7 Science-Backed Benefits of Decaf Coffee

Most people assume the health benefits of coffee come from caffeine. They don't. The real decaf coffee benefits — from antioxidants to heart health — are present whether or not your cup contains caffeine..

Here are the top 7 reasons to start drinking decaf coffee today.

7 Benefits Of Decaffeinated Coffee

1. No Caffeine Jitters or Sensitivty

Some people are more sensitive to caffeine. If you get symptoms like anxiety, the shakes, and restless nights, you might be one of them.

Caffeine sensitivity is partially genetic. Some people have a gene mutation which slows down the breakdown of caffeine, making them more likely to experience the negative effects. If you’re one of these people, you’ll fare much better on decaffeinated coffee. 

Your age, weight and sex can also be a cause of the caffeine jitters. Plus, your liver plays a big role in how well you can process caffeine.  While most of this is out of your control, drinking decaf means you can still enjoy your morning coffee without the unwanted side effects.

2. Better Sleep, Every Night

For good sleep, experts recommend no caffeine after midday. So one huge benefit of decaffeinated coffee is that you can drink it all afternoon without worrying about how you’re going to sleep that night. 

 We all know someone who can drink a full-caff coffee directly before bed. But don’t be fooled: those people tend to be somewhat sleep-deprived, meaning that they’ll be able to drop off despite being pumped with stimulants. 

 Also, they’ll often wake up throughout the night and disrupt their sleep cycles. This means they’ll not get the deep sleep required to clean the brain of the debris built up over the daytime. And they’ll start the cycle again with more caffeine to wake them up in the morning. 

If you’re a slow caffeine metaboliser, however, you might not be able to tolerate any caffeine at all. Some people can’t sleep even after consuming caffeine in the morning. 

3. Decaf Coffee Supports Weight Management

A large study shows that drinking either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee daily reduces the risk of weight gain — by the same amount. Every extra cuppa further reduced the risk of weight gain — and even adding cream or whitener didn’t make a difference. 

The key point is that your cuppa doesn’t contain sugar. Sweetened coffee counteracts the protective effects of coffee against weight gain.

4. Decaf Coffee is Good for your Heart

Both normal and decaffeinated coffee significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular and heart diseases. In fact, multiple studies show that caffeinated coffee improves overall heart health in healthy people. 

However, it could increase the risk of a heart attack in those who already have diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

To be on the safe side, go for decaf coffee if you have any potential heart issues.

5. Powerful Anti-Ageing Antioxidants

There’s now so much evidence that coffee is great for your health — but not because of the caffeine. Actually, the health benefits of coffee have nothing to do with caffeine. It’s all down to the high antioxidant levels.

You don’t have to drink caffeine for the benefits. Studies show that decaffeinated coffee has just as many health benefits as caffeinated coffee. Those antioxidants might even counteract (and hence mask) some of the negative effects of caffeine.

Just make sure to choose decaf coffee made with the Swiss water process because this method preserves the most health-promoting molecules.

6. No Caffeine-Induced Anxiety

One major side effect of caffeine is anxiety. You’re especially at risk of caffeine-induced anxiety attacks if you already have anxiety or panic disorder. But even mentally healthy people are at risk of caffeine-induced anxiety after five cups of coffee. 

On the flip side, those drinking 2–3 cups of coffee daily tend to have fewer mental health issues than those who don’t drink coffee, including depression and anxiety. But this is probably because those who are not at risk of caffeine anxiety tend to drink more coffee — not that caffeine helps reduce the risk.

So, if you notice that you feel anxious after caffeine, it’s best to avoid too much of it. As decaffeinated coffee is usually 99% caffeine-free, there’s no risk of post-caffeine anxiety.

7. Performance Benefits — Even Without the Caffeine

It’s easy to see how caffeinated coffee could promote sports performance, but decaf too? We don’t exactly understand the mechanisms, but studies do indeed show that performance is better after decaffeinated coffee, too — if the subjects believed they were consuming caffeine.

This could be due to the placebo effect because people associate the taste of coffee with caffeine’s stimulating effects. Or it could be partially down to the antioxidants in decaf coffee promoting recovery, and improving subsequent exercise performance. 

Decaffeinated coffee may also improve alertness.

Either way, there’s nothing to lose by trying a decaf coffee before your next exercise session.

Benefits of decaffeinated coffee

Ready to chug the benefits of decaffeinated coffee? Before you go out and buy the first pack of decaf coffee you see, read our guide on the best decaf coffee. This will make sure you avoid the bad-tasting decaf coffee and choose the best, health-promoting decaf coffee available. Otherwise, you might be wasting your time and money. 

Need great-tasting decaf for your small business?

We believe that your decaf customers should get the same great-tasting coffee and flavour notes as the caffeine varieties. This is why we only use the Swiss Water process for our beans and supply our customers with a decaf coffee that meets our exacting tastes. 

Order your batch of wholesale speciality decaf roast here.