Cold brew is prepared without touching hot water. The brewing process is done by cooling down the temperature of the water and lengthening the brewing time. The flavor slowly leaks out of the grounds, and all the acidity and oils are left. Therefore, cold brew is smooth, less acidic, and has a naturally sweeter taste.
When it comes to caffeine, cold brew packs on a ton, on average around 200 mg of caffeine per 16 ounces.
Choose cold brew over iced coffee if you…
Iced coffee is a serving method. It’s as it sounds, pouring brewed coffee over ice. The key to serving a nice cup of iced coffee is controlling the strength of the coffee. As the ice melts from the heat of the coffee, it waters down the coffee, so adding more or less ice in your cup will allow you to have a stronger or weaker coffee, based on your liking. Iced coffee is a great option if you want it less bold, but then you can customize it with sweeteners, syrups, or milks to change the strength and flavor.
You may prefer iced coffee over cold brew if you…
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Caffeine improves athletic performance. This is a proven fact in exercise science. Drinking caffeinated coffee has been linked to improved physical performance. It is more evident in endurance (aerobic) sports lasting for a longer period of time, like running, cycling, and rowing. However, it would also be beneficial before a strength workout. Consuming caffeine before a strength or cardio (aerobic) workout improves your energy, focus, exercise capacity and fat metabolism.
]]>Caffeine improves athletic performance. This is a proven fact in exercise science. Drinking caffeinated coffee has been linked to improved physical performance. It is more evident in endurance (aerobic) sports lasting for a longer period of time, like running, cycling, and rowing. However, it would also be beneficial before a strength workout. Consuming caffeine before a strength or cardio (aerobic) workout improves your energy, focus, exercise capacity and fat metabolism.
For years, many scientists, coaches and athletes believed that an athlete had to refrain from caffeine for a period of time before an event to gain a boost, but later found out that those findings are obsolete.
According to the National Coffee Association, Bruno Gualano, a professor of physiology and nutrition at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, wanted to test that assumption, as a scientist, recreational cyclist and committed coffee drinker. “Coffee is part of my diet,” he said. A daily coffee drinker can definitely benefit from taking caffeine before an event, without having to cut consumption.
He gathered data and compared 40 competitive male cyclists’ results with and without caffeine. The data shows that the riders had significantly improved their times when caffeinated, nearly 1.5 minutes faster than when they had no caffeine.
It doesn't matter if the riders drink a little or a lot of caffeine in their diet, a small supplementation can improve performance.
Before your next workout, drink a nice cup of coffee 30 minutes to an hour before and see if that makes a difference in your workout performance]]>
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I love to travel, and when I do, I like to eat, drink and do what the locals eat, drink and do (although I do draw the line at eating weird animal body parts). When I studied abroad in college in London, I started to drink English breakfast tea with milk every morning, a regular occurrence for many years afterwards. I was never a coffee drinker, and when I managed to get through college and its many all-nighters without drinking coffee to stay awake, I never bothered with it and stuck with my tea.
Fast forward half a lifetime, including marriage and three kids, to when I spent two weeks in Italy with my oldest daughter, Lucy. There, I drank cappuccinos like the Italians. (We call them lattes here in the U.S. – espresso + steamed, frothed milk.) Back at home, I’d get a latte on occasion at a local coffeehouse, but never just coffee. That is, until my middle daughter, Sally, met and fell in love with a young man from Colombia (now my son-in-law).
When Sally, my husband and I traveled to Colombia to visit her then fiancé and meet his family, we spent a few days on a coffee farm in the Eje Cafetero (coffee triangle), south of Medellin. We learned all about coffee on an interactive tour of the plantation: from the growing and harvesting to the processing and roasting of the coffee beans. Best of all, we drank the farm’s coffee every day, and it was amazing! From that point on, I became an “official” coffee drinker -- but only Colombian coffee because it is by far the best! Life is too short to drink so-so coffee. Treat Yo’ Self everyday (like Donna and Tom in Parks and Recreation, one of my favorite TV shows), and drink Colombian!
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