Are you ‘slug-ish’ without your morning coffee?
By Jody Stump
Last week, I extolled the historic virtues of coffee and suggested spots in town to grab a latte, but I said nothing about the joys of a wake-up home brew. Now, a glimpse at a provocative article in Scientific American has prompted a reprise-there’s one more reason to love your morning coffee.
Personally, I almost gave it up. Several years ago, doctors detected a rapid, stuttering pulse during a routine physical. One suggested that just maybe it had something to do with the gallons of Kenya high-test I drank throughout the day and suggested I switch to decaf, a process that cuts out more than 97 percent of the caffeine.
Apparently, caffeine acts like adrenalin, the chemical that provokes that “fight or flight” response we experience when something scary-for example, morning-confronts us. We need an extra boost of heartbeat in an emergency in order to pump enough extra oxygen to our brains and muscles for them to cope, but since my only diurnal emergency is facing a hungry dog, I decided to try skipping the extra jolt of java, but not before I conducted a bit of research. Well-meaning friends told me decaffeination was a poisonous process-was it true? And, does decaf have to taste like dishwater?
No, to both. It is true that the original process, invented in 1905, used benzene (cleaning fluid), but the technique was abandoned decades ago. Virtually all modern processes are “natural,” employing either just water or natural fruit enzymes as a solvent. In fact, the much-vaunted “Swiss Water Process” is the only contemporary method involving anything inedible-charcoal filtration. In sum, it turns out that stamping a package “natural” and/or “water process” is just marketing hype and no indication of health.
I then discovered why supermarket decaf tastes like the drippings from my garden pots-they tend to be made from the cheaper robusta beans that contain twice the natural caffeine of arabica but about half the flavor. To meet FDA standards, robusta gets a triple batch of processing so there’s not much to taste at the end. To further cut the flavor, American coffees are roasted half as long as European beans or those at our local coffee bars.
All this brings me to Scientific American and the startling discovery that slugs creeping around gardens died overnight when coffee grounds were scattered on the soil. The scientists who discovered this useful data stumbled on it-they were aiming at a nasty, little frog that munches potted plants in Hawaii; the frog was undeterred, but every morning dozens of dead snails and slugs lay beside the planters. Researchers don’t know why, but they suspect something neurological like the effect from a triple espresso-a slug sprayed with a diluted solution slithered and writhed in uncontrollable jitters.
I’ve been testing the killer effect by tossing coffee grounds around the favorite plants of Malibu snails-citrus, geraniums, tomatoes and basil-and I’m happy to report it seems to work. An added benefit is that our soil tends to be alkaline so leaves are greener from the extra acid. Try it and let me know if it works in your garden: malibuwayoflife@aol.com.
TIPS FOR THE TABLE: Gastropods aside, the aroma and taste of nice brew of coffee, whether decaf or not, is a pastime that many enjoy, and to my mind, nothing goes better with a strong cup of coffee than the sweet crunch of a cookie. I hope you’ll try the fare at our local coffeehouses, but if you brew at home, here’s a wonderful coffee-pairing tip I just discovered: Biscotti by Sher. Available Sundays at Malibu’s Farmers’ Market, these intensely flavored, crisp cookies are the perfect complement to a good cup of coffee. Unlike the tooth-breaking stuff you get in most coffee bars or the petrified sawdust sold in grocery stores, these are crunchy and all natural, better for you than a bagel and lots better tasting than a Chips Ahoy.
Another exceptional cookie for coffee is this dark and delicate wafer served alongside Dolly Madison’s ice cream at the Williamsburg Inn. It’s a nutty coffee confection with a hint of the rum consumed with vigor by our forefathers in Virginia. The restaurant prides itself on authenticity; so as you nibble these, imagine yourself dining with George and Martha and Thomas J.
COFFEE CRISPS
36 cookies
(Adapted from The Williamsburg Cookbook)
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten slightly
1 Tbs. dark rum
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Tbs. instant espresso
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add in egg and beat until lemon yellow. Beat in rum.
3. Sift together dry ingredients and beat into dough.
4. Shape dough into rolls; wrap in waxed paper and chill.
5. Cut into thin slices and set 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.
6. Bake 12 – 15 minutes until edges crisp. Cool on wire rack.
For Bonus Recipe, log on to malibutimes.com, Life and Arts.