The Brain-Healthiest, Most Delicious Cup of Coffee (According To Me)

Plus, answering your lingering coffee questions about pods

Photo courtesy of FellowProducts.com

Hello, everyone! It was really fun to dive deeply into the topic of coffee this week. And I love hearing about the tweaks you have made to your coffee routine based on the science I shared. Here are a few of your takeaways:

• “I’m exploring new lighter roasted coffees (I've emailed our favorite roaster inquiring about mold-free). Thank you for providing brewing resources so I can get started! Much appreciated!” —KC

• “Thank you for so much information! I just switched from a percolator to a pour-over coffee maker. I drink 2 cups in the morning.” —Romy

• “Thanks for the great info on coffee and caffeine consumption! I'll now drink my 1 cup of coffee (light or medium roast!) per day without worrying that my bone density is going down.”—Andrea

• “Thanks for all the great information on drinking coffee - am definitely going to switch to medium roast.”—Karen

• “I had my first black coffee today…it didn’t suck too much. —Jeff

Hang in there, Jeff! It definitely gets better as your tastebuds adjust. It took me a full month to wean off sugar and cream in my coffee and start appreciating all the nuanced flavors when drinking it black.

Your questions about pods

I realize how popular and convenient it is to make coffee using a pod system, such as Keurig or Nespresso. When I scoured the research about best coffee making practices, there were only a few that made reference to these single-serving devices. I was surprised to learn that the ground coffee in these capsules tends to retain polyphenols better than ground coffee from a bag. But I was disappointed to learn that most pods are akin to making unfiltered coffee. And, almost all of them are made of polypropylene (#5 plastic). As concerns over exposure to microplastics escalate, there surely will be an attempt to eliminate the plastic in pods.

Microplastic particles have been found in coronary arteries and in the brain. There is growing concern that the plastic that touches food or drink, especially when heated, may lead to inflammation in the body.

If there’s one thing to take away from the last post, it is this: coffee is better for you if made using a paper filter. In fact, some studies show increased mortality rates in populations who drink unfiltered coffee.

As for pods? I’m two thumbs down for making coffee this way. Health concerns aside, my experience is that the coffee is just not as flavorful and enjoyable as it should be. But if you are married to your pods, it’s good to know there is a paper-lined pod: K-Cup made by the Green Mountain corporation. K-Cup is a trademarked term for paper filter-lined capsules that fit the Keurig brand brewing systems. Only capsules that are manufactured by Green Mountain can be called K-Cups.

The Brain-Healthiest, Most Delicious Cup of Coffee (according to me)

As I mentioned last time, I have been obsessively tweaking my coffee routine so that each morning I can enjoy one perfect cup. It’s a big cup, so actually I am getting about 2 cups of black, unsweetened filtered coffee. This method works best if I am making coffee for just myself; when serving a crowd I brew in a Moccamaster Technivorm drip coffee maker using a paper filter.

My current favorite coffee is from La Cabra, a Danish company that roasts their beans in Brooklyn. When my son took me to a La Cabra cafe in Manhattan last year, I tasted the best coffee of my life. Now I am working my way through all their different bean offerings through a coffee subscription that gets delivered to my door. It’s not cheap, but my one perfect cup of coffee brings me immeasurable joy each morning. Besides, since cutting back to one serving a day (and not getting coffee out), I am minimizing the overall cost of my coffee habit.

Annie’s Pour Over Coffee

The blooming step releases the coffee’s aromatic compounds.

Makes 1 (12-ounce) cup

Start to finish, the entire process takes about 6 minutes. For me, making and drinking coffee is a meditative process. I don’t look at my phone for the first hour of the day, so when I am making coffee I am singularly focused. Aroma is a big part of coffee’s flavor so I always pause to inhale the beans as I open the package, as I pour the grinds into the cup, during the blooming step, and again before each sip.

1. Heat water and get out my coffee kit. My coffee brewing set-up is a simple Stagg Pour-Over set from Fellow that comes with white paper filters. I use an electric kettle calibrated to 200ºF and water from my tap. Too hot water can damage polyphenols and make the coffee taste burnt. (Since my water comes from a well and has been tested for purity, I don’t filter it. Learn more about water for coffee brewing here).

2. Measure and grind beans. I use a digital scale to measure 40 grams of coffee beans then grind them on the medium-fine setting of my OXO conical burr grinder.

3. Prime the filter. I place the paper-lined cone over my coffee cup, saturate it with hot water, and pour off the excess. This warms the cup and gets rid of any off flavors from the paper.

4. Bloom the grounds. I add the grounds to the cone and pour just enough hot water over them to “bloom”—a 1½ minute process that plumps up the grounds and gets them ready to release their compounds.

5. Pour over and enjoy. Over the next 2 minutes, I slowly pour the hot water from the kettle over the grounds until my cup is full. I drink it right away before all those brain-healthy polyphenols have a chance to dissipate.

That’s all for today. Consider this a bonus extra post! I’ll be back soon with the official free monthly post kicking off our gut health mini-series.

Any lingering coffee questions? I am here for you.

Love,

Annie

PS: Registration is now open for Brain Fog & Women’s Hormones: 6 practical steps to get your thinking and focus back. Join me and Julie Fratantoni, PhD on April 9 at 1 pm MST for this one-hour webinar all about brain fog: what it is and what to do about it. We have a limited number of spots available.