What is it about coffee that makes it such a popular beverage for millions of people around the world, particularly those early morning commuters? Is it the titillating taste, the invigorating aroma, or the strength of the espresso shots which often imparts a little jolt of energy to help us stay awake?

Caffeine is a wonder drug and this is how it usually works. As the day goes by, receptors in the brain start suffering a build-up of Adenosine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter which act as a central nervous system depressant promoting sleep and suppresses arousal.  When caffeine enters your system, it falls into these receptors meant to catch adenosine, thus keeping you from feeling as sleepy as you would otherwise. The blocked Adenosine receptors also leave room for the mood-boosting compound Dopamine to settle into its receptors, and those increased Dopamine levels lead to the boost in energy and mood you feel after finishing your morning coffee.

 Special studies conducted about the human body revealed it will usually absorb up to about 300 milligrams of caffeine at any given time, and usually within 10 minutes of consumption. Additional amounts of caffeine are just cast off, providing no further stimulation. Also, the human body dissipates 20% of the caffeine in the system each hour. And for the less active ones, 50% of the caffeine you've consumed may be cleared from your body within 5 hours.

But do you know how much caffeine is in your cup of coffee?

Most commercial coffees are made of two espresso shots weighing on average 14 grams of finely ground coffee and containing about 140 mg of caffeine.

But, this is not enough to determine how many cups or what cup size you should have to pick you up in the morning. First, you should know that cup size does not influence the quantity of caffeine. A large coffee contains the exact same amount of espresso coffee, with just more water or milk. It’s the number of shots per cup that matters.

Also, if milk is added to coffee, the fat content of the milk causes the human body to absorb caffeine at a slower rate.

But most importantly your coffee blend and the degree of roasting will make all the difference. Dark roasted coffees actually have LESS caffeine than medium roasts. And the blend ratio of Arabica and Robusta beans will control those caffeine levels.   

For us, to produce your favourite cup of gourmet coffee, we often have to juggle a number of variables including where the beans were grown, the seasonal blend, the degree of roasting, the fineness of the grind, the weight of each shot, the brewing and extraction time, the source and degree to which we heat the milk and finally how it will all be poured together in the cup you will enjoy your beverage in.

Talk to your Barista at Bella’s, get to know more about this wonderful beverage that will be part of yet another great day.