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Coffee is one of our favorite beverages in the world, but did you know there is another delicious way to ingest coffee?
That’s right, in addition to drinking coffee you can also eat coffee beans.
Eating coffee beans can be a great snack while also giving you a burst of caffeine to help get you through the day. Eating coffee beans was once the most popular way to consume coffee for a long time before brewing and drinking coffee eventually took over in popularity.
While eating coffee beans can be a great pick-me-up and a great snack on the go, you may not want to just go and throw a handful of raw coffee beans in your mouth and start chewing.
Eating Coffee Beans
Coffee beans are edible in any form you may find them, but some forms are going to taste better than others.
Eating Raw Coffee Beans
Raw coffee beans are what you find inside of the coffee cherry, and despite what their name would have you believe, they are not actually beans at all, they are seeds.
When you pick coffee off of a coffee tree, the coffee “bean” needs to be extracted from the middle of the cherry. The cherry itself is very much edible, but it’s not very sweet and most people do not like the taste of it, so we wouldn’t really advise eating it unless you’re really curious about it.
Once the coffee bean is extracted from the cherry it is dried and then would be considered a raw coffee bean.
These raw coffee beans are going to taste more acidic than their roasted counterparts and are going to be much harder to chew. They are completely edible, and some people do enjoy them, but as far as tasting good, you’re probably going to want to avoid them at this point.
Eating Roasted Coffee Beans
This is where it’s at!
If we had to recommend a type of coffee bean to eat it would be a roasted coffee bean. If you’re a coffee lover, you’ll love the delicious coffee flavor and texture that comes from chewing on a roasted coffee bean.
The one thing we recommend when it comes to eating roasted coffee beans is to be aware that there is a flavor difference depending on the roast.
Coffee beans that are darker, or roasted longer, tend to have a bit more flavor to them as more of the oil has been released which leads to a less acidic flavor. So if you’re looking for more of that coffee flavor we suggest looking for darker beans to munch on.
Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
In addition to raw coffee beans and roasted coffee beans, you can also find coffee beans that have been roasted and then coated and dipped in different ingredients.
The most popular coating when it comes to coffee beans is by far chocolate.
You can find coffee beans dipped in all sorts of chocolate ranging from dark chocolate to milk chocolate. If you’re unsure about the taste, or if you’ll like eating coffee beans, starting off with chocolate covered coffee beans is the best way to get introduced to them.
Don’t Eat Too Many
While coffee beans are safe to eat, you will want to be careful about how many of them you’re eating during a sitting.
Coffee beans contain high amounts of caffeine and antioxidants which can be harmful to your body if consumed in excess. By eating the beans as opposed to drinking them, you’re exposing your body to more caffeine and antioxidants so it’s important to limit your intake.
Too much caffeine and antioxidants can lead to ill-wanted health effects like racing heartbeat, heartburn and even high cholesterol. In addition to that, just like drinking coffee, your bowel movements can be affected as well.
Coffee beans are a great snack that can provide a great pick-me-up during a long day, just remember that eating them will introduce more of the coffee properties into your body.
