JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Rasta Barista: James Dennis grows what is purportedly the best coffee on earth. Photo from the National Geographic.

Scientists recently discovered that caffeine consumption can be tied to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. They knew that it was suppressing the rise of amyloid plaques in the brain, but why coffee consumption did the trick remained a mystery. But now, researchers from the University of Illinois believe they have found the answer, and it has to do with caffeine’s ability to block inflammation in the brain — a discovery that could lead to new drugs which can prevent — or even reverse — mild cognitive impairment.

Read We now know why coffee helps to stave off Alzheimer’s disease in io9.

Caffeine! The stimulant in your coffee. This is an electron micrograph of a 40-micron (40/1,000,000 meter) caffeine crystral group, one of the winners of the Wellcome Image Awards 2012.

Nescafe Dolce Gusto hosted a lunch at Beso in Central High Street to introduce their new coffee machine. The chef prepared a degustacion—small portions of Mediterranean dishes, each course paired with one of the Dolce Gusto coffees.

If you place a good cup of coffee in front of us we will drink it. So during the starters we were quite chatty.

Dinna mentioned cosmetics. We brought up a factoid we’d heard somewhere that Joel Cruz sold a billion pesos worth of scent last year. Yes, one billion pesos. We are clearly in the wrong line of work. Liza noted that Bench’s bestseller is scent, hence all the movie stars/celebrities launching their own perfume brands.

During the main course hilarity ensued.

We noted that Hayden Kho had his own perfume, and Dinna said it had been sold to Ever Bilena. We said how odd it was that the billboard for his perfume showed him fully-dressed when he is best remembered in a state of undress. That perfume should’ve been called Careless Whisper. (But would he have to pay licensing fees to George Michael?) Or Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am, Pia added.

By dessert we felt like walking all the way home, a bad idea as it was the height of summer.

Jiggy showed us how to use the Dolce Gusto machine. First you choose a capsule (Caffe Lungo, Espresso, Capuccino, Latte Macchiato, Mocha, Chococino or Peach tea). Then three easy steps: pop the capsule in the thingy, lock the compartment, and drop the latch. Voila, good coffee in a minute. (It is not a sushal na 3-in-1, it is a sushal na coffeemaker.)

Nescafe Dolce Gusto is available in supermarkets for Php4,999. A box of 8 capsules costs Php402.

It’s easier to score a good cup of coffee in Ansan and Seoul than anywhere I’ve ever been, and that includes Italy.

Down the street from the hotel is Paris Baguette, which serves French pastry, croquettes, and coffee. (Kind of like Bread Talk but not as fluffy.)

The tables are upstairs. The wi-fi comes and goes, though.
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Good News in the Daily Grind by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal.

Research conducted in Stockholm suggests that drinking coffee might lower the risk of dementia later in life. Might—there’s no evidence that if you start chugging coffee today you will be protected. If you do start chugging coffee today, I suggest black, no sugar, no mountains of whipped cream.

“After controlling for numerous socioeconomic and health factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less…

“Dr. Kivipelto and her colleagues suggest several possibilities for why coffee might reduce the risk of dementia later in life. First, earlier studies have linked coffee consumption with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, which in turn has been associated with a greater risk of dementia. In animal studies, caffeine has been shown to reduce the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, coffee may have an antioxidant effect in the bloodstream, reducing vascular risk factors for dementia.”

Cat coffee pot and espresso cups