The Bloom — coffee

When it comes to healthy eating, kale gets all the press. But if the scientific buzz is right, there’s a whole lot of wellness waiting in our coffee cups, too, and while that sweet essence of sacred bean may not have the cachet of cruciferous vegetables, it still packs a serious jolt. And we’re not just talking caffeine blast either. Here are a few recent headlines that put coffee above the nutritional fold: Coffee fights cancer. It’s packed with antioxidants called polyphenols, and consumption has been linked to less prostate, breast, colorectal, and liver cancer. Coffee does waistlines right. Those...

Let’s start the new year by being adults and facing a certain situation squarely: coffee making isn’t quite yet the most sustainable proposition on Earth. We may love it dearly (oh, yes) but like our favorite crazy relative, it’s got some issues. Take, for example, all those grounds. After their sweet perfect essence is artfully extracted, there’s very nearly as much as there was, to begin with. At home, we can compost these tiny piles of sweetly roasted heaven and feed our lawns and gardens with what comes. But what if, say, you’re a big happy coffee company making cold...

Can any of us imagine a coffee-less world? Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement means we won’t have to imagine it at all. Left unchecked, rising global temperatures will guarantee that coffee disappears in our lifetime. Increasing heat will prevent coffee plants from growing in the places they call home. Extremes of drought and rain will batter those crops that struggle to remain. And the range of coffee rust fungus and pests like the coffee berry borer will explode to finish the job. It’s already happening. Coffee harvests are already declining. Supplies are falling. Prices are rising. We are facing a...

I know, I know… it’s fall and the traditional end of iced coffee season. But not in my world. On Planet Maddie, there’s no day that can’t be made infinitely better by a fat frosty cup of caffeinated glory and a straw, and calendar be damned, you will take that cup from me when you pry it from my equally frigid dead hands. My only problem? Most cafes quit making the stuff this time of year, which leaves us diehards out on the cold when it comes to grabbing a cup on a whim. So we do what anybody with...