Unfiltered coffee from French presses and Moka pots contains oils that can raise cholesterol. Five cups of French-press coffee can boost LDL by 7 mg/dL and triglycerides by 11 mg/dL. Switch to darker roasts, paper filters, or pour-overs to cut the risk while keeping coffee's health benefits.
So just a little bit of background. I bought a French press coffee maker and I'm absolutely in love. I haven't had French press until now and I don't think I'm gonna ever be going back. But I did wanna learn a little bit about it, how to actually make a great cup of French press. So I went ahead on the internet and Googled away and started doing my research, which I should have done probably beforehand because I found some pretty unpleasant studies on French press and some bad health effects of French press and other types of coffee that are made in this particular way. And when I say made in this particular way, I'm talking about coffees that aren't using some sort of paper filter. So like French press, the Moka pot, espresso even, Turkish coffee, types of coffees that are not using a paper filter. That's what this applies to is what I'm talking about. And you'd wonder like, why is it such a big deal to have a paper filter over just, you know, French press, which has a metal filter? You're still filtering out all the grounds of the coffee, right? And you're still at the end of the day getting your— I should say end of the morning— you're getting your cup of hot bean water all the same, right? Well, not really. You see, coffee actually contains over 1,000 different chemical compounds, and some of these are trapped by a paper filter but not a metal one like the one used in French press. The key compounds that I've been finding in several research studies, including a recent Harvard Health study, that are the culprits of these bad health effects are two things called kahweol and cafestrol. Both of these oily compounds are classified as diterpenes and mostly are filtered out using a paper filter, but not a metal one. Now, the study went on to say that French press coffee was found to have 300 times as much cafestrol in that cup of coffee versus having paper filtered coffee, which is a lot more. So what are these negative health effects of having that much cafestrol and kahweol in your coffee cup. Well, I'm not going to get into the entire physiological process of what happens when you consume these oils and how that works in the body biochemically, but these two compounds raise our LDL significantly, as well as our triglycerides. Now, with anything, we want to make sure that we're not extrapolating that and just making it such a big deal without understanding, you know, how many cups of coffee does it take to actually increase your cholesterol to an amount that's alarming, right? Well, this study actually shows that having 5 cups of French press coffee can increase your LDL by 7 milligrams per deciliter and your triglyceride levels by 11 milligrams per deciliter, which is pretty significant. But in the grand scheme of your LDL and triglyceride levels, it's not a huge amount, but it's enough. And at first when I was reading through the study, I was like, I'm fine, I don't drink 5 cups of coffee, that's a lot of coffee in the morning. And then I realized when I looked in the details of the actual study that these cups of coffee that they were qualifying as a cup was actually 4 ounces, and my cup of coffee in the morning is like closer to 10. So keep that in mind. So really, if we're qualifying these as like 8 fluid ounce cups, it's really 2 cups of French press coffee because these are each 4 ounces in the study. You get it? So like I was saying, it's not super alarming given that the optimal range of LDL is between 100 and 129 milligrams per deciliter, and having a 7 milligram per deciliter increase isn't huge. But if you are at that outer range, and you're getting close to borderline high cholesterol or you're even in the next category, it could really push you over the edge. So if you're a French press coffee drinker or an espresso drinker or a Moka pot drinker, anybody who uses any other method than having a paper filter like a pour over or your filtered like coffee machine coffee, right? What do you do? What's, what's the solution here to make sure that you're not raising your cholesterol? Well, first things first, you can always switch to a darker roast bean. And when you switch to a dark roast, dark roast actually have 60% as much cafestrol as a light roast. Roast does. So you're already cutting out a lot of those oils right from the get-go with the actual bean that you're using. Another thing you can consider is switching to an alternative brewing method. If you're somebody who's really concerned about your cholesterol or is at that borderline level and you're not willing to risk your cholesterol being affected or your triglycerides being affected, it's probably best if you switch to another method. Or the third solution, I will say, which is probably my favorite one because you still get to have your cake and eat it too a little bit, and that is actually combining your French press brewing method with a paper filter. And you can do that in a couple of different ways. There are these really interesting, like, little circular disc print, like, paper filters that you can put inside of your plunger for the French press, which that works. It seems a little tedious because you have to unscrew part of it and put this paper filter on. So it's probably not the method I'm going to go with. The other one is using something called a coffee bag that you actually put inside of the French press. You put your beans inside, close the coffee bag, and then that coffee filter bag is going to filter out all those oils. You're still French pressing your coffee. You're still using that brewing method. So that's another option. And then the third option is really to use your standard kind of coffee filter that you have from like a drip machine and putting that over your coffee cup or, you know, another pitcher and then pouring your French press over that, therefore putting your French press coffee through a paper filter as you're about to drink it. So those are some different options that you can consider if you're not wanting to give up your French press, which I totally understand now being a French press drinker myself, like I feel pretty fancy. I'm not willing to give it up and I really like the taste. I'm a little bummed about the light roast thing though. I may have to consider switching over, but I have a 5-pound bag to finish right now, so I'm gonna get through that first. And I'm gonna put some links down to those paper filter methods down below in the description. So if you're curious about what a, you know, coffee bag looks like or these other little paper discs, I'm gonna put those all down below. You can find those in the description. I'm also gonna put the link for something called a Chemex, which is a really nice type of pour-over that you can used to. So if you'd rather just kind of convert over to pour-over coffee, I don't blame you. Um, it just kind of eliminates the risk of having those oils in your coffee because you're already using that paper filter. So that's an option too. I'm going to drop that down below. But I do also want to talk about some of the wonderful benefits of coffee. I know I've been harping on all these things about how this can raise your cholesterol, and really, obviously, if you raise your cholesterol, that impacts your heart health, your risk for heart attack and stroke, and all those things. But there are some amazing benefits to coffee. And that's why personally I tell myself that I'm not willing to give it up because I'm playing on that side of things. First of all, there are some amazing vitamins and minerals in coffee like magnesium, niacin, and potassium, all of which can boost alertness and concentration and eliminate some fatigue, which is great. And then there's also some really potent compounds in coffee like collagenic acid and polyphenols, which are really great for cell protection and prevent cell damage. So in my opinion, coffee is pretty good for you still, right? Well, if you brew it the right way, it is. Anyways, guys, I hope you enjoyed this video and learned something about your French press coffee or your unfiltered coffee, and that we can all work together to have a happier, healthier cup of coffee in the morning that's not going to raise our LDL and that's going to keep us feeling good. And as always, if you can like this video and subscribe to my channel, I would greatly appreciate it. It means so much to me, guys. And thank you to all of you guys who have supported me along this way. It means so much. And until next time, I will see you guys later. Bye.
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