David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

Can’t Drink Coffee? You’re Not Missing Out | Dr. David Perlmutter

9 Oct 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:10

In this short YouTube monologue, Dr. David Perlmutter addresses viewers who cannot or choose not to drink coffee. He reassures them that missing out on coffee’s touted health benefits isn’t a problem because the same beneficial polyphenols and bioactive compounds can be obtained from other sources. He highlights decaf coffee as a health‑positive option, mentions green tea (noting its modest caffeine content), and suggests obtaining polyphenols from extra‑virgin olive oil, colorful vegetables, and a specific supplement—Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat from Big Bold Health. Perlmutter also reflects on the self‑serving nature of coffee advocacy, emphasizing that a variety of foods can provide comparable health benefits. The overall message is encouraging and practical: you don’t need coffee to achieve the same nutritional advantages.

Chapters

What do you do if you can't drink coffee? Guess what? It's not the end of the world. It might be for me because I love coffee, but look, many people have been telling me, I just can't drink coffee, and it's probably in many people because they don't like caffeine. Well, there are alternatives. As a matter of fact, there's a health upside to drinking decaf coffee. There's also green tea, although it does contain a bit of caffeine. You can get your polyphenols from a lot of different places. You can get them from using a little extra virgin olive oil, a little more than you might be used to. There are various products that are out there. I happen to like one called Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat made by a company called Big Bold Health, incredibly rich in polyphenols. So don't feel like you're missing out because you can't drink coffee because all of us are talking about how wonderful coffee is. To be fair, I think, no pun intended, it's self-serving to some degree that we're all you know, talking up coffee because it has such health benefits. You can get your polyphenols from a lot of different places, and there are a lot of other beneficial bioactive compounds found in just colorful vegetables. So I think the end-of-the-day message here is don't feel like you're missing out.