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by jorvi 53 days ago
Unfortunately the most flavorful methods (espresso, french press, moka) also raise your cholesterol. So sadly, no, coffee is not universally "good for you". Filtered coffee methods are though, as the filter absorbs the oils.
8 comments

Which is why Italians and Greeks famously all die young of heart disease
Always so cute how fellow coffee lovers will loudly boast the health benefits of coffee, but when you add an asterisk they will see it as a personal attack and respond strongly :)

Coffee is not what defines your identity. It's fine to admit it isn't perfect.

The slight cholesterol boost from those doesn't matter... It's like saying that a banana is radioactive. Let me guess, it's bad to eat fat aswell?

There are far worse foods that spike your cholesterol, irrelevant point you've made

My point is not that unfiltered coffee is good, I’m just saying that northern italians who eat dessert for breakfast, cook everything in lard, drink unfiltered coffee and even (gasp) sometimes smoke cigarettes are significantly healthier than Americans on every metric.

Not saying those things are necessarily good for you, I’m just saying we don’t seem to understand this stuff very well

Probably because they don't consume gobs of HFCS and ultra-processed foods, don't take the car for every single thing[0], and have obesity/overweight rates that are 20-40% lower. A healthier work-life balance and concomitant lower cortisol and blood pressure also helps a lot.

If you compare Italians and Greeks to, say, Swedes and Dutchies, you'd get a much different picture.

[0] not entirely Americans their personal fault, their urban design isn't for walking around

I think it's easy to for many to miss the sarcasm. Not everyone is aware of the life expectancy of certain Mediterranean groups.
>and even (gasp) sometimes smoke cigarettes are significantly healthier than Americans on every metric.

Not just "sometimes". Less these days, but when they were recognized as blue zones decades ago almost everybody smoked like chimneys.

If something has several clear positive effects, and a possible small, arguably irrelevant, negative effect, most people will agree that yes, it's good for you.

It's like trying to argue that running may have a negative effect on some people's meniscus under some specific circumstances. That doesn't negate the generalization "running is good for you".

But filtered coffee is the most flavorful! No other method extracts the subtle nuances as well! P.s. I know it's subjective, just cringe on this claim of "the most flavorful" starting with espresso. :)
Yep, every method brings out a different nuance of coffee flavor, and any true coffee snob will likely own half a dozen or more items for brewing coffee.
> So sadly, no, coffee is not universally "good for you".

Got a citation on that statement? Are we talking significant amounts? How much unfiltered coffee is too much?

Pour over is flavorful and none of the fat
Sorry brother but the worry around cholesterol - especially in the context of the US - is not stemming from people drinking too much coffee. If you have high cholesterol there are 15 other things you should probably be cutting down on. This is similar to people who tell people to watch the sugar content in their fruit intake. No ones getting obese off fruit, the benefits outweigh the negatives tenfold.
While what you say is true, people carrying extra weight are often prediabetic and should be watching sugar/carb intake in the morning when blood glucose levels are already rising without food. That also happens to be one of the most popular times of day to consume fruit, which is why choosing a fruit with a lower glycemic index (or load) at breakfast is importance.
Paper filters give you massive amounts of microplastics
The dose makes the poison.
Even caffeine has an LD50!