PODcast #32 : Espresso Pods News

Welcome to The PODcast, PodMerchant's newsletter of espresso pod tips, news, education, and deals. Back issues of The PODcast are available online. This newsletter is published in HTML with images and styled text. If you are reading the "text only" version, you are missing much of the content.

Espresso Elucidations

Cold Espresso

How many times has this happened to you? You take a sip from your cup of drip coffee only to discover that it has cooled down to room temperature. My usual reaction has been to reflexively spit it out. There's just something wrong about coffee cooled down to room temperature. So the first time I discovered the forgotten shot I had pulled some time earlier, I figured that drinking it would give me the same dreadful sensation. I was oddly and pleasantly surprised to find that cold (room temperature) espresso is somehow different from drip coffee in this regard — well, at least for me. Instead, I found cold espresso to be very pleasant — slightly sweet and chocolaty. So on hot days (and boy, we've had some hot one's lately out here in Southern California), I might make a few shots and set them aside or put them in the fridge for later enjoyment.

Even better is espresso over ice cream. Some Haagen Daz vanilla in a cup with a couple shots of cold espresso over it makes a yummy afternoon snack or desert in hot weather. Be sure to let the espresso cool before pouring over the ice cream or it will melt.

How else can you cool down with espresso? Glad you asked. How about Espresso Popsicles, or Vietnamese-style Coffee on a Stick? Remember that the ground espresso required for recipes such as these can be obtained by simply cutting open espresso pods.
 

Coffee News

More good news for coffee drinkers. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that drinking up to six cups of coffee per day may lover the overall odds of dying from cardiovascular disease. Apparently coffee provides beneficial effects on inflammation and endothelial function (endothelial cells line the blood vessels). Decaffeinated coffee seemed to provide the same protection, so it isn't the caffeine.

You can read more about it in this USA Today Article - Coffee may have perks for longer living

Annals of Internal Medicine abstract -- The Relationship of Coffee Consumption with Mortality

Recapping other recent health-related coffee news:

• In 2000, Mayo Clinic researchers found that coffee intake was linked with decreased rates of Parkinson's disease
• In 2004, Harvard researchers reported that coffee significantly reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
• A 2005 study found that coffee could help prevent the most common type of liver cancer, according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

What else can I say, except, "Coffee Rocks!"

PodMerchant News

We've been asked about other pod offerings from Caffe' del Doge. Until recently, they have packaged only their Rialto blend in pods. Fortunately, they now have a decaf pod and we've ordered some, due to arrive in about a month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more del Doge roasts in pods.

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That's all for this issue of the PODcast.


Kevin Garrett, The PodMerchant.