I finally found a vietnamese coffee press for sale (and then told a friend about it and was informed the *other* crazy asian store in town has them by the loads). This morning I made my first cup of coffee with it. I used two tablespoons of coffee, about half a cup of Silk soy creamer and a half teaspoon of brown sugar. Not only does it have 1/7th the sugar of the Kikkoman soy coffee I’ve been ingesting lately, it’s got less than 1/9th the sugar of Silk soy latte. (Yes, I’m aware ‘soy latte’ is just italian for ‘soy milk’ but that’s what they call their product. If you’re in Italy, order cafe latte or get a glass of milk.)
The whole concoction has 3 grams of sugar and 1.5 grams of unsaturated fat, plus whatever else 2 tablespoons of coffee put into the mix. I gather 2 tablespoons is enough for two regular cups of coffee, which means I can get more bang for my buck, and drink less sugar on a daily basis.
As my mom is now on her way to diabetes and an early death, and my grandpa ate himself into diabetes in his life (it took him until his 60s, my mom is barely 50), it’s something of a worry to me. My genes are of good stock, despite diabetes and smoking three packs a day up until his heart attack and quadruple bypass, he lived 25 years after that attack (doctors gave him 2 weeks to 5 years) to the age of 86 before multiple cancers got him (he had a former kidney that was then completely a tumor removed two years prior). My great-great grandfather lived to the age of 95, despite working in mines on two different continents (including Alaska) all his life. My mom has diabetes early because she eats frosted flakes by the boatload, while dipping the spoon in the sugar bowl for every bite. No, I’m not exaggerating (though I believe she’s finally stopped this ridiculous practice). She also keeps halloween-sized bags of smarties and reeses mini-cups by everywhere she sits in her house, including in her bedside drawer. Every time I see her I think “Holy shit that could be me one day” and that just strengthens my tungsten will to be healthy.
But….
With any luck, my health consciousness means that I’ll live longer than anyone else in my family. I’m personally shooting for forever (I’m going to at least live long enough to see clinical immortality attained, even if I die before that technology is available to me), at the very least 150-200 (but a 150-200 that’s the equivalent of today’s 45).
Oh yeah, and about coffee being good for the garden – brewing it leeches all the caffeine out of it, which turns it from an alkaline substance to an acidic one, which is great for vegetables, compost, japanese maples, hydrangeas, azaleas and any other acidic-soil loving plants. The alkalinity of caffeine is the reason for it’s bitterness, and also the reason it can tear up your stomach. Stupid people drink coffee black, and get ulcers and/or other stomach trouble. Smart people cut it with milk/cream/soy, which is acidic and balances out the alkalinity and bitterness of the coffee, rendering it safer for your tract and infinitely better tasting. Sugar also has some of the same properties as an acid (lots of hydrogen), though I don’t think in this particular type of molecule (covalent I believe) releases its bonds the way salt does, so the hydrogen wouldn’t affect the alkalinity of the solution. We just like sweet shit.