Coffee is a part of most people's daily routines. The aroma, taste and the sense of feeling “refreshed” after a cup of coffee brings pleasure to many of us, as we go about our daily lives. Coffee is not usually thought of as health food, but a number of recent studies suggest that it can be a highly beneficial drink.Researchers have found strong evidence that coffee reduces the risk of several serious ailments,including diabetes, heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver. For most of us a cup of coffee is just to give us a mild lift in our spirits to keep us on the go through our day.

For some of us, coffee plays a larger role in their work. Knowledge workers often claim their thought processes are improved and they can work more effectively and faster when well fuelled by endless cups of coffee, especially when working through the hours they might normally expect to be sleeping.

The flagging attention of many a long distance driver has been revived by a break and a cup of coffee. These endurance and cognitive performance benefits account for much of the popularity of coffee.

Researchers at MIT found that "caffeine is a mind-accelerating mood booster." Caffeine stimulates reaction time, attention span, concentration and acuity with numbers. As little 
as 32 mg of caffeine as much as in a single serving of cola or a 5-ounce cup of tea can give you a real mental and energy boost.Caffeine moves to your brain fast, with 20 to 30 minutes and lasts up to 6 hours.

 Nutrition content

Coffee is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Pantothenic Acid, and a very good source of Riboflavin.

Health Benefits of Coffee

• Parkinson’s disease. Coffee seems to protect men, but not women, against Parkinson’s disease. One possible explanation for the sex difference may be that estrogen and caffeine need the same enzymes to be metabolized, and estrogen captures those enzymes.
• Can increase alertness and prolong waking hours.
• In tests, people who regularly drank coffee were found to perform better in simple reaction time, incidental verbal memory, and visual-spatial reasoning.May improve short-term recall too
• Promotes the effectiveness of certain migraine drugs.
• May reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver among heavy drinkers. It has also been shown that coffee can reduce the incidence of cirrhosis of the liver and a primary liver cancer with cirrhosis. The same is true of coffee’s consumption correlated to reduced risk of oral, esophageal and pharyngeal cancers
• The antioxidants in a cup of coffee are quantitatively superior to those in a typical serving of grape juice, blueberries, raspberries, and oranges.
• Cardiovascular risk also decreases with consumption of coffee.
• Certain compounds in coffee appear to help prevent bile from crystallizing which causes gallstones.
• Research studies have found that people who regularly drank coffee, significantly reduced the risk of the onset of type 2 diabetes, compared to non-coffee drinking participants. 

Coffee Recipes

Irish Coffee Recipe

Ingredients

1-1/2 ounces Irish Whiskey

2 teaspoons brown sugar

Hot coffee to fill one cup or mug

Heavy cream

Method

·                Blend the brown sugar, hot coffee, and whiskey in a cup or mug.

·                Top the coffee drink with a quarter inch of heavy cream, but do not stir.

·                Alternately, you can top this drink with whipped cream instead of the heavy cream.

Iced Mocha

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coffee crystals

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup boiling water

2 tablespoon chocolate syrup

1 cup ice water

Method

·                Combine boiling water, cinnamon, and coffee; whisk until coffee is dissolved.

·                Stir in chocolate syrup until thorougly combined.

·                Chill mixture until completely cooled.

·                Stir in ice water, and serve poured over ice.