Coffee with milk: benefits and harms, preparation
Many people wonder if coffee with milk is worth drinking. This drink is very popular among the vast population of the planet. Its taste is much softer than that of plain black coffee. But some people do not know that such a product has not only benefits, but also contraindications.
Why is milk used with coffee? Natural coffee beans have a bitter, strong taste due to the fact that they contain a large amount of tannins and caffeine itself. That is why they began to add milk to soften this bitterness.
An important fact is that people usually drink coffee in the morning in order to wake up, disperse the remnants of sleep and give the brain a boost of energy. In this case, coffee with milk is not suitable. After all, warm or hot milk just works to calm the nerves and reduce the percentage of caffeine in the drink. A coffee drink with milk should be drunk in the daytime, but not in the evening.
If it is often used in the evening, insomnia may occur.
There are many different ways to make coffee. In each country, the drink is prepared in its own way. No one can say with complete certainty who was the first in the world to think of adding milk to this fragrant drink.
In Poland, coffee with milk is called "white", in Germany - "milk", in the Netherlands - "wrong". In Italy, the drink is made from pure black coffee, into which hot milk is poured.Thanks to the surge in popularity of coffee machines in the forties of the last century, espresso is most often used as the basis for such a drink. Now this drink is served according to the French standard in a small ceramic bowl. In this way, it differs from the Italian latte, which is made on the basis of espresso and is bottled only in tall glass goblets. In the United States, milk added to coffee is heated with steam.
Kinds
The beneficial qualities of the drink largely depend on the ingredients included in its composition. Coffee in bags (for example, 3 in 1) is not the best option for those who want to enjoy a rich taste and have a good time. After all, you will not feel anything but impurities or additives in your coffee. It is not always possible to brew coffee from natural ground beans. Often there is simply not enough time to cook. In this case, it is worth stopping at such an option as instant coffee. There are three very popular types of coffee with milk that everyone has tried at least once.
- latte - a popular Italian coffee served in large tall glasses. Brewed from natural crushed grains. The highlight of the drink is milk whipped in the form of foam. It is worth considering that the amount of added milk will be about 2 times more than the coffee itself.
- Cappuccino made from coffee and milk in a ratio of three to one. Milk is poured into a coffee drink foamed and heated.
- Macchiato also made from milk and espresso. It is the strongest and most fragrant of the listed species.
There are also such varieties of the drink as moccaccino, melange, frappuccino (served cold). Among such a variety, everyone can find and appreciate their coffee.
Other ingredients can be added to the coffee drink: cinnamon, grated chocolate, whipped cream or marshmallow.
Helpful or harmful?
The main benefit of the drink is that milk supplies the body with healthy fats that help the internal organs function stably. Milk contains many useful vitamins:
- group B (good for nerves);
- A (needed for vision);
- group E (combats bad mood, improves hair growth);
- C (strengthens the immune system).
Among the beneficial minerals that make up milk, we can distinguish:
- calcium and phosphorus, which are responsible for the growth of bone tissue;
- zinc - regulates the work of the glands, helps to absorb vitamins in the body, accelerates wound healing;
- iron is an essential element of the blood, helps with anemia.
Is coffee good for you? Can I drink it in the morning, on an empty stomach or when losing weight? People have been arguing over these questions for a very long time. But they never came to a consensus.If you do not overdo it with the use of a coffee drink, then it is harmless. The composition of coffee includes caffeine and tannin, which help to cheer up and get a surge of new energy. Coffee contains nicotinic acid. It regulates cholesterol in the blood, gives energy, strengthens the walls of blood vessels and the heart, removes toxins from the body.
Who can?
People who are forbidden coffee in its pure form can treat themselves to such a drink, because milk neutralizes the effects of caffeine and tannin. This is very good, because pregnant women, the elderly and teenagers do not want a large amount of caffeine. For a person who wants to lose weight, coffee should be drunk without impurities. Only in this way will the desired result appear. Coffee in its pure form will be useful for the body, it will remove toxins and speed up the metabolism.
Hypertensive patients should use this drink, strictly following the instructions or instructions of the doctor, because a small dose (no more than one cup per day) will give a positive result - vasoconstriction will not occur.
It is worth remembering the balance between coffee and milk. Coffee removes calcium from the bones, which can soon lead to bone thinning. Milk with its properties (the presence of fat in the composition, a number of vitamins and useful elements) replenishes this balance: it contains enough calcium to fill these “empty areas”. Another plus is that this drink is low in calories, if cream and sugar are not added to it. If you add them, then this will only “weight” the coffee and will not give any effect, except for the deposition in fatty tissues.
When drinking such coffee, there will be no harm to your body. On the contrary, there is an opportunity to support your health with useful elements, especially in winter, when a strong deficiency of the sun and vitamins accompanies you at every step.
Who can't?
The harm of a coffee drink is directly related to the amount and frequency of its use. In small quantities, it is practically harmless. But excessive intake can cause damage to the body.
- Frequent use of espresso can be bad for the nervous system, leading to its depletion. After some time, insomnia develops, irritability appears, trembling in the hands. The maximum dose of a coffee drink per day is no more than three cups.
- It is not recommended to drink the drink for people with poor lactose tolerance (it is present in milk). The consequences will be disappointing - diarrhea or a number of other allergic consequences.
- Coffee is contraindicated for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases.
- Caution should be used by women during pregnancy and during breastfeeding.
- Coffee is strictly contraindicated for babies and babies. Due to their small weight, they perceive caffeine more than adults.
A number of body disorders that may appear due to the abuse of coffee:
- nervousness;
- nervous tic;
- urinary incontinence (especially if you drink a drink closer to the night);
- irritability;
- insomnia;
- depression;
- addiction;
- aggressiveness;
- anxiety;
- memory deterioration.
You don't have to stop drinking this drink. It is quite possible to afford one cup a day. The main thing is to take it in its pure form without additives (not counting milk) and sugar.
How to cook?
Not only good ingredients are responsible for the taste of any dish or drink. The cooking process also plays an important role. Turkish coffee is one of the oldest recipes. The tradition came from the ancient nomads. They brewed this drink for themselves in a copper jug, in which water was usually boiled before. The jug had a small handle and spout. Over time, this jug has been reduced in size, allowing it to take up much less space when traveling. The Turks, who learned about such a wonderful drink, decided to bring their own changes to it. To be more precise, the changes affected the jug for cooking. The Turks narrowed the neck in it so that the drink does not lose its rich aroma and does not spill by accident.
Consider the classic version of brewing coffee in a Turk.
- Two teaspoons of ground coffee beans are poured into the container, 80-100 ml of water is added.
- Next, the contents of the Turks are cooked on the stove for about four minutes. There is no need to constantly stir, because in the classic version, foam should form on the surface.
- At the moment when the water begins to boil and rise, you should remove the Turk from the fire, cool (depending on the temperature of the room for about 2-3 minutes), and then return everything to a slow fire.
- This procedure must be repeated a certain number of times to achieve the desired strength. It is worth remembering that you should not let the water boil completely. It will only spoil the taste of the drink.
There are a large number of recipes for making Turkish coffee: with sugar or orange juice, cinnamon and even black pepper. For lovers of strong drinks or if you need to warm up quickly, you can even make coffee with cognac. And in hot weather, large ice cubes are often added to such a drink. For real Turkish coffee, you need to purchase coffee beans and grind them yourself. So small that the contents looked like dust. This will allow the beans to open up from a new side and give a rich aroma when brewing coffee in a Turk.
You can use condensed milk instead of cow's milk. But it is worth noting that the option with condensed milk is high in calories and is not suitable for those people who monitor their weight and protect their figure. In this case, the recipe is extremely simple. You will need coffee, condensed milk and related additives in the form of cinnamon, orange peel, chocolate, nuts, cream liqueur or syrup. Additives will be aromatic accents on the surface of this unforgettable drink.
Another interesting and original option is coffee with coconut milk. Whipped coconut milk gives a large foam and a very dense texture, like cream.Coconuts contain a large percentage of useful substances that help strengthen the immune system, improve the health and appearance of the skin, and stabilize the nervous system. Coconut milk is lactose and gluten free, so it's great for allergy sufferers.
Soy milk drink. According to its properties, soy milk is the closest variant to cow's milk of all analogues. Rich in proteins and carbohydrates, contains a minimum of fat, is a source of vitamin E. Soy helps strengthen bones and normalizes the balance of hormones.
Note to the owner
It is important to know the following.
- According to experts, the most useful coffee is in beans. Bean coffee is much less processed than ground coffee. Therefore, in order to enjoy a truly deep and rich taste of this drink, you should avoid buying a finished product, it is better to grind the grains yourself. Of course, it will take some time, but you will be sure that this coffee is of high quality.
- It is known that grains milled long before consumption accumulate elements that are undesirable for our body.
- Ground coffee should be stored in a tightly closed jar, bottle or other container. Do not expose it to air.
- Coffee is best drunk in the afternoon. In the morning (before lunch), our body produces the necessary level of cortisol (it is also called the stress hormone) and does not need additional fuel. But closer to noon, a charge of vivacity is just needed.
- The brewed drink should be drunk immediately after preparation. No need to stretch this pleasure for a long time, periodically taking a couple of sips from a cup.The fact is that when interacting with air, coffee is oxidized, which can cause heartburn and other unpleasant symptoms.
Thus, coffee with milk is not only a very tasty and invigorating drink. It contains a lot of useful trace elements and vitamins, so necessary for our body.
Next, see the recipe for making Turkish coffee with milk.