Food - Need a coffee fix?

I don’t drink a lot of coffee, though from what I observe at cafes, most people do. In fact, I recently heard that coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world.

I don’t mind the taste of coffee and do partake in the occasional decaf flat white. However, I also love to sleep and one coffee after midday leaves me shot for the night to come. But on a Sunday with pancakes and bacon - well I do quite fancy a real coffee! I’ve discovered if I have a coffee accompanied by a fatty meal, the fat slows the absorption of the caffeine into my blood stream. But my Sunday coffee hardly makes me a ‘coffee drinker’ as such.

To a true ‘coffee drinker’, coffee is the promise of a new day. Rocking you out of your slumber, charging you with energy before you can sum up your own naturally – a motivational accelerator.
As many coffee drinkers will tell you, if it wasn’t for coffee they wouldn’t be able to accomplish all they do in a day, a week, a year. Many a thesis is the product of coffee induced all-nighter. Many businesses would still be an idea and sleep deprived new parents would be walking zombies.



When we drink coffee our blood is pumped with caffeine, resulting in an energy burst. Similar to sugar, but much longer lasting. It also stimulates our adrenals to produce adrenalin. Unfortunately,

when our body is regularly being pumped with adrenaline, it can also lead to adrenal exhaustion, resulting in fatigue and mental stress.



From a positive aspect, coffee’s strong, bitter taste is believed to support the liver. As the detoxifier of the body, the liver deals with toxins in our environment, so could do with some support. And coffee has been used in the past to successfully treat headaches.

But there seems to be much more to coffee’s attraction than just taste and effect. Oh the aroma, the comfort and the social ritual that wafts around it! And the café owners love it. Walk down an inner city street and you are guaranteed to hear the grind and squeal of a coffee machine every 100 metres or so.

It’s also encouraging to see that a lot of coffee these days is fair-trade. Many coffee growers are like sweat shop workers, working long hard hours for very little pay. Fair-trade means they get a fair price for their hard work. Their quality of life is improved to very little extra cost to the consumer.

Another less talked about issue with coffee is the way it is grown. Traditionally coffee is a canopy crop. This means it grows under a canopy of taller trees that filter the strong rays from the sun and create humidity, which favours coffee growing. This is a natural eco-system. As the rainforests come down coffee, is becoming more commonly grown as a mono-crop without its beneficial eco-system.

So when you are next heading for your regular coffee fix, make an effort to look for cafes using fair-trade coffee. Even better, brew your coffee at home using shade-grown fair-trade coffee and enjoy with Sunday Brunch.

Sunday Brunch Pancakes

These pancakes are like American pancakes, light and super fluffy! A perfect accompaniment to Sunday brunch with coffee.

Ingredients:

2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs, separated
50g melted butter
1/2 cup plain yogurt

Topping:
Crispy bacon
Grilled bananas*
Yogurt
Maple syrup


Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
Mix in the milk, vanilla, egg yolks, melted butter and yogurt.
Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and fold through the pancake mixture.
Heat a frying pan over a moderate heat and add a small knob of butter.
Pour a ladle of mixture into the hot pan, but do not spread out. When bubbles form on the top, flip pancake and cook until golden.
Repeat with the remaining batter, adding a knob of butter to the pan between pancakes.
Keep pancakes warm in the oven until all cooked. Serve with bacon, grilled bananas, yogurt and maple syrup.

*To grill bananas, cut lengthways and fry cut side down in a little butter until golden and caramelized.