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Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

nature.com

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Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#41
post #32

Can someone translate this to lay terms?

Well, I’m not really qualified, but reading the abstract, they took a bunch of pictures of the brains of a small group of people, did some stats analysis where it is all linked, and the pictures seem to suggest that the CD group might feel less, be worse at processing whatever it is they do feel and suck more at moving parts of their body compared to the NCD group because all the feely parts and some of the movey-lim…

I can definitely see the academic appeal:

"This is your brain"

"This is your brain on high altitude Yirgacheffe"

"This is your brain after a Jamaican blue mountain medium roast long macchiato served with a croissant and the wifi password"

"Sir, please stop flirting with the wait staff"

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#42

Coffee is the best drink ever, but how do we get it to taste as good as it smells?

Organic whole beans. Grind them yourself, and experiment with how fine or coarse you like it. I use a Hario v60 and pour over ice, which is called “flash chilling”. Serve with ice. This method tends to extract the flavor really well in my experience.

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#43

Coffee is the best drink ever, but how do we get it to taste as good as it smells?

There’s a whole art to coffee making. People have mentioned the grind and the strategy for brewing, but the freshness of the beans is a big deal. Look for brands with a “roast date” instead of a “best by” date. Also i personally think pour overs (hario or chemex) are the way to go. With good, fresh beans, the right grind, water that is not too hot, a well bloomed and timed pour... you really can start to taste the notes in coffee similar to the way you do in wine. There is no bitterness (that usually means the coffee was burnt).

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#44
post #24

Coffee is the best drink ever, but how do we get it to taste as good as it smells?

Best way to get flavour out of coffee is cold brew (not cold trip). Leave coarsely ground coffee in water for 12-24 hours at room temperature and then filter the beans out. Lasts for about 2 weeks in the fridge and you can have it straight, with ice, water or milk. Some coffee shops use this technique to find out the flavour of coffee prior to using it for hot coffee. As the heat denatures some of the proteins in cof…

> As the heat denatures some of the proteins in coffee, doing it cold extracts all the flavours without damage.

Isn't it already roasted at this point?

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#45
post #12

"Fifty-six subjects were recruited (32 CD and 24 NCD). One participant from the CD group was excluded due to imaging artifacts, rendering a final sample of 31 CD and 24 NCD." Feels too small of a sample size to make any strong conclusions

Not necessarily. Suppose, for simplicity, that we have equal number N of coffee drinkers and non coffee drinkers, for total of 2N. Suppose you try your model on them, and tell which is which based on their MRI 80% of the time. Let’s assume the null hypothesis is that you model doesn’t work, and you just were randomly lucky. If N = 5, that’s 8 successes in 10 Bernoulli trials, that’s already p value of 0.01. With N=25…

Your math is whack. 8/10 coin flips being a 1% chance?

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#46

When the pandemic started a year ago, I laid in a supply of coffee. The supply chain for that is very long, and I'd miss it terribly! I expected coffee shortages at the supermarket, but weirdly everyone else was buying yeast and toilet paper. Couldn't buy yeast for like 6 months. The coffee supply was unaffected, for which I am grateful!

Well covid wouldn’t be expected to increase coffee consumption so the supply was ok. As someone into baking before all this- the amount of 5lb flour sacks and tiny yeast packets for $1.50 is there only to satisfy only frivolous occasional bakers. How do I know? Because it you were serious about baking you would buy this yeast and flour for pennies on the dollar in bulk at somewhere like Costco.

These frivolous bakers would love to become serious bakers. The shortage of baking ingredients caused by the shutdown just means that people really like to bake if they have the time and energy.

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Move to Italy or Australia.

Australia? Do we have good coffee?

We do. Well, parts of us do, especially those parts with an Italian-identifying community. Australian-trained baristas are in demand globally as a consequence.

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#48

Coffee is the best drink ever, but how do we get it to taste as good as it smells?

Use high quality beans, keep them fresh in a sealed container aways. Grind for the appropriate brewing technique. Use an AeroPress or a French Press, use water that has been boiled and just finished dropping past the bubbling point. Let it steep, and stir. Drink it black, and get used to it.

i use a burr grinder, temperature controlled kettle, weigh the beans and the water, and use a pour-over method with a decent paper filter.

but in my experience, freshness is the biggest factor to good coffee--mainly being freshly (and adequately) roasted, but also freshly ground before use. everything else seems to be relatively marginal after that.

edit: i buy locally roasted coffee that's delivered to my door for about the price of starbucks or peets ( <=$1/oz ). that's been the biggest difference.

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#49

Coffee is the best drink ever, but how do we get it to taste as good as it smells?

Use high quality beans, keep them fresh in a sealed container aways. Grind for the appropriate brewing technique. Use an AeroPress or a French Press, use water that has been boiled and just finished dropping past the bubbling point. Let it steep, and stir. Drink it black, and get used to it.

You can use a French Press for cold brew, too. Just leave it cool and plunge it in the morning. I think you can even leave it out of the fridge overnight?

Re: Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity

#50

Coffee is the best drink ever, but how do we get it to taste as good as it smells?

Use high quality beans, keep them fresh in a sealed container aways. Grind for the appropriate brewing technique. Use an AeroPress or a French Press, use water that has been boiled and just finished dropping past the bubbling point. Let it steep, and stir. Drink it black, and get used to it.

> Drink it black, and get used to it.

If you're going to end your advice with "get used to it", do you really need everything that came before?

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