Can You Eat Coffee Beans?

Yes! You can eat coffee beans. In fact, they’re a great source of caffeine and antioxidants. Roasted coffee beans are also a good source of dietary fiber.

Coffee; is a magical drink, that is one of the top-consuming beverages in the world. But why is coffee popular around the globe? It’s because of its caffeine content that can make folks energized.

In general, coffee is made with ground coffee (the standard way). You have to mix/filter coffee grounds with some water and the result will be a caffeinated drink that everybody loves to drink. What if we say that you can skip the grinding and brewing part but will satisfy your caffeine needs? Pretty interesting, huh? Yeap, you can, by eating whole coffee beans. So the big question is “Can you eat coffee beans?”
In this comprehensive guide, we will try to figure out if eating coffee beans brings any benefits. Along with that, we will talk about some major considerations about eating coffee beans.

So, hang on tight, and let’s get started.

If you study a little bit about the history of coffee, you can see that people used to mix coffee beans with their cattle food to make them energized. After getting such an astonishing output, they made drinks with the beans of the coffee cherry. The result was pretty good as well.

Some monks found that this newly discovered drink can make them awake during their long evening prayer. So, it’s clear that coffee beans are completely edible. Nowadays, most people love to eat coffee beans with chocolate as a delicious snack.

Now, the question is, is it safe to eat coffee beans? According to modern medical science, people can eat coffee beans and it does contain the same nutrients as liquid coffee. But, the major difference is the concentration of nutrients. As regular coffee is made by filtering coffee grounds using water, you will get a small portion of various beneficial nutrients.

And that small portion is enough for a healthy adult. By eating whole-bean coffee you will get comparatively more caffeine than regular coffee. Caffeine is the world’s most consumed psychoactive drug. If you increase the daily caffeine consumption rate then this might be increased rapidly.

Eating coffee beans is completely safe, just make sure that you are not eating too many coffee beans at once.

Now you know that eating whole coffee beans is not prohibited by medical science. But why do some folks eat coffee beans instead of delicious and healthy liquid coffee? This is what we will talk about in this segment. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of eating coffee beans.

Antioxidants inhibit the process of Oxidation which can cause free radicals. Free radicals are pretty harmful to our health as they damage cell membranes. According to Better Health Channel, Australia, Oxidant is the core reason causing heart diseases and even cancer.

By eating coffee beans, you are getting crucial Antioxidants that can be consumed in the form of Chlorogenic Acid. It’s a health-promoting phenolic compound usually found in fruits, vegetables, coffee, tea, and many other foods.

A study has found that artificial Antioxidants are not as good as natural ones. Antioxidants can lower the risk of diabetes and have cancer-fighting properties as well. However, by roasting coffee beans the amounts of Chlorogenic Acid in coffee might be reduced significantly (about 50%-90%).

Coffee beans also contain fiber which is the edible part of plants. Your doctor might have suggested you take more fiber in your meal. Some of us don’t like that kind of food at all. But if you are a coffee lover then the condition could be a little bit easier. According to Scientific American, both coffee beans and brewed coffee contain fiber. In brewed coffee, you will get fibers that are soluble and can lower Cholesterol.

On the flip side, coffee beans contain insoluble fiber that can bring some relief to constipation by bulking your stool. Moreover, insoluble fiber can create a feeling of fullness even if you haven’t eaten too much food. By doing so, fiber can bring some success to weight management. After all, eating some whole beans coffee along with brewed coffee definitely won’t be a bad idea at all.

Now, it’s time to talk about the world’s most consumed psychoactive drug; Caffeine. Undoubtedly, coffee is one of the highest sources of caffeine in the world and that’s the reason why this drink is so popular worldwide. If you want to eat whole coffee beans, then you will get a pretty concentrated form of caffeine which you won’t get from brewed coffee.

When we make coffee using ground coffee, a large portion of caffeine can be washed away. Besides, according to Healthline, our body can absorb caffeine more quickly than from brewed coffee. Some key benefits of caffeine are making you energetic, sharpening your memory, and reducing tiredness by resisting the flow of the adenosine hormone.

As whole coffee beans consumption can provide concentrated forms of caffeine, therefore, it’s not wise to eat lots at once. In general, eating 8 coffee beans can provide the same amount of caffeine that a person might get from a cup of liquid coffee.

Consuming coffee can protect you from type-2 diabetes, cancer, liver disease, increased level of cholesterol (by burning fat), Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Besides, coffee can reduce depression and can make you energetic as well.

Now let’s look at some of the key differences between whole coffee beans and ground coffee. We have already mentioned that eating coffee beans can provide concentrated nutrient compounds. For instance, you can get caffeine from both beans and liquid coffee, but what you will get from beans will be much more concentrated. Therefore, it’s recommended to eat coffee beans in moderation.

Taste could be another major difference. We won’t tell you to eat green coffee beans (unroasted) as they taste grassy and earthy. Most coffee lovers love to taste coffee beans because of their smokey and nutty taste. For that, you need to get roasted coffee beans. Moreover, unroasted coffee beans are hard to chew.

Ground coffee, on the other hand, is used to make regular coffee. Depending on the roast level you can feel some bitterness, saltiness, sweetness, or even sourness. There are a lot of coffee shops available out there offering you a great cup of coffee, but you hardly find any shop that serves only coffee beans to eat.

If you need an instant solution for satisfying your caffeine needs then coffee beans might be an effective way, sure. On the flip side, you can utilize your coffee-making skills for making a cup of coffee that would be both delicious and can satisfy your caffeine needs; however, it might take some time too.

Caffeine; is the most consumed psychoactive drug in this world. Caffeine is the main reason why people love to drink coffee. It can change your mood dramatically in no time. In this segment, we will take a look at the amount of caffeine difference between whole-bean coffee and regular coffee.

When we say coffee, we indicate the coffee grounds and water’s liquid combination. This liquid drink (we love to call it Coffee) does contain caffeine, which is 100% correct, but the amount is almost negligible compared to whole coffee. As we have mentioned earlier, we used to make coffee by filtering coffee grounds with water. At that time, quite a large portion of caffeine is omitted from the final cup of coffee.

On the other hand, while eating a coffee bean, we eat the whole bean, therefore, absorb the entire caffeine content available in that particular bean. There’s absolutely no chance to lessen the amount of caffeine.

While talking about eating coffee beans, there are actually 2 different options: Green Coffee Beans, and Roasted coffee beans. Green coffee bean means that particular phase when coffee beans are collected from the coffee cherries but have not yet been roasted. Most people don’t enjoy eating this kind of coffee bean. They are hard to chew and don’t have the nutty and smokey flavor that you might get from roasted ones.

Now, when it comes to roasted coffee beans, there are other 3 types: Light Roast, Medium Roast, and Dark Roast.

Light Roasted coffee beans are slightly similar to green coffee beans (unroasted). It’s basically the first stage of cracking and expansion after roasting. You will notice that the bean looks dry. Lightly roasted coffee beans could be a bit tougher to chew although you will get some pleasant coffee flavor as well. This type of roasted coffee bean contains more Chlorogenic Acid (Antioxidants) than some darker ones.

Medium Roasted coffee beans are darker than light roast. They look slightly dry as well but provide a sweeter flavor. Besides, medium-roasted coffee beans are less acidic and more flavorful compared to light roast. Most American prefer this roast level as a perfect balance of acidity, flavor, and aroma. Because of the sweeter taste, a medium roast can be good to eat as well.

Now, the darkly roasted coffee beans. Dark roasted coffee beans are dark in color and shiny because of their oily surface. During the roasting process, coffee beans lose their authentic flavor and transform into slightly bitter-tasting beans. As it’s the highest level of roasting, it contains minimal amounts of acidity.

These coffee beans are not too hard to chew like green beans or lightly roasted beans. However, we would recommend you to stick with medium roast as you can satisfy your desire of eating coffee beans and at the same time won’t feel any unpleasant taste.

Eating coffee beans is certainly not a bad idea; even lots of Americans love to eat coffee beans as a snack. But because of the high amount of caffeine, calories, sugar, and antioxidants, it is not recommended to eat quite a few beans at once.

Coffee is widely popular because of its caffeine content. The maximum limit of caffeine consumption is about 400 mg per day. It’s equivalent to having 4, 8 oz. cups of coffee you can get approximately that much caffeine. Therefore, experts suggest not drinking more than 4 cups of coffee a day. As we are talking about eating whole coffee beans, let’s see how many coffee beans are safe to eat for a grown adult.

Two delicious and vastly popular coffee bean recipes in the US are Chocolate-Covered coffee beans and Dirty Chai Chocolate-Covered coffee beans. In general, every bean of the Chocolate-Covered Coffee Bean recipe contains about 12 mg of caffeine. So, if we do the math, then we can see that an adult can eat no more than 33 coffee beans per day (12 x 33 = 396 mg of caffeine, ~ 400 mg).
But it would be better to not even eat this much as the chocolate and coffee bean combination contains pretty high amounts of fat, calories, and sugar. So, it’s better to eat in moderation.

Eating more than the recommended amount can lead to some serious health issues. Rising Cholesterol Levels, Heartburn, and Cardiovascular diseases are some of the results of having too many coffee beans. Make sure to limit or avoid your caffeine consumption while pregnancy or breastfeeding. After all, it would be great to discuss with a specialist doctor to know how much should be OK according to your physical and mental health.

Hopefully, this thorough guide will help in getting a satisfactory answer to “Can You Eat Coffee Beans”. Make sure to follow some cautions that we have mentioned in this guide in order to avoid any sort of critical health issue. We have tried to keep this guide simple to understand for everyone.

If you still have any kinds of thoughts regarding this topic please feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Share this guide with your friends and family and let them know that they can eat coffee beans as well.

Happy Caffenating!