For some, coffee is one of life’s necessities to get them through their busy day to day life. But how healthy is having coffee (often more than one cup a day – am i right!) for both our mental and physical health? And are there ways to make it healthier? From how to make black coffee, to the type of beans you use – we go through various healthy coffee habits to start down below.
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So, is is coffee healthy or unhealthy?
How To Make Black Coffee
One simple way to make your coffee healthier is to have it black – without milk or cream. Coffee with milk has more calories than it does without. So if you’re trying to be a little bit healthier, try swapping to black coffee instead.
When it comes to how to make black coffee without a machine, there are a few different ways…
- In a pan on the stove
- In the microwave
- Using a kettle
Depending on which of the above is your chosen option, the basics are pretty much the same.
In The Pan – You’d start by heating up the water in a pan on the stove and bring it to a steady boil. While it’s simmering away, put your coffee into your cup, along with a small amount of cold water and set aside. The cold water stops the coffee burning, or going bitter when you pour over the hot water. Once the water is boiling, simply pour the water in to your cup/mug, carefully, and give it a good stir. If you are adding sugar, add it in now while you’re stirring it.
In The Microwave – If you’re using the microwave, simply add your coffee to your cup, along with the water and mix well. Once mixed, place in the microwave for 1 minute. After this, take it out, give it a stir and place back in the microwave if you want it to be hotter.
Using A Kettle – Using a kettle is the quickest, and easiest option. Simply put your coffee in your cup, along with a little cold water. Then once the kettle has boiled, pour in the water, give it a mix and enjoy!
Coffee Health Benefits
Coffee isn’t just your bleary-eyed banisher on a Monday morning. It brings so many health benefits! Here are just a few…
- Helps to lower blood pressure
- Reduces the risk of liver cancer and Type 2 diabetes
- Boosts your energy levels
- Helps to increase your metabolic rate
- Makes you feel more alert and boosts concentration
And one of our main sources of polyphenols – coffee!
How Coffee Works
Much of the goodness you find in coffee is down to the high levels of polyphenols. Polyphenols are organic compounds with top-rate antioxidant properties. They help to protect our cells from diseases like cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and heart disease.
It’s the caffeine within the coffee that gives you that buzz of energy that you crave. The caffeine then activates noradrenaline neurons which releases dopamine in to your brain, making you feel happy, less tired and more alert.
If you’re after that hit of energy and you’re trying to decide between coffee or energy an drink, always go for the coffee as it’s generally a more natural form of energy.
Can We Make Coffee Healthier?
But you can take healthy coffee a step further – you can make it into the healthiest coffee. Of course if you’re having your cuppa via a coffee vending machine, then the likelihood is, it’s not going to be the healthiest coffee you can find – or the best tasting! Instead, try to either make it yourself at home, with ingredients you know. For example, you could get yourself a beautiful Cafetière and make it a bit of a routine. Taking you time over making it, allowing the coffee to develop in taste and flavour. Or, go to a coffee shop where you know you’ll only be given the best ingredients.
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Again, if you’re having 6 coffees a day, that probably isn’t doing you much good. Try to drop this down by one a day every few weeks until you ‘re down to a maximum of two or three cups a day. Instantly, this is going to be that little bit more healthy for you. It isn’t bad to drink coffee everyday, just drink it in moderation – as with anything, balance is good.
Here are a few simple ways you can make your cup of coffee healthier…
Choose High-Altitude Beans
We know that polyphenols are good for us. And that coffee contains them in abundance. But did you know that high-altitude beans contain even more of these health-boosting plant compounds?
Coffee beans grown at high altitudes (over 1200 metres above sea level) tend to sport higher polyphenol levels than those grown lower down. Ethiopia, Colombia and Kenya all sit at high altitudes and grow delicious, polyphenol-rich beans thanks to their volcanic soil and temperate climate.
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And it gets better, too, because a 2020 study showed that high-altitude coffees are a top source of nicotinic acid (Vitamin B3)! This can help to lower our ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels and protect against high cholesterol.
Choosing high-altitude coffee isn’t tricky! Phew! Just look out for speciality-grade arabica coffees from high-altitude countries like Ethiopia, Colombia, Guatemala and Papua New Guinea.
Searching for some top coffee roasters? Try Two Chimps Coffee! This Rutland-based coffee roaster source and hand-roast the finest arabica beans for coffee lovers nationwide. They keep it quirky, too, with fun coffee names and FREE delivery on every order!
However, if you don’t want to use beans at home, there are many healthy coffee shops that will have high quality beans for you to enjoy.
Try Light Roast Coffee
We can’t drink raw coffee beans – they needs to be roasted first. Roasting deepens the flavour and transforms the grassy-tasting green (unroasted) beans into flavour-packed coffees for your cup.
Roasters can choose to roast their beans light, medium or dark. Darker roasts spend a little longer in the roasting machine – they have a longer ‘development time’ – to give us caramelised flavours of chocolate and toffee nut. Light roasts, meanwhile, spend slightly less time in the roaster. This preserves the beans’ natural acidity and gives the coffee a bright, fruity flavour profile.
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Light roast coffees offer another treat, too – more health-boosting compounds!
The high temperature of the coffee roasters cause some of the coffee’s healthy antioxidant compounds to break down. Research shows that lighter roasted coffees, which spend less time in the roaster, offer more antioxidants than dark roasts. They also give us higher concentrations of chlorogenic acid, a healthy polyphenol that lowers blood pressure and helps to protect against infection.
The takeaway? Try light roast coffees for a bright, berry-tasting health boost!
Brew Coffee In A Filter
Filter devices are the way forward when it comes to healthy coffee!
There are several ways of making coffee; filtering describes the process of brewing coffee by pouring hot water over ground coffee and a filter. You can make filter coffee manually, using a V60 Dripper or a Chemex, or with an electric drip machine.
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The shining star of filter coffee is its filter paper. As well as separating the coffee grounds from the brewed coffee, filter paper absorbs some of the slightly-less-healthy compounds in the coffee.
Cafestol and kahweol are the main compounds we’re looking at here. These chemical compounds are types of diterpene and can raise cholesterol if consumed in high amounts.
Coffee-making methods such as cafetieres and espresso machines don’t have a filter paper ‘barrier’, meaning that much of the coffee’s diterpenes trickle into your cup. Brew with a filter, meanwhile, and you get clean-tasting coffee that’s up to 30 times lower in cholesterol-raising diterpenes!
Need more proof? Between 1985 and 2003, Norwegian scientists conducted a major study into coffee health. 508, 747 people participated, and the scientists found that the filter coffee drinkers had a 15% lower risk of death from any cause! Impressive!
Lovely filter coffee – it’s the way forward for a healthier cup!
Keep The Flavourings As A Treat
The health of coffee can quickly become unhealthy – even bad for you. Indulge in a daily milk chocolate toffee mocha, and you’ll be consuming scarily high levels of added sugar.
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There’s nothing wrong with a coffee treat, of course – just remember that the extra sugars, syrups and sauces all add up.
Take your morning cup black or with a splash of milk for A-Star coffee health. Prefer your coffee sweeter? Don’t worry! Simply swirl in a little honey, agave syrup or artificial sweetener. You can also try flavouring your coffee with spices like vanilla or cinnamon. Get experimenting and create your tastiest – and healthiest – mug of coffee!
Whether you opt for luscious light roast coffees or make a honey-sweetened cup mid-morning, try making your healthiest coffee today!
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I love black coffee! Thanks for sharing this!
I’m trying to get myself to like it more, slow progress – haha! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post.
A pleasure!