Low-acid coffee could be just what you need. Using the right processing or brewing strategy, it's possible to bring down the acidity by as much as 70% as you still get the caffeine and flavor that makes coffee worth drinking.
You have a few different options for this (everything from how the beans are roasted to the cold brew methods to picking some bean varieties), and any one of them can make it easier to drink coffee without the stomach problems that come along with it.
Let's talk about how low-acid coffee could help with your digestive discomfort!
How Coffee pH Affects Your Body
Coffee has a pH level between 4.85 and 5.10 and falls in the acidic range for beverages. It's not nearly as harsh as some of the other drinks you have every day, though. Orange juice usually measures around 3.5 on the pH scale, and most sodas can drop down as low as 2.5 or lower.
The pH scale is a bit confusing because lower numbers actually mean more acidity - not less. A cup of coffee at 5.0 pH is going to be noticeably more acidic than one that comes in at 6.0 pH. Most low-acid coffee options fall somewhere in the 5.5 to 6.0 range and sit much closer to neutral on the scale.
There's the chemical measurement side, and that's the pH level that you could test in a lab. Then there's what your taste buds pick up as you take a drink. That bright, tangy feeling that coffee enthusiasts love in their morning brew is what most drinkers call acidity, though the technical term is felt acidity. Chlorogenic acids create most of this flavor, along with a few other compounds that combine to give coffee its own taste profile.
What your stomach actually reacts to is the chemical acidity in the coffee - not the flavor profile you're tasting. A coffee might taste pretty smooth and mellow as you drink it. But it could still be quite acidic on the pH scale. On the other side, some of the coffees out there with a bright, tangy flavor won't be nearly as harsh on your digestive system.
The pH level in your coffee actually matters quite a bit for how your stomach is going to handle each cup. Even slight variations in those numbers can affect how you feel afterward if you sometimes get an upset stomach from coffee.
What Coffee Does to Your Stomach
Coffee's acids cause your stomach to produce more gastric acid than it normally would. This extra acid irritates your stomach lining, and that's what causes the uncomfortable feeling during digestion that many coffee drinkers experience. Coffee also relaxes your lower esophageal sphincter (that's the muscle that works like a gate between your esophagus and your stomach). When that muscle gets a little too relaxed, acid from your stomach can make its way back up into your esophagus. That burning sensation you feel (the one we call acid reflux or heartburn) happens because the acid is irritating the sensitive lining in there.
Coffee acids are especially rough for anyone who deals with GERD, and they can trigger painful flare-ups that happen pretty fast. Over time, those acids will also wear down and damage the lining of your esophagus bit by bit when you drink it regularly. Coffee tends to make it worse for anyone who already has gastritis, too. It'll irritate your stomach lining even more when it's already inflamed. Those with IBS might experience cramping or a whole bunch of other digestive problems after their morning cup of coffee.
Coffee doesn't affect everyone in the same way. Some people can drink multiple cups throughout the day without having any problems at all. Others might take just a couple of sips and start to feel jittery, on edge or just uncomfortable. A few factors actually explain why people can have very different reactions to the exact same drink. When you already have a digestive condition, your stomach is going to be a lot more vulnerable to irritation from those acids. Some medications can make it worse as well, and they'll cause your digestive system to become even more sensitive to coffee than it already is. Everyone's body tends to respond a little differently to food and drinks.
Everyone's digestive system works a little differently, and what one person can drink without any trouble can cause some problems for another person. Coffee contains quite a few acids, and when those acids reach your stomach lining, they affect it in ways that can be anywhere from uncomfortable to downright painful. This reaction is actually why some coffee drinkers eventually need to search for gentler alternatives that won't irritate their stomach as much.
How Low Acid Coffee Gets Made
Low-acid coffee starts with how the beans are prepared and roasted long before they wind up in your cup. Plenty of manufacturers will use steam processing to treat their beans before the roasting phase even begins, and this particular approach cuts down on the acid content by as much as 70%.
The roasting part also makes a large difference in the acidity. Darker roasts have less acid than lighter roasts, and it all depends on how long and how hot you roast them. The longer coffee beans roast at higher temperatures, the more natural acids break down and disappear. When you're at the store, and you grab a bag, remember this.
Where the beans are grown matters quite a bit for the acidity levels, too. Beans that grow at higher elevations actually have less acid in them right from the start, and that means coffee producers get a natural head start before they process them.
Each one of these production methods gives coffee makers plenty of ways to create a cup that's much gentler on you. A lot of companies will actually combine two or three of them to bring down the acidity even more. They're trying to preserve the flavor as they make it easier on your stomach. When you know how it all works during production, it all starts to make sense - why some coffees feel like they're attacking your stomach and others go down smooth.
Simple Ways to Lower Your Coffee Acidity
You have normal coffee at home already - you'll find a few simple ways to make it much gentler on your stomach. You won't need to go out and buy any specialty products or expensive equipment - they work with what you probably already have in your kitchen.
Cold brew is probably one of the easiest methods out there if you're looking to cut down on the acidity in your coffee. The process itself is fairly simple - you let your coffee grounds sit in room-temperature water for between 12 and 24 hours. During that long steeping time, the slow extraction removes about 67% less acid compared to what hot water would pull out. The reason it does this is the temperature - cooler water extracts the compounds from your beans a lot more slowly over time and leaves behind most of the harsh acidic elements that can bother your stomach.
A small pinch of baking soda mixed into your grounds right before you brew can help with this as well. The baking soda will lower some of the acid in your coffee as it's brewing. Be careful with how much you use, though - a small amount is all that you'll need to help.
Milk or cream in your finished cup is another way to bring down the acidity. Dairy has a buffering effect that helps tone down how harsh those acids can be. Plenty of coffee drinkers with sensitive stomachs do fine with lattes even when black coffee gives them problems - the milk content is the reason for that.
Your coffee filter changes how your final cup tastes. Paper filters trap plenty of the bitter oils and harsh acids as your coffee brews. Metal filters let a lot more of that acidic content pass directly into your cup. Switching to paper filters could fix that issue if your coffee maker uses a metal filter and acidity has been giving you problems.
The water temperature also changes how acidic your coffee turns out. Brewing with water that's a little cooler will pull less acid out of the coffee grounds. You don't have to go that far, though - just let your boiling water sit for a minute or two before you pour it over the grounds.
Who Should Try Low Acid Coffee
Low-acid coffee isn't the right choice for every coffee drinker, and that's fine. But a few types of coffee drinkers can get real benefits out of a low-acid blend. Low-acid coffee could be just what you'll need to finally drink your morning cup without all that painful burning and discomfort if your doctor has diagnosed you with GERD or acid reflux. Anyone who struggles with gastritis or peptic ulcers will also find that low-acid coffee makes a large difference in how they feel afterward.
Medications can also change the way your stomach deals with the coffee. Some prescriptions will make you more sensitive to acidic foods and beverages. A low-acid option might help with the discomfort quite a bit when you're taking medication and coffee has started to bother you. It's not a perfect fix. But it can make your morning cup a lot more pleasant.
Pregnancy hormones have a tendency to make acid reflux way worse than usual, and coffee is one of the drinks where women experience this change. Women who never had any problems with their usual cup of coffee before will start to experience reflux symptoms that feel uncomfortable. It's frustrating when something you've always loved suddenly doesn't agree with you the way it used to.
Our digestive systems get more sensitive as the years go by, and foods or drinks that never gave us any problems before can suddenly cause issues. Coffee is a perfect example of this - you could have been drinking it for 20 or 30 years with no problems at all, and then one day your stomach decides it won't tolerate it the same way. Changes like this happen slowly over time. But they're also pretty common as we age.
Athletes and gym-goers are another group that benefits from low-acid options. Drinking coffee before exercise can upset your stomach, and when that happens, your performance takes a hit. Low-acid coffee has the caffeine you need before a workout without causing those uncomfortable stomach problems!
And plenty of coffee drinkers who don't have any diagnosed medical problems will still experience some heartburn from time to time after their morning cup. When that uncomfortable burning feeling shows up near the end of your coffee, that's a sign that a lower acid option would be a better fit.
How to Start with Low Acid Coffee
When making the switch to low-acid coffee, there's some nice news - it's actually easy. The best way to go about this is to try out just one cup per day (your morning coffee usually works great for this) and replace that single cup with a low-acid alternative. After a few days, you can check in on how you feel and decide if you want to convert more of your daily cups or stick with just the one. A gradual change like this is much gentler on your digestive system than trying to swap out all your coffee in one day.
Low-acid coffee does taste a little different from normal coffee, and I want to be honest about that. Many coffee drinkers who have tried it say it feels smoother and less sharp when it goes down. All that bright, tangy bite you get with the normal coffee gets toned down quite a bit with the low-acid versions. A few coffee enthusiasts actually miss that zing when they first make the switch, and others fall in love with the mellower, easier-drinking flavor from the start.
A basic food diary is one of the easiest ways to track how your body responds during this transition. Write down how your stomach feels throughout the day and jot down any discomfort when it happens, and just give it a quick 1 - 10 rating. After a few weeks have passed, go back through what you wrote and compare how you felt at the beginning to where you are now. Your digestive system just needs a little time to adjust to the new pattern, and the diary helps you see that progress as you go.
Low-acid coffee is easier to work into your day-to-day. A few brands make coffee that's already been treated to lower the acidity, so you don't need to do anything extra yourself. Cold brew is another solid option because the long brewing time (sometimes 12 - 24 hours) pulls way less acid out of the beans than normal brewing does. Dark roasts work well too if you like a traditional coffee - they're just gentler on your stomach than lighter roasts are.
Low-acid coffee has about the same caffeine content as normal coffee - it's just the acidity that's different. Acidity and caffeine don't affect one another, so your morning cup is still going to have the same energy kick as any other coffee would.
Keep It All Natural
Maybe you'll try a specialty low-acid brand, or you might switch over to cold brew that you make at home, or you could even just grab some darker roasted beans from your local grocery store. Any of them might work well. What's nice is that something will help. When you know which low-acid option works best for your stomach, you'll be able to have coffee as part of your normal day without the burning, discomfort and digestive problems that you used to have with every cup.
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