Coffee Anyone?

“More coffee?”

“Don’t mind if I do!”

How do you  like your coffee?  Black, with cream, with sugar?  Is your coffee  an early morning necessity, an after dinner relaxer, a brain-cell stimulater, or a cold-rainy-Saturday-afternoon-sitting-by-the fire-with-a-cup-of-coffee-and-a-good-book?  Or, maybe you don’t like coffee at all.  You still might find something interesting if you keep reading.

Coffee has been around for a thousand years or so, and has been consumed by folks all around the world.  Coffee has run the gambit from being a spiritual experience, to being an AMA  health hazard.  It’s that caffeine, you know.  For quite a while I have heard how drinking coffee was not good for you.  “It’ll stunt your growth, kid!”  Have you ever noticed how these health warnings are like a pendulum?  One day it’s good for you, the next day it’s bad for you.Tomorrow’s researchers will once again discover that it is good for you.

So, if you are one of those who like coffee (caffeine especially),  there’s a new study that claims it’s “all in your genetic code”. Yup, scientists have even named the little bugger that makes you crave coffee, tea, soda, and chocolate.  You can’t argue with your DNA, so I say, “Indulge!”

 

As good as coffee is as a drink, it just happens to be good for a bunch of other stuff too.  Stuff I never even thought of!  For example; did you know that coffee is a stimulater of hair growth?  No, your hair won’t grow more just by drinking coffee;  you have to apply it topically.  In other words, rub it into the top of your head.  When washing the hair that you already have, you can rub  coffee grounds through your wet hair, then rinse.  It will leave your hair soft and shiny, dandruff free, and highlighted.  Your dog will appreciate a good rub down of coffee grounds after his bath.  His coat will be soft and shiny too.

Coffee grounds have been used for centuries as an exfoliant for skin.  Pat grounds on skin, massage, rinse.  Besides sloughing off all those yucky dead skin cells,coffee grounds stimulates new cell growth.  Since coffee grounds are acidic, it will help constrict your pores, provides a protective layer, gives the appearance of firmer, younger skin, AND helps fight acne!

Plants like coffee too.  Coffee grounds make good fertilizer for acidic loving plants.  Work it into the garden soil to add rich nutrients to the soil, and at the same time keep bugs away.  Coffee grounds are wonderful for your compost pile as well.  They help in breaking down the various ingredients into rich mulch.

Naturally there are some folks who just don’t like coffee or coffee grounds.  Ants don’t like coffee grounds one bit.  If you were to sprinkle coffee grounds around your house, why those ants would be so offended they’ll never come visit your house again.  If you sprinkled coffee grounds around the ants’ home, they will pack their bags and march away.  Slugs and snails do not appreciate the coffee grounds in your garden.  They will go else where for their meal.  And believe it or not, cats don’t like coffee grounds either.  They will refuse to use your garden as their litterbox.  Oh, and one more… fleas don’t take kindly to you giving Fido a coffee ground rub-down.

 

We all know that freshly brewed coffee is a heavenly smell, and just because we have emptied the coffee pot, doesn’t mean the nice smell is gone.  No, those spent coffee grounds can continue as a deodorizer in your freezer, as a sachet in your closets, and for cleaning smelly hands.

So, keep that coffee pot brewing.  Enjoy that cup of coffee.  It’s good for you – in more ways than one.