What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

Three Questions with IWCA Executive Director Blanca Castro

When International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) Executive Director began her job years ago at the Guatemalan coffee association Anacafé, she knew next to nothing about coffee.  “I just pretended that…


Thread Coffee Roasters Opens Tailor-Made Roastery in Baltimore

The interwoven actions of Thread Coffee Roasters in Baltimore are finding exponentially more space this week with the grand opening of a brand-new production roastery and training lab. The worker-owned…


Toronto’s Pilot Coffee Roasters Acquiring Bridgehead Coffee for $3.6 Million

Toronto, Ontario-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer Pilot Coffee Roasters is acquiring Ottawa-based Bridgehead Coffee in a deal worth approximately US$3.6 million.  Bridgehead, which has 21 coffee shop locations throughout…


Test Drive: The Linea Micra Espresso Machine from La Marzocco

Ready to find out how La Marzocco’s Linea Micra measures up? Read on for our full Test Drive review!  BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Vasileia Fanarioti  The Linea Micra espresso machine by La Marzocco is the newest addition to their impressive line of home espresso machines. I was lucky to get my […]

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

In Tbilisi, Parsek1 Merges Comic Books with Specialty Coffee

We take a look at how this innovative café has changed the face of comics and coffee in the capital of Georgia. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Parsek1 When it comes to coffee and comic books, Japan is a longtime leader in the field. Manga cafés have been around for decades, combining […]


Philadelphia’s Café Don Pedro Seeks to Build Up Small Businesses

A Dominican-owned coffee roasting company called Café Don Pedro recently launched in Philadelphia with ambitions for direct trading and boosting more Latino-owned small businesses throughout its supply and distribution networks….


The Slingshot Chalice Puts a New Spin on Espresso Dosing

Hong Kong and Australia-based coffee equipment maker Slingshot Technology recently launched the Chalice Distributor Cup, a multipurpose espresso preparation tool for baristas. Displayed in its final production form at the…


What I Learned from My First Tea Ceremony

After taking in a brief moment of a tea ceremony in Thailand, I finally had the chance to participate in the full experience recently in Malaysia. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos by Tanya Nanetti In the years that I worked as a barista in a café, tea always played a marginal role in […]

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

Book Review: From Nerd to Pro, by Patrik Rolf

From Nerd to Pro: A Coffee Journey is an autobiography by roaster, café operator, and coffee competitor Patrik Rolf sharing his coffee journey. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Tanya Nanetti I’ve read plenty of books on coffee over the years: manuals on how to brew great coffee at home, books on […]


Understanding the Process: Koji Fermentation

Continuing our series on coffee processing, we learn about koji fermentation, a unique process usually associated with the brewing of sake. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Forest Coffee If brewed properly, a cup of coffee can offer countless variations of flavor and aroma. The quality and complexity of these attributes depend on many different […]


Ukraine’s Soloway Coffee Opens First US Shop in Chicago

A specialty coffee roasting company based in western Ukraine called Soloway Coffee (Instagram link) this week opened its first location in the United States. Beans roasted in Ternopil, Ukraine, using…


Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part Two—Environmental Concerns

Agave has become an increasingly popular sweetener in the coffee industry. But is it as environmentally friendly as people claim it to be? BY EMILY JOY MENESESBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Featured photo sourced via Pixabay In recent years, you may have noticed an increase in demand for “alternative sweeteners” like agave. While today, the nectar serves […]

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

minimum dose size?

Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

By Lisa Frania, Guest Blogger

Wake up and smell the coffee

If you’re like me, smelling the bold aroma of my favorite coffee and enjoying every caffeinated drop is the motivation I need to roll out of bed in the morning and start my day out right.  

But now, being able to smell that coffee (any time of the day) does more than just get you out of bed. It’s actually one of the easiest ways to determine if you have one of the most distinct symptoms of COVID-19. 

Smell loss, called anosmia, is a symptom that 44-77 percent of people with COVID-19 suffer, some estimates suggest. Fast Company states that “if you had to pick just one symptom, sudden smell loss may be the single best predictor of a COVID-19 diagnosis.”  

So as odd as it sounds, if you lose your sense of smell, that’s actually a good sign of a possible COVID-19 infection. 

Unfortunately, many people don’t even realize they’ve lost their sense of smell. That’s because COVID-19 noses don’t necessarily act like a common cold and get stuffy enough to physically block the smell receptors in the nose. Instead, the COVID-19 virus blocks the signals that the nose uses to detect odors, causing the loss of smell.  

In response, experts suggest we all faithfully perform a DIY COVID test. This test offers rapid response, is convenient and free (tasty too)!  

Step 1: Take a whiff of your ground coffee before making a pot.  

Step 2: See how far away you can hold it and smell it.  

Step 3: Then (of course) enjoy that brew!   

Delish suggests continuing to use this “sniff and swig of coffee” method as a way to monitor your system—and more awesomely, to keep that caffeine pumping through your veins at the same time. 

DISCLAIMER: But hold the (coffee) press—not everyone infected with COVID-19 reports smell loss. Just because you can smell things, doesn’t necessarily mean you are COVID-free. If you were able to smell your coffee this morning, that’s a messy result. It might mean you don’t have COVID-19—but it could also mean that you are infected and just didn’t lose your normal ability to smell.  

Thankfully, although it’s a pain (in the nose), loss of smell appears to be temporary. 

And if you’re recovering from COVID-19, your sense of smell may be distorted, making things smell differently—rather unpleasant, actually. But the news is good. That means you’re making progress toward the tissue in the nose returning to normal.  

Besides your habitual cup of coffee, DIY COVID tests could include something else that has an odor like your shampoo, kitchen spices, flowers or our Morning Ritual Candle.  

Since it won’t catch 100 percent of the cases, wear that mask, social distance, take your temperature and self-isolate if needed—these are all important pandemic behaviors to help curb the spread. 

RELATED: 6 health benefits of gratitude

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

What does coffee have to do with COVID-19?

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