CoffeaArabica01

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Berries of the coffee plant look very much like our cranberries and each fruit contains two seeds which when dried, aged, roasted, and ground, and brewed, form the coffee in which we as modern consumers expect to start our day with.
These seeds contain only about 1% caffeine which, when infused, gives the weary a lift through a direct effect on the cortex of the brain. While other sources of caffeine are available, North Americans prefer coffee beans, consuming tonnes annually.

Avicenna, the famous Arabian philosopher and physician (980-1037 AD) was one of the first to write about coffee. Because of this Arabian record, Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist of the 18th century, named the plant Coffea Arabica.

Dried seeds "beans" are roasted, ground, and brewed to make one of the two most important beverages in the western world. In its native Ethiopia, used as a masticatory since ancient times, it is also cooked in butter to make rich flat cakes. In Arabia a fermented drink from the pulp is consumed. Coffee is widely used as a flavoring, as in ice cream, pastries, candies, and liqueurs. Source of caffeine, dried ripe seeds are used as a stimulant, nervine, and diuretic, acting on central nervous system, kidneys, heart, and muscles. Indonesians and Malaysians prepare an infusion from dried leaves. Coffee pulp and parchment used as manures and mulches, and is occasionally fed to cattle in India. Coffelite, a type of plastic, made from coffee beans. Wood is hard, dense, durable, takes a good polish, and is suitable for tables, chairs, and turnery. Coffee with iodine is used as a deodorant. Caffeine has been described as a natural herbicide, selectively inhibiting germination of seeds of Amaranthus spinosus. Caffeine is a widespread additive in over-the-counter diet pills, pain killers, and stimulants.
Folk Medicine
Reported to be analgesic, anaphrodisiac, anorexic, antidotal, cardiotonic, CNS-stimulant, counterirritant, diuretic, hypnotic, lactagogue, nervine, stimulant, coffee is a folk remedy for asthma, atropine-poisoning, fever, flu, headache, jaundice, malaria, migraine, narcosis, nephrosis, opium-poisoning, sores, and vertigo.

As a long term drinker of 3 - 8 cups of coffee a day, I do not think I do myself any favors by drinking the coffee. Still I will quote some of the alarming things I have read. Tyler cites "some evidence linking coffee and cancer of the pancreas." "...Caffeine...in large amounts produces many undesirable side effects; from nervousness and insomnia to rapid and irregular heartbeats, elevated blood sugar and cholesterol levels, excess stomach acid, and heartburn. It is definitely a teratogen in rats" . Michael Jacobson cites numerous studies on pregnant animals and humans in which the equivalent of 3-4 daily cups of coffee caused birth defects such as cleft palate and missing bones. I have read a rumor of an MMWR documentation that several people were killed in one year by colonic irrigation with coffee, more than were killed by all other herbs combined that year (excluding alcohol, cocaine, heroine, marijuana, and tobacco). In some individuals, caffeine causes nervousness, restlessness, excitement and insomnia. Patients with peptic ulcers, hypertension, and other cardiovascular and nervous disorders are usually advised by their physicians to refrain from drinking coffee. Chlorogenic acid may induce rhinitis and dermatitis in workers engaged, in roasting, sorting, or grinding coffee. Mitchell and Rook note that the role of chlorogenic acid in the respiratory symptoms were discounted. Still workers develop asthma, dermatitis, rhinitis, and urticaria. Inhalation of coffee bean dust can produce coffee worker's lung, a type of allergic alveolitis.