Healthiest option - brewed or instant

cheeky

Hi

Does anyone know if "proper" brewed coffee is healthier or instant?  Any evidence online anywhere?  Thanks.

One-a-day

Hello Just my opinion but wouldn't real coffee have it all over instant mud, I read somewhere instant was invented by Japanese chemist in america in the early 1900's and later became popular when it was picked up by a corperation. Iam a sheetmetal worker not a food analyst/nutritionalist but from what you often see on tv or read about food fresh is 99% best . Should be loads of stuff on the net to find. The more processed food is the worse it gets just look at fast food

RonH

You may like to investigate the writings of cardiologist Ross Walker who advocates three espressos a day as health enhancing but disparages instant coffee as very unhealthy - apparently there is something in it that contains/promotes bad cholesterol (and decafinated coffee is even worse).

RonH

Sorry - last line should read decaffinated instant coffee is even worse.

admin

The basic problem with instant is the quality of the beans - because the big corporations are only interested in profit (& since its such a processed product, they can get away with it), they buy the cheapest beans - ie robusta. This means that they are using a raw material with much higher caffeine content than if they had some or all arabica beans. ... that's my understanding anyway. -A

nzroaster

Almost Ashley, Because of the amount of proccessing involved to make instant they have to start with a really cheap bean. So roll out plenty low grades. It is normally very low grade robusta that makes it's way to instant but there are many "premium" instants that are 100% arabica. The problem is that by the time you are buying grade 7 arabica, the quality is worse than many good robustas.

Bon

I don't know specifics about the health side of things, but there's no doubt that an espresso would win hands down over that instant crap any day. How could you sacrifice the quality of an espresso over a cup of instant anyway?! I can't see why the beans would be bad for you health wise, it's merely the seeds from a fruit being crushed up and having the flavours extracted by running hot water through it, isn't it? I guess the only health risk you would need to consider is the impact of caffeine?

nzroaster

Espresso is always best as the short brew time means relatively low caffiene levels (depending on content of blend). Brewed coffee is however much better for you than instant because of the quality of the raw materials and the extra proccessing step.

Gonzo

One of the problems with instant is that it is easier to prepare. With office workers who can get ready access to an office kitchen, it is not uncommon for them to be overdosing themselves into oblivion with instant through drinking tens of cups a day. Remember there also is no control over the size or type of spoon used to dose up, or by how much any individual might heap up the spoon, so each and every coffee could have double or even triple the "standard" dose of caffeine and other substances in it. There is more to this than simply to ask, which is "better" or "healthier" in a simple comparison of instant to fresh brewed coffee. G.

queen_of_coffee

Brewed coffee is alot more healthier than mud. Go back to the winter 2006 issue of crema. Depending on how much brewed coffee you drink it can reduce the risk of...... - type 2 diabetes - parkinsons disease - liver disease - breast cancer - lung disease - heart disease So drink up!

askthecoffeeguy

the other problem with instant (apart from that fact that it usually contains crap robusta beans which have been produced and paid for on the cheap - and which help keep the over-all purchase price of coffee down and the farmers poor: don't get me started!) - is that, as far as I know, instant is super-heated, until it hits liquid form, then snap frozen to condense and harden it. This super processing of what is already a pretty ordinary product in my opinion denatures whatever 'goodness' it might've had in the first place, bringing all the harsh characteristics (and caffeine) to the fore Can't be good for you! P

askthecoffeeguy

BY the way - Hi to the new members contributing to this thread and welcome to the forum! And tell me QoC - how did you get that snazzy rosetta image to come up on your profile? Afterall... I may be moderator but that doesn't mean that I'm computer literate! LOL!

queen_of_coffee

And tell me QoC - how did you get that snazzy rosetta image to come up on your profile? lol im not very good at explaining technogy, i just know how it works but ill give it a try...... you need to upload the image to a site that will transfer the image into a http:// then you need to copy and paste to the part of your profile that asks you to add a personal picture.

greenman

Instant is great in desperate circumstances but an espresso or ristretto can't be compared. Instant is made from low grade robusta beans with heaps of caffeine. Espresso is arabica and if you pull the shot at 20 seconds for espresso or 15 seconds for ristretto the amount of caffeine is much less than an instant cofee, and tastes a hell a lot better...................no comparison at all!!!!!!!!!!