Coffee and My Calamitous Affair, Revisited
Dandelion Coffee jar on my front porch in Northern NY, USA
In August of 2014 I wrote a post on Coffee and my calamitous affair with it. Refresh your memory here: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/7/19/my-calamitous-love-affair-with-coffee
Moving forward a few months and seasons:
April 19th, 2015: My calamitous affair with coffee has continued, on & off. Who can resist the smell, the taste, the sensation in the mouth, throat, and belly? Ah, so tasty, warm, and soothing (well, soothing until the caffeine hits my system exactly 15.2 seconds after the first sip!).
I have tried many, many coffee substitutes and I have to say all may have been tasty in one aspect or another but all have never, ever, replicated the coffee experience (caffeine jitters aside, of course!). One has to enjoy them on a different level and not be thinking of them as coffee or you will be utterly disappointed.
On our family trip to Jamaica, April 2015, I find the most amazing, tasty, and coffee like drink ever: Sunburst's Products Dandelion Coffee. I picked up a jar at the Kingston Airport as we were preparing to depart Jamaica. I had no idea what I was buying as I obviously had not tried it. My thought was this: "If this stuff is even remotely tasty, it will help with my detox off the Blue Mountain coffee that I drank every morning at 6 AM. Seriously, despite my calamitous relationship with coffee - caffeine, what person in their right mind is going to say no to Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee? When in Jamaica, do as the Jamaicans do! (Thank You Mr. White at Great Huts Ecological Resort in Boston Bay, Jamaica. What a great man he is, greeting me every 6 AM with a "Good Morning Miss Paula, the coffee is ready. Where is Eli? I bet Jake is still sleeping!" All words said with the kindest twinkle in his eye. Mr. White was the person, while off work duty, he jumped to fix me up with a local remedy poultice to soothe my bee stung foot. Hugs to Mr. White for making awesome Blue Mountain coffee every AM and your sincere Jamaican kindness!)
So now I am home and must detox from coffee OR:
- put up with caffeine side effects every day
- suffer the caffeine withdrawal headache for a day or two
I opt for the wean down off coffee detox plan:
- 1st morning: 3/4 coffee, 1/4 dandelion coffee
- 2nd morning: a 1/2 & 1/2 blend
- 3rd morning: 3/4 dandelion and 1/4 coffee
- 4th morning: 100% dandelion coffee in my cup
Here is what I found upon brewing the dandelion coffee:
- smelled awesome, very coffee like
- looks dark and rich, how I prefer my coffee
- let's taste the stuff! I was not disappointed but pleasantly surprised! Dandelion Coffee is by far the best "substitute" I have ever tasted. I think, if I was given a cup and not told that it was not real coffee, I would not know and believe I was drinking coffee! I would soon be curious as to why the caffeine effects were not quickly kicking in.
When my current jar gets low, I will be ordering more and hoping the product becomes easy to find here in the USA. http://www.sunburstproducts.com/our-products/
Got Seasonal Allergies Healing Hint:
If seasonal plant and pollen allergies tend to drag you down, try this:
- 1/4 tsp. of raw, local honey every AM & PM. The honey must be cold extracted from the comb to preserve the properties that will ease your allergy symptoms. If the comb was heated up, as this makes it so much easier to extract the sticky honey, the heat cooks the enzymes, nutrients, and immune healing factors that help to ease seasonal allergies. Sometimes the challenge with this is stopping at 1/4 tsp. Think of it as mind-body-soul healing medicine where truly more is not always better!
- Stinging nettles. Most healers recommend freeze dried nettles in capsule form (You can find Ecclectic Institute's freeze dried nettles at Nature's Storehouse, Canton, NY). If you have stinging nettles around you, consider yourself fortunate, and indulge in your healing wild garden's bounty. Please be considerate of the plant and leave plenty for re-growth and to prevent soil depletion. With your nettles: make tea, make pesto, gently stir fry or steam.
My quart size bottle of medicine! This jar lasts a very long time. Local, raw honey is widely available in Northern, NY. Check farm stands, the Potsdam Food Coop, Nature's Storehouse in Canton, Martin's Farm Stand, and Garden Share's Local Food Guide for more local sources.
My Calamitous LOVE Affair with Coffee!
My Grampa Page's coffee mug. Funny how seemingly insignificant objects, a coffee mug, can stir deep memories and emotions.
I love coffee. I love the smell and the taste. I love the memories that coffee stirs up for me. (This reminds me to give you a heads up about my new book, be looking for it later this fall. (If I get my butt in gear and finish it!) I have used coffee in the title as it stirs up much fun and memories for me. I hope it will for you, as well!)
Coffee Memories:
- My Dad's coffee mug (for many years it was just like Grampa Page's mug above!) sat right next to the stove, geared up and ready for AM coffee. The mug may have changed but its station in life has not.
- My Gramma Page was a coffee-a-holic. This is a love statement; a statement of awe. She could drink a cup, at midnight, and go right to bed. Me... I would be up until the next midnight bells were rung!
I have never had a coffee drinking habit. Coffee is a rough road for me, hence our calamitous love affair. I love coffee, coffee does not love me. Caffeine sensitivity is a tough ride. One cup of regular coffee can send me down a path of jitters, racing heart, and a crazy head for hours. The effects will finally wear off, with much relief on my part, only to rebound hours later and send me on another caffeine jolt. Good thing I never aspired to be a drug addict, something tells me I would not fare well! I inherited this drug sensitive gene from my Mom. She also does not fare well with a cup of coffee!
Maybe a year or so ago, I thought it would be fun to have a coffee in the AM ritual. Something soothing, warm, and yummy that I could enjoy in the peaceful AM quiet of my home before the daily chaos ensued. This liquid crack stuff is addicting! It is very easy to slide into a coffee habit as the body, mind, and spirit ask for more, every AM. I even purchased a hand grinder, from Sweet Maria's, to do this coffee thing right!
I tried decaf coffee to avoid the jitter craze. Decaf is very questionable to me; like refined white flour and white sugar...a whole food substance that has had part removed cannot be a good thing, in my eyes. Then there is the issue of: "How did they (whoever they are, these caffeine drug lords) remove the caffeine?" Was it chemically extracted or water bath extracted? The story goes that if it is organic coffee, it has been water bath extracted. Phew, no chemicals here, right? (I have read many different accounts of how this whole decaf process happens in beans.) Decaf was not for me, too many questionable practices and potential chemicals.
In come low caffeine varieties of coffee. It is amazing the amount of information there is to learn about something as humble as coffee beans! So, of course, I try these coffee beans as I am determined to have a coffee habit that does not make me crazy. The Potsdam Food Coop carries a low caffeine whole bean, organic, and roasted by St. Lawrence Valley Roasters. Of course, this liquid drug still makes my head and body reel with hyper-energy.
So here I am, one year later, and this is what I notice: I wake up groggy, cloudy headed, and feeling like I need that AM coffee to get going, to dispel the cobwebs from my head (AND wishing someone would deliver coffee to my bed!). This is a big problem for me as I have always been a: wake up spunky, feet hit the floor immediately (I am not happy lying in bed stretching and yawning, I like to move!), and get moving kind 'a gal.
My plan: I will wean myself at the end of the summer, after Labor Day (But hey, summer does not end until Autumn Equinox. I can squeak in a couple more weeks...) Seriously, here is where I sit in the AM, would you want to stop this habit just yet? I know, I know, I can sit here without my locally roasted, low caf coffee... but not yet. After Equinox! : )
Why you ask? I really do not like how I wake up in the morning. I do so prefer the spunky in the AM me. This weaning test is to see: Is coffee the culprit in my new AM feelings OR is it my age? Time will tell... let September be my reckoning time.
For now, coffee and I will ramble on in our calamitous love affair. Paula
PS April 19th, 2015 Update about and awesome coffee substitute that actually tastes like coffee!, click here: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2015/4/19/coffee-and-my-calamitous-affair-revisited
My AM coffee "space"
Me, in my AM coffee space
PS Update on My Healing Yard.... This information came from Susun S. Weed's Wise Woman Herbal Ezine for You, July 22 - 2014
Wild Carrot Contraceptive
- Harvest fully matured brown seeds.
- Store in a brown paper bag.
- Use one tablespoonful of the seeds, mixed into food daily, for at least five days following fertilizing intercourse.
My note: I have always read it was 1 teaspoon of the seeds from ovulation OR potentially fertilizing intercourse to your next period flow. It would take many Queen Anne's Lace flower heads to make 1 teaspoon of seeds, even more for 1 tablespoon! Lots of collection needed to sustain this method of fertility control!
This is said to change the lining of the uterus, making it too slippery for a fertilized egg to attach.
Check out Robin Rose Bennett for her extensive work in wild carrot as a birth control ally.
Coffee: Getting Rid of the Acid Reflux Issue
Coffee: Getting Rid of the Acid Reflux Issue
A big complaint I hear frequently: "I have given up my beloved morning coffee as it creates and exacerbates gastric acid reflux problems the entire day. I do not want esophageal cancer from reflux."
Hey, who can blame anyone? Cancer is not something we warmly invite into our lives.
2 things to try: (see lifestyle info at bottom of post)
1. Spice blend: add a pinch or two to each cup of coffee.
Equal parts of cardamom, ginger, and unrefined sea salt. Put these together in a small jar and keep next to your coffee stores. Remember to use with each cup of coffee. Keep a small jar in your purse, coat pocket, or glove box for coffee on the go.
2. Cold brew coffee into a concentrated extract and use to make your hot or cold coffee beverages. (For a iced coffee delight I over indulged in while visiting Costa Rica, click the link.)
Cold brewing is lower in caffeine and much lower in acid. Less acid is good for the gut and esophagus!
Tools for the brewing:
How to:
Cold-brewing coffee is easy. Get yourself a 1/2 gallon mason jar with a lid and a strainer.
Combine one cup of coarsely ground beans (organic, fair trade, and shade grown... of course!) with four cups of cold or room temperature water.
Give the mixture a stir or put lid on and give a good shake. I shake this anytime I pass by it on the kitchen counter.
Let the magic of infusion go to work. You are making cold, cowboy coffee!
I let the mixture magically infuse for 12 to 24 hours.
After 12 to 24 hours, strain the solution through a coffee filter, a fine mesh sieve, or layered cheesecloth so you don’t get a mouth full of grounds. No need to be completely cowboy about this!
Filter the mixture, once or twice, and you have delicious coffee.
Good for 7 to 10 days in your refrigerator.
When heating for hot coffee, gently heat, please. Boiling is not kind to your cold brew!
Finished! To make in the quart jar, just cut recipe in 1/2.
Enjoy your cold brewed coffee, hot or cold.
PS There are many "recipes" out there and they all vary. First time I made cold brewed coffee it was 1 pound of coffee, ground up, to one full gallon of water. I cut the recipe in 1/2 and used a gallon glass jar.
My advice with all recipes and all cooking: be creative, play around, and find what works for you!
PPS: Lifestyle Healing: Acid reflux is a warning check engine light on your body's dashboard. Addressing what has created the reflux in your life will help you to self heal and get rid of the underlying causes of the problem. Problem gone and addressing this problem and ridding its root causes will prevent it from becoming a bigger problem, a deeper degenerative disease.
Lifestyle Healing Info: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/free-health-info/
Self Healing Classes to dive deeper & fix yourself! http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/home-study-classes/