Mid-August in Martha’s Vineyard is as good a time as any to
drink coffee. And there are lots of good options to find good coffee. Two of
the best known are Mocha Mott’s, with locations in Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs and the Black Dog Bakery and Café in Vineyard Haven. I love them
both.
Black Dog vs. Mocha
Mott’s
I like Mocha Mott’s for its reliability and I *love* their
peanut butter cookies (When I feel guilty about eating them I focus on the high
levels of protein compared with chocolate chip cookies).
I like Black Dog
coffee for its smooth taste and dark roast. It’s mellow….almost better to drink
it on an overcast day, rather than a sunny, let’s-hit-the-beach day. Black dog
coffee always tastes like summer turning into fall. It reminds me of trees with
a few brightly colored leaves and pullover earth-tone sweaters. It’s good
coffee to drink if you have to get some work done.
I have been enjoying
both Mocha Motts and Black Dog coffees for years and don’t really have a
preference. However, despite the fact that the well-known cafés that sell these
blends are go-to coffee spots, there are also some unsung coffee shops on the
Vineyard---many. I’m going to focus on one.
Little House Café
In my opinion, the best cup of breakfast coffee in Vineyard
Haven is from Little House Café. Some of the best coffees they serve are their Guatemalan and Ethiopian coffees.
Their coffee is rich, full of texture, hot, hot, hot, and very, very
caffeinated.
Coffee and
Tinnitus—Drink More, Ring Less
Why would you drink anything else other than caffeinated
coffee? That is if you want to enjoy some of the coffee-related health benefits
that come from the caffeine. A study that came out last week in the August 2014
issue of the American Journal of Medicine evaluated the effect of caffeine
intake on the risk of tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Using data from the
Nurses’ Health Study, including analysis of more than 65,000 women, researchers
found that women who drank at least 600 mg of coffee a day (that’s about 4
cups) were 21% less likely to experience tinnitus compared with women who
consumed 150 mg a day or less (1 cup or less). Who wants ringing in their ears?
And clinically speaking there’s a bit more to the tinnitus story---it's not just the bother and annoyance of hearing sounds internally. Did you know that 90% of people with tinnitus have underlying hearing loss and a large percentage of patients with tinnitus suffer from severe depression and from insomnia.
Caffeine and
Fat-burning….It Works
Coffee’s fat-burning qualities are widely appreciated. Not
only does it help stave off appetite, it also helps boost metabolism for up to
4 hours after consumption. A 2004 study from the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition evaluated the effect of caffeine on fat dissolution in study
subjects—at rest. Their metabolic processes were tested 90 minutes after
consumption and then again at the 240 post-consumption mark. Drinking caffeinated coffee doubled the rate
at which fats were broken down in the body and increased energy expenditure by
13%. And if you drink caffeinated coffee
and EXERCISE you burn even more fat and increase your metabolism even more. YAY
EXERCISE!!!!
All good stuff! Enjoy the rest of the summer.
