Organic Coffee Right Here… Who Knew?

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you may recall my prior experiences with organic coffee.  The coffee itself was okay, but nothing to write home about.  The side effect for me was that after a week or so of drinking it, I was unable to tolerate any desserts.  The first bite would taste fine on impact, but would turn bitter within the first three chews.  Aside from being a bit disconcerting, it was a great deterrent to eating sweets.  I just didn’t think that the coffee was all that delectable, and with the extra unexpected side effect, decided it also wasn’t worth the money.

And so it was two weeks ago that I ventured – rather unenthusiastically – down the coffee aisle at my local Drug Emporium/Vitamins Plus, where I stopped in front of a line of beautiful blue bags of organic coffees with familiar looking pictures on them…bayous and cypress trees, nonetheless.

Organic coffee with Louisiana flair…could it really be????

Now, I have to impart a startling fact about myself here.  I am not a real good Louisiana coffee drinker.  I love coffee, don’t get me wrong, but Starbucks Blonde Roast is more my line. I like my tea very strong, and my coffee…well, not so strong.  What can I say?  I’m an enigma.  😉  I leave the dark-roast, chicory, down-home, French Quarter-style coffee drinking to my dad, who could easily stand a spoon in his coffee cup.  He complains that the coffee I brew is “for pansies.”  Admittedly, he’s right.

So in keeping with my own taste I examined each blue bag of Louisiana Roasting Company organic fair-trade coffee to try to find a mellow, not so “Louisiana chicory” blend.  And I found one that sounded pretty darn good.  Magnolia Morning.  What could possibly be more appropriate for a Saturday on the back patio of my North Louisiana home, I ask you?

And the answer to that is, of course, not a darn thing!  Because I brewed it this morning and proceeded to enjoy not one, but THREE cups of the most magnificent, smooth, great-tasting coffee I have ever had.  No lie.  But that’s not even the amazing part.

Although I am usually an optimist, this venture into organic, good-for-you and good-for-the-earth foods has turned me into a bit of a cynic, what with all the so-called family farms that supply organic foods, and our nation’s lean toward slapping a clean label on anything cheap and easy.  So I stood there, amazed by my first sips of this coffee, and found myself scoffing that this “Louisiana” roast was probably made in Indonesia or some other such place that had no ties whatsoever to my locality.  I braced myself as I flipped the bag over to read where it was actually produced.

OH MY HOLY GOODNESS – my eyes landed first on the zip code: 71107. All.  Too. Familiar.  And then the city…SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA.

Louisiana Roasting Company is located right here in my hometown?  Are you freakin’ KIDDING me??????  HOW HAVE I NOT KNOWN THIS???

By sitting my butt in the line at Starbucks, that’s how.

So I got online and stalked them for an evening, reading everything I could about why they are here and how they came to roast these coffees that Cajuns can call their own.   I suppose there are worse things than an overly enthusiastic customer who happens to be so local she could show up in their parking lot.  I’d like to ask them if they ever allow customers to tour their facility.  They have the chance to reinstate my faith in the community of organic producers.  Know what made me like them even more?  Their decaf is made so by water processing…no chemicals.  Peeps after my own heart, I tell ya.

If nothing else, I am emailing the coffee company to tell them two things: 1) I am in love with their coffee – like, I want it by the case-load, and 2) that I hope and pray they stay here, keep producing this awesome Louisiana brew, and remain true to their mission of making delicious, organic, fair-trade coffees available to the public.

I’m making a trip back to Drug Emporium to purchase a pound of coffee for my dad. I’ll get him the French Quarter Organic Coffee House Blend, noted in the description as a “bold blend.”  That ought to be right up his Café-du-Monde-lovin’ alley.

Louisiana Roasting Company sells locally at Drug Emporium (not sure where else in Shreveport yet) and some sweet spots in Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and California.  They also sell all of their coffees online, for those of you who might be interested in their various coffee lines that are particular to the east and west coasts as well as our dear Cajun Country.  Check ‘em out.  Let me know what you think.  🙂

Decaf, Schmeecaf

When I tell you that I nearly titled this post, “What the Hell Was I Thinking?” you’ll know exactly where this is going.

So, yeah, I said I was ixnaying caffeine, right?  Would you think terribly less of me if I retracted the whole hair-brained idea???

I’ve been drinking decaf coffee for a month now.  I have also suffered with a month of bad hair days.  Coincidence?  Whatever.  It’s also coincidental that as soon as I returned to full-caf earlier this week my hair went back to being manageable.  But I also totally jacked the experiment by switching shampoos two days ago.  So was it the decaf or the shampoo or just my hair rebelling against 40?  Who knows?  Who really cares?  I gave decaf a fair and mighty shake, but in the end I decided there may be an undiscernable reason that decaf and I just aren’t meant to be together.

I’m no sharper for having switched, either.

I found a few minutes to discuss this with my dear friend Kim the other night while she stirred a pan full of corn.  “I read your post.  What’s all that about?” she asked.

“Oh, I think I’m gonna have to give that up.  Can a month of decaf make me have thirty bad hair days in a row?”

“Of course it can; Venus is in retrograde.  You’re just trying too much stuff.  You need to chill.”

It’s good advice, really.  There’s one thing I’ve learned in these two years of change.  If it’s a good change and worth holding on to, I’ll feel it.  There should be a positive benefit that I am able to recognize after a certain amount of time.  If I struggle with something for a month and experience no positive changes, then it’s quite possibly just not something I’m destined for.

This may be the fastest retraction I’ve ever made on this blog.  Coffee, anyone??

Starbucks Stall-Out

A few weeks ago I gave up caffeine.  Please understand that I never planned on giving up caffeine, as I really didn’t consume all that much of it.  Except on Fridays.  On Fridays I went all Venti on the caffeine.  (“Venti” is “large” for those of you who do not speak Starbucks. Twenty ounces. Ohhhhhh yyyeahhhhhhhhhh)

See, what ha’ happen’ wuz…

One night the evening news (which I hardly ever watch because of my inherent disdain for sensationalized tragedy and inaccurate weather forecasts, but which Dom likes to fall asleep watching) had a story on the effects of caffeine in the brain.  Basically, we all know that caffeine restricts the blood vessels, raises blood pressure, etc.  But this news story was worth watching.  The reporter had an MRI performed pre-coffee, then drank a Grande coffee beverage (medium) and had another MRI done.  The difference in brain activity before and after the coffee was astounding.  Brain activity was reduced to 40% after drinking the coffee.  The medical doctors interviewed in the report stated that after a while, the brain will learn to function with the reduced blood flow.  As in, the 40% becomes your new normal.  Yikes.

And that is also why when you have gone without caffeine after being so dependent on it, you will experience a “caffeine headache” because the blood vessels are returning to normal size, thus allowing a whole lot more blood to flow into the brain and resulting in the pounding in your head.

The key, it would seem, is getting your internal highway system accustomed to full traffic again.  I believe blood to the brain is a good thing.  Which means that after hearing that report (not once, but three times during the night because the television in my bedroom was left on) I decided to ditch the caffeine.

It had only been a couple of weeks since my Lenten sacrifice of customized Starbucks beverages had ended, and I hated the idea of giving it up permanently.   I decided that one custom beverage a week wouldn’t hurt.  I’d switch to decaf and be completely happy.  Riiiight??

(Yes, I vividly recall all my concerns about decaf coffee and the chemicals used in the process of removing the caffeine.  I’m trying really hard to strike a balance here, folks.)

Around the same time, I decided to try out this paleo lifestyle which excludes (among other things) sugar, dairy and soy.  Damn.  No coconut milk at Starbucks?  What’s a lost soul to do??  Again, believing one custom beverage a week was no big sin, I dropped my Venti down to a Grande, further reduced the sugar syrup pumps, and asked for decaf.

Three times I have done this.  Three times I have finished my cup with a dull headache.  Make sense?  Not in the slightest.   Could it be that three separate times, at different Starbucks locations, they spiked my beverage?  I don’t think so.  But something is amiss, and I aim to find out what.  Especially since I talked with another Starbucks junkie who said she recently started having reactions to her custom coffee beverages.  She switched to tea and is fine.

My issue could potentially be all the other changes I was making in my diet.  With the elimination of grains, starches, dairy and sugar (except for the occasional splash of agave nectar in a cup of hot tea) I have noticed several positive changes which I plan to detail in another post.  So I wonder…could the sudden influx of milk and sugar whack me out so much as to induce a headache?  It’s totally possible.  And if that is the case, then there’s all my reason for staying the course with the paleo lifestyle.

I have one experiment to perform before I turn in my Starbucks badge.  I got a card in the mail for a free drink – I hit my “Free 15” (yes, I’m that committed).  I’m going to redeem my card for a full-caf grande and see what happens.  If I still have the issues, then I’ll know the culprits are the milk and sugar.  If I don’t have issues, I’ll know it’s their decaf.  Either way, I should have my answers, and an era of coffee-house devotion will come to an end.

C’est la vie…

Crazy from the Ashes

Today begins the liturgical season of Lent for many religious denominations.  In my Catholic household, dinner table talk centered last night around what each of us is willing to “give up” in observance of the sacrificial season.  Among the suggestions, my wisenheimer kids offered to release their hold on such things as “homework,” “messing up [my] room,” and even “Mabel!”

Har, har, har.

Finally…and I might have sort of, um, maybe, well, suggested it…it was decided that the males would give up donuts.   We make considerably frequent visits to Southern Maid, so it’s a pretty fair sacrifice.

Vic decided to give up talking on the house phone.  It will take half of Lent to spread the word to her friends, but, like the donuts, is ultimately worth it in my opinion.  Even if I get only one week at the end of Lent without the house phone ringing off the wall at hours well past my own children’s bedtime, it will be sooooo worth it.

And then came the magic question:  “Mom, what are you giving up for Lent?”  Ugh.  Here goes.  Once I verbalize this thought, there is no going back.  Should I? Do I dare utter it aloud?…

“Snoozing my alarm clock, and…oh dear…Starbucks.”

Shocked and horrified gasps echoed off of our freshly painted and still bare walls.  I know, right??

To be fair, at the start of the last three Lenten seasons I have considered this option, and casually convinced myself that sacrificing coffee (of all things!) was really not the point.  Unnecessary.  I mean, I don’t live at Starbucks, after all.  I’m there once, maybe twice, a week.  Okay, okay…sometimes three times a week.  (Sheesh!  Let it rest, will ya?)

And so, in light of this confession and the fact that this year I will focus on the sacrifice of something I really and truly enjoy rather than trying to avoid sacrificing by swearing that I’ll pull extra duty on some chore I detest, here goes.  The anchor is dropped.  I will buoy here in my Starbucks-barren waters for the next forty days.  Wish me luck.

Dear Lord, please please please let Starbucks be open on Easter Sunday.  Amen.  

Day 327: Makin’ Dirt

Victoria saw me digging in my compost pile the other day as I was burying some potato peels.  She peered over my shoulder and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh!! Is that turning into DIRT?”

“Yes, sweetie. That’s what compost is: plant and vegetable material that biodegrades and becomes nutritious soil for our growing plants.”

“Wowwwwwww!  That is waaaaaaaay cool!!!”  And then she skipped right back inside, leaving me to wonder how I had been composting for four months and she NOT know what was happening.  Maybe she thought I liked burying food and then playing with it later?  I can only imagine what she told her friends.

The compost pile is working beautifully!!  I actually have dirt in place of kitchen scraps.  And the termites I reported seeing earlier?  Finally gone.  Well, for the most part.  When I turned the pile yesterday I didn’t see any termites, so I guess they got bored and moved on…which is actually probably not a good thing.  Oh dear…

Ahh, but my worms are still enjoying the pile.  They are a huge reason my compost pile is working so well, I know.  I feared that they would abandon me, but I keep giving them plenty of incentives to stick around.  I’m amazed at how fast they work.  We added a whole container of kitchen scraps just last week, and already they are barely recognizable.  This reassures me that my “little” compost pile can survive and succeed.

I have a plastic container at the office now so that I can collect all the coffee grounds from the 7+ pots of coffee we make per day.  The coffee grounds are going all in my flower beds and in my compost pile too.  They add acid to the soil, and the herbs LOVE them.  Last year my basil grew by leaps and bounds on a diet of coffee grounds.  This year I’m sharing the grounds with ALL my plants. 

Lord, I just hope my new gardenias like coffee!

Day 243: Bitter Sweets

Tags

organic coffee

OK, I don’t know quite what is up with this, and leave it to ME to have issues, but my organic coffee is doing something weird to me.  It’s making me not like sweets. 

For real. 

*facepalm*

I first tried an organic coffee this past fall (and to be fair, I have only tried one brand so far, so this might be a moot point if I ever finish the bag).  After about a week of drinking it in the mornings I noticed that sweets were uncharacteristically repulsive.  They sounded like a good idea; they would call to me from the cake plate or the cookie jar, but they deceived me!  Before swallowing the first bite of whatever sweet I chose an awful bitter taste would set in, making it impossible to take a second bite. 

Have you ever in your life known a chocolate chip cookie cake to not taste good?  I rest my case. 

The only common denominator during that whole week was the coffee.  So I set it aside, resumed brewing my previous favorite brand, and sweets slowly morphed back into their original, um… sweetness. 

Now, at the time, I thought this side effect was an awful trick of nature, and I rebelled against it with gusto.  But now, two months after the holidays, I’m thinking I might need to brew up some more of my organic coffee in hopes that the side effect returns.  I could stand to avoid the cookie jar, yaknowwhaddimesayin’?

Day 74: Deciphering the Decaf Dilemma

You’re probably wondering if I can actually make a solid change each day and just move on. The answer, of course, is no. Change is a process, and for me it is a long, sometimes painfully neurotic process. 😉

I was sharing my decaf idea with mom when she so cleverly pointed out that decaffeinating coffee is a detailed chemical process. And – helloooooo – aren’t I trying to avoid chemicals? So I started researching the matter. I am STILL researching.

In addition to finding information on the ill effects of the decaf process, I also came across several sites that essentially dog the heck out of caffeine and coffee itself. By the time I closed my browser, I was all but resigned to give up coffee completely. Since dropping down to one cup a day I have noticed that I can do with less and less, or that I can wait later in the morning. This makes me think that my dependency on the caffeine is somewhat under control, and giving it up wouldn’t be that big a deal. (I hope I’m not just in denial.) I mean, if it is something my body shouldn’t have, then I have to keep with my purpose and look for ways to oust it.

I found one glimmer of hope in all my reading yesterday. Teeccino. Don’t laugh. It’s herbal coffee so it is naturally caffeine free. And they say it tastes just like coffee. (Yes, yes, yes…”They” are the people who make it!) It even comes in several flavors and roast strengths. Please stop laughing.

I shared this information with Dom, who quickly responded, “If you’re not going to drink the real thing, why drink anything at all?!” I see his point, but as I explained to him, I LIKE the taste of coffee. I like the smell of coffee. I like the warmth of the cup. I like the ritual of the morning coffee experience. (You’re not alone; he was laughing too.)

I am going to continue to research the matter until I am satisfied with a definite choice. In the meantime, I’m going to Sunshine to buy some Teeccino.

Day 73: Dabbling in Decaf

Brace yourselves, friends. I think I’m going to have to change my coffee to decaf. Yes, me. The coffee-loving, Starbucks worshipping, have-to-have-it-by-10am-or-else… ME. And the reason really has nothing to do with me. Go figure.

For the past week, sporadically, the kids have wanted coffee in the morning with their breakfast. Granted, the mixture I make for them is about one-fourth coffee and three-fourths milk, but still. It’s coffee. And they are little.

I can remember my PaPa making himself a cup of coffee and telling me as I begged for a cup, “It’ll put hair on your chest.” I loved the milk-coffee so much that it was worth the risk, and I was pretty sure he was joking. But I kept close watch inside my shirt, just in case.

I never gave it much thought on the rare occasions when my kids would ask for a cup, which would end up only half-consumed anyway, even when served in their child-size plastic mugs that match my Christmas china (Isn’t that adorable?! Stop rolling your eyes.) As you all know, this dietary change has really made me reconsider everything that goes into our bodies. Here I am cutting out all the petrochemicals, but I’ll feed my kids a cup full of neurotoxins in the morning and think nothing of it? Au contraire, mes amis!

I find it mildly amusing that I now base my consumption decisions on what it will do to me later, rather than how good it will taste now. What a difference that has made! I don’t want candy, I can easily pass up the leftovers in the kitchen at my office, and even restaurants don’t appeal to me as much because I find myself wondering, “What are they really serving me?”

Along the same lines, I consider the long-term effects on my kids rather than what is quick and easy right now. Which brings us back to the coffee, and the shocking news that I’m going to buy decaf next week when I go to the store.

So if you are one of the individuals who sees me before noon each day, and you notice a little change in my behavior, like say, I take on the persona of the Wicked Witch of the West, please bear with me and know it’s the decaf. I’ll be back to normal after a small adjustment period.

Day 4: One Cup of Coffee (ouch!)

Ugh. This is where it starts to hurt. I need to set an official limit on my coffee consumption. With some infrequent exceptions, of course! For the most part, I only drink coffee, tea and water. Mostly water, which is a plus. But I HAVE to have that morning cup of coffee. Er, I mean cups…

I used to drink three cups of coffee a day. I know that sounds like a lot. (Unless you are my dad, and then I sound like a lightweight. LOL!) Usually two cups in the morning, and one in the afternoon. Or one after dinner. Yes, I can literally drink espresso half an hour before bedtime and still sleep like a baby. Although, I have noticed that as I get closer to 40, some decongestants will keep me awake. Go figure.

Four months ago I put myself on a diet. The goal was to get back to pre-baby weight. Hey, I know it’s been ten years. You counting or something?? Anyhoo, along with the diet came calorie and fiber awareness. And out went at least one cup of coffee. All because right before I started this new eating plan, my co-workers brought me a basket of Starbucks goodies for my birthday, and consequently addicted me to the Mocha Powder at 45 calories a serving. Add that to the sugar and milk I insist on adding to my coffee, and each cup carries 90 calories. So I limited myself to two cups a morning. Only one if I ate breakfast simultaneously. This one cup plus breakfast seems to have more appeal than it used to, so it shall be today’s new habit.

Now, in the past if it happened to work out that I had at least 90 calories to spare at the end of the day, I would gladly make a cup of coffee and enjoy it after dinner. This is a treat Dom and I afford ourselves each Christmas season, as soon as the Starbucks Christmas blend is released. The simple indulgence of an evening cup of coffee with the hubster is one I might not be able to give up completely, but I will try not to overindulge and will do my best to limit it to the holidays.

Oh, and I simply can’t pass up the rare opportunity to enjoy a cappuccino on the back porch with my dad, engaged in conversation over computers or gardening. The same way tea and cookies with mom shall never be turned down. There are just some moments of interpersonal connection we should never avoid, and these fall into such a category.

Otherwise, it’s me and my one cuppa joe.