By Richard Scott

Imagine this:

You meet a
friend whom you haven’t seen for ages. You two decide to stop by a
coffeehouse to chat over a cup of your favorite beverage.
Surprisingly for you, your friend orders a cup of herbal tea, giving
you a judgemental look and starting to blame coffee in causing
addiction, insomnia, depression, cancer... you name it.

Yes, there’s
a lot of controversy around coffee.

And despite
it has been one of the most popular hot beverages throughout the
world for the last two centuries, the number of coffee-related
myths and
misconceptions seems only to multiply with time.

Today, I
want to debunk 5 most common
myths about drinking coffee so
that you would have facts to share with that friend the next time you
meet.

#1
Caffeine Is Highly Addictive

Quite a lot
of people believe that caffeine causes a strong addiction comparable
with that caused by alcohol and tobacco.

In fact,
caffeine can cause slight
dependency, like all
stimulants, and does have a withdrawal
syndrome
characterized by the following unpleasant symptoms:

• headache;
  
• irritability;
  
• nausea;
  
• fatigue.
  

The good
news is that these symptoms
disappear within 1 day.

Well, or
two, in case you're a really hardcore fan of this beverage.

Therefore,
if you suddenly decide to quit drinking coffee, it will be easier
than you think.

#2
Coffee Is Bad For Your Heart. And Bones. And Immune System. And
Whatever

Since we
figured out that coffee is a
stimulant, does this mean that
it harms our heart, causing it to beat faster than it should? Many
people also believe that caffeine causes osteoporosis by washing out
calcium from our bones and is responsible for certain cancers.

Okay, let's
look at each of these myths.

Assuming a
connection between coffee consumption and cardiovascular health seems
logical.

But here’s
the truth:

According to
the American
Heart Association,
there is no significant
evidence that moderate coffee
consumption is bad for heart health. In fact, it can be quite the
opposite.

Now, don’t
get me wrong. Coffee can really
make your heart beat faster.
For a short period. But the worst case scenario can happen only if
you have hypertension or drink literally gallons of coffee.

The same
with osteoporosis.

Yes, coffee
contributes to the leaching of calcium out of the bones, but for any
pathologies to develop, you need
to drink exclusively coffee
and in large amounts.

As for
cancer, scientists still do not
fully understand the mechanisms of its development.
But some studies prove that coffee — if consumed moderately — can
reduce
the risks of
pharynx, liver, colon cancer and melanoma.

Bottom line?

Drink
healthy amounts of coffee (no
more than 3-4 cups a day) and
you’ll be fine. Or switch to decaf.

#3
Decaf Means No Caffeine

Speaking of
decaf, here goes another myth:

People often
tend to think that decaf means zero caffeine.

Well, it’s
not.

The truth
is, the amount of caffeine in decaffeinated coffee is so small that
you won’t feel its effects. The percentage may vary depending on
the extraction method, but usually, it is as
low as 3%.

That’s
because you can’t remove it completely.

Even the
extraction method called “Swiss water” — which, according to
its creators, is capable of removing up to 99.9% of the caffeine from
coffee beans — still leaves 0.1%.

“Most
people believe decaf to be inferior in taste. But interestingly
enough, a simple blind test can prove there is very little difference
in taste between decaf and regular coffee, so that’s just another
myth. Anyway, decaf has one significant advantage — you can enjoy
it late in the evening not worrying about disrupting your sleep.”

#4
The Lighter the Roast Is, the Less Caffeine It Contains

This one is
the most controversial.

Some people
believe that dark roasts contain more caffeine (because they’re
darker, you know!), while others think that the darker the roast is,
the less caffeine it contains (because it allegedly evaporates).

Let me clear
this up.

First,
the amount of caffeine doesn’t differ a lot by the cup.
So, if you think you will get more energized if you go with a cup of
the darkest roast coffee,I
have to disappoint you — the difference will hardly be noticeable.

Second,
lighter roasts are actually
higher in caffeine. They are
roasted for less time and, therefore, preserve more of their original
attributes. But again, the difference is not significant for an
average person who drinks a few cups of coffee a day.

Also, the
amount of caffeine depends on the coffee variety.
See, there are two most common species of coffee beans — arabica
and robusta.

Robusta, as
the name suggests, is more robust and potent in caffeine, but its
flavor profile is blander. Arabica, on the other hand, is more
fragrant and flavorful, but it has lesser caffeine contents.

“Most
coffee brands use blends of arabica and robusta. Depending on what
you want to get from your morning coffee — whether it’s energy
boost, flavor, or both — you can choose blends with different
percentage of these two coffee species.”

#5
A Cup of Espresso Can Sober You Up

There’s
hardly a person on earth who has never had a fun, boozy night after
which they wanted to die.

Different
solutions can be used to get oneself back to normal functioning. And
coffee is thought to be one of them. You have probably heard that it
can help break down alcohol and sober you up faster.

But is that
true?

The answer
may be disappointing for some of you.

There is no way to improve the speed of metabolic reactions from the outside. Otherwise, all those magical teas for quick weight loss would work. Although coffee really can make you more alert, it does not relieve the hangover symptoms.

IMAGE Credits - supplied by author