Best Low Acid Coffee: Our 3 Top Picks in 2023
Coffee can be very acidic and can make even the biggest coffee lover with a sensitive stomach sick. If you have a sensitive stomach, you likely already know the pain of trying to drink coffee. If this is you, keep reading to find the best low acid coffees available today.
Best Low Acid Coffee: Lifeboost Low Acid (Organic)
Exclusive: Lifeboost currently offers Emergent Brew readers free shipping and 50% off 3 12-oz. bags of their premium low-acid coffee. Use this link to get the special offer.
This coffee is the best of the best for low-acid coffee. We didn’t pick a specific roast for Lifeboost, as all of their coffees are designed to be low-acid. Their coffee beans are specifically cultivated and engineered to produce as little acid as possible. The result is what they boost to be the healthiest coffee currently on the market.
The “acid” in coffee usually refers to the pH level. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14. Seven is completely neutral and is generally the pH of pure water. Any numbers below seven are considered to be acidic. Regular coffee usually has a pH of around 4 or 5, depending on how it is grown, processed and brewed.
Two types of natural acids are usually found in coffee. This includes chlorogenic acid and quinic acid. Chlorogenic acid is full of antioxidants and is generally considered to be a good acid. Quinic acid, on the other hand, comes from roasting coffee beans. When the beans are reheated or burned, it releases more of this quinic acid which is the prime reason behind many stomach issues that coffee can cause.
Lifeboost ensures that their coffee is roasted in such a way as to avoid the formation of quinic acid while keeping most of the chlorogenic acid in place. The result is a smooth, delicious cup of coffee that still holds all of the health benefits of the antioxidant-rich chlorogenic acid while reducing the stomach-irritating effects of the quinic acid.
If you’re wondering what quinic acid does, it is responsible for upsetting the stomach lining, causing digestive issues, and agitating health conditions like irritable bowel syndrome and GERD.
But coffee truly starts before the beans even reach the roasting process. The beans need to be grown first. Lifeboost harvests its coffee beans from a plantation in Nicaragua. Beans in this area are known for naturally being low in acids. The experts at Lifeboost suspect this is caused by the high-quality soil used on the plantation to grow the coffee plants.
After the beans are picked, Lifeboost uses a method known as dry processing to remove the coffee beans from the coffee cherries. This processing method is the oldest method known in the history of coffee and is known for creating a low-acid bean.
In dry processing, the cherries are left out in the sun to dry for a few days before they are brought in to be stored. The cherries then sit in storage for about a week. After waiting for it up, the cherries are brought back to be peeled. Dry processing leaves coffee with earthy tones in the final flavor.
Some of Lifeboost’s low-acid coffees also use what is known as semi-dry processing. In this, the cherries are peeled right away, and the cherry pulp is left to sun dry for a week. This type of processing shifts the resulting flavor slightly from earthy to fruitier.
There are two ways that you can enjoy Lifeboost’s low acid coffee. They suggest using their dark roast coffee as their lowest acid possible and letting the coffee brew low and slow for the best low acid coffee. This long brewing process at lower temperatures allows the coffee to be extracted while keeping acids in the coffee grounds.
The other option is cold brew. Cold brew is brewing coffee in cold water for a long period, usually overnight. Brewing in cold water means that those acids are not extracted from the coffee, leaving only a smooth, low-acid, deliciously cold beverage.
Whatever the way you choose to brew your coffee, if you grind it yourself, use this helpful coffee grind chart.
Volcanica Komodo Dragon Coffee
While Lifeboost was at the top of our list thanks to their specialty low-acid coffee, a close second was this amazing coffee from Volcanica.
Komodo Dragon is one of the best low-acid coffee roasts, grown on a small island in Indonesia. The island of Flores lies just 200 miles east of Bali. The name Komodo Dragon comes from the largest lizard that roams the world.
The island of Flores is filled with rugged terrain, mountains and volcanoes. These volcanoes lead to extremely fertile soil and the perfect conditions for this coffee.
Komodo Dragon coffee is known for its exotic flavor with hints of tobacco and cocoa, with evident floral notes. Komodo Dragon coffee is also Rainforest Alliance Certified and Kosher Certified.
The pH of this coffee sits at 5.1, which is definitely less acidic than many other commercial coffees. For reference, Starbucks coffee sits at an acidic 4.85.
Aside from the fertile soil that the beans are grown in, the developers use two main processes to ensure this is one of the best low acid coffees out there. First, they use a wet hulling process to remove the pulp and skin of the cherries from the coffee beans without removing everything 100%. The dehulled beans are then left out on raised beds to dry. This dries out the coffee slowly and naturally, allowing the flavors to develop into something sweeter and more floral than they would be otherwise.
Once the coffee beans reach their main headquarters in Atlanta, United States, the coffee is roasted to order. This not only ensures that your coffee arrives at your doorstep at peak freshness, but it also allows them to control the roasting parameters to ensure the lowest acidity.
Komodo Dragon coffee is roasted longer than you would for regular coffee. This long roasting process keeps the acidity low.
Bulletproof Medium-Roast Coffee
No list of the best low acid coffee would be complete without Bulletproof coffee.
Bulletproof coffee became famous a few years ago for being a new roast of coffee and for the lifestyle shift designed to go with it. The Bulletproof method starts with replacing your regular breakfast with this coffee.
To prepare the coffee by this method, you start by brewing one cup of Bulletproof coffee. You then add 1-2 teaspoons of MCT oil or coconut oil. Finish this off with 1-2 tablespoons of butter or ghee. It is recommended to blend the ingredients until it is smooth and frothy. The result is a drink that is said to be something like a latte.
According to Bulletproof coffee, this mixture reduces your appetite while still giving you enough calories to power through your morning. The caffeine and oil also give you mental benefits of making you more alert and have heightened memory and recall. Some people use Bulletproof coffee to help them lose weight, while others use it as a means to be clear-headed through the morning without the insulin crash of other carb-heavy breakfast options.
If you’re looking for a low-acid coffee because of digestive issues, you may want to give this Bulletproof (keto coffee) recipe a try. The combination of coffee with butter and oil will help to coat your stomach lining to further protect you from the acidity of the coffee.
Moving on to the coffee itself, Bulletproof is known for being low-acid in general. Their Medium Roast, in particular, is one of the best low acid coffee roasts; a wonderfully full-bodied option that still has low acid without sacrificing flavor or caffeine.
They grow only an heirloom variety of Arabica beans picked over by skilled harvesters to ensure that only the best beans make it into your coffee. They also harvest intending to reduce microbiological contamination and mycotoxins. Their beans are Rainforest Alliance certified.
Bulletproof grows its beans in Colombia, Guatemala and El Salvador.
This medium-roast coffee has a wonderful blend of flavors, including hints of cinnamon, orange and plum. It finishes out with hazelnut and cocoa.
Best low acid coffee: the final verdict
We love Lifeboost’s low acid coffee for its dedication to crafting the highest quality and healthiest coffee on the market. Coffee lovers with digestive issues will rejoice at the security of having coffee they can drink without risking their stomach health. If you want to try coffees other than Lifeboost, Volanica and Bulletproof are great options for low acid coffees with various flavors and benefits.