coffee

The new Ninja AutoBarista Pro coffee maker with which you will prepare the perfect coffee at home without being an expert is now on sale in Spain

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Making specialty café-quality coffee at home typically requires two things: a significant investment in individual tools and some time learning to master grinding, pressing, and texturing milk. To break this barrier, Ninja has just announced the launch in Spain of the Ninja AutoBarista Pro (899.99 euros) an all-in-one automatic system that seeks to unify the versatility of barista drinks with the convenience of a single button press. Ninja AutoBarista Pro Automatic Coffee Maker The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A coffee maker with full automation: from grinding to foam type This device comes to the market with a clear proposal: eliminate complex manual steps through an intelligent system that automates the entire process, from the bean to the cup, without the user needing prior knowledge. The core of this coffee maker lies in its AutoBarista technology, a set of sensors and calibrated systems that make technical decisions for the user. Instead of having to manually adjust the grinder’s coarseness or control the extraction time, the function Grin iQ It analyzes the type of grain selected and adapts the grinding automatically to extract the maximum flavor. To these is added a pressure and temperature management that adjusts depending on whether we are going to prepare a espresso short or a long filter coffee. Versatility is another of its strong points. It incorporates two independent 340 gram bean tanks, allowing you to switch between different varieties of coffee cleanly and without mixing the beans. It also has a double brew function to make two doses of espresso simultaneously. He milk texturing This is usually the most difficult step to replicate at home. To solve this, the system FrothPerfect It allows you to work with both milk and vegetable drinks, offering five different consistency levels that range from hot milk without air to extra dense foams or, a highly requested function in summer, cold foam for recipes with ice. Finally, and thinking about individual preferences, the coffee maker allows configure up to two user profiles to memorize the exact intensity, water volume, temperature and preferred foam style. ⚡ IN BRIEF: Ninja AutoBarista Pro Automatic Coffee Maker ✅ THE BEST Extreme versatility (hot and cold): what really makes the difference is the ability to do Cold Brew and foam cold milk automatically. It’s not just a coffee maker espresso; It’s a complete beverage station. Double grain tank: It is a rare genius in this price range. It allows you to have, for example, specialty coffee in one and decaffeinated in the other, or change varieties without having to empty the tank manually. ❌ THE WORST Oh, the price… Enter fully into the field of legendary brands. For 900 euros, the competition is fierce and some users may prefer brands with a longer history in espresso machines. Size… Being an all-in-one system with two tanks and so many functions, it is a bulky machine. You need good free counter space. 💡 BUY IT IF… Your favorite coffee is a Flat Whitea Latte or a Cappuccinothis machine gives you a professional foam texture without you having to learn how to use the steam wand. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You like the manual process, using the poltrafilters, trying different degrees of grinding for yourself and playing with the machine, this Ninja is going to bore you a little because it does it all for you. And if you are looking for something cheaper, you may be interested in these other coffee makers Ninja Prestige 2-in-1 filter and capsule coffee maker with built-in frother The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Ninja Luxe Essential 2-in-1 Latte, Cappuccino and Espresso Maker with Integrated Grinder and Milk Frother The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images: Ninja In Xataka | Smart coffee makers: what you can do (and what you can’t) with connected coffee makers In Xataka | Five ideal accessories to get the most out of your super-automatic coffee machine

The V60 has been an icon of specialty coffee for 20 years. Its first big update is coffee for coffee lovers

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When you enter a specialty cafe and they have ‘V60’ on the menu, you automatically know that things have to be very bad for them to not make good coffee. The V60 is to filter coffee what the Bialetti is to italian coffee maker: a symbol, a declaration of intentions and a ‘gadget’ with a design so perfect that it has not had to be modified in its 20 years of life. Until now. Hario launched the original V60 around 2004 in a show of how a simple and functional design could be perfect for any level. Simply put, it is a cone with a 60 degree inclination (hence the name) that can be placed on top of your jug, any jug or even a cup. In that cone we place a paper filter, add the coffee, hot water and the coffee solution flows to the container. It is simple and came to solve the problem that Hario had detected in the percolation coffee makers that dominated in the 80s: those typical ones that many of our grandmothers have at home and that are the ones that appear in any American series in which the coffee remained there passively soaking until it came out under its own gravity and the jet black liquid was deposited in the jug. The classic V60 It was not what best extracted all the nuances of the coffee and Hario implemented three design ideas: The cone at 60 degrees so that the water tends to the center, lengthening the contact time without the need to create a long-lasting ‘pond’. A single exit hole which made it easy to make coffee for non-expert users, but also gave a lot of control possibilities to the expert user. By restricting the water channel, pouring speed, exposure time or grinding, different “recipes” can be created. Spiral striations on the cone. These “ribs” have a lot of technology behind them because they serve to release air between the filter and the wall, avoiding the suction effect of the paper and causing the filter to expand as the coffee releases the product. The translation is that Hario designed a coffee maker that combined simplicity, complication capacity for experts and that rib design that was very well thought out to facilitate a relatively quick extraction while being able to extract all the nuances of the coffee. It was so perfect that, over these 20 years, it really hasn’t changed beyond different sizes for the cone or the plastics and glass that came after the original Japanese porcelain version. There were some little problems and limitations and they released an accessory, the Hario Switch, but the most important thing of all is that the V60 was a good, versatile and very, very economical coffee maker that, as we say, there was no need to touch. And, then, Hario… touched her. The V60 Neo In what seems like a clear “find the differences” exercise, Hario presented the Hario V60 Neo. If you are not very involved in the coffee world and the new one seems the same as the old one, I have to tell you that the Neo was a tsunami that stirred up coffee content creators. It was the first time that Hario redesigned the conethe core of the V60, and has done so in two ways: design and material. The new V60 The material issue is the easiest to explain. The Neo is manufactured in a resin called ‘tritan’a plastic that retains great transparency, is resistant to both heat and impacts and has properties that make it very good in an essential issue for the most enthusiasts: very good thermal retention. This allows the temperature to remain stable during extraction so that the processes are more constant and it is easier to replicate a good coffee. The second change is the one that has drawn the most attention is a new geometry. From the larger “ribs,” Hario transitions to 72 microribs at the top that converge into nine channels at the base. The explanation is that these grooves will now guide the water much more uniformly, while the nine exit grooves ensure a clearer path towards the hole, minimizing the dreaded channeling. This channeling thing is interesting. because in any coffee maker, the water passes through the coffee and what it looks for is the least resistance in its path. If it encounters little resistance in one point, it will go that way, failing to go through other areas and, therefore, not extracting the solution that it could extract from the entire coffee. With the new design, what Hario suggests is that these channels will be minimized while we will be able to achieve a more uniform extraction. It seems like a lie, but there is a lot of technique in a cone that looks the same as the one from 20 years ago, but that makes sense if we look at the narrative of a brand that, it claims, has been working on prototypes and playing with fluid dynamics for two years. Is she a motorcycle dealer? Well… I don’t know. I have the original V60 and I am clear that my skills do not reach the point of thinking that those microribs are what I was missing to finish making the perfect coffee at home. I have not the slightest interest in this V60 Neo and, although it makes sense from the point of view of the very specific needs of a tiny niche of baristas, At home I don’t think it’s something different.. In fact, what interests me most about the new V60 is that they have kept the price very similar, so it remains one of the most affordable coffee makers with which to prepare a very good specialty coffee at home and, above all, it shows that a simple design, even if it can be intricate with micro-rib technology, triumphs if from the first moment it is a product that makes sense and that is … Read more

There are a lot of people replacing the oil on ham toast with coffee and orange. And oddly enough, it makes sense.

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“You insist on putting olive oil on our Iberian ham toast and this is like putting sugar on top of a chocolate cake.” Víctor Sanchego did not know it, but with those words was about to make thousands of people prepare the strangest breakfast we’ve seen in a long time. How come you don’t have to add oil to the ham? Sanchego’s argument is that “the fat of Iberian ham contains more than 60% oleic acid, the same component of extra virgin olive oil.” Therefore, as happens in a perfumery when we have already worn several colognes, when we mix oil and ham at the same time our taste buds become saturated. “Instead of helping it enhance the flavor, it is subtracting it,” says the ham man. The reality, of course, is more complex. The general idea is true for Iberian ham: adding oil (especially if it is an intense and complex one) blurs the flavor profile and can actually oversaturate the bite. This, however, does not happen with the rest of the hams or with the rest of the oils. It is, so to speak, a borderline case. And a well-known one, at that. The normal thing when we talk about Iberian ham, in fact, is that it is recommended to enjoy it alone or with an accompaniment that cleanses the palate, such as a piece of neutral bread. Nobody usually proposes eating a plate of ham with a glass of EVOO on the side. The striking thing about all this is not that. The striking thing is the coffee with orange zest. Because Víctor Sanchego does not propose to eat ham with white bread, nothing like that. He suggests smearing the bread in a mixture of black coffee and orange peel, toasting it and, now, putting the Iberian ham on top. It’s a strange thing, yes; but we cannot define it as madness either. We said before that the ideal thing is to eat Iberian ham with something that ‘cleanses the palate’ and Sanchego’s idea goes directly there: coffee, due to its dry and intense qualities, allows us to enhance the organoleptic properties of our ham. Is it the most interesting decision? Well, the truth is that I couldn’t say. On a theoretical level, there could be dozens of similar combinations that fit better with our usual organoleptic repertoire; but without a doubt it is bold and many of those who try it (on social networks) They are delighted with the result. And that, without a doubt, is good news. Not because of the ham, not because of the coffee, not because of the orange zest. It’s good news because culinary Talibanism It is a practice that greatly impoverishes our understanding of food. And it limits us for no reason. Being open to ‘playing’ with products as iconic as Iberian ham is a symptom of a gastronomic maturity that, used well, can help us resolve problems in a much simpler way. big problems of the food security of the century. Image | Stephan Coudassot | Nathan Dumlao In Xataka | We’ve been telling ourselves for 100 years that breakfast is the “most important meal of the day.” The problem is that it is not true In Xataka | We’ve gone from “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” to “I grab something quick and stick with it.” And that has problems A version of this theme was published in 2025

How much coffee can you drink a day? Science has a very clear limit to avoid its harmful effects

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For many of us, the starter motor in the morning It has a dark color and a roasted aroma that characterize coffee so much. A drink that is one of the most consumed in the world, but with a popularity that has been accompanied by alarmist headlines about how bad it is to ingest it and the effects it can have directly on the organs. But the truth is that there are lights and shadows. There is good news. For those who love coffee, it will undoubtedly be a relief to know that the literature indicates that consumption is not as catastrophic as they want to sell. But, as in everything, excesses of something can always lead to problems, even if it may seem like something super healthy, such as water. And coffee, obviously, is not exempt. The limit. When it comes to establishing a red line for safe consumption, the clinical reference is not in the WHO, but in the FDA and the EFSAwhich are the food safety regulatory agencies in the United States and Europe, respectively. Here both point to the same figure in coffee consumption: 400 milligrams of caffeine per day. A very relevant figure, since for the vast majority of healthy adults, consuming up to 400 mg daily is not associated with harmful health effectshighlighting that this amount can be part of a perfectly healthy diet and lifestyle. How many coffees is this equivalent to? This is where things get complicated since talking about “cups” is an analytical error, because not all coffees are the same. That is why for the FDA a 355 ml cup, which is a standard size, can contain between 113 and 247 mg of caffeine. But all this depends on the type of preparation, the extraction time or the coffee used, because Robusta coffee has more caffeine than Arabica, for example. But generally speaking, that 400 mg is equivalent to about 3 or 4 cups of standard filter coffee per day. Organic damage. It is easy to see different alarming messages warning that coffee can damage our entire interior if a specific dose is exceeded. But the reality is that the WHO does not send this message to society, since it is too alarming and does not correspond at all to reality. What is true is that excessive daily coffee consumption has important effects on our body, but it will not ‘rot’ our internal organs. Among these stand out insomnia, nervousness, irritability, palpitations, muscle tremors, intestinal irritation, headache… This means that, although we talk about coffee not being contradictory for the population, logically, if there is an underlying problem, it may be better not to drink it, and even less so if it is taken in great excess throughout the day. It has benefits. On other occasions we have talked about coffee and its benefits, because it has more than just keeping us awake in the morning. Here different studies have already pointed out to us the cardiovascular benefits it can have or even improves sports performance. But the metabolism of each person is quite involved here, since there is no single metabolism. In this case, there are people who process caffeine very quickly and its effect disappears quickly, but there are other cases where they metabolize it slowly, so its effects remain in the body and they may, for example, have more problems with insomnia, nervousness or palpitations because they are more “sensitive” to caffeine. This is the explanation, for example, that a person can boast of having a coffee at night and being able to sleep perfectly. There are exceptions. Although we talk about a limit of 400 mg of caffeine, there are people who logically cannot reach this limit, such as pregnant women, where a maximum of 200 mg per day is recommended, since excess caffeine can cross the placenta and affect fetal development. But it also influences, for example, the cholesterol level, since here the Mayo Clinic points out that the consumption of unfiltered coffee, such as Turkish coffee, can raise cholesterol levels due to compounds such as cafestol. Images | Dragana_Gordic in Magnific In Xataka | If the question is “how much caffeine is in each cup of coffee or tea,” this graph offers insightful answers.

In Vigo the hoteliers have decided that it is enough to occupy tables to just have a coffee. Solution: minimum consumption

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Friday afternoon. Spring time, you can almost smell summer. The bars in the terrace area of ​​your city are full, but you and your friends are lucky: suddenly you see a free table on the other side of the square. You rush to occupy it, but when the waiter arrives to take your order, it turns out that of the six of you in the group, only three are going to have something. “I’m sorry,” he responds, putting the notebook in his pocket. “You don’t reach the minimum”. The above is an invented scene, but it is becoming easier to find it in bars in Spain. Especially as the rents and the cost of goods makes it difficult for them to reach the coveted threshold of profitability. “Minimum and mandatory” consumption. The news advances it Vigo Lighthouse: Fed up with groups of customers who ‘colonize’ tables for hours and hours and only order a couple of soft drinks, Van Gogh, one of the most popular cafes in Vigo, has decided to require its customers to have a “mandatory minimum consumption.” The rule leaves little room for interpretation. It is announced with a sign hanging on the door of the premises. Their goal is also quite clear: improve the profitability of the business and avoid tourists who just want to use the bathrooms. “Everyone has to consume”. “The intention is that if six kids come to a table, not just two of them order something, but all of them. We had to take these measures because we are talking about an issue of profitability. Everyone who enters the establishment has to consume it,” explains the manager of the cafeteria, Jordi Casado, told the Galician newspaper. It is the waiters themselves who enforce the rule, as well as another one that the establishment applies: only two baby strollers are allowed inside. “Sometimes people are not aware that space costs money. A child in a stroller does not consume and takes the place of a person who would,” they point out from the premises, who also remember that cars can hinder the passage. Van Gogh is not the only business in the industry that applies minimum consumption regulations in Vigo. Lighthouse mentions another cafeteria in Calvario that also imposes certain conditions on days when there are media matches, such as those played by Celta, Madrid or Barça. Those in charge allow table reservations, but only for those who are going to dinner. “And those who come on their own, obviously, cannot spend two hours alone with a coffee, it is not profitable,” warns the person in charge of the bar. Does it only happen in Vigo? No. A quick look at the newspaper archive shows that, although it is not a majority practice, requiring a minimum consumption is beginning to become normal in the sector. In certain tourist spots (such as Barcelona or Ibiza) it dates back years backin some cases with high rates. Just a few months ago the newspaper The Gazette counted how an establishment in the center of Salamanca had adopted a similar rule, requiring its customers to consume at least one drink and a tapa per person at times of greatest demand (basically on Friday and Saturday nights). Click on the image to go to the tweet. A table, 10 euros. “Many people sat on the terrace for two hours with a water or a wine. In the end the bill was five or six euros. Meanwhile, there were lines of people waiting to sit down,” explained the owner of the local charro. “With those numbers it is impossible to keep a bar afloat.” in autumn ABC echoed another case similar: a bar that requires its clientele to spend at least five euros on League matches. Again it is not a unique case. Not long ago the ‘I’m a Waiter’ account sparked controversy by share a poster in which a bar announces its rates to compensate for “the high costs of broadcasting matches”: if you want a chair you have to pay ten euros. If we talk about a table for four it stays at €30, or €45 if it is for six. Pulling imagination. Minimum consumption is just one of the strategies with which hoteliers try to protect their profitability. Others go through adjust the price of the drinks depending on the time the customer occupies the tables (the more minutes, the more expensive the coffee is) or even veto who They go to bars alone, without companions. It is also not strange that in Spanish restaurants reservations are already made with an arrival and departure time. Bead Earrings. The objective is always the same: improve profitability in businesses that are still carrying the hangover of COVID and that in recent years have been marked by the increase in rentthe complications to find qualified labor and the increase in the cost of goods such as the coffee either cocoa. Added to this panorama is the crisis of some of the most successful ‘products’ in the sector, such as the cane either the menu of the dayand the growing competition from other markets. Today, for example, Mercadona already represents a rival to take into account for the bars. Image | Toa Heftiba (Unsplash) In Xataka | The bars promised them happily by filling their terraces with beer merchandising. Now they fear million-dollar losses

In a New York coffee shop, the concept of a blind date has taken an unexpected turn: the meeting is with an AI

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Going to a coffee shop to have a blind date is already a somewhat peculiar situation. If the person waiting for you is also an AI, the matter borders on surrealism. A lukewarm experience. He tells it Ben Sherry at INCwho a few days ago went to the EVA Café in New York. There was a table with a single chair and a stand with a cell phone waiting for him, where he could choose between different AI avatars for his appointment. During his time at the EVA Café, he spoke with two avatars, a woman and then a man. The two agreed to praise her hair and the decoration of the place, but they were reluctant to answer deeper questions such as her political ideology. In Xataka "I can’t stop": the addiction to talking to AI is already here and there are even support groups to stop it EVA AI. It is the name of the app that organized the event and, indeed, it is a “friends” AIin the style of Replika either Character.ai. Its last commercial action has been a ‘pop-up coffee’ to “bring virtual romance to the real world.” The app’s sales manager told INC that her goal is to fight the stigma that exists towards relationships with AIs. The app, which has accumulated more than 5 million downloads in the Play Store, offers the possibility of starting a relationship with one of its different AI avatars, all with a clear inclination towards romance. You can start for free, but if you want to continue talking to your AI, you have to check out; This is the only way to unlock special functions such as sending images or the ability to make video calls. What he anticipated Her. EVA AI is not an isolated case. Thevirtual girlfriends They have been around for a long time, but with generative AI there has been a boom in this type of apps.More and more people are turning to this relational modelto the point that there are those cheats on his real partner with an AI. In case we had any doubt that the trend is real, Grok launched his virtual girlfriend Ani andChatGPT announced that it would launch ‘adult mode’ coming soon, functions that of course can only be used by users with a subscription. {“videoId”:”x9hhg44″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”The TRUTH of AI – This is how ChatGPT 4, DALL-E or MIDJOURNEY works 🤖 🧠 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE”, “tag”:”webedia-prod”, “duration”:”1173″} The goal is obvious. Regardless of psychosocial reasons that lead us to seek an intimate connection with a machine, the reason why companies like OpenAI or xAI are turning towards adult content is obvious: to generate money. The emotional connection is a way to increase users’ commitment to your service and by using a subscription as a gateway, they not only get them to spend more time in your app, but they also get them to pay for it. AI has a monetization problem and this is one of the ways to generate income. Emotional connection. It may seem like something recent to us, but the reality of humans has been connecting with machines since 1966, when the first chatbot was created. In this sense, AI has not changed anything, although it is normalizing it. Recently we have seen other examples of emotional connection with machines, such as when OpenAI crashed ChatGPT 4o and users were angry because they liked his warm and friendly tone. We have also seen it with the celebration of a symbolic funeral for Claude 3 Sonnetanother model that enjoyed great affection among the community. Image | Alexander Sinn in Unsplash In Xataka | Flirting on Tinder is exhausting. The solution of these apps is to skip the eternal chats and organize the appointment directly (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news In a New York coffee shop, the concept of a blind date has taken an unexpected turn: the meeting is with an AI was originally published in Xataka by Amparo Babiloni .

We believed that imagination was exclusive to humans. Kanzi, the bonobo who drinks “invisible coffee”, has just proven the opposite

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For decades, cognitive science has drawn a firm red line between us and the rest of the animals that is the imagination. Although animals can use tools and even solve complex problems, the ability to disconnect from immediate reality and imagine a scenario that does not exist was considered something exclusive to humans. Until Kanzi arrived. Kanzi. A bonobo that is world famous for its mastery of lexigrams to communicate and that has now starred a published study this week in the magazine Science that could rewrite the books of evolution. And it is no wonder, since Kanzi not only knows how to order food, but also knows how to pretend to eat it when it’s not there yet, and being completely aware of what it does. The tea party. The study published earlier this month presents the strongest evidence to date for the representation of pretend objects in a great ape. And for a human Pretend you are drinking coffee by imagining you have a cup in your hand It is something very simple to do. But until now in apes it was something unthinkable. But to prove us wrong about our exclusive quality, the studio designed an experiment where they sat Kanzi down and interacted with empty objects. Specifically, they pretended to pour juice from an empty bottle into a juice or eat “grapes” that did not really exist. But the best thing is that it was not a simple imitation, but Kanzi followed the game with astonishing precision as if he really imagined it. The juice trick. The objective here was to rule out that Kanzi was simply copying movements without understanding the basic concept, and to do this the team designed three tests. The first of them began with the researcher pretending pouring juice into one of several empty glasses. Kanzi was then asked to interact with them by picking one up. In this case, in 68% of the 50 tests, Kanzi chose the glass that “contained” the imaginary juice, ignoring the other identical but “empty” glasses. Fact versus fiction. This is where the crucial point of the investigation is, since if Kanzi were confused, he would treat real and imaginary juice the same. This was not the case, since when given a choice, Kanzi preferred the real object in 78% of the cases. Something that may seem insignificant, but that shows that it maintains two simultaneous mental representations: the physical reality of the empty glass, and the fake reality where we play that the glass has juice. The same thing happened when imaginary grapes were used instead of juice, where Kanzi maintained a 69% success rate in identifying the location of the pretend food. Decoupling reality. The technical term being discussed here is decoupled secondary representation, which is the brain’s ability to hold an image of the world that contradicts direct sensory information. That is, what is being seen or heard. Until now, it was debated whether this ability emerged with modern human language, but Kanzi’s results suggest that this “spark” of imagination was already present in the common ancestor we share with bonobos and chimpanzees. between 6 and 9 million years ago. This is something that also changes our understanding of childhood play, since when a two-year-old takes a banana and pretends it is a telephone, he is exercising a cognitive muscle that evolution has been refining long before telephones or cultivated bananas existed. Exception or rule. It must be taken into account that these experiments have not been done with just any bonobo, but rather an “enculturated” ape since it has spent its life surrounded by humans and trained in the use of lexigramsmaking it have extraordinary capabilities. This gives rise to some critics, such as comparative psychologist Daniel Povinelli, who usually argue that these results could be the result of intensive training that “humanizes” the ape’s mind, rather than a natural capacity in the wild. Although it is something that the investigation tries to counteract with rigorous controls to ensure that Kanzi was not responding to human clues. Images | Will Rust In Xataka | Humans are evolving live on the Tibetan plateau. And understanding what happens there will be essential in space

Drinking coffee in the morning has very positive consequences for someone unexpected in your body: the microbiota

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For millions of people, the day doesn’t begin until the first cup of coffee hits their table. Something that makes a lot of sense because of how coffee affects our brain. so we can wake up and improve concentrationbut the reality is that it has many more effects further down the brain. We talk about the intestinewhere it passes and has a great involvement in the microbiota. The microbiota. There is more and more research that is focused on the microbiotathe bacteria we have in our digestive system and that have an increasingly relevant role in our daily lives. In this case, taking care of these bacteria inside us is a priority to be able to have good health, even to avoid major diseases. Now science is beginning to glimpse that Coffee is much more than a vehicle for caffeineand that has an important implication in the modulation of the intestinal microbiota. Beyond caffeine. We tend to think that coffee is nothing more than “caffeinated water”, unless you add a little sugar to remove its bitterness. But the reality is that we have a large ‘soup’ of bioactive compounds. Science is seeing how coffee is key due to its intestinal impact thanks to two of its components: polyphenols and dietary fiber. This is something that is currently being analyzed through studies. in the laboratory and in animal models where they have seen that a large part of these compounds reach the colon intact without digesting. There they act as ‘food’ for the bacteria that are there, such as dihydroferulic acid, which has local anti-inflammatory effects. That is, it acts like something similar to a prebiotic. The ‘planter’ effect. If we treat the intestine like a garden, coffee seems to work as a selective fertilizer. Although the evidence in humans is still heterogeneous, several patterns are repeated in the scientific literature, such as an intervention study in humans that showed that three cups of coffee daily for three weeks increased abundance of Bifidobacteriuma genre classically associated with intestinal health. But it does not stop there, since another large population metagenomic study associated the consumption of beverages rich in polyphenols such as coffee, tea or red wine with greater alpha diversity. This is something that within this world is associated with greater resilience and health in the microbiota. The recent discovery. Published in Nature in 2024science found a very specific association: those who regularly consume coffee have a much greater presence of the bacteria Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticu. A bacteria that is not just any bacteria, but helps digestion and also offers the colon the necessary elements for it to have much more energy and even prevents inflammation. That is why having this bacteria in large numbers in our intestine is actually very beneficial. Have metabolic health. Keeping the bacteria in our intestine ‘happy’ is essential as we have seen. The main hypothesis that supports all of this focuses on the ability of bacteria to ferment fiber and polyphenols of coffee producing short chain fatty acids such as butyrate. These compounds are the favorite fuel of colon cells and have systemic anti-inflammatory properties. This could explain, at least partially, why epidemiological studies often associate moderate coffee consumption with better metabolic and cardiovascular health. The small print. Before you rush for your fifth cup, you need to put on the brakes and look at the limitations of current studies, since not everything is rosy. And science, despite offering these benefits, indicates that robust clinical evidence is lacking. It must be taken into account here that not all coffees are the same, since soluble coffee, an espresso or using a filter in a coffee maker are not the same. And furthermore, not all people respond the same because each microbiota is literally a different world in each organism. Big tests are missing. Although in the laboratory and on paper everything may sound great, we must keep in mind that there are still many studies that demonstrate that coffee causes a direct improvement in diseases through the microbiota. And although coffee feeds your Bifidobacteria It does not eliminate the fact that excess caffeine causes insomnia, anxiety or tachycardia in sensitive people. Furthermore, the benefits observed in the microbiota are associated with black coffee or coffee with little milk. If your “coffee” is a smoothie loaded with sugar, cream and syrups, the negative impact of ultra-processed foods on your intestine will probably cancel out any benefits of polyphenols. Images | Nathan Dumlao CDC In Xataka | Having a cup of coffee as soon as you wake up seems like a great idea. Science has something to say about it

Science has something to say to all those who drink coffee as soon as they wake up

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Having a coffee for many is something that It is essential to start the day. It is something that in our country has become a cultural habit, but it is also a very relevant pharmacological event. Since although many people’s day doesn’t start until this coffee, our body already has its own “start-up” system built in as standard that we could be affecting. A good debate. Recently has arisen an idea that has set a precedent: Ingesting caffeine immediately after waking up interferes with the body’s natural biology. Specifically, with cortisolwhich is the stress hormone that allows us to wake up in the morning and sustain us throughout the day. Given this, It is recommended to wait between 60 and 90 minutes to drink your first cup of coffee.. Although… How much truth does this have? If we analyze the most recent clinical literature and population studies, we discover that Coffee in the morning is, in fact, a powerful ally for cardiovascular healthbut its maximum effectiveness depends on fine synchronization with our hormones. Natural injection of energy. To understand the effect of coffee on our body, we must first understand what happens when you don’t drink it. When you open your eyes, your brain doesn’t turn on like a switch, but instead starts a chemical cascade known as Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR). This is essential, since upon waking up, cortisol begins to increase and reaches its maximum peak approximately 30 to 60 minutes after opening the eyes. A hormone that is essential to activate us, and that is released in large quantities, for example when we are stressed or there is danger. A limbo of signals. In this way, if we introduce caffeine right into the body when cortisol is rising, we may be generating unnecessary overstimulation, increasing nervousness or so-called jitters. Furthermore, caffeine (despite the fact that it hurts for some) does not provide real energy to our body, but what it does is block the adenosine receptors, which is responsible for making us feel tired. In this way, when we wake up, there is still some of this signal in the body and if we block it suddenly and too soon, when the effect of the coffee wears off, this accumulated adenosine suddenly binds to its receptors and causes the famous mid-afternoon fatigue. What science knows. To date, there are no controlled clinical trials that compare the long-term cognitive performance of a group of people who drink coffee immediately versus another who waits 90 minutes. But what we do know is that there is a tolerance effect. A study published in PMC points out that in regular coffee consumers, the cortisol response to caffeine is significantly attenuated. That is, your body has already gotten used to that morning “hit” and the hormonal interference is much less than in an occasional consumer. In this way, when we remove the morning coffee, it may be much more difficult for a person to properly start their body as they lack that ‘drive’ to which their body has become accustomed. The night battle. Where the science is clear is in the use of caffeine late in the day. A study in Science Translational Medicine showed that a double espresso three hours before bed delays the circadian clock by about 40 minutes, seriously affecting sleep quality. Is it worth waiting? If you are one of those who feel intense anxiety after the first coffee or if you experience an unbearable drop in energy at two in the afternoon, the recommendation to wait 90 minutes has physiological plausibility and can be a valuable personal experiment. By delaying caffeine, you allow cortisol to do its job and residual adenosine to be cleared more naturally so you don’t have that unpleasant mid-afternoon tiredness. However, for the healthy general population accustomed to coffeethere is no evidence that taking it as soon as you wake up is harmful. We are only left with that effect of dependence on coffee that interferes with the internal ‘caffeine’ of awakening that our body produces. This is why the 90-minute rule is more advice based on clinical observation and biological logic than on robust studies. In Xataka | We knew that coffee was good for our health, but now we have discovered that it is a great ally of our microbiota

Five ideal accessories to get the most out of your super-automatic coffee machine

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If you have already changed to one super automatic coffee makerLeaving your capsule or Italian coffee maker behind, you can maximize it and make a good cup of coffee. Below we offer you a selection with some accessories What can you buy for yourself? new coffee maker and they will be very useful to you. silicone mat If there is a cheap accessory for your super-automatic coffee maker that can come in handy, it is this one. silicone mat. At first glance, it may seem like a very simple element, but it is very useful, mainly to dampen the vibration of the coffee maker. But this cheap accessory is not the only thing for this. Another of its functions is to protect the kitchen counter from coffee stains, for example. It is easily cleaned and the measurements of this mat are 46 x 28 cm. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Purivita Descaler Although it is true that the vast majority of super-automatic coffee machine models come with automatic cleaning programsthis product can be very useful for you. It’s about this liquid Purivita descaler of 500 ml. Is Compatible with all brands of coffee makers on the marketboth capsules, filter, espresso and super-automatic. It is very easy to use and if there is something that this descaler stands out for, it is because it has a color indicator integrated into the liquid. PURIVITA® Universal Descaler for Coffee Machines (500 ml) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Set of 23 Y-Step coffee accessories Although the first two accessories that we have presented to you were designed more for the maintenance of the coffee maker, this one set of 23 Y-Step accessories is ideal for make the best cup of coffeecomparable to one in any cafeteria. As we have already indicated, it comes with 23 accessories to surprise everyone with the best coffee at home. Comes with a 51mm coffee tamper (with mat), barista towel, coffee stirring spoon, pen latte artmilk frothing jug and 16 decorative stencils. All accessories are made of wood and stainless steel. Y-Step Set of 23 Coffee Tampers The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pack of four barista brushes Although super-automatic coffee makers are designed so that there is not much left coffee powder in filtersit is always inevitable that some remainder remains. Therefore, a good accessory for the coffee maker can be this pack of four barista brushes. Thanks to this pack of brushes you can avoid the accumulation of dust (and subsequent problems in your coffee maker). Thanks to them you will be able to eliminate dust without damaging any part of your coffee makerenjoying the full body, aroma and flavor of the coffee you prepare for much longer. 4 Piece Barista Brushes The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Coffee Tampering Station If you already want to become a coffee expert and take the barista experience to the highest level, this coffee tampering station It’s the one you need. It is a 3 in 1 station and is made of woodthus combining perfectly in any kitchen. This is a very stable and durable station, which does not crack or deform easily. Has five custom holeswhich allow you to place 51 to 54 mm filter holders, as well as cleaning brushes and coffee spoons. After use, it is easily cleaned with a damp cloth and it is recommended to keep it in a dry and ventilated place. Fleymu Coffee Tampering Station 51|54 mm The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Freepik, Yolococa, Purivita, Y-Step, Bztzhm and Fleymu In Xataka Selection | Best power banks to charge your mobile phone: which one to buy and recommended external batteries In Xataka | Fast chargers for your mobile phone or tablet: best models to buy for their power and safety

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