Freedomain Radio

The best-tasting coffee is fair trade, and organic. MHO. Can U get it where U R? My main drink is almond milk, unsweetened original, to which I add stevia - a plant that tastes sweet but has no calories, from S. America. I've been throwing in 3 dashes of nutmeg lately, and that's been habit-forming. At other times I add 2 dashes of cinnamon, or a teaspoon of organic cocoa powder. When you get old enough, your gut delivers its version of something like drug trips. If you eat too much of anything, or too little, or too sweet or spicy, etc., your body feels slightly drunk or buzzed in some way. You try to stay sober, but the window of sobriety seems to narrow each passing year. Nowadays, with my Old Age Pension kicking in in a couple of months, if I want to intoxicate myself, I order a tea biscuit with my decaf. The Doc tells me to avoid caffeine because my adrenal gland isn't up for the stress. Getting old is not for the weak. And do I have diabetes? Yeah, I do. So I'm getting the results of all those Pepsies I guzzled in my 20s? Do we have to look at it exactly that way?

(&) Ever heard of yeast imbalances? Don't ask.

Testudines:

The best-tasting coffee is fair trade, and organic.

Hey,

How do you feel about fairtrade coffee? Do you feel that you create a prefered taste from some psychological preference to the economics of a price floor? I say this because statistically (and logically if we look at incentives) fair trade coffee quality is not only low and of little interest to the demand; but also arbitary and erratic because the majorty of fair trade coffee cooperatives mix beans from many different farms with absolutely no interest in providing a consistent high quality flavour. This is reasonable, as there is no way for the market to reward investment in quality fair trade, and also because fair trade coffee makers have very little money to spend on experimenting with flavour. This is mostly because of the extremely high costs of fair trade standards and membership, as well as the fact they only receive on average 10% of the above market profit for their efforts.

Thanks,

James

In my experience the best coffee taste seems to be that coffee made by anyone but me.  The coffee I make for myself in the morning tastes fine and all, but it's not a big deal.  But if I get the same stuff served to me it seems to be so much better.  A placebo effect I suppose.  At best the caffeine will enhance my guitar playing, but at worst it will just make me jittery and with enough of the stuff I'll get "caffeine eye" where my eyelids twitch.  Now I just stick to one thermos in the morning and that's it for the day.  I buy the cheapest stuff I can get too, leaving the coffee snobbery to my friends and their botique stainless steel steamers and gadgets and their high zoot Starbucks budgets.

I have heard one particularly grim and depressing thought about caffeine which could be woven into the whole state\livestock paradigm.  Basically it's the idea that nicotine and caffeine are endorsed by the government because they're useful stimulants which help people keep working away makin' that bacon whereas more 'mind-expanding' drugs like LSD, Salvia etc. don't really serve the powers that be, so no legality for you, suckas.  It's a cynical view, but probably true.

Agalloch:

[...] I say this because statistically (and logically if we look at incentives) fair trade coffee quality is not only low and of little interest to the demand; but also arbitary and erratic because the majorty of fair trade coffee cooperatives mix beans from many different farms with absolutely no interest in providing a consistent high quality flavour.

I was going to make the same point. I've been disappointed by some of the organic / fair trade varieties I've picked up at the supermarket. But some have been pretty good, depending on the growing/fermentation/production costs and techniques used. I prefer to buy beans and grind them myself before drinking as coffee tastes amazing when freshly ground, although some of the pre-ground stuff is excellent. 

nathanm:

[...] it's the idea that nicotine and caffeine are endorsed by the government because they're useful stimulants which help people keep working away makin' that bacon whereas more 'mind-expanding' drugs like LSD, Salvia etc. don't really serve the powers that be, so no legality for you, suckas.

That sounds like one of those crazy Terence Mckenna rants...  

 Can you rename that second quote please. Thanks!

Richard Deziel:

The use of coffee in many forms ie; capsules, pills, powder etc, is often consumed with other vascularity and muscle priming ingredients in bodybuilding and heavy weight lifting circles...Coffee is often combine with a high molecular weight carb powder for pre-workout timing consumption...

Can you tell us more?  I'm really interested in this

Greg Minton:

Richard Deziel:

The use of coffee in many forms ie; capsules, pills, powder etc, is often consumed with other vascularity and muscle priming ingredients in bodybuilding and heavy weight lifting circles...Coffee is often combine with a high molecular weight carb powder for pre-workout timing consumption...

Can you tell us more?  I'm really interested in this

It can increase blood flow and thus protein uptake during optimal periods of protein synthesis which occurs during and 3 hrs after lifting, this just helps with muscle hypertrophy. Also, more blood in the muscle tissue the better performance, etc..  This is just from memory I think Richard is probably more up to date on this.

These articles can be helpful, though I'm sure they are more up to date, it's been 6 years since I last read them:

http://www.hypertrophyspecific.com/articles.html

Hey folks, 

Has anyone here had experience with nootropics?  Nootropics are brain-enhancing suppliments, kind of like creatine for yer brains.

I use Piracetam and have found it quite useful for enhancing memory, conceptual thinking and most of all reducing fatigue during busy days. 

When used in conjunction with coffee, I can be super-productive little bee.  But it's sooo nice to not feel drained at the end of the day.

It's not expensive either.