Healthy shopping: How to find the healthiest coffee

Make the most of your morning brew with Joanna Evans’s guide to sourcing the healthiest coffee

In “Biohack Your Weight Loss,” metabolic health expert Ben Azadi recommends drinking coffee to lose weight, rev up your metabolism and boost your overall health. But not just any coffee.

To maximize benefits and minimize side effects, he suggests seeking out the healthiest coffee you can find. That means coffee with high levels of health-promoting polyphenols like chlorogenic acid (CGA) and nonexistent levels of potentially harmful contaminants like pesticides, mold and mycotoxins.

Here are five pointers on what to look for plus three top organic coffee brands to try.

What to look for

Organic. If you don’t want a mouthful of pesticides with every cup, go for organic coffee. Organic beans also have a higher content of bioactive compounds than conventional coffee beans.¹ Look for organic certification on the product label.

Testing. Is the product tested, ideally by a third party, to ensure it’s free of harmful contaminants like pesticides and mold? If it’s not clear from the company’s website, get in touch with them to check.

A lighter roast. Go for a light or medium roast over a dark one. Once beans are roasted beyond medium, they’ve lost 75 percent of their polyphenols, says Azadi. A medium roast can offer a good balance between antioxidants and flavor.

Growing conditions. The way coffee beans are grown affects their polyphenol levels. Those grown in high altitudes with extreme temperature changes produce the most polyphenols, says Azadi. This is due to the environmental stress on the plants, which forces them to become more resilient.

Freshness. Polyphenol levels decline over time, so look for companies that prioritize freshness via their packaging, storage and shipping practices. Go for whole bean over ground coffee for maximum freshness and goodness.

Brands to try

These companies all offer top-quality organic coffee available to buy in the US and UK.

Purity Coffee

US: puritycoffee.com; UK: healf.com
From $26/£28.99 (12 oz/340 g)

Health-focused Purity Coffee uses regeneratively farmed, USDA organic and handpicked, specialty-grade arabica coffee beans that undergo a customized roasting process to optimize levels of antioxidants, bioactive compounds and micronutrients. The beans are also rigorously third-party tested for mold, mycotoxins, pesticides and other contaminants.

Try the company’s flagship blend, Flow, a medium-roast coffee formulated for all-around health. Or there’s the Sacred Cups Collection, grown organically in the shade at high altitudes for maximum polyphenols.

Exhale

exhalecoffee.com
International shipping available
From $15.24/£12.50 (8 oz/225 g)

Exhale uses independent labs across the UK and Europe to offer coffee with “more of the good stuff and less of the bad.” The company’s unique process involves nine different tests to check for levels of antioxidants, polyphenols, CGA and vitamins (the good stuff) as well as pesticides, heavy metals, yeast, mold and mycotoxins (the bad stuff).

There are three different coffees available—all are certified organic—including a decaf produced using the Mountain Water Process rather than nasty chemicals. But the one with the highest polyphenols is the Organic House Roast. One cup is claimed to contain the antioxidant power of 4 lb (1.8 kg) of blueberries.

Tropeaka

US: tropeaka.com; UK: tropeaka.co.uk
$21.70/£18 (7 oz/200 g)

Australian brand Tropeaka has recently added Premium Organic Clean Coffee to its wide range of health and nutrition products. Available ground or as whole beans, the coffee is sourced from organic, specialty-grade, defect-free, high-altitude green coffee beans that are then carefully roasted to retain more antioxidants while providing a balanced, smooth taste.

The last stage in the process is independent lab testing to ensure the coffee is free of pesticides, mycotoxins, molds and yeasts. The coffee is also free of acrylamide, a chemical linked to cancer, thanks to a smokeless roasting process.

Other options

Other good options include the US brand Lifeboost Coffee (lifeboostcoffee.com) and the UK brand First Light Coffee (firstlightcoffee.co.uk).

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