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There’s lots of things we know about coffee and lots of things we don’t know. And as with anything, when we don’t know everything there is to know about something, rumors and myths start to present themselves in the form of truths.
Coffee presents itself as this delicious, natural drink with high amounts of caffeine and a variety of possible health benefits, but there are a lot of things that people believe about coffee that just aren’t true.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common myths revolving around coffee, coffee beans, and how coffee affects the human body.
Top 5 Coffee Myths
Drinking Coffee at Night Will Keep You Awake
It is a fact that a cup of coffee has caffeine in it and that large amounts of caffeine are associated with energy and staying awake. A cup of black coffee contains just about the same amount of caffeine as a can of Red Bull. So it makes sense that you would think that consuming a cup of coffee or an energy drink before bed is going to make it harder to fall asleep, but would you believe me if I told you that’s not necessarily true?
This one all depends on when you have your last cup of coffee and what your tolerance to caffeine is. We know a lot of people that enjoy a cup of black coffee or espresso after a good meal, which could be well after 8 or 9PM at night, and it actually helps them sleep better. And at the same time we know people that can’t have a cup of coffee after 4PM or they are up all night.
This statement is going to be different for every person depending on how your body handles caffeine. In general you’ll feel the full effects of caffeine about an hour after consumption and about 6-7 hours after consuming it, most of the caffeine will have already been flushed from your system.
Coffee Will Sober You Up After Drinking Alcohol
Movies, tv shows, and even most people in real life, will give you the assumption that a cup of strong coffee after you’ve had too much alcohol will help you sober up more quickly.
Unfortunately, that is completely false.
Consuming coffee does not help remove the alcohol from your system, only time will help with that, but coffee can help perk you up and give you a boost of energy when dealing with a hangover.
Typically, when you’re hungover you will experience headaches, tiredness, and a myriad of other physical discomforts. Since alcohol dehydrates your body, getting any sort of liquid into your body is going to help replenish those liquids that you’ve lost, and help you start to feel better. The caffeine in the coffee will also help give you a boost of energy that can make it seem like it’s helping with the hangover.
The idea that drinking coffee when you’re still inebriated to help sober you up though, that is completely false as the coffee cannot help your body filter out the alcohol any faster.
Darker Roast Coffee Has More Caffeine
One of our favorite myths that we hear all the time is that darker roast coffee has more caffeine that lighter roast coffee.
It may seem like darker roasted coffee would have more caffeine than the lighter roast if you didn’t know any better, but truthfully the caffeine content is no different between roasts.
The roast of coffee beans, whether dark, medium, or light, will only affect the flavor of the coffee when brewed. This myth stems from the bolder flavor of darker roasts and people associating that bold flavor with more caffeine content, but that’s simply not true.
Coffee Causes Dehydration
What causes dehydration in the body? Lack of water, right? Did you know that coffee is made up of 98% water?
While contains caffeine, which is a diuretic, that does not mean that coffee causes dehydration. In fact, it’s actually the opposite.
Because of the high water content in coffee, whatever diuretic effects the coffee is having on your body are replenished by the amount of water contained in each cup. Now, obviously if you’re severely dehydrated because of other reasons, a cup of coffee is not the first thing we would reach for, but drinking coffee itself will not cause dehydration.
Drinking Coffee Will Stunt Your Growth
It’s more common than not to see younger and younger people drinking coffee these days. And while the elevated levels of caffeine are not good for younger people, there’s always been this rumor that drinking coffee at a young age will stunt your growth.
This rumor has been around as long as we have and there is no scientific proof to back it up. It is believed that this rumor was circulated due to a really old study that showed a possible link between coffee drinkers and osteoporosis, but that was proven false. It was determined that the link was most likely due to the fact that coffee drinkers consume less milk and calcium, which can absolutely lead to osteoporosis, but coffee in itself will not stunt your growth.
