Coffee More Complex Than Wine

World Champion Barista James Hoffman


The winner of the World Barista Championship which just wrapped up in Tokyo was a Brit who believes "coffee can be more complicated than wine when it comes to taste and aroma". James Hoffman's winning signature drink combined biscotti foam, milk chocolate and a tobacco-infused cream! Way to go! Hoffman said of his concoction: "I wanted to use ingredients that have an association with copious pleasure". Sounds like my kind of guy! Congrats, James, who is off to London to open his own coffee shop.





James, by the way, was fifth place in the competition held in Bern in 2006!





How come a Starbucks' barista didn't win, I wonder... Just kidding!

Coffee as Medicine

I've finished my bowl of cereal, fruit and yogurt, have taken my vitamins, and now I'm taking my coffee. Yes, that's right, I'm "taking" my coffee. Coffee is medicine after all. It's good for your sense of well-being and in a long line of news stories about how coffee can be good for you, not bad for you, I came across yet another in this morning's LA Times. In a small piece titled "Caffeine, exercise may fight cancer" the piece reports that exercise combined with moderate caffeine consumption could help prevent the occurrence of skin cancer. In a study done by Rutgers University, NJ, the scientists found that rats could reduce the likelihood of pre-cancerous sun-damaged cells from becoming cancerous by 100% if the rats either exercised or drank caffeine. However, when both the exercise and caffeine were combined, the preventative qualities of the combo raised the efficacy to a whopping 400%

Well I should be a good case study for this. Growing up in New Zealand, like all others of my generation, I experienced severe over-exposure to the sun as a kid and carry the evidence on my skin. But I do exercise and I do drink caffeine - perhaps sometimes to excess. So if any scientists are interested in meeting me, here I am... Meantime, once you finish taking your daily dose of caffeine, don't forget to get out of that chair or up off that couch and do some exercise.