Reuters, Havnnna- Hurricane Sandy decimated the  Cuban coffee crop and delivered a major setback to renovation of  old plantations when it ripped through the eastern part of the  country late last week, according to scattered media reports.
The storm left between 20 percent and 30 percent of the crop  on the ground, damaged processing centers and roads and felled  thousands of trees upon plantations as it pummeled the Sierra  Maestra Mountains, where 92 percent of the crop is grown.

The coffee harvest runs from September through January, but  peaks in October and November.
Coffee production was already expected to weigh in at some  5,300 tonnes of semiprocessed beans, compared with 7,100 tonnes  in the previous season and an initial plan of 8,500 tonnes.

A Reuters report now estimates output will be below 4,000 tonnes, the  lowest in more than a century. The official Granma newspaper reported on Monday that  Guantanamo province, the country’s second producer after  Santiago de Cuba, “lost 174,475 cans of beans” and “47  processing centers were damaged”.

Cuba often reports coffee output in cans, with 525 cans  equal to a tonne. Still-to-be-quantified losses were also reported in the  eastern provinces of Granma and Holguin, the country’s third and  fourth producers. The devastation was far worse in Santiago, which took the  brunt of the storm and where losses were still being tallied.

Songo-La Maya is an agricultural municipality whose main crop is coffee and the initial figures for coffee ouput  indicate a loss of  84,000 cans, while 4,500 hectares of plantations and another 650  in development are damaged due to the trees that fell on them as reported in the the province’s newspaper, Sierra Maestra, on Sunday. There are eight coffee-producing municipalities in Santiago  de Cuba.

The National Information Agency, reporting from the Cruce de  los Banos municipality on Saturday, said: “Initial estimates by  municipal authorities indicate more than 300 hectares of coffee  plantations damaged by falling trees and dozens of tonnes of  mature beans felled and washed away.”
How much of the remaining and now quickly ripening coffee  beans could be picked and processed, given the destruction Sandy  left behind, was unclear.

Heart Healthy

New reports have shown that several risk factors for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke may be countered by regular coffee consumption.

• An American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study reported that healthy people 65 and over who drank four or more cups of caffeinated beverages daily  had a 53 percent lower risk of heart disease than non-coffee-drinkers
• A study of about 130,000 people who reported drinking 1-3 cups of coffee per day found that the coffee drinkers were 20% less likely to be hospitalized for abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias which can lead to increase risk of cardiac arrest ) than non-drinkers, regardless of other risk factors.
• For women, coffee may mean a lower risk of stroke. In a study of 83,700 woman, research showed a 20% lower risk of stroke in those who reported drinking two or more cups of coffee daily compared to women who drank less coffee or none at all. That pattern held regardless of whether the women had high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and type 2 diabetes.

Lowering Diabetes Risks

The studies done on the health benefits of coffee have shown the connection between regular coffee drinking and the prevention of diabetes..

• Nine separate studies were reviewed on coffee and its effects on type 2 diabetes by Harvard professors in 2005. Of more than 193,000 people questioned, those who said they drank more than six or seven cups daily were 35% less likely to have type 2 diabetes than people who drank fewer than two cups daily.
• More recently, in studies of nearly 458,000 people, researchers found a 7% drop in the odds of having type 2 diabetes for every additional cup of coffee daily. There were similar risk reductions for decaf coffee drinkers and tea drinkers.

Decreased risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s

• “For Parkinson’s disease, the data has always been very consistent: higher consumption of coffee is associated with decreased risk of Parkinson’s,” says Dr. Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, nutrition and epidemiology professor at the Harvard. “It seems to be due to caffeine, though exactly how that works isn’t clear”, Hu notes.
• A 2009 study from Finland and Sweden showed that, out of 1,400 people followed for about 20 years; those who reported drinking 3-5 cups of coffee daily were 65% less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, compared with nondrinkers or occasional coffee drinkers

How might coffee be helping our health risks? “It’s the whole package,” says Dr. Hu. He points to antioxidants — nutrients that help prevent tissue damage caused by molecules called oxygen-free radicals. “We know that coffee has a very strong antioxidant capacity,” Coffee also contains minerals such as magnesium and chromium, which help the body use the hormone insulin, which controls blood sugar (glucose).

Source: Harvard.edu/nutritionsource/nutrition-news; WebMD

When you want that essential, cherished, always-needed cup of coffee, just sit back and relax; us three guys at Brooklyn Bean Roastery have your back.

See below for our OFFICIAL announcement to the press (usually we are not so uptight when we talk, but we are trying to make a good first impression… you know how it goes).

~Us Three Guys

Single-cup, Keurig-compatible coffee is nearing $.75 per K-cup, making the process of brewing coffee in your home almost as expensive as ordering a cup of Joe at a high-end coffee house!

Brooklyn Bean Roastery [www.brooklynbeans.com] is proud to introduce coffee compatible with the popular Keurig coffee maker*:single-serve coffee, at a significant savings, with all the quality and taste discriminating coffee drinkers expect.

All 12 varieties of Brooklyn Bean Roastery’s blends are carefully sourced and roasted before undergoing a revolutionary ‘roast2cup’ process that ensures a fresh cup of coffee every time. Brooklyn Bean Roastery coffee is now available on Amazon.com and at select Midwest Menards home improvement stores.

“We only use 100% Arabica coffee, while still keeping our flavors true to our beloved New York borough, Brooklyn,” says Steven Schreiber, co-founder of Brooklyn Bean Roastery. “We provide coffee lovers both smooth, light blends like those quieter sections of town, and bold, dark blends reminiscent of the nitty-gritty areas.” Schreiber adds, “Like Brooklyn itself, Brooklyn Bean Roastery satisfies a variety of tastes and styles.”
Brooklyn Bean Roastery’s line up of single-cup flavors includes: Breakfast Blend (regular and decaf), Brooklyn Bridge Blend, Colombian, Boardwalk Blend, Corner Donut Shop, French Roast, Cyclone, Fuhgeddaboutit, and the company’s flavored blends – Vanilla Skyline, Maple Sleigh, and Hazelnut. A complete tea and coffee line will be introduced before year’s end.

For more information, contact Orly Telisman at 312-375-1230 or via email at orly@brooklynbeans.com.

*Keurig is a division of Green Mountain Roasters – NASDAQ: GMRC

About Brooklyn Bean Roastery: We’re three guys from Brooklyn who love coffee – it’s as simple as that. Together, we started Brooklyn Bean Roastery – pioneering the introduction of single-serve coffee to the market. With decades of experience in product engineering (yes, we are also nerds), our unique tension-based ‘roast2cup’ technology ensures every cup of coffee tastes as fresh as the first. Brooklyn Bean Roastery uses only the highest quality Arabica coffee beans to create gourmet, yet affordable blends for single-serve coffee lovers. We grew up with an appreciation for quality, originality, and local pride, and we’ve based our company on those values. Stop by for a chat and some laughs at brooklynbeans.com.