TaoMeow on Coffee

[zerostao]

taomeow , have you tried coconut oil in the bulletproof coffee?

[Taomeow]

Yes, but to get this to work you do need some mixer, I didn't like the hand-shaken version that much. DrinkMaster makes it foamy and creamy with coconut oil, even somewhat chocolaty, don't know why. I am also a fan of raw organic cocoa butter in this recipe, but this one I get tired of after a while and need a break, ditto coconut oil. Butter -- I never get tired of butter. (Just recently one of my dreamtime teachers made fun of me because of that, asserting there's a particular hand gesture of magical significance he would show me "if your fingers weren't all buttery." I'm guessing I need to take a coffee break for this one... ...or at least stick with coconut oil for a while, see what happens.)

[i am]

I have a question on the bulletproof coffee. All I really have for a coffee maker right now is the ibrik. I don't have a blender. My thermos is for hot water only. I don't want it to pick up a coffee flavor. If I want to try bulletproof coffee with just coffee and butter (skipping the oil, for now anyways), what would you do?

 

Or would it really require a couple more purchases to make coffee that way?

 

If I really knew how to make it and how it should come out, I could probably brainstorm some ideas. But since I'm totally new to it, I don't think I can up with alternate ways to make it on my own...

[thelerner]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I just stir, for a minute or so. If you want to stir hard and fast keep the cut half full, stir hard, then top off and stir a little more. Probably not as mixed as a blender though. If you didn't catch it, putting an egg in coffee is nice, either whole thing or just the yoke. If a butter is bulletproof, then yolk is yummy.

[C T]

 

A good friend just brought me a present of Kopi Luwak beans... (civet coffee from Java, Indonesia).

 

Waiting till Christmas to try it. Apparently its the most expensive coffee in the world. There was a promotion here not too long ago, and they were selling this coffee for 60euro a cup. WHOAAH!

[Aaron]

I started drinking coffee at the age of eight. Coffee is my favorite beverage. I drink one to two cups a day now, so I try to make sure it's the best it can be. I've found that one of the most important things when preparing coffee is the coarseness of the grind. The more fine the grounds, the more strength there is to the coffee, but also the more coffee beans you use. For me I try to have grounds a bit finer than commercially ground coffee, but not as fine as they use in coffee shops. The fact is coffee doesn't have to be strong to taste good.

 

I, however, like many people, do not like black coffee. I have always drunk my coffee sweet with milk and never artificial sweeteners. I have also started using unprocessed sugar, which makes a world of difference as well.

 

As for the idea of using butter in coffee, I am going to try it once I have the proper utensils.

 

Aaron

[futuredaze]

Anybody try the brand Volcanic Red? I got some of their "Mocha Java" blend, it is very good! Apparently the volcanic soil results in better coffee quality. I'm not sure if this is true, but I really like it. Then again, is my first time buying good coffee.

 

Now I just want to get a Mocha press, although the k-cup machine my parents have will have to do for now.

[thelerner]

I went to coffee shop that had drip, french press, pour overs, chemex and AeroPress. As is my custom I decided on the evil temptation I had not yet done, thus ordered the AeroPress. Its like an Americano, but smoother. It could have been the beans, but it was an excellent cup of coffee.

[Mark Foote]

I have to come back and read pages 10-15 of this thread- fabulous!

 

"I was surfing the waves of absolute extremes somewhere else, somewhere where nothing was relative, every truth was ultimate, every lie devastating to the core of every galaxy, every thought an act of self-sacrifice or of treason, every feeling magnified beyond human comprehension -- and then there was the big knowledge, the un-shareable, unspeakable knowledge of things I could discuss with no one, not because they wouldn't understand but because the bulk of my energy was being spent on desperate attempts to try to make myself not form that memory, erase it... "

 

Damn, taomeow. You write so well I'm crying, but then, coffee tends to amp my emotions a bit.

 

I think I should post that on the blogs I write on that concern themselves with Zen, so people could chew on what a gift it is to experience things as they are in an everyday frame of reference.

 

I wanted to mention that I've been using a Cuisinart coffee maker for a couple of years now, one that brews drip coffee but has a button for 1-4 cups that preheats the water for use with smaller water flows over the grounds. With that button pressed, it makes a tastier cup of coffee than most anything I've tried, with the possible exception of my father's ancient percolator. What an amazement, that an ancient percolator can produce some great coffee!

 

Mark's rule: good drugs wear off nicely (why bother with the rest). 'Course, the other thing I think I got from my father was his body; he told me once that when they tested his response to sugar (and I don't know why they did that), the curve came down smoothly to zero as the sugar wore off, while for most people there's a dip below the line. Ah, here's an example:

 

 

So maybe for me maybe some things wear off more nicely (bad English, yes) than for most people.

 

In a pinch, triple expresso from Starbucks, $2.45 and add half 'n half. Ha ha!

[Taomeow]

Thank you, Mark.

The second best coffee I had, after the first best I make every day with my ibrik , was the first coffee I ever had -- my parents had a German made drip coffee maker, a bit similar to what they use for espresso here, of the kind that still exists somewhere I'm guessing, but not here, not now. It took a loooong time to drip, took its time. I still remember the sounds it made toward the end that signaled it must be turned off (didn't have an automatic shut-off switch), the aromatic steam wafted into my room, and ever since I was 14, when I started drinking it too in the morning, this aroma signified that whatever else will happen in the course of the new-coming day, the first thing that will happen will be good.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Taomeow

[zerostao]

[Mark Foote]

For the best diet, go to a place of inner confidence and you can't go wrong. But it's got to be inner confidence, not internalized brainwashing!

 

Excerpts from an article about the documented longest lived human being ever:

 

Jeanne Louise Calment ( 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian who had the longest confirmed human lifespan in history, living to the age of 122 years, 164 days.^[3] She lived in Arles, France, for her entire life.

 

Calment's remarkable health presaged her later record. At age 85 (1960), she took up fencing, and continued to ride her bicycle up until her 100th birthday. She was reportedly neither athletic nor fanatical about her health.^[10]

 

Calment smoked from the age of 21 (1896) to 117 (1992), drank a lot of port wine daily, and ate almost a kilogram (2.2 lb) of chocolate every week.

 

Calment, pretty amazing. I'm guessing the chocolate was the key? Guittard makes theirs in a process that produces a chocolate liqueur which in turn makes whatever chocolate product they are manufacturing, theirs is the best I've found around here. I throw a handful of their semi-sweet chocolate chips in a pan with butter and brandy sometimes, melt it down and throw it on vanilla ice cream for a treat.

 

I have a pretty sensitive gut, for all that, and I don't know how Calment could eat 2.2 lbs of chocolate every week, even if it was milk.

 

I think the coffee is best that tastes best, without anything in it; weirdly, the Cusinart with the special heater button draws out a great taste, at least with Paul Katzeff's Thanksgiving coffee.

 

Taomeow, old pewter-ware? From "Pewter" on wikipedia:

 

"Older pewters with higher lead content are heavier, tarnish faster, and oxidation gives them a darker silver-gray color. Pewters containing lead are no longer used in items (such as cups, plates, or jewelry) that will come in contact with the human body due to health concerns stemming from the lead content."

 

I'm sure you're aware of it, but I know I need all the help I can get so thought I ought to mention!

 

On cholesterol, the last nail in the coffin of that myth that resulted in obesity and diabetes for so many Americans should be the latest FDA recommendation for statins. What is known is that statins reduce cholesterol and reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack; what was assumed for so long was that it was the reduction in cholesterol which was responsible for the reduction in stroke and heart attack, but the evidence for that has never been produced. Now the FDA recommends statins not only for those with high cholesterol, but for those with diabetes or a family propensity as well. That means they have abandoned the claim that the prophylactic benefit of statins is through the reduction of cholesterol.

 

Nice!- from the Guittard website:

 

E. Guittard is the artisan line of chocolates made by Guittard Chocolate Company. It is named to honor company founder, Etienne Guittard.

 

E. Guittard chocolates use only all natural ingredients, such as pure cane sugar, real vanilla beans and full cream milk in the case of milk chocolate. They are also free of any genetically modified ingredients (GMO Free).

 

They are a top choice among nationally-acclaimed professional pastry chefs. Hear what some of these chefs have to say

about E. Guittard.

 

All E. Guittard chocolates are kosher certified by the Orthodox Union.

[runner11]

I don't drink a lot of coffee, but once in a while I love a cup of black coffee with eggs and toast. I read something that was kind of a bummer, that the TCM view of coffee is that it uses jing. I've read that its not the caffeine itself, but the herbal properties of the actual coffee bean that does this, because tea has caffeine and doesn't have this effect.

 

Even if this is true, I think its fine in moderation. There's something about a cup of good black coffee with a nice breakfast that feels right.

[Taomeow]

TCM was created by folks who never had coffee, let alone an opinion about it, so all the later interpretations reflect the knowledge (or alternatively, and frequently, the bias) of the interpreter rather than the classic view.

 

The unbiased TCM view of coffee can very accurately describe what it does in the body from the TCM perspective, and none of it is damaging to jing except under circumstances of abuse (e.g. someone using coffee instead of sleep and working at night, especially on tasks that involve memorizing stuff, intellectual activity and so on -- picture a student or a professional drinking coffee at night so as to be able to work instead of sleeping, and you'll get the picture.) The qi of coffee is very well balanced in the body under normal circumstances, both upward- and downward-bound upon entering. It enters particular meridians (Bladder and Heart), expels Dampness (and is beneficial in all Damp disorders) and some forms of Toxic Heat, and not only does not affect jing adversely under normal conditions of consumption but conserves it, due to its protective action on the dopaminergic system (part of the reproductive-hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis of jing activity) and memory (the biggest player in jing preservation or loss.) It is not indicated in Dry disorders, in people trying to gain weight, or after the circadian Bladder activity drops (which is after 5 pm).

 

Coffee is one of the substances avoided by evil entities (along with salt, camphor, copal, tobacco, sage and a few others, depending on the tradition, that are used for space purification purposes because they interfere with the bad guys' ability to maintain coherence in this-here dimension.) It can purify one upon exposure to such entities (e.g. the exorcist Mary McCarthy asserts that someone who doesn't drink a lot of coffee should not think of doing this kind of work -- too dangerous.)

[runner11]

TCM was created by folks who never had coffee, let alone an opinion about it, so all the later interpretations reflect the knowledge (or alternatively, and frequently, the bias) of the interpreter rather than the classic view.

 

The unbiased TCM view of coffee can very accurately describe what it does in the body from the TCM perspective, and none of it is damaging to jing except under circumstances of abuse (e.g. someone using coffee instead of sleep and working at night, especially on tasks that involve memorizing stuff, intellectual activity and so on -- picture a student or a professional drinking coffee at night so as to be able to work instead of sleeping, and you'll get the picture.) The qi of coffee is very well balanced in the body under normal circumstances, both upward- and downward-bound upon entering. It enters particular meridians (Bladder and Heart), expels Dampness (and is beneficial in all Damp disorders) and some forms of Toxic Heat, and not only does not affect jing adversely under normal conditions of consumption but conserves it, due to its protective action on the dopaminergic system (part of the reproductive-hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis of jing activity) and memory (the biggest player in jing preservation or loss.) It is not indicated in Dry disorders, in people trying to gain weight, or after the circadian Bladder activity drops (which is after 5 pm).

 

Coffee is one of the substances avoided by evil entities (along with salt, camphor, copal, tobacco, sage and a few others, depending on the tradition, that are used for space purification purposes because they interfere with the bad guys' ability to maintain coherence in this-here dimension.) It can purify one upon exposure to such entities (e.g. the exorcist Mary McCarthy asserts that someone who doesn't drink a lot of coffee should not think of doing this kind of work -- too dangerous.)

 

Awesome, that's a lot of information. Thank you. I agree that using it to stay awake is when its not good for us, which is why I'm not drinking it right now lol.

[zanshin]

How about coffee grinders? Is there a manual one. I would rather turn a crank or something than hear that noise in the morning.

 

I use a French press and may try an ibrik.

[Marblehead]

A long time ago I had a manual grinder that either broke or got lost, can't remember. Recently I looked for one and couldn't find any. I am sure there are some around, just have to find them.

[Gemstone]

Zassenhaus makes good manual grinders.

[growant]

Taomeow,

 

Curious as to your thoughts on the following, excerpted from an article on jing here http://www.rawforestfoodsblog.com/what-really-is-jing/

 

Similarly, reliance on coffee borrows from—depletes the—jing. Is it sometimes necessary to do so? Possibly, but keep in mind that jing is finite and is not bottomless, and that every time coffee is drank, a bit of jing is subtracted from the life span. Just as every time fossil fuels are burnt, the lifespan of the earth is shortened. Chinese medicine is very different from Western medicine: where Western medicine views everything as separate, both in microcosm (within the body) and in macrocosm (outside of the body), in Chinese medicine there is no separation, and the same pathology which can affect a person can affect the environment.

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

Is jing finite?

 

Hell, I don't even know what jing is...

 

I much prefer tea to coffee.

 

I have salt on my altar in the form of my bowl of salted nuts.

 

And I use tobacco.

 

I have other protections against evil entities too.

 

I think I might be a bit fiery, does that mean I should avoid coffee?

 

I have always avoided stimulants.

 

And depressants, for that matter.

 

I'm diagnosed bi polar.

 

Mania and depression are not something I typically try to encourage in myself.

 

A little directed mania, maybe, once in a while.

 

Power nothing without control.

...

Edited February 26, 2014 by Captain Mar-Vell

[Marblehead]

Well, I just started my second cup of coffe and third smoke for the morning.

 

I have always smoked while drinking coffee.

 

I have heard a number of times that smoking and drinking coffee at the same time is sending conflicting signals to the body and mind. The coffee is jacking us up while the smoking is trying to bring us back down.

 

I don't think I want to see a "normal" me without my smokes and coffee. Might be something way too wierd.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Marblehead

[zerostao]

breakfast of champions

[Taomeow]

Taomeow,

 

Curious as to your thoughts on the following, excerpted from an article on jing here http://www.rawforestfoodsblog.com/what-really-is-jing/

 

Similarly, reliance on coffee borrows from—depletes the—jing. Is it sometimes necessary to do so? Possibly, but keep in mind that jing is finite and is not bottomless, and that every time coffee is drank, a bit of jing is subtracted from the life span. Just as every time fossil fuels are burnt, the lifespan of the earth is shortened. Chinese medicine is very different from Western medicine: where Western medicine views everything as separate, both in microcosm (within the body) and in macrocosm (outside of the body), in Chinese medicine there is no separation, and the same pathology which can affect a person can affect the environment.

My thoughts? Except for the parts lifted from standard TCM texts, the author has no clue. He (or she?) blatantly imposes his crude homespun metaphor inspired by what he thinks he already knows about the world -- "jing is so much like crude oil it's uncanny" -- on a process that has nothing in common with it except on the street in his mind. Yes, it is uncanny how handy a simplistic metaphor can be when dealing with one of the most complex processes in the universe... no need to understand, just offer a familiar substitute -- crude oil -- and then interpret your substitute but pretend you are talking about jing.

 

My post #242 on this page addresses the issue of jing and coffee, which was raised earlier. Basically, there's two ways to use coffee: the jing-depleting way and the jing-preserving way. The same is true for, e.g., water. There's ways to drink water that will dip into jing -- e.g. if you drink vast amounts before bedtime, it will have you get up in the middle of the night to pee, and this will dip into jing; you can drink distilled water continuously and this will dip into jing too, by depleting electrolytes it uses for its operations in the body; you can drink "dead" water with assorted toxins and this will dip into jing because its cellular mechanisms require structured small-cluster water molecules which only good water can provide; you can drink it cold, with ice cubes in it, and this will dip into jing because it will accumulate too much cold in the lower body, resulting in "dead jing" blockages; you can drink it with your meals and this will dip into jing, because your digestive juices will be too diluted to break down the food you eat properly, and jing depends on many of these to function smoothly (e.g. all reproductive hormones are reliant on fat and fat-soluble vitamins in the diet, among other things); and so on.

 

Traditional coffee-drinking peoples who drink it traditionally (not Starbucks, which is bad coffee usually with an excessive amount of sweeteners -- liquid candy -- THAT will dip into jing every time, sure thing, sugar is indeed a scoop to dip into jing and deplete it, all neurotransmitters that run on its influx are made out of material taken away from jing, notably all its shortcuts to serotonin) have longer lifespans than average (e.g. the famous centenarians in the Caucasus). I've seen them in Armenia when I was 18 and they were a lifelong inspiration toward coffee. Extremely old (90s and beyond) men and women sitting outside their homes in the shade on a hot summer day, with friends and family nearby, doing nothing after a lifetime of activity, solemnly drinking crude-oil-black coffee all day, looking like biblical patriarchs and prehistoric matriarchs, bright curious eyes, alive with jing, strong bodies, invariably strong minds. Would that the author of the article met some of them too...

Edited February 26, 2014 by Taomeow

[Taomeow]

Well, I just started my second cup of coffe and third smoke for the morning.

 

I have always smoked while drinking coffee.

 

I have heard a number of times that smoking and frinking coffee at the same time is sending conflicting signals to the body and mind. The coffee is jacking us up while the smoking is trying to bring us back down.

 

I don't think I want to see a "normal" me without my smokes and coffee. Might be something way too wierd.

 

This is the traditional way. Coffee protects the lungs from the harmful effects of smoking (sic), while smoking protects the brain from unnecessarily exceeding coffee's stimulating effects on the excitatory synapses, since nicotine has an inhibitory effect on same. So the messages are not so much conflicting as balancing. This is used in TCM herbal formulas all over the place -- if a substance's effect is too strong on a particular function, another one will be added that will damp it down.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Taomeow

[i am]

I'm buying some cigarettes!

 

Just kidding; already have some. I like roll-my-owns and have probably 10-20 every summer. Not so much in the winter because it seems stupid to be standing out in the cold shivering to smoke a cigarette.

 

I'm still a tea guy but I enjoyed drinking a cup or two once a week while I was trying to get the Turkish coffee thing down. Never totally nailed it, but bought an Aerobie coffee press a couple weeks ago and I'm going to try that, too.