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Cal Orey
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Cal Orey is an accomplished author and journalist. Her books include The Healing Powers of Vinegar, The Healing Powers of Olive Oil, The Healing Powers of Chocolate, The Healing Powers of Honey, 202 Pets' Peeves, and Doctors' Orders (all published by Kensington). She lives in northern California. Her website is www.CalOrey.com. For a sneak peek at The Healing Powers of Coffee, check out KensingtonBooks.com.
1. Please tell us about your new book, The Healing Powers of Coffee: a Complete Guide to Nature's Surprising Superfood.
CAL: Welcome to my latest true love in the Healing Powers book series. Number five, it's like adopting a new puppy of my dreams. In each chapter introduction I include personal stories in chronological order from when I was a kid to now providing jolts of coffee culture and how it affected my life. In each chapter, I inject creative non-fiction and non-fiction and it brings the world of coffee alive as well as puts my own imprint on this timely topic.
2. What inspired you to research coffee?
CAL: One snowy winter morning, after a sip or two of java juice, I got an idea. (It's true. Coffee boosts brainpower and the creative process.) I e-mailed my book editor. My words were short and sweet. "Just thinking a tea book to go with the honey book seems like it would work well. What do you think?" His quick response: "Actually, I was thinking of a coffee book since coffee gets a bad rap. Is that a crazy idea?" I typed a one-line answer and clicked send. "Not at all. It was my second choice." Like one coffee tree seed, this was the beginning of creating a book on coffee.
3. What has been the most surprising fact discovered during your study of nature's magical coffee beans?
CAL: I learned that the remarkable coffee tree is produced in faraway lands. Coffee grows in more than 50 countries, and Hawaii is the only coffee-producing state. This was an eye-opening tidbit to me and it took me out of my comfort zone and into coffee cultures around the globe. And did I mention I was treated to dozens of unforgettable java roasts from Brazil to Guatemala as well as the Garden State.
4. How did the Healing Powers series start, anyhow?
CAL: Back in 1999, when I moved to the Sierra, I was finishing The Healing Powers of Vinegar (published by Kensington). I knew little about the stuff but I put my heart and soul into the book and discovered a wide world of vinegars not just apple cider vinegar. Fast forward to 2012. The Healing Powers of Vinegar has had a long shelf life, as my former editorial consultant predicted. The book is now revised and updated in second edition, 16th printing, available in mass market edition (number one best seller in three categories on amazon.com), trade cover, e-book, translated in more than a dozen languages. The Healing Powers of Olive Oil, Chocolate, and Honey followed. And that brings us to The Healing Powers of Coffee. The rest is history.
The Healing Powers book series has been hugely successful (translated in 20 languages and all five books were purchased by OneSpirit, Quality Paperback, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, Good Cook and other book clubs. I write in a down-to-earth, first-person narrative for the mainstream audience. And it's these superfoods that seem to have their own platform. People believe in these ancient foods that have powers in the present-day.
5. Your books offer a lot of anecdotes both personal and from other people around the globe. Why do you use mini stories in health books?
CAL: I admit that writing about health can be a bore. I put to work my master's degree in Creative Writing. In other words, by infusing my Healing Powers series with colorful stories it provides a lot of sensory detail. Also, it keeps me interested and allows me to take the reader along on my journey into places like Coffee World.
6. In the book you include a chapter on flavored coffees. Do you have a favorite among them?
CAL: I call it "The Coffee Flavor Parade." I include more than 25 coffee flavors that I personally brewed and tasted. The aroma of flavored coffee can be chocolaty, fruity, nutty, minty, and spicy. And personally, I treasure seasonal flavored coffees, such as pumpkin spice and snickerly-cookie. Each different flavor is distinct, much like trying a different chocolate or honey flavor. I soared into Coffee Heaven every morning for months.
7. There are also some health perks and home cures linked to coffee--the "new" health food. Please share a few with our readers.
CAL: Yes, drinking freshly ground coffee from whole beans (I only use instant during a blackout or after a quake) can help lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease!
Coffee can relieve a host of ailments, including asthma, dental woes, gallstones, headaches, short-term memory loss, muscle pain, as well as help you slim down and shape up! And I include more than 50 home cures to boost mood, energy, and overall health.
8. The book reveals your first childhood experience with coffee--and in each chapter introduction you provide a chronological anecdote of how this superfood and its culture affected you. Please explain.
CAL: When creating this book, the topic took me back in time. In the late sixties, the exciting beatnik era was the buzz. It was cool to hang out at coffeehouses, places to talk, read poetry--and savor coffee, the beverage that stimulates the mind. Men and women sipped coffee, espresso, and cappuccino and they wore black turtlenecks, sunglasses, and skinny black pants. I was too young to be a big part of the Beat era but old enough to know it existed. And I share numerous stories of how coffee in America affected me at home as a kid in suburbia to when I was hitchhiking on the road. www.CalOrey.blogspot.com.
9. What are some of the beauty benefits of using coffee?
CAL: The beautifying mystique of coffee and its ingredients will wow you. Drinking coffee can help you get beautiful on the inside, but treating your body on the outside with its healing powers can make you look and feel great, too. And coffee goes back to different uses by Hawaiians and the Japanese. I discovered java spa treatments including a coffee scrub, hair conditioner, coffee mask, coffee body wash, coffee foot soak, and so much more. DIY recipes and prepackaged spa goodies provided me with at-home treatment that I tried from head to toe and was thanking coffee trees for the end results.
10. What can we expect from you next?
CAL: While I miss Coffee World--I've moved on to the human bond of companion animals and soul mates. My next two forthcoming books Animal Attraction: A Collection of Tales & Tails and Secrets of Soul Mates (published by Story Creek Books) are close to me. These books are my compiled published articles gleaned from top national magazines and go back 25 years. I loved writing The Healing Powers of Coffee but the heartfelt love of two-leggers and four-leggers are healing, too.
B2M: Cal we encourage you to continue writing interesting books. We look forward to hearing more from you.
Thanks for interviewing with Books2Mention Magazine. Please be sure to come back again and keep our readers informed about all of your future endeavors.
Much Success To You!
The Staff @ Books2Mention Magazine
You are welcome to visit the website of Cal Orey at www.CalOrey.com.
Books by Cal Orey include:
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