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Cup of Coffee

We all know coffee, the roasted beans of the coffee plant? Coffee or Coffea. The word "coffee" may have been derived from the Ethiopian "keffa" or the Turkish equivalent found in their word for coffea the word "qahveh." The Arabs still call the beverage "qahwa," meaning "strength."

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Coffee beans were chewed raw for centuries in Ethiopia and Yemen. An excavation in the Ethiopian highlands where coffee grows wild indicates human gatherers have been eating coffee berries over a hundred thousand years. The fleshy pulp surrounding the coffee bean in Ethiopian coffee has higher sugar content. Being sweet, being nutritious the seeds, nuts and berries must have been generally eaten by humans some speculate for over a million years.

Ugandans were noticed chewing dried coffee beans when the first explorers from Europe were searching for the origins of the Nile River. Green coffee beans were ground up and mixed with fat to macerate, then made into small balls, which were eaten by travelers on long journeys. Some say this is the first trail mix whereas the raisins.

Stories in the Southern Arabian Peninsula known as Yemen where Europeans first found the coffee plant cultivated seem to support the coffee bean being traded as early as 800 BC. Facts and many stories support trade between Yemen and Ethiopia during this time. Knowing how eating the coffee berry reacts on people, it would be logical that those early traders would attempt to trade for this item. Additionally, evidence does not support the coffee plant growing wild in Yemen but already under cultivation instead. Although, it is possible that a large bird or storm could have carried and deposited the coffee berry that far away, although not likely.

No specific historic event is remembered causing coffee export to Southern Arabia but Ethiopia did invaded Southern Arabia in 525 AD. Some speculated that coffee could have been introduced to the Arabians at this time. Many historians say coffee may have been introduced into Arabia by slave traders who raided Africa in early1000 BC. Snippets which strongly supporting theories that coffee spread very early in the civilized world trade are coffee's affect on the Arabian people's culture, agriculture, Trade practices and old Arabic stories.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

LING ZHI Reishi Ganoderma Lucidum

LING ZHI Reishi Ganoderma Lucidum

Cup of Coffee: Red Reishi Mushroom / Ganoderma lucidum / Ling Zhi
Red Reishi Mushroom / Ganoderma lucidum / Ling Zhi: Red Reishi Mushroom

General Information:

Even though there are several different colors of Reishi mushrooms, Red Reishi is the one that is most well known and used. For over 4000 years, Red Reishi mushrooms have been most revered in traditional Chinese medicine equaling ginseng as a premier substance for the attainment of radiant health, longevity, and spiritual attainment.

Traditionally, Reishi has been used as an anti-aging herb to treat many diseases and disorders. Daoist traditionalists rever this mushroom as the elixir of immortality, claiming it promotes calmness, centeredness, balance, and inner awareness and strength.

Reishi contains sterols, coumarin, mannitol, polysaccharides, and triterpenoids called ganoderic acids. It is thought that ganoderic acid lowers blood pressure, LDL (low density lipoprotein cholesterol), and triglyceride levels.

The triterpenoids also play an important role in lowering the risk of coronary artery disease.

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