COFFEE VOL3Coffee is actually a
seed, not a bean. It comes from inside a fruit called the
coffee cherry, which turns red and pretty sweet when it’s ripe. What we roast is really
the pit of that fruit.
The second most traded product in the world, right after
oil, is
coffee. And yet, for centuries it was treated as something almost
medicinal, closer to a remedy than to an everyday drink.
Caffeine isn’t there to wake us up: it’s the plant’s
defense mechanism. It helps repel insects. Basically, we’re getting hooked on a kind of
plant-made pesticide… and we love it.
Coffee can contain more than
800 aromatic compounds, while wine usually stays around
400. That’s why a good coffee can remind you of
chocolate,
nuts,
wood,
caramel… or even
leather.
In the
17th century, some governments tried to
ban coffee because they thought it encouraged
critical thinking and political conspiracies. Coffee houses were seen as
dangerous places where people talked way too much.
Espresso doesn’t have more caffeine than a regular long coffee; in fact, it often has
less overall. The thing is, it hits fast and concentrated, and the brain reads that impact as stronger.
Decaf coffee is not
100% caffeine-free. There’s always a small amount of caffeine left, even if it’s very low. If you drink several cups back to back,
you’ll still feel something.
There’s coffee that passes through the
digestive system of animals (civets, elephants…) and is then collected, cleaned, and roasted. And yes: it’s
expensive,
rare, and pretty
controversial.
Freshly ground coffee starts to
lose its aroma within minutes. That’s why whole beans that are
properly stored will always beat pre-ground coffee by a landslide.
One last thing: coffee
doesn’t dehydrate you the way people say it does. Over time, the body adapts to caffeine and the
diuretic effect becomes minimal.
# Watch the videos
As you’ve probably heard by now, Telegram decided to wipe out our channel — the one with
almost 30k followers.
Apparently they deleted
thousands of channels overnight, and ours got caught in the purge.
I’ve been thinking a lot about whether to
start a new one or just
let it go. It’s hard to put time and energy into
building a community only to have it disappear from one day to the next. But the truth is, it had already become part of my
daily routine, and I actually
miss sharing stuff there.
And honestly, if nearly
30,000 people chose to follow it, I couldn’t have been doing that bad of a job.
So, even knowing they might delete it again — in fact, assuming its
days are numbered — we’re
creating a new channel. Same idea as before: a place where you can access not only the content from the
website but also everything I share
daily on Telegram.
The difference this time is that the channel will be
private.
Instead of having a
readable public link, it’ll work only through an
invitation link.
Before, anyone scrolling through channels could
stumble upon ours and join.
Now that won’t happen.
This will be a
private space — a channel just for
ALRNCN friends.
I can’t promise how long it’ll last, but if you decide to join, you’ll be able to tell your grandkids:
“I was there, and I saw wonderful things.”
Here’s the link to our
new Telegram channel:
https://t.me/+vAE7W64u-kBlYWM0
Reading the GPS.
AMATEUR FLESH: LILLY_VANILLISometimes it feels like we have everything so easy that nothing impresses us anymore. It happens with life, with comfort… and with
sex.
So much exposure, so much stimulation, so many screens… and new generations end up seeing anything erotic as background noise. Or worse: as something to
censor.
The funny thing is, you and I aren’t like that.
We’re not losing the appetite anytime soon.
But the way things are going, it might be a good idea to
enjoy it now, because who knows what the future will look like in a few years.
That said, here’s a selection that’s still appreciated the way it should be.
And luckily, it hasn’t gone through any moral filters yet.
Enjoy.
# See photos