The entire world loves coffee! And with that love comes an amazing variety of coffee drinks available at your local coffee shop, often leaving you spoilt for choice.
While this is a good thing, it does have some drawbacks – with so much variety, it can be easy to make some unhealthy choices when it comes to your coffee. Some coffee drinks can even surpass 600 calories and have more added sugar than two pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream!
But that doesn’t have to be the case. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking a coffee shop for sale or a coffee house regular who can't get enough of their favourite brew, the world of coffee is full of opportunities, including exploring all the potential health benefits of this wonderful drink. Here, we take a look at what the healthiest coffee option is.
Health Benefits of Coffee
What a lot of people don’t know is that aside from perking you up for that early morning commute, coffee actually does have an array of health benefits!
Coffee contains a lot of essential nutrients, such as riboflavin (vitamin B2), magnesium and niacin (vitamin B3) and even potassium. It’s also packed full of antioxidants, and some studies have suggested that drinking coffee can even make you live longer.
What Influences How Healthy Coffee is?
There are a few things that can factor into how healthy or unhealthy a cup of coffee is. These things include:
- Adding sugars or syrups
- Adding milk or cream
- The roast – dark roasts tend to have lower antioxidant levels, whereas light roasts tend to have a higher caffeine content.
Are All Coffees Made Equal?
We would also like to highlight that there isn’t one answer to the question of which coffee is healthiest.
The fact is, everyone is different and what is healthy for some might be the exact opposite for someone else's needs. For example, the healthier option for someone trying to lose weight could be a low-calorie coffee, whereas, for those with anxiety or a heart condition, decaf may be the healthiest option.
What is The Healthiest Coffee?
We’ve talked about the health benefits and what makes coffee less healthy, but now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of what the healthiest coffee is.
A great all-rounder option that most coffee enthusiasts can enjoy is simply an unsweetened cup of medium-roast black coffee.
This is because this kind of roast won't have an overly high caffeine content, neither does it have the lower antioxidant content of a dark roast. By not adding anything to the coffee, you’re also choosing a much healthier option.
Tips to Make Your Coffee Healthier
Obviously, this ‘healthiest’ option won’t be for everyone, and there’s no point in drinking coffee if you’re not going to enjoy it! That’s why we’ve got some tips on how you can make your coffee healthier without having to give up the things that make your favourite coffee drink delicious.
- Instead of sugar, try using non-artificial sweeteners.
- Ask for the non-sugar options of your favourite syrups.
- Use skimmed milk or a milk alternative, such as almond milk.
- Try to drink organic coffee.
- Switch to decaf after 2 pm.
We hope that this guide helps you make some healthier choices when it comes to your coffee! If you want to be more health-conscious about your coffee drinking, why not read our blog on healthy coffee drinks to help you find your perfect brew?