Did You Know The Coffee Bean Is Actually Good For You?

The polyphenols in the coffee bean have been found to be beneficial for your liver.

AND

There are studies that also show a lower risk of liver and colorectal cancer, with several studies also observing a reduced risk of heart disease and strokes in coffee drinkers.

Why Should You Care About Decaffeinated Coffee?

So let’s look at how you benefit from drinking coffee:

Typically speaking, your usual cup of coffee will be a caffeinated coffee and provides you with the usual (which is what most people drink coffee for)

•  A boost in energy.

 And of course you need caffeine for that, right?

But let’s look at the other benefits…

• 3-5 cups of coffee a day can improve your heart health
• 3-4 cups of coffee a day can reduce your chances of a stroke
• 2+ cups of coffee a day can support your liver health
• 4+ cups of coffee a day can decrease your risk of depression
• AND you have a 6% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes with every cup of coffee that you drink in a day.

"Great! So I get to drink more coffee, no problem, it's got some great health benefits and the added bonus is I love coffee!"

Did you know?

Yes, drinking more coffee can have great health benefit. But the more cups of coffee you drink, to reap these health benefits, the more caffeine you consume which for a lot of people can actually become a problem.

Some people are very tolerant to caffeine and don't even notice the affects of drinking 5+ cups of caffeinated coffee in a day, in fact they're so reliant on it, they don't notice the affects of caffeine on their bodies, they notice the affects of no caffeine and it's not until they forget to have one in the morning and the headache kicks in when they realise that their caffeine dependant body has not had it's morning hit!

Whereas for others, it is noticeable almost straight away, after that first delicious sip of their second coffee. For me, I struggle with the heart palpitations and anxiety. After that second cup, I can't seem to calm my insides down and my brain is just wired, but too wired. I seem to start panicking about everything! However for others it might be the shakes and the racing heart that makes them question that second cup of caffeinated coffee. Have you ever experienced this and thought, "whoa, how many cups of coffee have I had today!?".

What a lot of people don't realise is:

Coffee is not the problem, the caffeine in coffee can be!

For the everyday coffee drinker caffeine can still affect blood pressure levels, your quality of sleep (if you drink caffeinated coffee in the late afternoon and evening). It can cause heart palpitations, anxiety and even panic attacks. And let's not forget those de-stabilising headaches when you're weaning yourself off or have forgotten to have a cup!

We live in a world today that is so dependant on caffeine, it is even in our fizzy drinks and products that our children purchase and consume. But who is questioning this? We wake up in the morning and we go straight to the caffeine, we are feeling tired mid-morning and we reach for the caffeine, we are lagging in the afternoon and we go for the caffeine one last time to get us through to home time and for some of us, we even enjoy a final hit of caffeine in the evening or after our dinner before going to sleep.

What is the problem with this?

Again what isn't being talked about is that caffeine intolerances exist, caffeine can negatively affect your gut microbiome, which has now been linked to your mental health and large consumption of caffeine can cause bloating and abdominal pain.

Not to mention how bad caffeine can be for the quality of your sleep!

This is one of my favourite myths to bust.

Whenever I am having a conversation with someone about caffeine (usually because I am defending decaffeinated coffee) I always hear the same thing; firstly, "caffeine doesn't affect me, what's the point in drinking coffee if there's no caffeine in it?" and secondly, "Oh yeah I can drink a coffee right before bed and I sleep fine".

Do you know the lifespan of caffeine when it hits your body?

Caffeine has an average life span of 12hours. That means if you have a cup of caffeinated coffee at 1pm, you still have 50% of that caffeine in your body at 7pm, when you're thinking about quieting down, having your dinner and going to bed.

For those that say "but I drink coffee in the evening and sleep fine". Yes, you may fall asleep fine and feel like you've slept through the night and had a good sleep. But the quality of your sleep has been affected by the caffeine in your system and this is something that is going on inside your body, that you have no control over.

What a lot of people don't know is that caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors in your brain and this directly correlates the amount of deep sleep you're able to get. Quick side note, deep sleep is vital for your brain to fully reset and function normally, deep sleep is when your body is literally washing off the build up of proteins on your brain from the day. There are studies that have now linked the build up of these proteins to the development of diseases like Alzheimers.

To put it in basic terms; those of you who not getting enough deep sleep are not allowing your brain to properly reset and are more likely to develop diseases like Alzheimers. And caffeine that is still in your system will stop you from reaching this deep sleep stage.

Now let's loop back, if you're drinking coffee for an energy boost in the morning, you of course need caffeine for this, there is no way around that and there is also nothing wrong with it. However all the other health benefits we have discussed in this blog are due to the rich antioxidants in the coffee bean, not the caffeine.

 

That means...

We can drink more coffee and enjoy the amazing health benefits of this fermented bean, without worrying about the adverse affects of caffeine.

How?

By switching to a decaf coffee in the afternoon or increasing our intake of coffee through decaf coffee rather than caffeinated.

Decaffeinated coffee shouldn't taste any different to caffeinated coffee. It is not the caffeine that gives coffee it's flavour!

The flavour of decaf coffee really comes down to 2 things; how it is roasted and how it is brewed. Just like caffeinated coffee, if the beans are burnt during roasting and not brewed correctly, your coffee can taste bitter or weak. The same is said for decaffeinated coffee.

The difference is, most people care about caffeinated coffee, so they roast it to perfection and make sure it is brewed and served well. But what is to be said for decaf coffee? Most of what I have experienced in the UAE, is burnt or weak decaf and that's if decaf coffee is even on the menu.

At Hoiho Coffee, we have trialed different beans, we have experienced the roasting process, we have worked with roasting professionals and tasted a variety of beans and we have even put these beans through focus groups made up of the public in Dubai.

We know with absolute certainty that decaffeinated coffee can taste the same (if not better) and give you the same coffee experience as caffeinated coffee, whether it's a black or milky coffee that you drink.

And it's time to shout about it because decaf matters!