Kona Coffee - Does a Body Good View PDF
by Cheryl Martin
The pilot from GO! Airlines began to speak on the overhead system to let everyone know that we are arriving a few minutes early and it is a sunny day in Kona where the temperature is approximately 84 degrees. The Kona weather pattern of bright sunny mornings, humid rainy afternoons and mild nights creates favorable coffee growing conditions. Located along the western coast of the Big Island of Hawai‘i, Kona is world renowned for its coffee belt. The famous 20-mile stretch of land is the only place in the United States where gourmet Kona coffee is grown and the only region where authentic Kona coffee beans are cultivated. Soil produced by volcano eruptions, abundant sunshine and soft afternoon rain showers mark the days in this laid-back corner of the world.
Coffee farming in Kona dates back to 1828A.D. when Reverend Samuel Ruggles, an American missionary took cuttings from the coffee plants at Chief Boki’s estate and brought them to Kona. Legend has it that an African goat herder noticed that his goats were particularly lively after they nibbled on some berries from a coffee tree. When the goat herder told the local holy man about the berries, the Reverend boiled them to make a beverage, and discovered that it kept him alert. And the word spread. Today coffee is often said to be the second most consumed beverage on the planet after water because of one of its main components-caffeine.
Coffee energizes you up by stimulating the central nervous system and increasing blood pressure. Within about 15 minutes after you’ve ingested caffeine, your heart is beating faster, the breathing passages in your lungs have expanded and your liver has released sugar into the blood stream to boost your energy. Who would have thought that one little cup could bring on such a cascade of events? Caffeine is one of the most widely studied substances in the world; and scientists have learned much about its benefits. It may help prevent diabetes according to Harvard School of Public Health, where they have found the long term coffee consumption is associated with less risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Dr. Frank Hu, one of the authors of the Harvard study, says this may be due to how the caffeine stimulates muscles to burn fat and sugar more efficiently. Coffee also contains many antioxidants and minerals that may help prevent diabetes. Also data which appeared in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggest that antioxidants in coffee may dampen inflammation, reducing the risk of disorders related to cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. The same researchers found that a typical serving of coffee contains more antioxidants than typical servings of grape juice, blueberries, raspberries and oranges.
Canadian researchers asked subjects who had not slept in 28 hours to march for two hours and then pile sandbags. A 400 milligram dose of caffeine before the “workout” was followed by two 100 milligram doses midway through the test. This helped the subjects maintain their physical effort at levels comparable with what they would have registered if they would have had a normal nights sleep. What caffeine likely does is stimulate the brain and nervous system to ignore fatigue or recruit extra units of muscle for intense athletic performance.
Surprisingly, it’s not the Italians, the French or even Americans who drink the most coffee. It’s the Finns. Mike Ferguson, Chief Communications Officer for the Specialty Coffee Association of America in Long Beach California, suggest it could be that it’s so dark and cold there that coffee helps them stay warm and alert. Not surprisingly, the United Kingdom and Ireland where tea is still the favored caffeinated beverage, consume the smallest amount of coffee per capita among first World Nations. Globally more than 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed each year.
Spice up your sex life. In addition to keeping a tired loved one awake, a regular cup of coffee may make your sweetheart more energetic for a tantalizing adventure. In one study at the University of Michigan, urologist Ananias Diokno, MD found that regular coffee drinkers are considered more sexually active than people who don’t drink coffee. It’s good to live in a time when 5-star health resorts are creating coffee scrubs and facials that are not only purifying but stimulate the release of endorphins with amorous and sexy results. If it sounds too good to be true, think again!
Coffee is being touted as having a tightening effect on the skin when it is absorbed; and the coarse grains of ground coffee serve as a skin exfoliants while the antioxidants protect you from cell-damaging effects of free radicals. Applying coffee to your face and to the rest of your body is becoming a sophisticated trend in treatments since recognizing the coffee benefits in skincare. Kona coffee is part of the signature treatment offered at the award-winning Spa Without Walls at the Fairmont Orchid Resort as the Big Island Kona Coffee/Ka’u Orange/Vanilla exfoliation treatment. As any exfoliation fan knows, the scrubbing action of coffee products creates smooth and refined skin. Caffeine is a diuretic and vasoconstrictor meaning it can cause the blood vessels to temporarily close. Local ingredients such as 100% Kona Coffee, Hawaiian vanilla beans, Turbinado sugar, fresh ground orange peel, organic corn meal and grapeseed oil all make the Big Island Coffee Treatment smell good enough to eat. The finely ground coffee, orange peel and cornmeal act as mechanical scrubbers to refine the skin, while the sugar acts as an antiseptic exfoliant and the grapeseed oil loosens the dead layer of skin so that it can be lifted off. This treatment is uplifting and invigorating to the senses, as a result it elevates your mood. Afterwards your body is moisturized with their signature orange crème, which includes green tea extract, green apple extract, ginseng, chamomile, algae, Laminaria extract, jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, wheat germ protein, squaline, allantion, oat-beta glucans, vitamin E, A and essential oil of sweet orange allowing your nerves to relax and your skin to be smooth and stimulated. This treatment is followed with a vanilla lotion and no matter what else comes next this luxurious treatment feels absolutely fabulous!
In March 1999, the American Chemical Society in Anaheim California for Reuters Health reported that coffee beans may contain multiple anti-cancer agents. They don’t want to tell people to go out and start drinking coffee, but there isn’t much harm in drinking coffee in moderation. Although many studies have reported that caffeine is not addictive for most people and have little effect on human health, a recent study from the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, March 2008 did find an increased risk of miscarriage associated with relatively small amounts of daily caffeine intake.
Since 1996, Hawai‘i remains the sole US producer of commercially grown coffee and Kona coffee remains truly rare. According to Lee Paterson from Hula Daddy’s Coffee off Mamalahoa Highway there are over 600 coffee farms in Kona, but most are just two to three acres in size. I had the opportunity to tour Hula Daddy’s Coffee estate and was impressed with the amount of work, knowledge and dedication a Kona coffee farmer has for their coffee. Meanwhile the Kona Coffee Farmers Association is doing their best to educate the public regarding “Kona Blend” versus “100% Kona coffee”. They have recently released The Naked Truth About 100% Kona Coffee 2009 Calendar, truly a rare edition. “Kona Blend” DOES NOT mean a blend of Kona grown coffees gathered from various coffee farms in Kona. “Kona Blend” means that the package of coffee you purchased needs legally only to contain 10% Kona Coffee. While buyers may wonder what kind of coffee constitutes the other 90% of the blend, this information is not required to be listed. If you have settled for Kona Blend coffees in the past, then you have yet experienced the exquisite flavor of true 100% Kona Coffee. If you have never tried a cup of 100% Kona Coffee, you are in for a real treat.
