About 6 decades ago there was an optimistic ditty which ran as, "Just around the corner, there is a rainbow in the sky; So lets have another cup of coffee, and lets have another piece of pie". Then some experts accused coffee of causing heart irregularities and coronary artery disease. It was found that coffee raised blood homocysteine levels, which trigger atherosclerosis. Then it was found that a B-complex vitamin called folic acid was effective in "washing out" homocysteine from the blood. A report from Finland revealed that the coffee bean is safe for the heart, but can cause rheumatoid arthritis. Lately, it has been found that the fresh coffee bean is a miraculous remedy for obesity.

Thus, for a layperson such reports are rather mind boggling.

Coffee is being promoted as a benign and healthful beverage, Studies from universities of Harvard (USA), Munster (Germany), Cardiff (UK),and Johns Hopkins (USA) opine that coffee protects from Parkinson's disease, Type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, and improves psychomotor performance in man. The beneficial effects of coffee are supposed to be the result of the antioxidant effect of caffeine in the coffee bean.

An 8-ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee contains about 85 mg of caffeine (about 3 times more than the same serving of tea or cola or one ounce of chocolate). Drinking up to 3 cups of coffee/day is considered to be safe.

Historically speaking, the Arabs were the first to grow coffee beans (Coffea arabica) on the shores of the Red Sea. In the 1600s through caravan trade the beans made their way to Europe, then to India, and the East & West Indies.

Brazil today produces most of the world's coffee. Only time will tell how safe is coffee?