To truly determine what’s the best coffee to drink black you first have to determine the purpose that you’re drinking the coffee for.
If all you want to know is which is the best black coffee to have as your morning coffee, then that’s pretty easy to determine and we’ll get to that below in just a second.
If your interests are using black coffee for weight loss, health benefits and health safety, best black coffee at Starbucks or other reasons then we will cover them in depth below in this article.
To answer what’s the best coffee to drink black, we really have to ask a much bigger question and that is…
What’s The Best Black Coffee In The World?
The world’s best is a disputable issue.
So, what we are going to do is make a case for 2 different coffee’s and let you decide which you think is best.
What Are The Criteria For The Words Best Coffee?
To have a winner at anything, you have to have criteria by which they or it is judged.
The criteria that we feel are the most important are (in no particular order).
Fair Trade
The coffee should abide by fair trade practices so that you’re not supporting ripping off indigenous peoples, child labor, forced labor or labor at unfair rates and a few other issues.
Organic
It must be organically grown coffee without the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or chemical fertilizers.
Grown at Altitude
Coffees grown at high altitudes grow much more slowly due to the harsh weather conditions than coffee grown at lower altitudes.
This gives the plants fruit that contains the coffee bean more time to develop its complex sugars.
When the sugars are forming, the acids are converted as part of the process. This leaves the bean portion that we use much smoother, less acidic and with a greatly improved aroma and flavor profile than quick growing, younger, immature beans.
Additionally, coffees grown at altitude have incredibly low mold spore counts. The molds that traditionally plague coffee growers have a terrible time surviving at these same altitudes that allow the coffee to grow slowly and flourish.
This translates into a very nice, clean, smooth tasting and healthy product that you can feel confident drinking every morning.
Environmentally Sustainable
Sustainable really means; something you can keep doing over and over that does not damage the environment and that hopefully even helps it.
Shade grown, organic, high altitude coffee helps protect the environment in many ways, here are just a few.
A). Because its shade grown other taller trees are grown alongside the coffee plants which creates a multi level habitat for many species of wildlife.
You can have birds and monkeys in the tall trees, while you have many other species on the ground.
B). It preserves the land. Instead of just being logged for wood and stripped bare, it has deep rooted trees and plants that preserve the topsoil, use up carbon dioxide and give off pure oxygen.
C). You’re helping to preserve vast tracts of land that are not being sprayed with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
Every gallon of that stuff that’s not sprayed is a gallon that’s not going into local drinking water or ending up in your coffee first thing in the morning.
Tastes Great Black
Let’s face it, if it doesn’t taste good, no matter how much someone pitches you on how groovy it is for mother earth, you’re going to be hard pressed to drink it.
It’s rough brewing your coffee in the morning every single day knowing it’s going to taste like burnt dirt.
So, we have tested numerous brands over several years and will give you the clear winners as far as taste in concerned as well.
The fantastic thing is, truly ecologically sound, nontoxic coffee can also taste great so long as you have the right source.
What Is Black Coffee?
This next part may sound goofy, but it has to be said.
In order to judge things fairly we had to establish what black coffee is and is not.
Black coffee is coffee brewed or extracted with water only with nothing else added whatsoever.
It can not contain milk, cream sugar, sweeteners or anything else. It is coffee and water, period.
What’s The Best Way To Brew Black Coffee?
Before you can decide which coffee is best for taste and has the lowest acidity you need to determine the best brewing or extraction methods that you’ll use in the testing.
Here are the methods that have given us the best results for overall flavor profile and reduced acidity.
A). Cold Brewed. Here you place the coffee in cold water and let it sit overnight. You then strain the grounds from it and refrigerate your filtered coffee heating up only as much as you need per serving.
There are cold brewing pots you can get that make this very easy to brew and easy to clean up as well.
B). Standard Drip. For this method you’d use most any drip coffee maker that heats the water and drips it over the coffee.
Brewing this way has the most acidity of any of the methods, but it’s what most people are familiar with.
C). Hot Forced Extraction. When you go to an espresso shop where they tamp a small amount of coffee into an infuser and force hot water through it, this is known as hot forced extraction.
D). French Press. The coffee is left to stand in hot water for between one and several minutes and then a plunge filter pushes the coffee grounds down while the brewed coffee water rises.
The benefit here is that, all the coffee comes in contact with water and so it’s very efficient.
Which Is The Best Coffee Brewing Method?
Each have their strong points. However, the two that seem to give the lowest acidity and best flavor overall are.
A). Cold Brewed Coffee. The reason being that; the acids need heat and time to be released. However, no matter how much time they spend in cold water they are never fully released because the other requirement it heat.
Cold brewed leaves you with all the coffee flavor and very little of the acidity.
B). Hot Forced Extraction. There is a reason espresso and all the drinks made from it are such a global phenomenon. When you get your Latte, Americano or other coffee drink they are using the hot forced extraction method to brew your coffee.
In order for coffee to allow its acids to seep out it needs heat, time and water volume.
The hot forced extraction method forces a small amount of hot water through the compacted coffee very rapidly.
There isn’t enough time for the acids to seep, there isn’t enough water for them to disperse well, and the compacted coffee itself acts as a filter not allowing the acids through.
Is There A Clear Winner between The Two?
Not really. Both are good and each gives the coffee different characteristics that are favored mostly by individual preference.
If the hot extraction method is kept as espresso and not diluted into another named drink such as an Americano or Latte, then it’s the only one of the two methods that produces crema.
A lighter colored layer on top of the espresso, crema is prized by espresso drinkers worldwide for its pungent flavors and aroma.
Is it better? That’s all a matter of taste.
How To Test Both Methods Of Brewing Coffee
The easiest way to taste test the hot forced extraction is to go to a coffee shop such as Starbucks® and ask them to use their organic, shade grown coffee to make your Americano or Espresso.
Just drink that black and see how you like the flavor and test how the low acidity feels compared to what you might be used to.
For the cold brewed coffee, you’ll likely need to go buy a set up. You can get them for as little as $30 to $60 online, with the price depending mostly on the style of the brewing device and the brand.
If you’re like most people, you’ll strongly prefer one or the other and then if you choose to go the hot forced extraction method then you can invest in that equipment or just pop into your local coffee shop each day.
If cold brewed is your favorite, you’ll already have everything you need to get started right away.
One caveat; brewing your own coffee at home will save you thousands of dollars over time. Plus, you know exactly what’s in it, which is the whole purpose in the first place.
What’s The Best Black Coffee To Drink For Health Benefits?
The answer to this question is going to be one that follows all of our stated criteria that pertain to health and planetary wellness.
Because to quote Chief Seattle “What befalls the earth, befalls the children of the earth”.
You cannot use products that harm the earth and expect to never be affected by them. That’s just illogical.
Since all coffees that we are aware of have both caffeine and Chlorogenic acids which we will discuss later under weight loss, there really isn’t much difference in their positive effects.
The real differences are found in their negative effects.
Be sure to drink organic, shade grown coffee that follows our other guidelines and you’ll be doing your health and the planet a world of good.
Because we get asked this question a lot and we just brought up Starbucks®, we feel that we should answer it here:
What’s The Best Black Coffee To Drink At Starbucks®?
Since each store orders independently and corporate is always switching up products testing new things in different countries and regions it’s best to use our above criteria and shop for it.
We could give you a recommendation that they carry right now and then discontinue before you even finish reading this.
If you need assistance, just ask the employees and they should be able to help you ensure the coffee you get from them meets some, if not all of our criteria.
However, coffee shops aside, let’s take a look at the two best coffees in the world.
What’s The Best Coffee In The World To Drink Black?
Having tasted and researched dozens of coffees over the years we have narrowed it down to just 2.
One you can get quite easily, the other you may have to jump through hoops to obtain, but it’s worth it.
Which one is the best?
Only you can decide that. You’ll need to drink both of them and form your own opinion.
So, they are not necessarily listed in order of preference.
Simply Nature® Coffee from either Peru or Honduras would have to be one of our picks.
They meet all of our criteria and the great thing is that they are available from Aldi’s grocery stores and online.
They offer them in several different roasts to accommodate your preferred coffee flavor profile, they are priced right and are also ecologically packaged.
Nicaraguan Coffee From Matagalpa is considered some of the finest in the world by many experts.
Matagalpa is a very small-town high in the mountains of Nicaragua that also grows some of the finest cigar wrapper leaves anywhere in the world as well.
The volcanic soil, heavy rainfall and tropical climate combine for a fantastic growing region for many types of unique plants.
The challenge with this coffee is getting your hands on it.
While the Simply Nature® brand is readily available in Aldi’s, online and other stores the coffee of Matagalpa is another story.
Jason the owner of the guesthouse ‘Harvest House’ in Leon, Nicaragua also has a guesthouse in Matagalpa and sells the finest coffee in the region that he gets direct from the growers.
If you’re not in the mood to track him down, then Simply Nature is just a mouse click away.
Hey, sometimes you have to be willing to do what others won’t to get the world’s best.
Now that we’ve identified our picks for the world’s best coffee to drink black, let’s discuss the top question people always ask about the worlds best coffees, and that is…
What’s The Best Black Coffee For Weight loss?
The reason we’re answering this below our top picks is that, our picks are the best to drink black, but weight loss is a different category.
However, there is a little trick to drinking coffee for weight loss where you add just a little something to it that gives it incredible flavor and makes it even better for losing weight fast. We’ll give you that tip below.
The best coffee for weight loss is still going to be one of our two picks.
The reason is simple. It meets the criteria for being the best in many ways and all coffee contains caffeine and chlorogenic acids.
Caffeine you’re likely familiar with.
Chlorogenic acids are a group of antioxidants that slow down the production of glucose in your body after a meal.
The reason this is so important is that when glucose rises and especially when it rises too fast, it causes a massive spike in insulin.
As you may know, insulin is the primary storage hormone and glucagon is the primary mobilizing hormone.
Insulin not only stores glucose in the liver and tissues to be used later for fuel, it also orchestrates fat storage as well.
Glucagon mobilizes these stored fuels to be used as energy.
One of the primary methods any diet helps you lose weight is by keeping insulin regulated so that you have small, normal secretions and not huge spikes and glucagon can do it’s job.
The chlorogenic acids in coffee help regulate insulin spiking after mealtimes. This means that the tradition of having a coffee after dinner may not be such a bad idea after all.
But, don’t put cream or sugar in your after-meal coffee or you’ll not only negate the effects and spike insulin, you’ll add bad calories which have no real value.
You can stir in half a teaspoon of cold processed coconut oil into your coffee and the unique triglycerides (a type of fatty acid found in the oil) can also help slow down the production of insulin and even make you feel more satiated from your meal.
The side bonus is that it also tastes great!
The best coffee to drink black is up to your individual tastes. Give the two we’ve chosen a try, use the brewing gear we’ve suggested, and you’ll be well on your way to discovering your personal favorite in no time.
References:
1. https://www.foxnews.com/health/coffee-an-effective-weight-loss-tool
2. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mct-oil-vs-coconut-oil