Let's talk coffee

[Peatri Dish]

This could have, perhaps, gone under the supplements category as well. I am currently tweaking some of my diet measures to include more gut friendly/healthy choices. So, one of the things that I am looking at is my coffee. I usually have a cup with a couple teaspoons of sugar, a teaspoon of coconut oil and a tablespoon of Great Lakes beef gelatin. I'm considering dumping the gelatin for a bit to see if that helps with the gut and therefore the edema.
So, I'm wondering how people consume their coffee. I was thinking of trying what Peat has been known to do. That is making very strong coffee and mixing it with milk.
Just wondering what others are doing coffee-wise, if you'd like to share. Especially, if you have encountered any endotoxin type responses to any of your coffee concoctions.I used to make milk coffee with the French press, but I couldn't drink it fast enough and had to reheat it. (I ended up with a lot of coffee flavored ice cream- yum! Now I can't find heavy cream without gums in it ...ah well!)

 

[loess]

I didn't drink coffee at all before I discovered Ray Peat's work and related philosophies. I foolishly dismissed it as a "stimulant"; in my mind it belonged to a category of substances that were antithetical to the improvement of one's health. It didn't help matters that I began to associate some negative and judgmental feelings with the American culture of fast food/drive-thru coffee businesses because for a few years I was in a rather traumatic partnership with someone who was overworked managing one of these types of coffee shops. So it has been pretty fun to explore the world of coffee with new perspectives and to develop an awareness of how it affects me in various ways.

I make strong coffee with an Aeropress. If I can afford it, I like getting freshly roasted beans from a local coffee roaster, but sometimes money is tight so I will buy pre-packaged beans from the store instead. Most mornings I start with some juice (usually OJ, cherry juice or apple juice) and maybe a tablespoon or two of honey to get some sugar flowing through me and replenish glycogen lost during the night. That is typically followed by some coffee with milk. Sometimes I add gelatin to the milk. I will usually make some farmers cheese as well and some days an egg yolk. I tend to do better sipping small amounts of coffee throughout the day rather than drinking a full cup all at once. I have not had any significant endotoxin responses to coffee concotions. I used to add the Great Lakes green can gelatin to it but now I mostly avoid that gelatin and only carry it with me when I am out of the house in case of unforeseen protein needs when nothing good is available.

 

[Jenn]

Are you adding a pinch of salt to your coffee? You may be using too much gelatin to sugar for your needs? Great value half and half is the only non additive commercial product I have found....unless you want to use sweetened condensed milk, which has a distinctive flavor.

 

[Filip1993]

@loess I've been thinking about buying an aeropress. What type of material is it made of? Is it plastic?

 

[jyb]

At home I also use an Aeropress. I grind some beans, mix with boiling water for a few minutes in a cup, then use the press. I wouldn't call it "strong" coffee compared to an expresso shot, though. I add some instant coffee when I want something stronger.

 

[loess]

It is made of BPA-free polyprolene. To a certain extent you can manipulate the strength and extraction of the beans in an Aeropress by using less water, but yes an espresso shot is entirely different. For me I found that I like to use less water and a longer steep time than the basic instructions call for.

 

[Kasra]

The "BPA-Free" designation is irrelevant.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222987/

Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled—independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source—leached chemicals having reliably detectable [estrogenic activity], including those advertised as BPA free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more [estrogenic activity] than did BPA-containing products.

 

[pboy]

if you really want to avoid plastic...when I was still drinking coffee not too long ago, you can either cold brew but sometimes it comes out harsh and nasty, or actually just use a tea bag...and brew it straight into a glass mug or mason jar, you can crack but not entirely powderize the coffee and it'll work

growing up I drank coffee from a regular machine, probably like everyone else, I wouldn't think the plastic is that harmful in small amounts from a coffee machine, yet...it still scares me, or kind of just offends/annoys me to know im potentially taking in estrogens, so I decided not to use coffee machines right now...I suppose if I was out on the road or at a restaurant while travelling once in a while I might not sweat it, but by no means all the time

 

[dd99]

I'm with you pboy. I threw away my coffee machine because the heated water was flowing through plastic then sitting in a plastic container to make the coffee. Got myself a ceramic cafetiere with a stainless steel plunger (I guess the steel has it's own problems, but better than plastic). I also chucked out our kettle. I found one - ONE - kettle on the market in the UK that didn't have plastic bits inside it, in contact with the boiling water.

I don't let it bother me when I'm out, but at least I can try to minimise estrogens at home.

 

[seeyeff]

Ways to avoid plastic in making coffee:

• use a chemex or similar glass coffeemaker
• use a hario coffee dripper (ceramic, glass or metal)
• use a vietnamese coffee dripper (stainless steel)

Here is an overview of the some of the above devices and the pour over method you use with them.

You can avoid plastic and ugly coffee machines and earn bonus hipster points, if you're into that sort of thing. If you also want to avoid the use of paper filters, the Vietnamese Coffee method also allows for that.

I made a post about Vietnamese Coffee earlier because it was a bit of a revelation for me. I never liked or drank coffee before I tried this and now I'm enjoying it regularly. I think I have a strong aversion to bitter tastes ... and this only easy, homemade coffee drink I've come across that totally masks the bitterness with its rich, sweet flavor.