Coffea arabica

Coffee Video:

 

PLANT NAME: Coffea arabica

SIMILARLY USED SPECIES: C. liberica, C. excelsa, C. robusta, C. canephora, C. maclaudii, C. stenophylla

COMMON NAMES: KOPE [Hawai’i]; Coffee, Java, Joe [USA] Qahwah, Caova, Cova [Middle East] Cabi [Panama]; Cafe [Spanish]

NOMENCLATURE: The name Coffee is thought to come from Caffa, an Abyssinian province. Some Arabic names for the Coffee fruit are Cova and Qahwah.

FAMILY: Rubiaceae

CATEGORY: Aromatic open Orifices~

PROPERTIES: Sweet, bitter, neutral~

STATUS IN HAWAI’I: Alien pest. Drink it all.

MERIDIAN AFFINITIES: Bladder, Discovery, and Large Intestine

WESTERN FUNCTIONS REPORTED: Addictive, analeptic, analgesic (as an additive), anaphrodisiacal. , anorexic, anti soporific, anti-emetic, anti-soporific, antidote to narcotics, cardiotonic, cardiotonic (increases blood flow through the coronary arteries), cholegogue, counterirritant, diuretic (loses its effect with continued use), hypnotic, increases peristalsis, intellectual aid, nervine, stimulant

TRADITIONAL CHINESE ENERGETIC FUNCTIONS (~ = extrapolated): Disperses the Qi~, opens the chest~, drains dampness~, opens the orifices~, moves the bowels~

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COMMON MEDICINAL USES:

• Constipation

• Depression

• Acute asthma

• Fatigue

• Hangover

• Migraine headache

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MEDICINAL USES

COSMETIC

• Coffee grounds are used in Japan as a body scrub and skin cleanser. [Japan, Research]

 

CARDIOVASCULAR

  • Cardiac insufficiency [Eclectics]; right heart failure ; heart disease.

 

DERMATOLOGICAL

• Cold coffee is used by fishermen to wash the smell of fish off their hands, and in facial creams to address sun damage.

 

DIGESTIVE

  • Chronic diarrhea (?) (black coffee) [Eclectics, India]; constipation (when not due to

excessive use of coffee) [Eclectics]; nausea [Turkey]; slow digestion [Eclectics, Research]

 

HEAD AND THROAT

  • Headache [Curacao, Haiti, USA]; migraine. [Eclectics, Global]; unpleasant sense of fullness in the head [Eclectics]

 

HEPATIC

  • Ascites; jaundice; pleural effusion

 

INFECTION

• Charred as a dressing for gangrenous ulcers [Eclectics]; fever ; intermittent fever (unroasted beans as a quinine substitute) ; malaria [Eclectics]; sores; typhoid-type fevers [Eclectics, General]

 

MUSCULOSKELETAL / TRAUMA

  • Gout [Eclectics, Turkey]; rheumatism (not commonly used) [Eclectics]; scorpion sting, snakebite

 

NEUROLOGICAL

  • Delirium tremens [Eclectics]; vertigo [Curacao]

 

PEDIATRIC

  • Whooping-cough [Eclectics]

 

PSYCHOSPIRITUAL

  • “Anemic condition of the brain” [Eclectics]; depression [Eclectics, Global]; hysteria [Eclectics]

 

REPRODUCTIVE

  • Abnormal uterine bleeding [Eclectics]; amenorrhea (green kernels) [Eclectics]; post partum hemorrhage [Eclectics]

 

RESPIRATORY

  • Asthma (acute and chronic) [Eclectics, Global, Science, Trinidad]; bronchitis, chest congestion ; emphysema ; hiccough [Eclectics], influenza [Research];

 

URINARY

  • Kidney stones [Eclectics, France, Turkey]; renal “torpor” [Eclectics]

 

OTHER MEDICINAL USES

• Coffee enemas used for “cleansing” [Central & South America, USA]; To prevent “rapid wasting of the tissues of the body”; cancer; convalescence from acute disorders [Eclectics]; drowsiness after meals [Eclectics]; to improve athletic performance ; intoxication [Charles Belyea, China, Eclectics]; low energy [Global]; narcotic poisoning [Dominican Republic, Haiti, Science, Turkey], “opium narcosis” [Eclectics]

 

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USE AS FOOD: Yep.

PLANT PART USED: Berries, kernal, leaves

TOXICITY: The LD50 for caffeine is 192 mg/kg. That is about 113 cups of coffee for the average human. But you would likely die from the amount of water ingested from over 100 cups of coffee before you would die from the caffeine.

ENERGETIC CAUTIONS:

• Not with Stomach Heat.

• Small doses only for liver qi stagnation.

CAUTIONS AND CONTRAINDICATIONS:

• Not in pregnancy or while nursing.

• Not with gastritis, insomnia, heart palpitations, agitation

• Not in large doses with muscle spasm; shoulder, neck, or back pain.

• Not without giving me some.

POSSIBLE DRUG INTERACTIONS:

  • Bronchodialtors, quinolones, and oral contraceptives potentiate the stimulatory effects of coffee
  • Can raise blood pressure when taken with MAOIs. Also coffee contains tyramine.
  • Sedative effects of benzodiazapines are inhibited (poor man’s speed ball).
  • Beta-blockers (coffee can raise blood pressure),
  • Histamine blockers (coffee can irritate the GI system – H2 receptors)
  • Inhibits hemodynamic effects of adenosine (the core of ATP) by preventing it from binding in the brain.
  • Very high blood pressure and mania can result when mixing coffee with phenylpropanolamine. (Acutrim, Dexatrim)
  • Coffee reduces blood levels of lithium.
  • Can interfere with oral contraceptives and post menopausal hormones.

PREPARATION OF MEDICINE: Preparation: Infused. Black.

DOSAGE: Dosage: 1-2 cups

COMBINATIONS:

• “Combines well with digitalis” [Esoterica – DO NOT try this at home!]

• Caffeine with aspirin in over-the-counter analgesics

• For arthritis black coffee is mixed with lime juice [Trinidad]

RANGE: Native to Ethiopia.

PROPAGATION & CULTIVATION:

RESEARCH:

• Coffee appears to have an inverse correlation with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes mellitus, and some cancers. It also helps in cognitive functioning. On the down side, it can raise serum cholesterol. [Butt2011, Eskelinen 2010, Chu 2012]

• Antioxidant. Medium roasted beans have the highest in vitro antioxidant activity. [Jeong 2013] And the antioxidant activity prevents liver fibrosis in animal studies. [Shin 2010]

• Coffee contains a phytoestrogen called trigonelline. [Allred 2009] Speaking of trigonelline, it can help prevent biofilms, hence, theoretically enhancing oral hygiene and preventing tooth decay. [Ferrazzano 2009]

• Increases plasma homocysteine [Urgert 2000].

• Heavy coffee drinking is correlated to increased risk of suicide [Tanskanen 2000] and decreased risk of colorectal cancer [Tavani 2000]

• Coffee may reduce arterial stiffness. [Uemura 2013]

• A diet of 20% green coffee in hamsters reduces tumor growth by 90%.

  • Nature’s bribe?Honeybees rewarded with caffeine (which occurs naturally in coffee and citrus flowers) are three times as likely to remember a learned scent as honeybees rewarded with sucrose alone. [Wright 2013]

• Wake up and smell the coffee! A University of California study reports that the steam rising from a cup of coffee has the same amount of antioxidants as three oranges.

LEGENDS OF THE DISCOVERY OF COFFEE:

•Middle Eastern shepherds noticed that when their sheep ate the berries both the sheep and the shepherd were up all night.

• In 1258 Sheik Omar was in exile and was complaining about his problems when a bird began singing in a tree. Trying to grab the bird, he instead ended up with a handful of berries and flowers. He then proceeded to make a “perfumed drink” from the berries and felt much better.

• An Islamic monk was vexed by his inability to stay awake during his prayers. One day he saw a goat herd dancing with his goats and was told that the goat herd’s happiness was caused by a specific bean. He was convinced that Mohammed had sent him this herb as a gift to keep him awake. The monastery was thereafter called the home of the “Wakeful Monks”, as they would drink coffee as they prayed. (A similar legend exists in China regarding tea.)

NOTES:

• The commercialization of coffee is an environmental nightmare. The coffee industry is rife with stories of worker abuse and serious health impacts on those preparing the beans. If you drink coffee, please purchase only fair trade organic brands and encourage others, including large corporations, to follow suit.

• Coffee and chocolate (those twin guilt-marinated New-Age bogeymen) are to many of people what sex was to the Victorians… vices that are publicly reviled while being craved and lusted-after behind closed doors. Both have now been shown to have strong anti-oxidant properties. The antioxidants in coffee are heterocyclic compounds which may prevent heart disease and cancer, while other ingredients may increase these risks.

• Caffeine is injected with sodium benzoate for poisoning or respiratory failure

• Coffee is second only to oil as a world commodity and is the most popular beverage worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed each year. In the last three centuries, 90% of all people living in the Western world have switched from tea to coffee.

• Coffee is used as a stimulant, used to ward off coma in narcotic overdose and snake bite. In acute cases administered as an enema. (As if a coma wasn’t enough of an indignity.)

• The caffeine in coffee beans is bound to an organic acid and requires roasting to become active, but dark roasted coffee (unlike tea) has less caffeine than the lighter brews.

• Coffee can be burned as a room deodorizer

• October 1st is Coffee Day in Japan.

• African warriors would mix mashed coffee berries with animal fat, roll them into balls, and eat them before battle.

• In Bolivia, the bark is used to make a coffee substitute called Sultana.

• Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee. All of Latin America’s coffee industry emerged from one tree in a Dutch botanical garden.

• In Jamaica, the rats often chew the fruit off of the coffee berry. The kernels fall to the ground and are gathered to make a brew called “rat coffee”.

• In Sumatra coffee leaves are dried on of bamboo strips over a fire, then powdered and infused. Coffee leaves are reputed to have as much caffeine as the beans.

• In Turkey the inability of a man to give his wife enough coffee is considered grounds for divorce. (no pun intended)

• The name Coffee comes from Caffa, an Abyssinian province.

• By the 1400s Mecca had several coffee houses.

• Most Arab coffee was shipped through a port called Mocha. Arabs were forbidden to export the plant but in the 1600s the Dutch smuggled out some coffee starts to the island of Java. This was presumably the first “cup of java”. In 1652 the first Coffee shop was opened in London

• After hearing that coffee was “the Devil’s potion”, Pope Clement VIII tried a cup and declared it to be “so delicious that it would be a pity to allow the Muslim infidels to have exclusive use of it.” He then baptized the coffee to make it a Christian beverage. Even Martin Luther agreed with this. About the same time J.S. Bach wrote his Coffee Concerto.

• Coffee was brought to Hawai’i by Don Marin in 1813 or by a “Frenchman” to Manoa Valley in 1823, depending on who you ask.

AND FINALLY, FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT SLEEP… A FEW QUOTES:

• From the 19th century Eclectic Physicians: “Coffee, in strong infusion, without cream or sugar, is one of the first agents to be thought of in opium narcosis… and electricity, and particularly flagellation, resorted to….” – – King’s American Dispensatory (Doctors after my own heart)

• A morning without coffee is like sleep. – – Graffitti

• Far beyond all other pleasures, rarer than jewels or treasures, sweeter than grape from the vine. Yes! Yes! Greatest of pleasures! Coffee, coffee, how I love its flavor, and if you would win my favor, yes! Yes! Let me have coffee, let me have my coffee strong! – – Johan Sebastian Bach

• Coffee! Thou dost dispel all care, thou are the object of desire to the scholar. This is the beverage of the friends of God. – – In Praise of Coffee,” Arabic poem (1511)

• He that would drink it for livelinesse sake, and to discusse slothfulnesse, and the other properties that we have mentioned, let him use much sweat meates with it, and oyle of pistaccioes, and butter. Some drink it with milk, but it is an error, and such as may bring in the danger of leprosy. – – Old Arab Text

• Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and as sweet as love. – – Turkish Proverb

 

 

Abbott, R.D., et al. 2003. Environmental, life-style, and physical precursors of clinical Parkinson’s disease: recent findings from the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. J Neurol. 2003 Oct;250 Suppl 3:III30-9

 

Allred KF et al. 2009. Trigonelline is a novel phytoestrogen in coffee beans. J Nutr. Oct;139(10):1833-8. doi: 10.3945/jn.109.108001. Epub 2009 Aug 26.

 

Butt MS et al,2011. Coffee and its consumption: benefits and risks. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. Apr;51(4):363-73. doi: 10.1080/10408390903586412.

 

Chu YF, et al., 2012. Crude caffeine reduces memory impairment and amyloid β(1-42) levels in an Alzheimer’s mouse model. Food Chem. Dec 1;135(3):2095-102. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.04.148. Epub 2012 Jun 29.

 

Eskelinen MH et al. 2010. Caffeine as a protective factor in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers Dis;20 Suppl 1:S167-74. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2010-1404.

 

Ferrazzano GF et al. 2009. Anti-cariogenic effects of polyphenols from plant stimulant beverages (cocoa, coffee, tea). Fitoterapia. 2009 Jul;80(5):255-62. doi: 10.1016/j.fitote.2009.04.006. Epub 2009 May 3.

 

Jeong JH, et al., 2013. Antioxidant and neuronal cell protective effects of columbia arabica coffee with different roasting conditions. Prev Nutr Food Sci. Mar;18(1):30-7. doi: 10.3746/pnf.2013.18.1.030.

 

Palmer DM et al, 2010. A double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and tolerance of a novel phenolic antioxidant skin care system containing Coffea arabica and concentrated fruit and vegetable extracts. J Drugs Dermatol. Dec;9(12):1480-7.

 

Ragonese P et al. 2003. A case-control study on cigarette, alcohol, and coffee consumption preceding Parkinson’s disease. Neuroepidemiology. 2003 Sep-Oct;22(5):297-304.

 

Shin JW, et al. 2010. Experimental evidence for the protective effects of coffee against liver fibrosis in SD rats. J Sci Food Agric. Feb;90(3):450-5. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.3838.

 

Tan EK et al. 2003. Dose-dependent protective effect of coffee, tea, and smoking in Parkinson’s disease: a study in ethnic Chinese. J Neurol Sci. 2003 Dec 15;216(1):163-7.

 

Tanskanen A, et al. 2000. Heavy coffee drinking and the risk of suicide. Eur J Epidemiol; 16(9):789-91

 

Tavani, A., et al. 2000. Coffee and cancer: a review of epidemiological studies, 1990-1999. Eur J Cancer Prev 2000 Aug;9(4):241-56

 

Uemura H, et al, 2013, Consumption of coffee, not green tea, is inversely associated with arterial stiffness in Japanese men. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2013 Oct;67(10):1109-14. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2013.132. Epub 2013 Jul 17.

 

Urgert R. et al, 2000. Heavy coffee consumption and plasma homocysteine: a randomized controlled trial in healthy volunteers. Am J Clin Nutr Nov;72(5):1107-10

 

Velazquez Pereda Mdel C et al. 2009. Effect of green Coffea arabica L. seed oil on extracellular matrix components and water-channel expression in in vitro and ex vivo human skin models. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2009 Mar;8(1):56-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1473-2165.2009.00425.x.

 

Wright GA, et al., 2013. Caffeine in floral nectar enhances a pollinator’s memory of reward. Science. Mar 8;339(6124):1202-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1228806.

 

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