Washington D.C. - Love your hot cuppa coffee? Turns out, hot brew coffee has higher levels of antioxidants than cold brew.
Researchers have found chemical differences between hot and cold brew coffee that may have health impacts. In particular, the researchers found that hot coffee has higher levels of antioxidants, which are believed to be responsible for some of the health benefits of coffee.
The Thomas Jefferson University research appears in the journal Scientific Reports.
The study also found that the levels of both hot and cold coffee were similar, ranging from 4.85 to 5.13 for all coffee samples tested.
Coffee companies and lifestyle blogs have tended to tout cold brew coffee as being less acidic than hot coffee and thus less likely to cause heartburn or gastrointestinal problems.
The study was conducted by Niny Rao and Megan Fuller, both of whom are coffee drinkers and wondered whether the chemical make-up of cold brew differed from that of hot coffee.
While the popularity of cold brew coffee has soared in recent years, they found almost no studies on cold brew, which is a no-heat, long-steeping method of preparation. At the same time, there is well-documented research that hot brewed coffee has some measurable health benefits, including lower risk of some cancers, diabetes and depression.
While the overall levels were similar, Fuller and Rao found that the hot brewed coffee method had more total titratable acids, which may be responsible for the hot cup's higher antioxidant levels.
"Coffee has a lot of antioxidants, if you drink it in moderation, research shows it can be pretty good for you," Fuller said. "We found the hot brew has more antioxidant capacity."
And considering hot and cold brews have comparable levels, Rao said, coffee drinkers should not consider cold brew "silver bullet" for avoiding gastrointestinal distress.
