As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, the highlight of my November 2018 was a trip to Rome and Florence.
I won’t go into an in-depth discussion of the wine, coffee, and Limoncello we had during the trip (in an effort to stop myself from whining about how in Italy, the coffee is better, there is so much beautiful but affordable wine that’s not available in Manila, and that Limoncello is liiiiiiiife…).
I’d rather talk about how, being the nerd that I am, the jet lag I had when I got back still allowed me to have an amazing learning moment.
Before I proceed, let it be known that despite what I do for a living, I’ve never claimed to be the fountain of knowledge of all things beverage-related… In fact, I think that the best teachers are those who are willing to learn new things everyday.
I’m rambling, I know, so let me get back to my story on learning through jet lag: After trying to go about my day during a state that could only be described as one consciousness away from being a full-fledged zombie, I posted something on my personal page about how, even after downing 2 shots (hah, see the branding I did there? :p) of Nespresso Palermo (an intensity 11 variant fresh from Rome, just in case fellow Manileños look for it around town), my head was still swimming.
That’s when one of my good friends from Nestlé (an amazing resource on all things coffee) sent me a message, explaining that the intensity has nothing to do with the caffeine strength. He even did me one better by sending me an email exchange he had back in 2011 with a North American Nespresso Specialist. To paraphrase, the intensity of Nespresso variants are indications of the level of their body and roast. An example given was that a Decaffeineto Intenso has a higher intensity than a Cosi (which has a lighter body). For an even better perspective, their espresso capsules contain about 55-65mg of caffeine, while their lungo capsules contain about 77-89mg.
As a personal note, he also mentioned that if I really wanted to wake up, a French press (where ground coffee beans would have a longer interaction with water) would have been a better bet.
Honestly though, with severe jet lag like that, I was just too happy to have a good caffeine jolt with the push of a button. 😉
How do you get over jet lag? Cheers!
Thanks buddy for the enlightening convo. Coffee soon! 😉
