There Are Now Compostable Coffee Pods
The single serve coffee craze has changed the way we brew and consume coffee. As recently as last year a fourth of all American coffee drinkers were using single serve coffee makers according to Statista.
The classic American coffee break has gotten a makeover. Recent figures show that single-serving coffee brewing machines such as Keurig were the second most popular brewing system after standard drip coffee makers, with 25 percent of American coffee drinkers using them in 2015. The growing popularity of single-serving coffee brewing is a curious phenomenon considering the cost of such a habit. Price comparison shows a unit of K-cups, the small capsules containing a single serving of coffee grounds in small filter, command nearly 20 U.S. dollars more than a unit of traditional roast-and-ground coffee. But for many consumers, the efficiency, quality, and array of choices offered by this machine supplies a convenient alternative to the local coffee shop.
But a big downside to single serve coffee has been the mountain of plastic containers that this system produces. Last year we asked if organic coffee in a K-cup made sense because whatever benefit was being derived from organic coffee production was being offset by the waste of the single serve system.
Billions of K cups go into landfills each year. If part of the reason you drink organic coffee is that you want to protect the environment then even organic coffee in a Keurig K cup is a problem.
The situation has gotten so bad that some cities have simply banned this product. But help is on the way.
Compostable Coffee Pods
There are now fully compostable coffee pods according to an article in Grub Street.
A Toronto-based company claims it’s created the first-ever entirely compostable single-serve coffee pod. Instead of plastic, the pod (PurPod100) uses a material made from dried coffee-bean hulls (sometimes called the cascara or chaff) that, with a few notable exceptions, companies generally throw out. There’s also a fully compostable filter at the base. The whole design purportedly breaks down in about 84 days on average, and it’s already been certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute, a nonprofit that bills itself as North America’s “leading authority on compostable products.”
If this product works and makes its way into the supply chain for single serve coffee it could reduce the damage caused by mountains of plastic cups. The problem for getting this product to help is getting people to separate their trash so that the PurPod100 goes to a composting facility. As or right now Toronto, where this product is produced, is not impressed. The main fear is that people will throw all single serve cups including K-cups with a thousand year or more life expectancy in the same bin and the compostable coffee pods that are said to break down in 84 days.
Do It Yourself
This is not to say that you cannot buy the compostable coffee pods and compost them yourself or save them up for six months and take them to a composting facility. There are now compostable coffee pods. It is up to coffee drinkers to make correct use of them.
When Will Coffee Prices Go Up?
We asked how high could the price of coffee go, in our article, Americans Are Drinking More Coffee.
Over the decades the price of coffee has risen above $3 a pound and fallen as low as 50 cents a pound. Speculators such as readers of Seeking Alpha are anticipating as high as $3 a pound as stock piles fall and Americans as well as everyone else drink more coffee.
Three dollars a pound is twice what basic Arabica coffee futures trade at today. When will coffee prices go up in the grocery store and when will they go up at your favorite coffee shop? It turns out that Starbucks may boost coffee prices this month according to Market Watch.
Chances are that iced, sugar-free, vanilla latte with soy milk is going to cost more starting next week.
For the past two years, Starbucks has raised prices in July – and this year is no exception with some drinks rising by as much as 30 cents.
The Seattle coffee giant SBUX, -0.14% acknowledged the increases after a computer glitch put the higher prices into effect before the chain was ready to break the news to employees and customers.
“On July 12, Starbucks is planning a small price increase on select beverages. Unfortunately, that price adjustment was prematurely entered into the point of sale systems in our US company-operated stores” the company said in a statement on Friday.
Is Starbucks raising coffee prices because the beans are more expensive or to stay ahead on other business costs? In our article How Much Does Colombian Coffee Cost we noted that the cost of basic green Colombian coffee is about $2 a pound when shipping is included and high quality green organic coffee can run as high as $8 a pound. We broke down the pricing of a coffee house in our article, How Much Is Organic Coffee.
A coffee house will use about 2 grams of coffee beans per 10 ounce cup. That works out to about 30 cups of coffee per pound. If the roaster paid only $3 a pound for imported green beans and added $6 a pound to roast and distribute their base cost of just the coffee would be $9 divided by 30 which equals 30 cents a cup. However, you need to factor in the total cost of running a coffee shop and the need to make a profit and then you get your $3 or more cup of coffee.
Let’s assume that a coffee shop pays $2 a pound for basic Arabica coffee beans purchased in bulk. If they get 30 cups of coffee for each pound that works out to 7 cents worth of coffee in each cup! If the price of coffee doubles to $3 a pound from $1.50, add shipping and you get $3.50 a pound. Then the coffee in your cup will cost the coffee shop twelve cents! Starbucks is not raising the price of their coffee because they expect more expensive beans. They are looking to offset higher business costs or simply looking to increase their profit.
Americans Are Drinking More Coffee
The supply versus demand equation for coffee may soon be driving prices higher because Americans are drinking more coffee. Fortune writes about Americans’ coffee guzzling and how this may drive prices higher.
World demand for coffee beans is poised to hit a record this year as people around the world are consuming more of the beverage, and Americans are leading the way. Global coffee consumption is expected to grow 1.2% over the next year starting in October, and American consumption is expected to be up 1.5% this year alone, reported Bloomberg. Coffee has also reached peak popularity in China, Japan, and India, which are expected to demand more java than ever locally.
Futures prices for both Arabica coffee beans and Robusta beans are up as a combination of higher demand and production difficulties in Brazil combine. Coffee stockpiles are falling as growers sell of beans that have been in storage. (We mentioned this in our article asking how do you know when coffee is old.)
Coffee per Person Times Lots of People
Traditionally the heaviest coffee consumption is in nations in the far north. Who drinks the most coffee by nation is the USA but who drinks the most per person is different.
- Netherlands, 2.414
- Finland, 1.357
- Sweden, 1.257
- Denmark, 1.231
- Germany, 1.201
- Slovakia, 1.188
- Serbia, 1.17
- Czech Republic, 1.152
- Poland, 1.128
- Norway, 1.076
- Slovenia, 1.076
- Canada, 1.009
- Belgium, 0.981
- Switzerland, 0.971
- New Zealand, 0.939
- USA, 0.931
- Austria, 0.803
- Costa Rica, 0.793
- Greece, 0.782
- Algeria, 0.765
The USA is #16 on this list but leads the pack in total consumption it has a lot more people than the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden or Denmark. When you live in a cold climate you buy coffee not only to warm your stomach but your hands as well! A friend of mine who lived in Alaska said that his favorite grocery store had two coffee shops, one by each entrance and both were busy.
How High Could the Price Go?
Seeking Alpha thinks the coffee price could double in the next year.
The USDA estimates a drop in coffee stock levels that will mean the 2016-17 season ends with just 31.5 million bags.
Last time stock levels dropped to this level the price of coffee was double the current cost.
We feel that going long with coffee today with a long-term view would be a great investment.
Trading Economics provides us with a chart of coffee prices going back forty years.
Over the decades the price of coffee has risen above $3 a pound and fallen as low as 50 cents a pound. Speculators such as readers of Seeking Alpha are anticipating as high as $3 a pound as stock piles fall and Americans as well as everyone else drink more coffee.
The Taste for Coffee Spreads the Really Large Nations
Americans drink less coffee per capita than the Netherlands but make up for it in population size. What happens when coffee catches on in India and China? China.org.cn reports the first Starbucks at Shanghai Disney Resort.
China is Starbucks’ second-largest and fastest-growing market. The coffee chain has over 2,100 stores in more than 100 Chinese cities. It has previously announced plans to have around 3,400 coffee shops in China by 2019.
With a billion people each India and China will not need to drink all that much per person to go to the head of the list in coffee consumption and help drive prices higher.
How Hot Is Starbucks Coffee?
Last week we wrote about how you shouldn’t drink very hot coffee and mentioned the famous McDonald’s lawsuit over third degree burns from a spill. Now it appears that Starbucks may be in the same boat as McDonald’s by first trying to ignore the injury and now facing a lawsuit. The ABA Journal (Journal of the American Bar Association) reports that a Houston lawyer sues Starbucks for alleged burns from spilled coffee.
A Houston lawyer says in a lawsuit that a barista spilled hot coffee on her, causing burns to her lap and such excruciating pain that she had to remain on her hands and knees while a colleague rushed her to the hospital.
The lawyer, Katherine Mize, claims in the suit that the coffee was so hot that it was unreasonably dangerous, report Texas Lawyer (sub. req.), the SE Texas Record, Click2Houston and the Houston Press.
Mize is seeking up to $1 million in damages. Her lawyer, Brian Humphrey, told Texas Lawyer that Mize had to be treated for lost skin in her lap area. The injury “was pretty serious” and resulted in scarring, he said.
This report has echoes of the McDonald’s suit in that the company apparently ignored complaints from the plaintiff and now must deal with the issue in court. McDonald’s made their franchises serve coffee at 180-190 degrees which can cause third degree burns of the skin within 7 seconds. How hot is Starbucks coffee? That will probably come out in court. It turns out that coffee does not need to be 180 degrees to cause a 3rd degree burn.
Hot Liquids and Burns
The Burn Foundation discusses hot liquid burns.
Coffee, tea, soup and hot tap water can be hot enough to cause serious burn injury.
Scald and steam burns are often associated with microwave oven use.
When tap water reaches 140º F, it can cause a third degree (full thickness) burn in just five seconds.
Hot Water Causes Third Degree Burns…
- in 1 second at 156º
- in 2 seconds at 149º
- in 5 seconds at 140º
- in 15 seconds at 133º.
How hot is Starbucks coffee? If the lady actually suffered 3rd degree burns the coffee was probably at least 140 degrees and more likely 150 or above.
And this brings us back to drinking hot liquids in general. As the WHO declared, drinking very hot beverages is associated with a higher incidence of esophageal cancer.
“Very hot” beverages “probably” cause cancer. This is mostly based on studies related to the consumption of a traditional drink called mate or cimarrón in South America where the tea can be taken at temperatures around 158 degrees Fahrenheit (or 70 degrees Celsius). That’s significantly hotter than people in North America or Europe usually consume their drinks.
Whether your concern is getting burned by spilled coffee or increasing your risk of esophageal cancer it is best to let your coffee cool into the sub 130 degree range before drinking. And make sure the lid is on tight before you handle that takeout coffee!
Don’t Drink Very Hot Coffee
Coffee has lots of health benefits but don’t drink very hot coffee. According to the Chicago Tribune the World Health Organization just jumped on the coffee band wagon. They confirm that coffee does not cause cancer and has positive effects on liver and uterine cancers. Of course we know that coffee reduces your risk of type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and many more diseases. The one warning from WHO is that very hot beverages are associated with a higher incidence of esophageal cancer. It’s not what you drink but how hot it is served that increases the risk of cancer of the esophagus.
In reviewing the most recent scientific evidence over the past 25 years since its last analysis on the matter, the WHO concluded that coffee should no longer be considered a carcinogen and that it may actually have positive effects for your body when it comes to two types of cancers – liver and uterine cancers.
There was another significant finding: “Very hot” beverages “probably” cause cancer. This is mostly based on studies related to the consumption of a traditional drink called mate or cimarrón in South America where the tea can be taken at temperatures around 158 degrees Fahrenheit (or 70 degrees Celsius). That’s significantly hotter than people in North America or Europe usually consume their drinks.
So, if you are used to drinking your boiling hot coffee before it cools think again.
Very Hot McDonald’s Coffee
In 1994 there was a famous lawsuit against McDonald’s brought by a 79-year-old woman who suffered 3rd degree burns when coffee she had just purchased at a McDonald’s drive through. She asked McDonald’s to pay her $20,000 which was the amount for medical expenses which included hospitalization and skin grafting as well as other expenses related to the injury. McDonald’s offered $800. When the woman engaged an attorney and sued her lawyer asked for $300,000 in damages and McDonald’s offered $90,000. Settlement not reached and the case went to trial where the jury awarded the woman $160,000 for medical expenses and $2,700,000 in punitive damages. The trial judge reduced the final verdict to $640,000 and the parties settled out of court.
There were two reasons why the jury came back with a large punitive damages award. First is that McDonald’s made its franchises serve their coffee at 180-190 degrees which medical evidence shows would cause a 3rd degree burn within 7 seconds of contact with the skin. Second, McDonalds had prior knowledge of this issue and had always settled previous claims for a few hundred dollars.
Despite losing lawsuits McDonald’s still serves its coffee hot and has had a least one more burn lawsuit according to Huffington Post. A California woman ordered two cups of coffee at a McDonald’s drive through.
When the cups were handed to Fino, she alleges, one of the lids wasn’t safely secured.
The coffee spilled, causing “severe burning to her genitalia,” said her lawyer, Nicholas “Butch” Wagner, in an interview Friday. And it’s “still burning.”
“Despite over 1,000 complaints from customers about being burned by the coffee, McDonald’s still continues to brew the coffee at such an exceptionally high temperature,” Wagner said. “They are saving more in production costs in brewing coffee and serving at such high temperature than it costs them to settle the cases with these people who have been injured.”
So, don’t drink very hot coffee. If you spill it you get 3rd degree burns and there appears to be an association between beverages consumed at 170 degrees Fahrenheit or above and esophageal cancer!
How Do You Know when Coffee Is Old?
Did that last cup of coffee from the vending machine taste more than a little stale? Maybe that is because the beans the coffee came from were 9 years old! For that matter how do you know when coffee is old? The Wall Street Journal reported that coffee that is nine years old is coming out of storage and being sold.
Before you take that next sip of coffee, consider this: Some of the beans in your cup of joe might have been picked during the Bush administration.
Arabica coffee that had been stored away as markets cratered in 2013 is now pouring out of warehouses, flooding the market with beans as old as nine years.
Those beans, which are considered higher quality than the more bitter robusta type typically found in instant coffee, are coming out now because they get cheaper the longer they sit. Prices for better varieties have come down enough to tempt buyers who would usually be in the market for lesser grades.
Coffee farmers often store their coffee beans when prices are low and then sell them later. The problem is that stored beans lose their flavor and aroma. They also cost less so buyers pick up allegedly high quality coffee at a discount.
Coffee prices hit a bottom in 2013 and rebounded in 2014. Stored coffee peaked in 2014 and is tapering off. When coffee sits for 121 days before being certified by the New York futures exchange it loses half a cent per pound in value. When it sits for three years the value drops by 35 cents. And nine year old coffee sells at a $1.55 discount which essentially makes it free as basic coffee for June delivery is going for $1.35 a pound!
Who Is Buying 9 Year Old Coffee?
You will not taste any 9 year old coffee at your favorite coffee shop but the sort of institutional coffees found in vending machines, schools and motels may include really old coffee. Arabica coffee is the top of the line but many buyers consider it too expensive. Unfortunately when the buyer waits too long to purchase this coffee it has lost much of its flavor and aroma. In general green coffee beans are good for two years.
How Do You Know When Coffee Is Old?
Remember our article about coffee bloom?
The coffee bloom is the release of carbon dioxide gas when hot water is poured over ground coffee beans. Carbon dioxide gas is trapped inside coffee beans when they are roasted. Darker roasts contain more carbon dioxide and lighter roasts contain less. Roasted whole beans retain the carbon dioxide longer than roasted and ground coffee and storing in a cool environment keeps the carbon dioxide longer. The antioxidant compounds that give coffee its health benefits and flavor are trapped in the carbon dioxide as well.
A good coffee bloom means you have fresh coffee that has been stored correctly. If you want to be assured of fresh Arabica coffee, especially from Colombia contact us at Buy Organic Coffee.
Do Coffee Beans Go Bad?
If you want to buy healthy organic coffee beans, green or roasted, to make coffee at home you don’t want them to go bad. Do coffee beans go bad? There are two issues with bad coffee beans. One is poorly sorted beans after picking and the other is improper storage in transit or in your home.
Stinkers and Other Beans Gone Bad
There is an excellent article at TCC about defective coffee beans. There are black beans and earthy beans, moldy beans and peasy beans. You want to avoid rioy beans, sour beans, stinker beans and whitish beans as well.
Black Beans
Black beans, where the interior of the bean is also more or less completely black depending on the severity of the attack, are beans having undergone a yeast fermentation starting at the epidermis; the surface of the bean is covered with minute holes surrounded by mineral micro crystals, left after enzymatic degradation of cellulose. The more serious the damage, the blacker is the interior of the bean.
Earthy Beans
The presence of 2-methylisoborneol, a secondary metabolite of Actinomycetes, Cyanobacteria and molds, has been associated with the earthy flavor of robusta coffee.
The levels present in robusta coffee are at least three times as high as in arabica (Vitzthum et al., 1990). These data indicate that robusta taste results, at least partially, from contamination by microorganisms rather than from specific aroma components.
Moldy Beans
A mould/yeast level above 105/g is always associated with mustiness in flavor. Geosmin, identified in a heavily rioy and musty tasting sample of Portorican coffee, is probably the substance responsible for moldiness in beans (Spadone et al., 1990).
Peasy Beans
This defect, encountered only in Central African arabica coffees, is due to a contamination of the cherry by a bacterium of the entherobacteriaceae.
Rioy Beans
These beans have a flavor described as medicinal and iodine-like. Rio-tainted beans are heavily infested with moulds (Aspergilli, Fusaria, Penicillia, Rhizopus), and bacteria (Lactobacilli, Streptococci).
Sour Beans
Sour (ardido) beans are deteriorated by excess fermentation, with a sour taste.
Stinker Beans
Stinkers are over-fermented beans, usually with normal appearance but a rotten smell and flavour.
Whitish Beans
The surface discoloration of whitish beans is due to fermentation by Streptococcus bacteria.The attack can occur if storage is too long or in conditions of excessive humidity.
All of these sorts of beans should have been sorted out on the coffee plantation, avoided by proper storage or removed when discovered along the supply chain. But do good coffee beans go bad once you have purchased them?
Old and Perhaps Moldy Coffee Beans
Mold is always an issue when foodstuffs are stored in damp areas. Coffee beans, green or roasted or ground coffee should be stored in a cool and dry place. And coffee is best when made and consume in a timely manner. Green coffee beans properly stored are good for two years. Roasted coffee beans properly stored are OK for up to six months. Ground coffee where the inside of the bean is now exposed to the air started to get stale on the spot. You best bet to avoid bad beans is to purchase from a reliable supplier and store appropriately. Roast only what you are going to use that day and grin only what you are going to use to make the next batch of coffee.
For more useful info, take a look at our article, Store Coffee and Preserve Freshness.
How Much Caffeine Does Colombian Coffee Have?
Colombia produces the best Arabica coffee in large quantities in the world. Arabica coffee is where gourmet coffee comes from. Flavor and aroma of this coffee are prized by coffee lovers throughout the world. Robusta coffee, on the other hand, is the workhorse for producing the caffeine found in caffeinated beverage everywhere. Because Colombia produces Arabica coffee it leads in flavor and aroma and is less likely to leave you with an unpleasant buzz from too much caffeine. So, just how much caffeine does Colombian coffee have versus coffee from Vietnam, for example, which is primarily Robusta?
Caffeine Content of Coffee Beans
Livestrong.com looks at how much caffeine is in a coffee bean. Caffeine levels in coffee can vary dramatically by the type of bean and how much it’s roasted. Even different beans taken from the same bush can have different amounts of caffeine. The way coffee is prepared will also affect how much of the bean’s caffeine winds up in your cup.
A typical Arabica bean contains 1.2 percent to 1.8 percent caffeine. Canephora, also called robusta, contains as much 50 percent more caffeine than Arabica beans, reaching as much as 2.4 percent.
With either variety a dark roast process will reduce caffeine content by ten to fifteen percent. And preparation makes a difference. A single serving Arabica espresso will have 30 to 50 milligrams of caffeine and an eight ounce cup of Arabica via the drip method can have as much as 200 milligrams of caffeine, less concentrated but more volume. Espresso or drip coffee using Robusta will give your about fifty percent more caffeine.
Coffee Chemistry reports on the caffeine in coffee as well.
In Arabica coffee, caffeine content averages at 1.2% while Robusta at 2.2%. It is believed that this larger level of caffeine allows for robusta plants to thrive in more hostile environments as caffeine acts as a chemosterilant for insects.
They also report that among sub-varieties Arabica ranges from a low for Laurina and a high for Catuai while for Robusta the Laurenti variety has about 60% of the caffeine in the Robusta sub-variety.
Great Coffee with Less Caffeine
If you like your coffee but hate the jitters, drink high quality coffee from Colombia. You will need to drink less coffee to get your coffee flavor and aroma and will get about half as much caffeine per cup than if you drink robusta which is commonly included in high end European coffee blends. And some espresso blends include Robusta because it holds the crema head better. In general if you want Arabica coffee you can be assured if you buy coffee or origin from Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Tanzania or Kenya as none of these regions grow Robusta coffee. You certainly want to avoid Death Wish Coffee if lots of caffeine gives you the shakes.
So, how much caffeine does Colombian coffee have? High quality Colombian Arabica coffee contains 30-50 milligrams per single espresso serving and up to 200 milligrams in an 8 ounce cup depending on sub-variety and degree of roasting.
What Does Gourmet Coffee Mean?
Be aware that there is no international standard for gourmet coffee. Nevertheless many companies present their brand as a gourmet coffee. In general gourmet coffee is characterized by high quality beans and skillful preparation. In the world of coffee many consider Jamaican Blue Mountain, Kona from Hawaii, select organic coffees from Panama and Arabic coffee from Colombia as being of high gourmet quality. But there is more to the story.
Retaining Freshness
Ideally you want to be waiting at the bottom of the mountain for the picked, processed and dried coffee to arrive. Then you want to take it to the roaster where they will remove the remaining husk and roast to your specifications. And then you will immediately grind your gourmet coffee and brew a cup. In this way you will not lose any of the flavor, aroma and healthy antioxidants that guarantee gourmet quality. Unfortunately if you do not live in the Hawaiian Islands, Jamaica or along the road from Manizales to Cali in the Colombian Cafetero you have to rely on expedited transport of your gourmet quality coffee to retain quality. Your best bet for getting high quality coffee of absolute freshness is to buy wholesale coffee. If you are interested in this approach contact us today.
How Long Does Stored Coffee Last?
Properly stored green coffee beans retain freshness for up to two years. If you roast coffee beans and store them in a cool and dry location, ideally vacuum packed they retain freshness for up to six months. But once you grind your gourmet coffee beans you had better make the coffee because the shelf life of coffee freshness for ground coffee is measured in hours or minutes! If you really want gourmet coffee and not waste the money you spent for high quality beans buy green and roast the beans yourself immediately before making coffee. This, by the way, it the approach used for most coffee house coffee.
Getting the Most for Your Money
In our article, How Much Does Colombian Coffee Cost, we did a brief cost breakdown for the cup of coffee you buy at the coffee shop. There is a baseline cost for each step of producing, processing, storing, shipping, roasting, distributing and selling coffee no matter how high the quality or how ordinary the beans. A high quality Colombian coffee, single origin and organic may be considered fifty times as good as ordinary coffee but the price is probably just two or three times a much because the shipping and handling costs are about the same. However, if you really want your gourmet quality coffee as fast and fresh as possible, consider air freight of a small quantity (10 kg for example). Again if you need help contact us today.
High Quality
If you want gourmet coffee you need to get fresh coffee beans and not store ground coffee. But all that goes for naught if you do not buy high quality coffee to start with and have it shipped promptly to you by a reliable supplier.
How Do Green Coffee Beans Work?
We have written about green coffee beans, how one might lose weight with green coffee beans, how to get wholesale green coffee beans and organic green coffee extract. And later we reported on a bogus green coffee extract claim. Unroasted green coffee beans have a higher level of chlorogenic acid and that is what is believed to be the benefit of green coffee. Chlorogenic acid is believed to help reduce high blood pressure and people take it for obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease and bacterial infections. It is the extract of green coffee beans that people take for medicinal purposes.
For Weight Loss
There is evidence in human testing that chlorogenic acid can reduce the absorption of carbohydrates from the intestinal tract which in turn lowers blood sugar levels and the insulin spikes associated with rapid intake of sugars. In essence to the degree that this works out it is like going on a diet by fooling your body into absorbing fewer calories.
Lower Cholesterol
Chlorogenic acid dramatically reduces cholesterol and triglyceride levels but this evidence comes from studies on rats.
Weight Loss
There is evidence that taking green coffee extract can result in moderate weight loss over a short period of time. However, the study on people only lasted for three months and resulted in a six pound greater weight loss in folks taking green coffee extract versus placebo. There is no evidence that this effect lasts and no research into long term use of green coffee beans or extract for weight loss.
Effect on Diabetes
We know that coffee consumption reduces the incidence of type II diabetes. But is also seems that chlorogenic acid may also have a protective effect as well. In rat studies chlorogenic acid supplements reduce glucose absorption.
Blood Pressure
There is evidence that chlorogenic acid taken daily lowers high blood pressure. Researchers compared chlorogenic acid with placebo in patients with mild high blood pressure and found that both systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased significantly so long as the patient continued the regime.
What Green Coffee Does Not Do
As we noted in our bogus green coffee extract claim article, manufactures cannot claim long term success in promoting this product for weight loss.
The Federal Trade Commission has levied a fine of $3.5 million on Applied Food Sciences, the company that sponsored the study claiming that green coffee extract resulted in weight loss. Here is a quote from the FTC
…the study’s lead investigator repeatedly altered the weights and other key measurements of the subjects, changed the length of the trial, and misstated which subjects were taking the placebo or GCA during the trial. When the lead investigator was unable to get the study published, the FTC says that AFS hired researchers Joe Vinson and Bryan Burnham at the University of Scranton to rewrite it. Despite receiving conflicting data, Vinson, Burnham, and AFS never verified the authenticity of the information used in the study, according to the complaint.
Despite the study’s flaws, AFS used it to falsely claim that GCA caused consumers to lose 17.7 pounds, 10.5 percent of body weight, and 16 percent of body fat with or without diet and exercise, in 22 weeks, the complaint alleges.
The point of all this is that researchers in India fudged the results of their study and no one followed up. This was a bogus green coffee extract claim and should be ignored. If you purchased any green coffee extract for the purpose of losing weight you may want to ask for, or demand, your money back.