Coffee is actually a good idea; as if it's even a question, in moderation like anything. The question here though. is decaf coffee a healthy alternative to the much loved caffeinated coffee that the world wakes up to everyday? 

Healthy alternatives are popping up left, right and centre over recent years, with adaptations of much loved food and drinks from vegan friendly options to decaffeinated reduced sugar everything. Gyms are also popping up all over the country with grand ideas on keeping the body in shape and the mind sharp, we are indeed in the middle of a body first renaissance. Our coffee consumption has even been affected by an uptake in decaf coffee over the last 12 months, this has been noticed at our roastery which has been confirmed by consumer research analyst 'Mintel'.  

​Research over the last 10 years has suggested that moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee is safe and that it likely has many benefits. Studies have shown that between 2-3 cups a day may be the sweet spot and adults can consume up to 400mg per day which is the equivalent of 4 mugs. This is not to be consumed in one go but to be spread out over the day. The reason for the gaps is to allow for the caffeine to filter through the body. It takes an adult approximately 4 hours to reduce the caffeine in their system by 50%.

Coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated contains chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant which has been shown to slow the body's absorption of glucose which has been shown to correlate to why many coffee drinkers have a decreased chance of becoming type 2 diabetic. These very same antioxidants have been attributed to the reduced risk of cancer, notably is the reduction of menopausal breast cancer. This reduced cancer risk is all thanks to the chlorogenic acid found in coffee which is also found in fruit and vegetables.

Caffeine does have some draw backs which makes the decaf alternative more appealing, you get all of the benefits without the negatives commonly associated with caffeine. Caffeine in large quantities can be damaging to your mood, your sleep and over long periods of time it can even affect your overall health. It's also best to consume a little less caffeine when you're young as your tolerance for caffeine increases with age and weight.

To finish on a positive note, caffeine is safe in moderation just like most food and drink is safe when portioned. Coffee has a whole host of benefits that are great for the body and the best bit is that all that good stays even when the caffeine is removed. Don't want the caffeine boost, drink decaf!  

Two Scottish entrepreneurs have big ideas on replacing palm oil in the home. Starting local with the goal of making it global.
Scott Kennedy and Fergus Moore have came up with a unique way to extract oil from used coffee grounds which has a huge range of potential uses.

Palm oil, the current go to oil for many of our house hold products has proven to be very unpopular and rightly so, this is more due to the rather destructive way in which production of the oil has been scaled up in recent years with large amounts of ancient rainforest being cut down in the pursuit of this useful oil. It's always interesting to see other alternatives creeping in, even more so if they are  considered a by-product of another process.

Mr Kennedy and Mr Moore came up with their coffee grounds idea while working in coffee shops during their university years studying business in Glasgow's Strathclyde University. Working in a coffee shop is where they saw first-hand the amount of food waste produced by the hospitality sector, 60% of all cafe's waste is coffee grounds alone according to Mr Moore:

Further explaining the potential uses of this oil he explained that the oil uses extend to the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, food & drink and house hold product markets, "you name it there's probably a use for it".

Their company Revive Eco are working on a process to extract and purify these oils. Mr Moore continues "The most exciting part for us is that they have all the same components as palm." They are both excited that they could potentially have a solution or a partial solution for the palm oil which has in recent months received some negative press.

They aim to have the process up and running by summer 2020. They are also representing Scotland and Northern Island in the Chivas Venture competition. The winners will be announced in Amsterdam in May, a share of a funding pot of £776.000 is available. The core of their business model will be to have the process running in and around major coffee drinking cites producing high quality oil in a local and sustainable way, they aim longer term to have this working in Rome, Paris & Berlin and any other heavy coffee drinking city's around the world.  

Our letter of thanks from the Royal British Legion for our annual donation to them.

We'd like to say a big thank you to all the surrounding businesses that dropped by again this year for a good chat and great coffee with a side order of cake, we've collectively raised £400 for Macmillan Cancer Support. A charity I'm sure that has had an effect on your life or someone you know.