I have GERD and am on omeprazole for life. I can pretty much eat and drink whatever I want except for coffee, which doesn't give me heartburn, but does give me stomach upset. I've tried Life Boost and Lucy Jo's low acid coffees and they don't give me any problems, but the flavor is just mediocre. Can anyone recommend a low acid coffee that actually tastes great.
Low Acid Coffee Help
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I'm on decaffeinated for blood pressure and mood, but I don't know about low acidic. I'm surprised at some of the decaf blends and how adequate they are in terms of taste, so I hope you can find the same situation with low-acid coffee. Even good old Folger's decaf is tasty enough. Luckily I'm not a purist about blends.
I have a bad case of acid reflux. Been taking Nexium for last decade or so. Before I was on Nexium, I couldn't drink coffee at all. Now, no issue drinking coffee.
Are you using a drip coffee maker? If you have not done so already you may want to look into a pour over, like a Hario. This method removes much of the acidity. My wife who has issues with acid reflux uses this and it helps greatly with the acidity. As far as beans go, I tend to buy whole bean from local roasters.
Same here. I have GERD and have been on almost all of the proton pump inhibitors and Nexium is the one that worked the best for me.
As for coffee, the darker the roast the lower the acidity will be. You can also experiment with adding a very small bit of baking soda to your coffee to react with the acid and raise the pH.
WholeLatteLove.com - get one of their house blends - like Beamed Up, Buzzville(or whatver its called) or Crema Wave espresso - all of their blends are much lower in acidity than say Starbucks
I drink alot of coffee and also suffer from the dreaded reflux
I drink alot of coffee and also suffer from the dreaded reflux
I'd recommend looking into Yerba Mate, try a roasted one. It sits between tea and coffee, but it's very tasty and a good alternative.
Most lighter roasts will have more acid. The darker the roast, the less acid is the general rule.
I home roast and like low acidity coffee, even though I have no medical conditions, it is a matter of preference. After much trial and error, I found that Sumatran beans roasted to Full City+ (Dark) we’re very flavourful and seem to have very low acid.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I am going to give a bit of unsolicited advice to all you members with GERD. This is from someone with deep experience with this. I was first diagnosed with GERD and a hiatal hernia in the late 1990s. I have basically had my esophagus rebuilt twice with a procedure called a laparoscopic fundalplicaion. Both of those ”blew out” well over a decade ago. I have previously been prescribed every gut medicine and pump inhibitor ever devised by man. I spent about 20 years puking blood most days. I went through a stretch where I was not taking any meds and I really noticed no difference.
Advance the clock a few years, I decided to get overall healthier and lose some unnecessary weight. Part of this regime involved taking pre and probiotics and an abstinence of wheat from my diet. I based the use of pre and probiotics on a comment a pretty respected gut doctor made to me about research that most GERD was not caused by acid but, by a motility issue. The decision about wheat was taken because I thought that gluten could be a problem.
So, what happened? After just about a week, I was no longer daily puking ?. I did not have a problem with gluten. However, I did find that adding wheat back into my diet would always give me gastric distress of some order.My own conclusion is that, wheat is not what it was when I was a kid on the farm and that it was best avoided. Correcting my gut biome with the daily pre and probiotics was the main difference.
I will note that, I began a Ketogenic dIet about 3 years ago and lost about 50lbs. I visited Russia (my wife and I have a place there) in 2019 and went off the Keto and began to consume wheat products. Within weeks I was ”sick” again and put back on most of the weight over the next year.
I got sick of being fatter, sicker, and dumber and went back on Keto and kicked wheat to the curb again in February 2021. I have lost 55 lbs since then (now a skinny 165) and feel better than I have in the last 30 years.
I am not a medical professional but, I spent many years being a professional patient. I am not necessarily advocating anything (maybe) but, I hope that sharing these experiences may help some of you suffering. Been there-don’t plan on going back.
I realize that this is quite rambling but I would be remiss in not mentioning that, about 10 years ago, I had to have my gall bladder removed because of a (luckily, non-cancerous) tumor. There is/was a good possibility that this was the result of longtime use of statins and proton pump inhibitors. Just a cautionary word…
Advance the clock a few years, I decided to get overall healthier and lose some unnecessary weight. Part of this regime involved taking pre and probiotics and an abstinence of wheat from my diet. I based the use of pre and probiotics on a comment a pretty respected gut doctor made to me about research that most GERD was not caused by acid but, by a motility issue. The decision about wheat was taken because I thought that gluten could be a problem.
So, what happened? After just about a week, I was no longer daily puking ?. I did not have a problem with gluten. However, I did find that adding wheat back into my diet would always give me gastric distress of some order.My own conclusion is that, wheat is not what it was when I was a kid on the farm and that it was best avoided. Correcting my gut biome with the daily pre and probiotics was the main difference.
I will note that, I began a Ketogenic dIet about 3 years ago and lost about 50lbs. I visited Russia (my wife and I have a place there) in 2019 and went off the Keto and began to consume wheat products. Within weeks I was ”sick” again and put back on most of the weight over the next year.
I got sick of being fatter, sicker, and dumber and went back on Keto and kicked wheat to the curb again in February 2021. I have lost 55 lbs since then (now a skinny 165) and feel better than I have in the last 30 years.
I am not a medical professional but, I spent many years being a professional patient. I am not necessarily advocating anything (maybe) but, I hope that sharing these experiences may help some of you suffering. Been there-don’t plan on going back.
I realize that this is quite rambling but I would be remiss in not mentioning that, about 10 years ago, I had to have my gall bladder removed because of a (luckily, non-cancerous) tumor. There is/was a good possibility that this was the result of longtime use of statins and proton pump inhibitors. Just a cautionary word…
I have GERD but have mostly been able to control it without medicine. I occasionally go on a cycle of omeprezole but I find it’s usually worst when I am stressed. Instead of regular omeprezole I take an acid reducer as needed like Pepcid. I find I have to do this much less frequently and can go decent stretches without it. I LOVE black coffee but have started taking it with milk which has helped a lot. We use a French press and have also reduced the brew time from 5 to 4 minutes which has helped too.
As was mentioned, probiotics help a lot! Yogurt and other fermented foods are great. I also had good luck making my own chicken bone broth. When o was using that regularly it really helped my gut. I would drink a cup in the morning and it was fantastic.
Every once in a while a take a few days off from coffee. Hard liquor also irritates it so I have to be careful when I have a drink. Beer is ok.
My wife is gluten intolerant and has been off gluten for over a decade. We found that traditional ferment wheat products like sourdough (be careful of commercial sourdoughs - they are often not fermented) are great! The fermentation eliminates the irritants in wheat products. YMMV.
As was mentioned, probiotics help a lot! Yogurt and other fermented foods are great. I also had good luck making my own chicken bone broth. When o was using that regularly it really helped my gut. I would drink a cup in the morning and it was fantastic.
Every once in a while a take a few days off from coffee. Hard liquor also irritates it so I have to be careful when I have a drink. Beer is ok.
My wife is gluten intolerant and has been off gluten for over a decade. We found that traditional ferment wheat products like sourdough (be careful of commercial sourdoughs - they are often not fermented) are great! The fermentation eliminates the irritants in wheat products. YMMV.
Yes ^^ This. Some people just use table salt. Either one works wonders with acidity. This trick is as old as the hills.
If ^^ doesn't work, you should try a cold brew. It's at least half as much acid as hot brewed and frankly has a superior "coffee" taste.
And is delicious hot, too.
I am a reflux sufferer, as well as a number of my friends. I also own a small family coffee roastery. I would suggest trying a local roastery. Darker coffee does lower the acidity, but the roast profile also makes a difference. I have customers that can drink coffee once again without issues due to my coffee selections, and roast profiles. So you are not out of luck.
A little plant-based "milk" can easily neutralize the more acidic coffee. Otherwise, cold brew help lower the general pH of the final product too.
I understand that how the coffee is extracted makes a big difference, affecting taste, bitterness, acidity and caffeine content. And besides method, whether its over or under extracted.
All this on top of the quality of the bean, age, grind, and how its roasted!
Can you detail exactly how you make a cup?
All this on top of the quality of the bean, age, grind, and how its roasted!
Can you detail exactly how you make a cup?
I am doing pour overs with cheap Melitta filters. I've tried the Chemex filters and really didn't notice any difference. I wet the filter before I put in the grounds. Then I pour a small amount of boiling water on the grounds to get them wet. After 30 seconds or so I pour a good amount of water over the grounds that will basically fill my coffee cup. I've tried pouring smaller amounts of water over the grounds multiple times but also did not notice a difference. All the beans I've bought at grocery stores have been garbage. I've been buying beans from a local roaster that air roasts, which I guess is the better way to roast, but I'm no expert. That has helped some, so maybe need to just experiment more. Open to any and all suggestions.
No. Cause there is not such a thing. Some are better then others but the acid is too much part of the flavor profile of coffee.