Now, I'm by no means a "coffee snob" (edit - upon rereading this post I decided that I am a snob after all) but I refuse to drink the instant mud that is labelled coffee. My bare minimum is a good cup of filter coffee, made using a french press and a ground that is no more than three months old roasted arabica, preferably from a fair trade farm. My ultimate is a perfect double espresso, drawn from freshly ground beans (must be made no more than 30 seconds after grinding) and using a high quality espresso machine. If I feel like something more substantial then I will add some steamed milk and foam to the mix, for a delicious cappuccino.
Now, other than the obvious benefit of being in luxurious aromatic hot beverage nirvana, I enjoy my coffee for more prosaic and functional reasons too.
Well make that 'reason' instead of 'reasons'. Caffiene. The stuff that puts the Caf in Caffe. Now i'm not entirely averse to sipping on a decaf substitute, even though the process that removes the caffiene does have some negative effects on the flavour of the final roast (imho), BUT my regular choice is caffienated coffee in all its supercharged glory.
The stimulant effects, and side effects of coffee are well known and documented. It's a great idea to have a cup of coffee before your workout. Black with no sugar, It is natures own pre workout drink. Provides you with focus and stimulates your nervous system. One cup of strong black coffee contains about 100mg of caffiene. Synthetic Pre workout drinks can contain up to 200mg. I have found that I cant sleep after using such a product in the evening, I greatly prefer going the coffee route.
Drinking a cup of coffee (Black, No Sugar - spot a trend?) with my 10 am snack also serves dual purpose of curbing my appetite. A cup of coffee with a small snack staves off hunger and makes it a bit easier for me to hold off eating till lunch time. This is particularly helpful on the day after a heavy training session. For example, on the day after a hectic 1000kcal in 1hr kettlebell workout I am absolutely ravenous and it is quite conceivable that I will devour my mid morning snack and be hungry again within minutes. The cup of coffee acts as a discipline bolster!
Recent research has also prompted nutriotionists to recommend varying your warm beverage intake, and get both coffee and tea in your diet. This is due to the high anti-oxidant content of both drinks (reduce cell damage, anti aging, that whole speel). In fact there is a whole litany of health benefits associated with coffee consumption, including reducing asthma attack frequencyand reducing risk of type 2 diabetes (obviously not if you have 5 heaped sugars with your coffee) to name a few.
There are also the nay-sayers who proclaim the negative effects of drinking too much coffee far outweigh the possible benefits. Possible negative side - effects include high blood pressure, hypertension and headaches. These usually only occur as a result of gross over consumption.
As with most things in this information rich time in which we exist, do some resarch for yourself. Decide on what you think to be a suitable level of consumption and enjoy the benefits of this luxurios dark brew.
I myself will stick to my 3 or 4 cups a day strategic regiman!
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