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I love coffee. It's good for you, it smells and tastes so good. It wakes you up, and prevents sleepiness after meals. Its stimulant nature is a plus, but not ne

I love coffee. It's good for you, it smells and tastes so good. It wakes you up, and prevents sleepiness after meals. Its stimulant nature is a plus, but not necessarily the main thing.

EA-3167 5mo ago
I would be very cautious about any conclusions regarding its health benefits or detriments. Nutrition research is notoriously difficult to replicate or show causal links in humans engaging with the real world. Texas A&M also has a coffee research center dedicated to promoting and protecting global coffee trade and consumption so… yeah.
- ejohansson 5mo ago
  Sure, but it's also the best we got.
JXavierH 5mo ago
That's why I moved to decaf. Love coffee, caffeine doesn't like me.
- campbel 5mo ago
  I am definitely going to do this as I age, I just don't need the stimulant effects as much anymore. That said, the ritual of getting coffee and sipping on something warm in the morning is really important to starting my day right.
  - helterskelter 5mo ago
    [dead]
- joe_mamba 5mo ago
  Sadly, I can't. I tried all the decaf beans in my area and even some fancy online roastery specialized only in decaf beans, and they all tasted like ass, compared to their caffeinated cousins. So much money wasted trying to find good tasting decaf beans. Not sure what the decaffeination process does, but it definitely does not preserve the taste of the "untouched" beans. Are my tastebuds too sensitive?
- vikingerik 5mo ago
  FYI since many people don't know: Decaf isn't zero, it can still be several percentage points. In the US decaf is supposed to be under 3% of regular coffee but it's not commonly tested or enforced, so many types of decaf can be quite a bit higher. Several big cups of decaf can approach the caffeine content of one regular cup.
  - esperent 5mo ago
    > Several big cups of decaf can approach the caffeine content of one regular cup Do you have a source for this? Because it doesn't sound right to me. And also, I live in a coffee producing company, work adjacent to the coffee industry, and had a long conversation with someone planning to set up a business exporting green beans to the US, and their beans were getting tested to an extreme degree and being rejected for a few ppm over on certain things. I have heard the 3% rule but fyi it's 1% in the EU and since there's actually not that many large scale decaffeination factories in the world, as far as I know they all target the EU level. If you buy small batch, large batch, or somewhere in between it's probably been processed in one of these few large factories.
    - vikingerik 5mo ago
      Just Wikipedia. It cites two studies that found values of 8-13 mg and 3-32 mg per decaf cup, compared to regular which is 95-200. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decaffeination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decaffeination
      - esperent 5mo ago
        The linked Wikipedia "study" is this science daily article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061012185602.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061012185602.h... And that article links back to this UFL press release. I've clicked every link I can find and there's not an actual, published study to be found anywhere: https://archive.news.ufl.edu/articles/2006/10/uf-experts-decaffeinated-coffee-is-not-caffeine-free.html https://archive.news.ufl.edu/articles/2006/10/uf-experts-dec... But even if there was, is a study from 20 years ago still relevant?
jorvi 5mo ago
Unfortunately the most flavorful methods (espresso, french press, moka) also raise your cholesterol. So sadly, no, coffee is not universally "good for you". Filtered coffee methods are though, as the filter absorbs the oils.
- wahnfrieden 5mo ago
  Paper filters give you massive amounts of microplastics
- ifwinterco 5mo ago
  Which is why Italians and Greeks famously all die young of heart disease
  - jorvi 5mo ago
    Always so cute how fellow coffee lovers will loudly boast the health benefits of coffee, but when you add an asterisk they will see it as a personal attack and respond strongly :) Coffee is not what defines your identity. It's fine to admit it isn't perfect.
    - ifwinterco 5mo ago
      My point is not that unfiltered coffee is good, I’m just saying that northern italians who eat dessert for breakfast, cook everything in lard, drink unfiltered coffee and even (gasp) sometimes smoke cigarettes are significantly healthier than Americans on every metric. Not saying those things are necessarily good for you, I’m just saying we don’t seem to understand this stuff very well
      - jorvi 5mo ago
        Probably because they don't consume gobs of HFCS and ultra-processed foods, don't take the car for every single thing[0], and have obesity/overweight rates that are 20-40% lower. A healthier work-life balance and concomitant lower cortisol and blood pressure also helps a lot. If you compare Italians and Greeks to, say, Swedes and Dutchies, you'd get a much different picture. [0] not entirely Americans their personal fault, their urban design isn't for walking around

I love coffee. It's good for you, it smells and tastes so good. It wakes you up, and prevents sleepiness after meals. Its stimulant nature is a plus, but not necessarily the main thing.

EA-3167 5mo ago

I would be very cautious about any conclusions regarding its health benefits or detriments. Nutrition research is notoriously difficult to replicate or show causal links in humans engaging with the real world. Texas A&M also has a coffee research center dedicated to promoting and protecting global coffee trade and consumption so… yeah.

ejohansson 5mo ago
Sure, but it's also the best we got.

JXavierH 5mo ago

That's why I moved to decaf. Love coffee, caffeine doesn't like me.

campbel 5mo ago
I am definitely going to do this as I age, I just don't need the stimulant effects as much anymore. That said, the ritual of getting coffee and sipping on something warm in the morning is really important to starting my day right.
- helterskelter 5mo ago
  [dead]
joe_mamba 5mo ago
Sadly, I can't. I tried all the decaf beans in my area and even some fancy online roastery specialized only in decaf beans, and they all tasted like ass, compared to their caffeinated cousins. So much money wasted trying to find good tasting decaf beans. Not sure what the decaffeination process does, but it definitely does not preserve the taste of the "untouched" beans. Are my tastebuds too sensitive?
vikingerik 5mo ago
FYI since many people don't know: Decaf isn't zero, it can still be several percentage points. In the US decaf is supposed to be under 3% of regular coffee but it's not commonly tested or enforced, so many types of decaf can be quite a bit higher. Several big cups of decaf can approach the caffeine content of one regular cup.
- esperent 5mo ago
  > Several big cups of decaf can approach the caffeine content of one regular cup Do you have a source for this? Because it doesn't sound right to me. And also, I live in a coffee producing company, work adjacent to the coffee industry, and had a long conversation with someone planning to set up a business exporting green beans to the US, and their beans were getting tested to an extreme degree and being rejected for a few ppm over on certain things. I have heard the 3% rule but fyi it's 1% in the EU and since there's actually not that many large scale decaffeination factories in the world, as far as I know they all target the EU level. If you buy small batch, large batch, or somewhere in between it's probably been processed in one of these few large factories.
  - vikingerik 5mo ago
    Just Wikipedia. It cites two studies that found values of 8-13 mg and 3-32 mg per decaf cup, compared to regular which is 95-200. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decaffeination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decaffeination
    - esperent 5mo ago
      The linked Wikipedia "study" is this science daily article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061012185602.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061012185602.h... And that article links back to this UFL press release. I've clicked every link I can find and there's not an actual, published study to be found anywhere: https://archive.news.ufl.edu/articles/2006/10/uf-experts-decaffeinated-coffee-is-not-caffeine-free.html https://archive.news.ufl.edu/articles/2006/10/uf-experts-dec... But even if there was, is a study from 20 years ago still relevant?

jorvi 5mo ago

Unfortunately the most flavorful methods (espresso, french press, moka) also raise your cholesterol. So sadly, no, coffee is not universally "good for you". Filtered coffee methods are though, as the filter absorbs the oils.

wahnfrieden 5mo ago
Paper filters give you massive amounts of microplastics
ifwinterco 5mo ago
Which is why Italians and Greeks famously all die young of heart disease
- jorvi 5mo ago
  Always so cute how fellow coffee lovers will loudly boast the health benefits of coffee, but when you add an asterisk they will see it as a personal attack and respond strongly :) Coffee is not what defines your identity. It's fine to admit it isn't perfect.
  - ifwinterco 5mo ago
    My point is not that unfiltered coffee is good, I’m just saying that northern italians who eat dessert for breakfast, cook everything in lard, drink unfiltered coffee and even (gasp) sometimes smoke cigarettes are significantly healthier than Americans on every metric. Not saying those things are necessarily good for you, I’m just saying we don’t seem to understand this stuff very well
    - jorvi 5mo ago
      Probably because they don't consume gobs of HFCS and ultra-processed foods, don't take the car for every single thing[0], and have obesity/overweight rates that are 20-40% lower. A healthier work-life balance and concomitant lower cortisol and blood pressure also helps a lot. If you compare Italians and Greeks to, say, Swedes and Dutchies, you'd get a much different picture. [0] not entirely Americans their personal fault, their urban design isn't for walking around