Coffee Acidity?

I get a variety of questions on this topic, most of all I get a lot of people who simply say I have to be careful of drinking coffee since it upsets my stomach. In these cases they don’t even know there’s questions they should be asking. They just believe either decaf is what they should drink, sip a small cup a day or quit and that’s it. I’m going to share what I’ve learned from personal experience and conversations with my customers/friends over these past 3 years. More so I will begin with my personal experience with my wife when she was pregnant, this was the beginning of my learning experience. One thing I’ve learned with coffee, many things are more subjective, than scientific. Acidity however I have seen and heard a pretty consistent experience. I will share that understanding that I have learned through conversations and reading.

To begin in 2020 when I launched the business I was asked often what is low in acidity. Sometimes beans I purchased for roasting would say the level of acidity, other times it would not. Very often as well people would suggest that darker beans have less caffeine and acidity. So far I’ve studied these things to be myths. In addition I’ve learned don’t trust my vendors, they’ll say anything to sell something, as I recently learned with my Sumatra bean. I asked the woman what does complex acidity mean. She said acidity means a lot of things, but doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be hard on the stomach. I got it specifically for a customer of mine, and it took a toll on him sadly. However it was a great bean and has been very popular, just not for those with sensitive stomachs.

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, without realization to either of us, she became a guinea pig. Whenever I would make her a coffee from Africa, she always knew because the acidity in the bean would upset her stomach. However whenever I made a Central American or Mexican bean, she would always know by it’s smooth gentleness that is was from that region. Eventually she would just request those the rest of her pregnancy. This led me to start learning more on the effects of acidity on the body and the specific beans that were better for others, since my goal ultimately is to find a coffee for everyone to enjoy that is healthy for them while remaining pure. Everyone that knows my product understands they don’t need the large amounts of cream and sugar they’re used to drinking, and many eventually transition to black coffee or the most minimal amounts due to the full taste and pure coffee from a one of my 51 countries, that doesn’t get dulled down by a blend.

Now to the point, what coffees you should buy if you have a sensitive stomach. First I have learned as a general consensus washed and semi washed processes are best. I have noticed in conversation that natural process coffees from Central America have had mild effects on my customers who express sensitivity. Whenever they have a washed Central American or Caribbean coffee they always exclaim joy that they had a great experience, my Haitian Blue, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rican Coffee often get the acclaim also. Some Indonesians like Papua New Guinea and South Americans are good for this as well.

It should be noted and emphasized, when it’s natural, anerobic or other non washed methods, I’ve noticed that while these coffees might have a bright and amazing taste, the acidity tends to be more volatile. I hope this can be a better guide to. In general cheap coffee will also agitate your stomach since it’s usually mass produced at low altitudes which will give it higher caffeine amounts which can upset your stomach too, thus why many go the decaf route. In addition some kind of milk or cream will also help. Just like yogurts with Indian foods, the creamy liquids will calm the acidity in your stomach. Cow based products tend to be a natural remedy for a stomach upset by what we consume.