Coffee flour offers healthier way to get caffeine fix
A biophysicist developed “coffee flour”, which could be a healthier option to get your caffeine fix.
Previous studies show that drinking coffee has health benefits. A recent Harvard study proves that drinking three to five cups a day lowers that risk of premature death by 15 percent.
One leading explanation to coffee’s health benefits is an antioxidant called chlorogenic acid (CGA). CGA is thought to be beneficial in modulating sugar metabolism, controlling blood pressure and possibly treating heart disease and cancer.
Unfortunately, when coffee is roasted the traditional way — typically above 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 15 minutes — the CGA content drops dramatically. One study found the decrease ranged from 50 to nearly 100 percent.
Dan Perlman from the Brandies University developed a method to bake beans at lower temperatures to retain CGA. Thus, he came up with parbaking the beans at 300 degrees for 10 minutes. The CGA concentration in the bean (originally around 10 percent for the bean’s weight) was retained.
The parbaked beans can’t be used to make coffee, since it’s not roasted enough to have flavor. However, they can still be blended with roasted coffee beans to up increase the CGA content.
The beans can also be used to make coffee flour. The flour can be then blended with regular flour to make coffee flour to make breakfast cereals and snack bars.
Brandeis has patented Perlman’s coffee bean par-baking and milling method.
