Coffee & Grinds

By Lisa VanWilliams

A short 8oz White Chocolate Mocha can cost you around 200 calories. Try to stay away from the mocha's, lattes, and frappuccino's because they are packed with calories and sugar. Go for straight up coffee instead, and just be careful on your additives cause you can rack up calories adding creamers, flavorings and sugar. 

Coffee can actually be good for you in moderation.  Studies suggest that drinking coffee can reduce the risks of Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and gout.*

Hitting up your local coffee establishments can be costly on a regular basis. One way we try to cut down on this expense is by using a Kuerig single cup brewer.  A company called Mochamate makes a refillable (reusable) filter cup for roughly $12 so you make your own gourmet singles at home.  

The great thing about this is it allows us to try many different kinds of coffee without having to commit to buying a whole box of k-cups if we aren't sure we like them or not.  They say variety is the spice of life and this allows us to constantly try new blends.  I will go to our local Wholefoods on a weekly basis where they have a whole coffee bean section.  Strong, mild, medium, exotic, whatever kind of flavor you might be into that week is available at your tips. Take the beans and they usually have a grinder right there or the Barista will do it for you (make sure you pick the correct setting -autodrip).  Let me tell you, this the best smelling coffee everrrrrrrrrr from the car on the ride home to the kitchen after I bring it inside -it has the best aromatic scent to catch a waft of here and there.


*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Health_benefits