Expresso Love: Your Online Guide to Coffee

Caffeine is a drug that has been widely used for centuries. Its main effect is that it is a mild stimulant of the central nervous system (CNS), helping to reduce feelings of drowsiness and fatigue. However, regular use may lead to “habituation”; that is, no net benefit from use but, rather, a negative effect if the drug is not taken. Besides the CNS stimulant effect, caffeine also temporarily increases heartbeat, increases the blood pressure, and stimulates the action of the lungs; increases basal metabolic rate (BMR), and promotes urine production; and it relaxes smooth muscles, notably the bronchial muscle. Caffeine is used in treating migraine, either alone or in combination. It enhances the action of the ergot alkaloids used for the treatment of this problem, and also increases the potency of analgesics such as aspirin. It can somewhat relieve asthma attacks by dilating the bronchial airways.

Too much caffeine can produce restlessness, nausea, headache, tense muscles, sleep disturbances, and cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). Because caffeine increases the production of stomach acid it may worsen ulcer symptoms or cause heartburn. Evening use of caffeine may disrupt sleep and cause insomnia.

Caffeine should be used with caution by people with heart disease and high blood pressure (hypertension), and by those suffering from the eye disease glaucoma. Caffeine medications should generally not be used in children. Many children are already consuming significant amounts of caffeine in drinks and food. In this connection, a nutritional concern is that children may choose fizzy drinks in preference to milk, thus getting “empty” calories at the expense of valuable nutrients.

Over twenty years of living in Europe has given me a soft-spot for the hard work that goes into a good cup of coffee. So imagine how thrilled I was to learn that the Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup in Portland, Oregon has founded the ABC’s Barista Training Institute — recognized as being the first school in the country devoted to coffee business education and hands-on barista training. At ABC’s, students learn in both a classroom and lab setting the fundamentals of successful coffee business management and proper beverage and food preparation techniques.

Classes include a 5-day intensive seminar for new startups, a two-day seminar for existing retailers, a two-day hands-on workshop for baristas, and specially designed seminars for corporations. The first class for new start-ups will be held May 17 through May 21. The first class for existing retailers will be May 27-28.

Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup has long been known as the specialty coffee industry’s leading consulting company. For many years Bellissimo has fielded questions ranging from how to open a specialty coffee businesses to where to go for barista training. That led to next logical step which was to create a venue for preparation techniques and general barista training.

And so it was that Bellissimo realized the time was right for ABC’s. The general consensus in the industry was that the specialty coffee industry desperately needed a school of this nature – where students get professional training, up-to-date information and training they need to succeed not only as barista’s but also in the specialty coffee business. ABC’s has a state-of-the-art classroom where its students will benefit from the latest technologies including PowerPoint interactive presentations.

Sure it’s about the coffee. But the skills of a barista go a lot deeper than that. It’s just a matter of knowing your ABC’s….!