There are hundreds of ways to prepare and enjoy this beverage and customer tastes and interests are evolving all the time.
With health and wellness often top of mind for today’s customer it’s likely you may get questions about the coffee you serve. Many of these questions have their basis in outdated myth, so here we’ll do our best to bust these so you can reassure your customers on their beverage choice.
Myth: Instant (soluble) coffee is not natural
Reality: The process of instant coffee production can be described in 7 easy steps
Simply made from 100% coffee beans and nothing else, the only processing ‘additive’ used is water.
Myth: Coffee dehydrates you
Reality: Regular moderate consumption of coffee can actually contribute to daily fluid intake. It’s long been thought that the caffeine in coffee has a diuretic (fluid loss) action that will cause dehydration. However a black coffee contains in excess of 95% water and according to research, when enjoyed regularly and in moderation, as part of a normal lifestyle won’t lead to dehydration and can actually contribute to fluid intake. A moderate coffee consumption is defined by experts as being 3-5 cups a day (2).
Myth: Cut back on your coffee to cut back on your caffeine.
Reality: Coffee is only one of the caffeine sources in your day. Cola drinks, tea, energy drinks, sports supplements and chocolate may also contribute to daily caffeine intake (6). Internationally, experts agree that moderate caffeine consumption of around 400mg caffeine per day or the equivalent of up to 5 cups of coffee can be part of a healthy balance diet (2, 6). Pregnant or breast feeding women are recommended to limit their consumption of caffeine from all sources to no more than 200mg per day. (6)
Myth: Cut back on your coffee when watching your weight.
Reality: Weight increases over time when we regularly consume more kilojoules (energy) than we need. And, many beverages can be a source of hidden excess kilojoules, especially when serving sizes are large. Black coffee consumption of up to 5 cups a day actually accounts for less than 1% of the energy consumed in the average adult diet. And even when low fat milk is added, it remains a low kilojoule beverage you can recommend to your weight conscious customers.
Myth: Decaf coffee contains harmful chemicals
Reality: There are numerous ways to decaffeinate coffee however we use a natural water process to make our decaf. This process involves washing and soaking the coffee beans in water to extract the caffeine – which is a highly water soluble compound.
REFERENCES
1. Nielsen ALDI Database Scan MAT to 05.04.2020, Euromonitor Foodservice Cups Volume = 3.5b, Retail Cups = 6.9b
2. The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (SIC) https://www.coffeeandhealth.org (accessed August 2021)
3. Australian Food Composition Database 1
4. Food Standards Australia New Zealand https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/generalissues/Pages/Caffeine.aspx (accessed August 2021)
5. FoodData Central https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/ (Accessed September 2021)
6. Better Health Victoria https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/caffeine (accessed August 2021)
