I usually don't follow a nationally syndicated newspaper column to its source, but this time I did. After reading a blurb, "Have a Java", I felt compelled to do so. A few hours later, I responded to a comment on that post about coffee and GERD (acid reflux disease) and I'll expound on that in a minute.

Coffee May be Good for You

I was pointed to "Coffee won't hurt you, research finds", followed it back to the first newspaper referenced and then finally to the author's own website where she had written "Good to the last drop" (an old Maxwell House slogan).

With decades of journalism experience and more than 50 journalism awards, I trust that Judy Foreman is a responsible journalist. According to her sources, the coffee and caffeine parts of the coffee beverage can be examined independently of each other and each has its own attributes. The coffee part can be beneficial for some things while the caffeine part can be beneficial for others.

The research, although not completely conclusive, is mostly positive. It indicates that coffee itself lowers the risks for type 2 diabetes and liver cancer. Although it can't be determined whether it's the coffee or the caffeine, coffee seems to protect the liver against cirrhosis, especially cirrhosis caused by alcoholism (although telling someone to drink more coffee is NOT how to help an alcoholic).

The caffeine part appears to lower the risk of Parkinson's Disease, but not for women who use post-menopausal hormones. For athletes, studies suggest it helps muscles release calcium, allowing muscles to contract with more force. In both cases, only a single cup of coffee per day is needed to show a measurable improvement.

The Vinegar Trick

The commenter (MacBros) said he doesn't drink much coffee because he suffers from GERD (acid reflux disease). I pointed out that I haven't suffered from acid reflux symptoms since 2006 as I wrote in my heartburn and vinegar article in 2007. That particular article isn't very long and you may want to take a minute to read it even if you only suffer from a mild form of acid reflux. I won't repeat it here.

I hope MacBros (his real name is John) takes care of his own acid reflux problem so he can enjoy drinking coffee as much as I do.

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As any coffee connoisseur could probably tell you, coffee and coffee maker accessories are almost as important as the coffee beverage itself.

You don't have to take my word for it. Bear with me as I list some accessories that you may or may not be aware of.

Coffee Mugs

I really had to start with this one because coffee drinkers use coffee mugs, not coffee cups. There really is a difference. There are companies that specialize in nothing but coffee mugs, some plain and some with logos or writing on them, and they don't need to expand into other areas. There are so many coffee drinkers in the US alone that they really don't need to diversify.

Travel Coffee Mugs

The only thing travel coffee mugs (or coffee travel mugs, depending on how you word it) have to do with regular coffee mugs is that they're designed to hold coffee. The difference is that the travel mugs are usually designed for safety while driving. Some of them have special lids and some are designed to fit into coffee holders, either on a console or hanging from a door window.

Since a lot of people are on the go all the time, especially while traveling to and from work, many convenience stores (and I won't bother to name them) offer several pots of coffee to choose from. They usually offer a limited amount of free or discounted cups of coffee with each purchase of one of their travel mugs.

K-Cups

Although K-Cup portion packs are used specifically with the Keurig single cup brewing systems, other coffee manufacturers are taking that idea and adapting it to automatic drip coffee makers and other coffee makers.

The K-Cup is a plastic container which includes the filter and the ground coffee beans. The Keurig coffee maker punctures the foil lid and forces hot water under pressure through the K-Cup and into a coffee mug. The brewer is pretty simple to use; I've seen a Keurig coffee brewer in action.

Flavored Coffee and Flavored Coffee Creamers

The flavored coffee I'm talking about started out as flavored non-dairy creamers. They were offered in groceries stores and then expanded to the convenience stores to go along with their "coffee on the go".

The dairy people got into the act and started offering flavored dairy coffee creamers and then the coffee people got into the act and started offering coffee products with flavoring in an attempt to steal that market share back from the dairy and non-dairy people.

I really don't know what order it all transpired in, but it seems that's the order as I remember it.

Specialized Water Filters

While some people (including me) use bottled water to make coffee with, others have started buying specialized water filters to purify the water that ends up their coffee mugs. I haven't personally seen one, but I've seen them advertised.

Regardless of how you purify your water, anything tastes better with coffee than tap water that has too much chlorine added.

More Accessories?

There are more coffee and coffee maker accessories available than you can shake a stick at and I'd be naive to think that I could even begin to list them all at once.

I'll end the list here and leave myself the option to list more as I find the time to look around.

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It seems that all of the coffee drinks in US coffee shops start with espresso as the base. It may not be true for all coffee shops, but it's certainly true for Starbucks and Seattle's Best.

Unlike most people who come and go and pay little attention to anything but what they're doing at the time, I observe everything that goes on around me. I have seen how both of these companies make coffee drinks — I purposely observed every facet from start to finish.

What Exactly is Espresso?

Espresso is sometimes referred to as espresso coffee and it's often mispronounced and misspelled as "expresso". Invented in Italy, as were most coffee beverages, it's a concentrated form of coffee, up to three times as strong as a regular cup of coffee.

You can't make espresso with ordinary automatic drip coffee makers. You need an espresso machine which brews the coffee under extreme pressure. Most people don't have one at home.

When served as espresso, the coffee is normally served in espresso cups of one kind or another. In most coffee shops, they use cheap containers that can be thrown away. Restaurants use fancy cups designed specifically for espresso. The cheapest espresso cup is usually more expensive than expensive coffee mugs.

Observations

I don't normally buy coffee at Starbucks or Seattle's Best (which has been owned by Starbucks since 2003). It's good coffee (at least in the US), but it's just too damned expensive. Of course, I won't buy coffee from fast-food joints either and that's because it usually tastes like they made it with my dirty socks.

On rare occasions, when I really needed my coffee fix, I bought coffee at both Starbucks and Seattle's Best. In March of 2008, while I was picking out books at a Border's bookstore, I succumbed to the smell of the coffee brewing nearby (within the bookstore). The aroma is what caused me to buy coffee at Starbucks on previous occasions.

I always ordered cappuccino. I like cappuccino a whole lot more than the other coffee drinks. Whenever I ordered a regular-sized cup, I noticed they used one shot of espresso. Whenever I ordered a large-sized cup, they used two shots of espresso. No wonder I always got a quick caffeine buzz after drinking the cappuccino (I never really thought about it until now).

Espresso Experience?

Other than being used for the cappuccino I drank, I have never tried espresso as a stand-alone coffee drink. With cappuccino, it's diluted by the added milk. I picture acid reflux coming back to haunt me if I try espresso straight from the cup, therefore I will probably never try it.

I know a few people that only drink espresso. It's not for me. I love the smell and flavor of coffee as it's normally brewed at home. I don't need a caffeine buzz every time I drink coffee, thank you very much.

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After watching the employees at one of the Starbucks locations in Phoenix, Arizona, my wife decided to do an experiment to see if she could make coffee that tasted as good as Starbucks coffee. More specifically, she wanted to reproduce the taste of their lattes.

Latte is Italian for Milk

Lattes were invented in the US. In Italy, latte means milk. It's probably okay to order a caffè latte in Italy now, after all the publicity of the drink, but years ago it would have fetched you a glass of milk.

In the US, a latte is quite simply a cup of coffee made with milk instead of water.

It Starts With Espresso

Starbucks has machines which produce espresso, a concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing very hot water under high pressure through coffee that has been ground to a consistency between extremely fine and powder. Espresso, which was invented in Italy, is used as the base for lattes, cappuccinos and mochas.

My wife noticed that two shots of espresso were added to the large drinks at Starbucks, while they added only one shot to the smaller drinks.

How to Mimic a Latte

It's easy to do if you have your own personal espresso machine. What if you don't? Here's how my wife did it:

She filled a cup with milk (whole milk, not 2%, 1% or skim milk), heated it in the microwave oven for 2 minutes, added two spoons of coffee power and stirred. I'm talking about the spoons you eat with, not teaspoons for measuring.

What you end up is a strong cup of coffee, a simple latte. If you want to turn it into a cappuccino, add whip cream to the top. If you want to turn it into a mocha, add a spoonful of sweetened, powdered chocolate.

Why Starbucks instead of at home?

If it's so easy to make coffee that tastes like Starbucks coffee at home, then why don't people do that instead of spending much more money at coffee shops like that? I could never afford to regularly stop at Starbucks and probably wouldn't make it a point to do so even if I had a Starbucks gift card.

People are always "on the go" and don't take the time at home to enjoy the simple pleasures. They stop by coffee shops on the way to work or on the way home. It's the fast-paced societies that keep companies like Starbucks in business. They can keep their business. I'll drink my lattes and cappuccinos at home.

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