IL CAFFE', UNA BEVANDA MILLENARIA

Currently coffee is one of the most important products marketed in the world. The coffee's discovery has a long history. At first coffee was a energy food, essential to the survival of Ethiopian shepherds during their long shifts. Nowadays fruits obtained from Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora are produced in more than 80 countries. Arabica and Robusta are different in physical characteristics such as the form of the seeds and the plant height. Lipid and caffeine's content is chimically different. During the production of coffee, roasting represents an important step. The green coffee is warmed up. A series of physical and chemical changes happen into the grains: their become brown with the appearance of pigmenting compounds. There is a decrease of humidity and a growth of the grains's volume. Proteins participate with sugars to Maillard reactions giving rise to melanoidins, important compounds for success of the final product; lipids have only small changes; chlorogenic acid is reduced; trigonelline turns into vitamin PP. Roasting greatly increases the number of volatile substances. Coffee is a food without nutritional properties but it contains a small content of substances with pharmacological and exciting action such as caffeine. Caffeine overcomes the human body's barriers but it is not absorbed by the organs. The time in which caffeine remains into the human body depends on a multitude of factors. Caffeine gives beneficial effects and the stimulation of central nervous system is the best known. Caffeine is also used in the treatment of respiratory diseases; it plays a positive role on the efficiency of fibrinolysis; it stimulates the contraction of intestinal muscles. The relationship between tumors and the consumption of caffeine is studied from a long time: caffeine and others components of the coffee has a protective role against tumors. Caffeine is also important against neurological diseases such as Alzheimer. Unfortunately caffeine produces negative effects in the human body. For example caffeine originates miscarriages and premature births and it is dangerous for children because they have not enzymes to metabolize it. The best-known result due to the assumption of caffeine is insomnia; the alkaloid promotes wakefulness. Above a certain dose, caffeine stimulates the acid secretion by the stomach and coffee consumption is not recommended if someone has ulcers. Caffeine can also slow down or increase the effects of certain drugs and it makes dependence; headache is a classic symptom of abstinence. Symptoms may occur with a daily consumption low. Decaffeinated coffee is an alternative in which caffeine is reduced. The caffeine extraction depends on methods used to make coffee. There are many others alternatives to coffee. The most popular is orzo and it contains volatile components similar to substances that are in coffee . Coffee contains a small number of substances with beneficial effects such as antioxidants, fibers, magnesium and even some vitamins.