Does Coffee Really Taste All That Good?

Before anyone gets up in arms lambasting this as a blasphemous suggestion, be assured that the question comes not from an observer, but a partaker. Or has it just become a habit?

Specific qualifications include: decades of indulging in somewhere between a cup to a quart daily on average; sampling of countless brands; mixing it up with varieties from espresso to cappuccino; often grinding my own beans; and though an early user of cream and sugar, taking it straight longer can be remembered.

But a while back, after preparing the morning brew, I actually paid attention to the first sip. It's an accepted routine that mostly happens on autopilot. Normally coffee gets consumed without much thought.

Nor did things improve after drinking more. Rather, it actually caught me up short just because it was so blah - in fact the taste was really somewhat unappealing. I suppose there was some anticipation of that delicious initial taste, but it didn't happen that way.

There was simply no apparent reason for it not to taste good. Likewise, neither was the water, measuring, or anything else in the production process to blame. The problem was not the coffee - it was a premium brand with a name familiar to all.

Initially I wrote it off as some unknown anomaly, but it happened the same for a couple more days. Experiments with switching out the coffee itself, water and other variables didn't really seem to change much.

Over time, I didn't notice so much, but then again it's unusual to notice a lot anyway until later in the morning when the brain kicks into gear. But from time to time I try and savor that first sip especially, to see what I really think about it.

The results are still mixed. Sometimes it appears to be pretty good, yet others it just seems like coffee - nothing special, just comfortable. Will I continue to drink it - absolutely. Why, is hard to say, but probably that's where the habit kicks in.

Try an experiment yourself. Savor that next cup and really focus on the taste. Is it actually as good in your mouth as in your mind?

Or is it sort of like golf, where hitting a perfect shot from time to time keeps us coming back despite all the crummy ones in between?

Coffee and Alzheimers Disease

Several studies have been done recently to determine whether there is a valid link between drinking coffee and reduction in the risk of Alzheimers disease. One of the most widely-known such conditions is Alzheimers disease, which is a condition that affects the neurological health of the afflicted patient. The prevalence of these conditions is increasing and is costing both insurers and taxpayers billions of dollars each year. With the American population aging rapidly, diseases that affect the health of the elderly are becoming increasingly important.

They studied fifty-four patients with Alzheimers disease. In particular, the researchers sought to determine if the caffeine in coffee could protect against the degeneration of the brain that is associated with Alzheimers disease in the period before diagnosis. In mid-2002, a hospital clinic in Portagul investigated to see if there was a link between drinking coffee and the reduction of the risk of developing Alzheimers disease.

The researchers found that the caffeine in coffee was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimers disease, even when other issues were taken into account. All of the patients met the Alzheimers disease and Related Disorders criteria.

While they were unable to definitively state that the caffeine in coffee was beneficial to patients with Alzheimers disease, they did see the possibility of the link between coffee and overall neurological health. A university clinic located in Berlin, Germany, looked at the relationship between consumption of coffee and the delay in the onset of Alzheimers disease or reduction in the rate of progression of the disease.

They concluded that the evidence from this study warranted further research and review. The researchers found that consumption of coffee was associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimers disease. They studied more than six thousand patients aged 65 years or older between 1991 and 1996. Finally, a University in Ottawa Canada analyzed the risk factors for Alzheimers disease as part of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging.

While these studies have not been able to definitively state that drinking coffee reduces the risk of Alzheimers disease, there is enough evidence to warrant further research. In particular, the studies have shown that caffeine intake as when drinking coffee is at the very least related to neurological function such as the function that is lost with the onset of Alzheimers disease.

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