Sour vs. Bitter Coffee: Which Is Healthier for You?

South Korea is often called the “Coffee Republic” due to its high coffee consumption. It is witnessing an annual growth rate of about 10% in the coffee market. Given the number of people who drink coffee daily, it’s important to drink healthier and more informed. So, let’s find out what type of coffee benefits us and how to consume it.

Drinking Hand Drip Coffee

If you don’t want to raise your cholesterol levels, drinking hand-drip coffee is best. This is because the cafestol in the coffee is filtered through the paper, unlike regular espresso, which needs to be skimmed off the crema. However, if you have no choice but to drink regular coffee, you should not exceed three cups daily.

Cardiovascular Patients Should Drink Espresso

The recommended daily intake of caffeine for adults is 400mg. Among the types of coffee available on the market, cold brew, hand drip, Americano, and espresso contain the least caffeine in that order. Caffeine is released more when coffee grounds are in contact with water for longer and have a larger surface area. Since cold brew is a method of extracting coffee over a long period using cold water, it has the highest caffeine content. Therefore, if a person with cardiovascular disease drinks coffee, it is best to prefer espresso with the lowest caffeine content.

 

Coffee with a Sour Taste is Better than Bitter Coffee

Recently, there have been frequent mentions that carcinogens can be produced during coffee bean roasting. Especially in South Korea, people prefer coffee with a bitter taste, which means that the beans have been roasted intensely. On the contrary, if the beans are lightly roasted, they taste sour. If you are worried about carcinogens, it is better to drink coffee with a rich, bad taste, and it is also a good idea to ask the barista about the roasting intensity before drinking coffee.

 

The Effects of Strongly Roasted Coffee

Intensely roasted coffee is effective for weight loss because it contains more vitamins and minerals, such as riboflavin and vitamin B5. Riboflavin helps the body process amino acids more efficiently, and vitamin B5 converts food into energy. An experiment showed that people who consistently drank intensely roasted coffee for 4 weeks lost more weight overall than those who drank lightly roasted coffee.

 

Features of Lightly Roasted Coffee

Lightly roasted coffee is coffee that has not been exposed to high heat or roasted for a long time. It has more moisture, higher density, and more caffeine. In addition, lightly roasted coffee contains more chlorogenic acid, effectively removing inflammation in the body. On the other hand, intensely roasted coffee is exposed to stronger heat, so it has a darker color, lower density, less caffeine, and more smoke, resulting in a taste that divides preference.

 

Coffee that Helps Eye Health

A Canadian research team has reported that in an experiment, participants who took caffeine capsules reacted faster and more accurately to minor movements than those who took placebo capsules. This experiment proves that caffeine intake can enhance arousal and help visual function. It proves that drinking coffee can help to some extent when attention is needed for moving objects, such as driving or cycling. In addition, experts say that caffeine helps the communication of nerve cells in our body and produces neuroprotective effects. It enables the process of adenosine neurotransmission needed to communicate with nerve cells.

 

Reducing the Risk of Dementia and Stroke

There is research showing that the incidence of dementia and stroke decreases in people who drink 2-3 cups of coffee or 3-5 cups of tea a day. People who drink coffee or tea every day have a 28% lower risk of dementia and a 32% lower risk of stroke than those who do not. The cause of reducing the risk of these diseases has not been identified. Still, experts believe that the brain-awakening effect of caffeine has positively influenced the reduction of the risk of dementia and stroke.

 

Keep in Mind the Side Effects of Caffeine

Coffee has sound effects on the body, but it often causes side effects and needs to be careful. The caffeine in coffee can stimulate the sympathetic nerves in the body and cause various abnormal symptoms. If you are a person who reacts sensitively to caffeine, more severe symptoms may appear. Also, if you are taking certain medications, it is better not to drink coffee, and pregnant women or breastfeeding women should limit caffeine to less than 200mg.

 

Polyphenol that Prevents Cell Damage in the Body

The key ingredient that produces various effects in coffee beans is ‘polyphenol.’ Polyphenol is an antioxidant ingredient that removes active oxygen that causes cell damage and aging. Among the beverages on the market, coffee contains the most polyphenols, three times that of wine and nine times that of black tea. This polyphenol inhibits fat absorption and activates fat metabolism, helping weight loss, and shows excellent effects in preventing various cardiovascular diseases and liver cancer.

 

Coffee with Green Bean Extract is Good

If you want to fully experience the effects of polyphenol, coffee mixed with green bean extract is good. Coffee green beans are the food ingredient that contains the most ‘chlorogenic acid,’ a type of polyphenol, and 90% of chlorogenic acid is lost in the roasting process, so the amount of chlorogenic acid increases only when green bean extract is mixed separately.

By. Shin Young Jeon