(electronic music)

[Announcer] Coffee.

It's the lifeblood of your average day.

Grind the beans.

Load the filter.

Add water.

Brew and enjoy.

But do you know what's inside

that cup of coffee you're drinking?

Mostly it's water.

Over ninety-eight percent of a cup but the other

two percent is the really good stuff.

The first thing you notice is the aroma.

Actually, some of the compounds in coffee would be pretty

repulsive if they were present in higher concentrations,

like 2-ethylphenol which has a tar-like, medicinal order.

It also happens to be a cockroach pheramon.

The bugs use it to warn each other of danger.

There's also dimethyl disulfide.

It's just barely detectable in your cup of Joe,

which is lucky since it smells a bit like rotting meat.

But of course, coffee still tastes pretty darn good.

Rich Acetylmethylcarbinol lends a buttery taste.

No surprise since it's a component of actual butter.

Trigonelline give coffee its sweet, earthy taste.

It also battles cavity-causing bacterium,

streptococcus mutans, keeping the critters

from attaching to your teeth.

The real health superstar is 3,5dicaffeoylquinic acid

which protects your brain from free radical damage.

That's right.

Coffee is an antioxidant.

Once you've had a few slugs you're favorite ingredient

kicks in: caffeine.

It's actually an alkaloid plant toxin like nicotine

and cocaine.

Don't let that scare you.

In your brain it blocks the receptors for the

neurotransmitter adenosine.

Result: you, awake.

Want milk and sugar with that?

Well, that's a whole other episode.

(electronic note)

Feeling wired yet?

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