[Rich]

Update: I also came down with a cold/inflammatory reaction over the last few days and am just getting over it. At first, I couldn't figure out if I really enjoyed coffee or was just 'happy' to be able to incorporate something new into my diet.

Same with me :( Was enjoying having a coffee a day but then soon it interrupted my sleep pattern and have spent the past couple of days with a head-cold. Back just to tea now and feeling better for it. My current favourite is black tea in the morning then after that redbush tea with a dash of coconut milk.

 

[Scottie]

Maybe in Austria they're not required to list all the ingredients, only those that constitute, say, over 2% or something and in France they are required to list all ingredients, even trace ones? That might explain why they taste exactly the same (they are).

It's possible, but then lots of other products in Austria list the same ingredients as their "brothers" in France.

 

[Jacques]

Gandalf: you are right, make a good tea is an art, an art that I am not good at all. I have a huge quantities of teas, infusions, etc, and they taste nothing. And all are bought in a naturalistic store. So I really don't know where to buy a good tea, you are lucky to have natural leaves. If someone has a good brand to look for it, it will help me alot. Even YogiTea is not my favorite. Too strong and too spicy. Oh well, I will see what I can buy next time.

Hi Loreta,

I can not give you a good brand because all the teas sold by those brands are for the most part not good anymore or at best a low quality.

As an example if you like green tea, you must drink it in the next 6 months after the leaves have been picked. Otherwise, you lose most of the flavors. For the white tea, it is better if you drink it in the next 3 months.

You have to find a good tea shop near you (not a naturalistic shop) or find a good website that you can trust and ideally that you know the owner.

The tea is always better when the leaves have been picked up by hand.

 

[truth seeker]

If someone has a good brand to look for it, it will help me alot. Even YogiTea is not my favorite. Too strong and too spicy. Oh well, I will see what I can buy next time.

I'm not sure what brands are available to you but I do agree with Gandalf that you may want to look into getting the tea leaves directly as opposed to the ones already in the bags as they are sure to be fresher and be more flavorful. One brand I like is two leaves and a bud. Celebration herbals is good as well (see links below). You'll really have to try different kinds to see what flavors speak to you though.

http://www.twoleavestea.com/

http://celebrationherbals.com/

 

[loreta]

Right Gandalf and truth seeker, it is what I will do next week; I will go to a tea shop that someone told me there is in Salamanca. All the teas they sell in bags and very beautiful boxes taste air. The only green tea that has some flavor is the Gunpowder green tea that I buy in a little metallic box by the Twinings brand but is Twinings safe I ask my self. Spain is not a country of tea drinkers. Here is coffee the God, even then the coffee that they sell is not very good, I prefer the Portuguese coffee. This is a very interesting quest, and the book that you put, Gandalf, looks very interesting. The ceremony of tea is something very important! I look yesterday in the Internet and there is a lot of information about it.

And thanks for the links.

 

[Ollie]

Given the number of people bailing on the coffee experiment due to bad reactions, ... Although, I have to say, most of what I've noticed have been positive benefits over the past week of coffee drinking. The best result has been that my bowels have been back on track (although I think there still needs to be some adjustment here). Also, I'm really benefiting from having another means of getting fat into my diet without risking nausea.

The negative effects people have mentioned haven't really seemed to be happening to me - no dry nose, no sleep disturbances, no inflammation, no illness... In fact, if anything I think I'm sleeping better.

...

I do seem to detoxify coffee pretty well, as it really doesn't wake me up. It just does something to my mood and I'm always able to sleep. No sickness or irritations. The only time I noticed something off was when I had a rather huge dose of black coffee. ...

... Unless it compromises my ketogenic state, then I would stop. I think ketosis is far more useful.

Having determined a level of coffee (whether instant or beans - which for a 'coffee drinker' is relatively small) now, I find that coffee seems beneficial to me, and, as above, positive effects, and a lack of negative effects. Interestingly, when younger, even when I'd given up drinking coffee, I never was a 'tea person'. I guess it's something like being predisposed to smoking or not (which I'm still not). As Psyche implies, maybe it's all in the genes. We are all different. :)