Drinking coffee is already part of our daily life, and about 30-40% of the population drinks coffee every day. As reported by the current coffee statistics from the International Coffee Organization, it is estimated that 1.4 billion cups of coffee are consumed each day worldwide.

Now, as we all know, coffee has been linked to several health benefits, such as it may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, extend lifespan, and reduce blood cholesterol.

Filtered Brewed Coffee is Better For Your Health

The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology published a recent observational study in April 2020 that looked into 508,747 men and women who are healthy coffee drinkers between the ages of 20 and 79 over 20 years and found that unfiltered brewed coffee was associated with higher mortality than filtered brewed coffee, and filtered brewed coffee was associated with lower mortality than no coffee consumption at all. The study's goal was to identify whether the filtered brewing method is linked with any death and cardiovascular mortality.

Here's why -- filtered coffee was associated with a 15% reduced risk of death from any cause. Notably, the risk of cardiovascular death was decreased in filtered brewed coffee by 12% in men while 20% lowered in women compared to no coffee consumption at all. Additionally, people below 60, in particular, who drank 1-4 cups of filtered brewed coffee daily showed the lowest mortality rate.

One of the study authors, Dag Thelle, also recommends shifting to filtered brewed coffee, especially for people who are worried about high blood cholesterol. He also advised avoiding unfiltered brewed coffee for those who already have high blood cholesterol.

Studies have shown that unfiltered coffee contains 30 times more compounds of diterpenes, mainly kahweol and cafestol (coffee oils), which can elevate harmful cholesterol levels. Therefore, using filtered drip coffee limits coffee consumption to less than 4 cups a day and avoids drinking unfiltered coffee too often.

The study concluded that filtered drip coffee is the best choice. We suggest keeping your coffee simple and choose filtered, black coffee without any additional creamers/milk and sugar.

Types of Filters

To clarify what type of filter should be used since there are cloth, metal, and paper filters. The recommended filter for your drip coffee should be a paper filter.

Here's the difference between the three. Let's start with the metal filter, this type of filter isn't absorbent; therefore, coffee oils are still present in your coffee, but it's the easiest to clean and can be used for a long time when cleaned and maintained correctly.

Cloth filter does capture coffee grounds and even micro-grounds but barely absorbs coffee oils and is challenging to clean and maintain for more extended use. However, these first two filters would help lessen paper pollution and waste.

On the other hand, paper filters are tightly woven and absorbent to oils and micro-grounds which means that it traps the coffee oils that raise bad cholesterol and other compounds that increase cardiovascular disease and leaves you a clean cup of coffee, plus it gives you a light, crisp and flavorful coffee for your palette to experience. Be responsible for throwing your paper filter properly.

Types of Filtered Coffee

We have three popular paper filtration methods and the coffee they leave in the cup:

1. Pour-Over Method (Cafec Flower Dripper / V60 / Kalita Wave) - standard paper filters (cone-shaped mostly, some are trapezoid) for this brewing equipment tend to yield a clean, bright and crisp cup because it filters out the majority of the coffee oils extracted during the brewing process.

2. Chemex - thick paper filters are used for brewing coffee in Chemex, resulting in a minimal amount of coffee oils in your cup, usually none at all. Chemex produces clarity of flavors, especially for delicate coffees such as single-origin light roast and medium roast coffees.

3. Aeropress - this is your on-the-go coffee gear where ever you go. The small, round paper filter for Aeropress is thin, not filtering out a high level of coffee oils.

When choosing the first filtered brewing gear, pour-over is recommended. Here's Why Pour-Over Brewing Method is great to begin your coffee journey and start drinking a healthy cup of coffee every day.