Coffee news I never thought I would send out...from WebMD.  Read and decide if this is in your future! :o)

Green Coffee Beans May Aid Weight Loss

March 28, 2012 -- Ground green coffee beans, taken daily, seem to spur steady weight loss, according to new research.

In a small, 22-week study, researchers found that 16 overweight men and women lost an average of 17 pounds. They took the green (unroasted) coffee beans in supplement form and, for comparison, took a placebo at a different point of the study.

They did not change their diet. They were physically active. They lost more while on the supplements than while on placebo. They lost the most when on the higher of two coffee bean doses.

"We don't think it's the caffeine in it," says Joe Vinson, PhD, professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton.

He presented the findings Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego. The results echo those of earlier studies, but Vinson used a larger dose of the green coffee beans.

The study included people 22 to 46 years old. It was funded by Applied Food Sciences, which makes the green coffee antioxidant supplement.

The results are interesting, but the study was small and short, so further study is needed, says Connie Diekman, RD, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. She reviewed the findings for WebMD.

Green Coffee Beans for Weight Loss: Study Details

Vinson and his colleagues gave the men and women in the study a 700-milligram (mg) dose of the ground coffee beans and a 1,050 mg dose. They also gave them a placebo or inactive dose during the 22-week study.

The men and women cycled through each phase for six weeks. In between, they had ''wash-out'' periods where they didn't take any supplement. In this way, they served as their own comparison group.

"Their calories were monitored," Vinson says. They were not put on diets. Calorie intakes stayed about the same during the study. They averaged about 2,400 calories a day -- by no means a weight reduction plan.

They burned, on average, about 400 calories a day in physical activity, Vinson says. The study was done in India.

The 17-pound loss was the average. Some lost only about 7 pounds; others about 26 pounds.

Overall, body weight declined by an average of 10.5%. Body fat declined by 16%.

The study participants lost slightly more weight with the higher dose compared to the lower dose, but not a significant amount with the placebo, Vinson says. Vinson can't say for sure why the coffee bean extract seems to help weight loss. He suspects one explanation is the unroasted beans' chlorogenic acid.

Chlorogenic acid is a plant compound. It may have ''some effect on keeping down glucose absorption," which in turn helps reduce weight, Vinson says.

Once coffee beans are roasted, the chlorogenic acid breaks down.

None of the people in the study reported side effects, Vinson says. The capsules are extremely bitter, he says. They are best taken with a lot of water before a meal, he says.

A larger study of about 60 people is planned, Vinson says.

There you go...give it a try if you are so inclined...personally I will stick to our good ol' dark medium and full city roasts myself! :o)

Boy can a body make mistakes and still come out smelling like a rose...

Well last month I wrote about an upcoming gathering on our farm for folks interested in coffee and alpacas...in either order.  You know I had it figured that I had written about the gathering in a pretty clear and correct manner...but then at the last minute I was overcome by panic!  You see, we were coasting toward the day and a friend asked if she could post a notice in her office's break room...well I reacted poorly and envisioned 100 folks showing up to our place and we might be expecting say...15 to 20.  THEN another friend contacted us to say that she was sorry but she and her hubby could not make it for family reasons...neither Judy nor I remembered that she had said she was coming...reckon that has to do with age or something...I don't know.

As it turned out, after Judy suggested that I send another email to the folks on our email lists, we got a pretty firm number that looked like our original anticipation.  That was that and we again calmed down and looked forward to the day and the folks that would be coming.

The day arrived...yesterday matter of fact...and folks began arriving and everyone was having a good ol' time, talking, kidding, sharing alpaca experiences and all that good stuff.  That is when I suggested that we all (or at least those that were brave enough) do a coffee cupping exercise.  Got four souls to agree and we all set off for the coffee roasting area...set up the table...spooned out the coffee and set off to the pleasure world of coffee...well, the pleasure world took a turn somewhere.  You see this "expert" ground up fresh coffee in one of our grinders, put coffee in the cups and gave the initial instructions to our soon to be coffee snobs. 

Well, my first instruction was for the group to spend time with their noses in the cups determining the differing scents given off by the coffee...they took their jobs seriously and all looked like it was going well.  With this in hand I put some water in our only source of heating quantities of water in that location...a freshly rescued microwave that had not been used in say...three years.  I set the timer to a reasonable time for bringing to a boil and punched the start button...well, the water was warm but not near the temp needed to cup coffee, so I added more time and punched the button again. 

All this time my trusted crew was still smelling and making some strange faces...but I was not worried because the next step was about to take place...the microwave finished its cycle and I reached in and found water that was getting hot but was not there yet.  Man, this was getting bad...so I punched in more time, hit the start button and turned to my crew...some of which were by now wearing coffee on their noses...and in a casual manner, asked what they had written...the first individual that spoke had only one comment..."Basement Dirt."  Now after the laughter died down from all in attendance, I threw in, "You mean it has an earthy smell?"  To that came the reply, "No basement dirt."  Again universal laughter...I was not going there so I went on to the next person who said, "Well, I was thinking it did have a musty smell...but after hearing Michael's description, I would say it is more like the smell from a crawl space." 

With that said, I went back to the microwave and yanked the water out hoping it was hot enough for the next step.  I would like to say that the remainder of the cupping went reasonably well...I would like to say that, but there may be differing opinions on the experience.  Let me just say that we moved on and had a wonderful time the rest of the day.  We decided to reconvene in two months for some "training" and more discussing...AND more Alpaca Bean Coffee (just not the cupping variety).

After everyone left and I had time to reflect on the cupping, I recalled one of the tasters saying that it was a lot of coffee and little water.  At the time I said that it really wasn't, but then I looked at the size of the "cups" I used and realized that they were around 1/3 to 1/2 the size I thought they were...also, the microwaved water was definitely not ideal and probably way below the heat needed to bring out any real taste other than bitter.  Of course that would not explain the smell of "basement dirt"...that is when I realized that I had used our grinder that we usually use for small bags.  We had not used that grinder for a LONG time and it probably had not been cleaned well after the last use...probably had "basement dirt" smell from long standing coffee residue...at least that is my reasoning and I am sticking to it! :o)  Really glad we had done the cupping so that I will know now to always double check our grinders...cleaning where needed.

Maybe one day the folks that took part in the cupping will give me another chance...but not for a long while I am sure...until that time I will be content simply brewing up a supply for the morning conversations and the building of good memories that will come during our future gatherings.

Peace,

The Coffeeman