6 Coffee Myths Answered: Does coffee cause Insomnia and more
There are so many coffee misconceptions going around, it’s hard to know which ones are worth listening to and which are just myths. Like, does coffee help you sober up? And, does coffee dehydrate me?
We've done a little bit of research to help us get some answers. Hopefully this will be helpful in clearing up some coffee facts and fiction.
If we’ve missed any or there are any myths you are curious about, let us know.
Is it true that an afternoon cup of coffee causes insomnia?
Coffee is a stimulant which is why most people use it in the morning after waking up or during the day to remain alert. As a stimulant, coffee will do things to your body like blocking sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain and increasing adrenaline production.
It can take up to six hours for just one half of the caffeine to be eliminated from the body which is a relatively long time.
For a lot of people this process will have an effect later on in the night and on their sleep if taken in the late afternoon.
You have to have boiling water with your coffee.
Boiling water is too hot for the ground coffee beans and will burn your coffee.
A simple tip here, boil the water and before you pour the water in, wait for the water to come off the rolling boil, generally about a minute or two. This could be a simple trick that makes your home coffee taste so much better!
Coffee dehydrates you.
This is an interesting one. If you think about it, typically a cup of coffee contains 98% water (this is for straight up coffee – espresso, plunger etc. Milk-based coffee will be less). Coffee itself won't dehydrate you.
Although, coffee is a mild diuretic which means it causes your kidneys to flush out any extra sodium and water from your body through urine. It will make you go to the bathroom a little more, but moderate amounts shouldn't be dehydrating you :)
Coffee helps you lose weight
There has been lots of stories, especially around green coffee beans helping with weight loss.
The myth here is that it probably isn’t going to help you lose weight. I mean, I guess coffee could help in the sense of waking you up and motivating you to go work-out, but grinding raw beans and drinking them... yeah, we aren’t on that bandwagon.
Darker roasts are stronger in caffeine than light roasts.
The stigma around this is that the stronger, burnt flavours in coffee mean more caffeine.
Darker roasts have stronger bitter and burnt flavours, but you do not taste caffeine in this way.
If you are experiencing these flavours in a lighter roasted coffee, maybe it’s the brewing styles – is your water too hot? Is the ratio incorrect? Do you need to change your extraction time?
Technically lighter roasts have more caffeine in them, but here’s the thing; if I had a light roast and a dark roast in the group handle with 21g of coffee in it, I’d have the same amount of caffeine in them by weight.
You see, a darker roast will be less dense as you are roasting it for longer – it will become more brittle. Therefore, a lighter roast will be denser.
So, it’ll take more beans from the darker roast coffee to get the same amount of caffeine from a lighter roasted coffee, even though they are both 21g.
When we brew coffee we generally make it by gram weight, meaning in the cup you’ll get the same amount of caffeine regardless of the roast style.
And just to make it more confusing, it also depends what type of coffee you are using. Is it Robusta? Arabica? Instant? If its Robusta, you’re going to have twice as much caffeine in it you won’t need to weigh it. I can see the beginning of a rabbit hole....
Will a cup of coffee make me sober?
Sure, caffeine can make an intoxicated person more alert but no, there is no reversal to negative cognitive impact of alcohol. Myth busted!
These are just some of the myths that are out there and I know we didn’t cover it all.
What coffee myths have you heard about? We want to know all the crazy and interesting ones!
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Also in News & Happs at Alfresco Coffee Roasters
What Is Your Coffee Love Language?
sam steiner
Author