What should you pay attention to when choosing organic coffee beans?

When given the choice between organic coffee and conventional coffee, there is no doubt that organic coffee is the healthier option. Although organic coffee is grown without harmful pesticides, it does not meet the essential standards for a truly healthy cup of coffee. The healthiest coffee goes beyond organic coffee and also qualifies as speciality coffee, is thoroughly tested for mould and mycotoxins, and is roasted in a smokeless machine to reduce dangerous by-products such as acrylamide.

Is organic coffee better for your health?

Organic coffee is certainly healthier than its conventional counterparts due to the fact that it is grown without health damage caused by pesticides, herbicides or fungicides, but it is not perfect. For the sake of perspective, conventionally grown coffee is one of the most chemically processed beverages on the market. Not only are these chemicals grown with large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that can harm your health, but they also often harm coffee growers and the ecosystems that come into contact with them. But even organic coffee can be insufficient. For example, organic certification does not does not address critical factors such as coffee bean quality or mold and mycotoxin testing. The organic label also does not guarantee that the coffee makers have roasted their beans in the safest way to avoid dangerous by-products and preserve the coffee’s healthy antioxidants.

3 things that make organic coffee healthy

While organic coffee doesn’t tick all the boxes for the healthiest beverage, it certainly benefits your health, the environment, and the farmers who grow it.

Organic coffee is grown without pesticides, herbicides or fungicides

Over 97% of the world’s coffee beans are non-organic and treated with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemicals. And unfortunately, these chemicals also end up in your coffee. In developing countries like Colombia, Indonesia and Brazil, where most coffee is grown, there are little or no regulations on the chemicals and pesticides used, which means farmers can spray their crops with just about anything. In fact, some of the chemicals these farmers use are chemicals already banned in America, Europe and Japan for their harmful health effects. Since organic coffee is grown without these toxins,

Better soil and water quality

Organic farming not only produces safer coffee for human consumption, it is also much more beneficial to the environment in which the coffee is grown. With no toxic chemicals, farmers need to use more sustainable methods of growing coffee, and these practices have been proven to significantly increase nutrients in the soil. One such environmentally friendly method of growing coffee is the use of “shade trees” to naturally protect coffee plants from overexposure to sunlight. Shade trees keep coffee beans in top condition and their foliage provides additional nutrients to the soil, resulting in higher quality coffee beans.

Safer for coffee growers

Organic coffee is not only healthier for personal consumption and more sustainable for the environment, it is even safer for coffee farmers! From a research among 81 coffee growers in East Jamaica, most suffered from at least one negative health effect related to handling pesticides. But when coffee is grown organically, hardworking coffee farmers no longer come into contact with dangerous chemicals, creating a healthier and happier work environment.

4 Reasons Why Organic Coffee Isn’t the Healthiest Coffee

It’s not about the quality of the beans

Just because a coffee is a certified organic doesn’t mean the coffee beans are high quality. The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)has three grades of coffee based on quality: speciality grade, premium grade, and sub-speciality grade. Speciality coffee is the highest quality coffee. To assess a coffee, expert coffee testers look for major defects in the coffee such as unripe beans, coffee pods, acid beans, as well as minor defects such as present chaff, broken or chipped beans, minor insect damage and small sticks and stones. . To qualify as speciality coffee, the beans must be broadly uniform in size, have a distinctive body, taste, aroma and healthy moisture content (between 9-13%). Speciality coffees generally have more complex aromas.

Organic coffee may contain mould and mycotoxins

Just because coffee is organic doesn’t mean it’s free of harmful fungi and mycotoxins. Due to improper handling and storage, coffee beans can often develop mycotoxin-producing fungi, which can cause a wide variety of health issues. Exposure to moulds and mycotoxins can cause many health issues such as; fatigue, mitochondrial function, memory problems, brain fog, night sweats, hair loss, DNA damage, liver disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and cancer So be sure to read the packaging and look for third-party evidence to ensure your coffee is mould and mycotoxin free!

Organic coffee may be roasted incorrectly

Although buying organic coffee can guarantee that it is free of pesticide residues, this does not mean that it has been roasted properly. These days, many popular coffee brands roast their beans at too high a temperature, which has adverse consequences. This can lead to dangerous roasting by-products, such as HCAs and acrylamide, which can enter your bloodstream, damage the nervous system and increase the risk of cancer. Alternatively, the healthiest coffee brands roast their beans in small batches in a smokeless machine. Not only does this ensure that each bean is roasted more evenly with fewer burnt edges,

Organic coffee does not need to be lab tested

While it has long been claimed that pesticide residues on coffee beans are removed during the roasting process, new studies suggest that up to 10% of these chemicals can leach into the coffee bean. That means there’s a good chance pesticide will end up in your good cup of coffee. It turns out that exposure to pesticides can lead to adverse health consequences such as respiratory diseases, hormonal imbalances, low IQ and ADHD in children, weakened immune systems and cancer (usually in the breast, prostate and ovaries ) The safest coffee is one that is held accountable by an external body, with each batch being thoroughly tested for different types of pesticide residues and ochratoxin  A, aflatoxin, acrylamide, mould and yeast. Only with such test results can you be 100% sure that the coffee you are getting is as healthy as possible!

Wondering which coffee beans contain the least mycotoxins? According to biohackerslab.com, the following coffee brands have been tested for the least amount of mycotoxins;

• Purity coffee
• Natural Strength Coffee
• bulletproof coffee
• Cafe Kion
• Peak Performance Coffee
• Lifeboost Coffee
• Conscious coffee