Coffee is the most widely consumed drink in the world. Worldwide, approximately 9900 million kilos (Statista, 2019) of coffee is being consumed. That is almost 119 billion cups of coffee! But what is the nutritional value in coffee?
The nutritional values as explained below are based on a cup of coffee prepared with ground beans and filtered (tap) water. So no sugar sticks, milk or sweeteners in the coffee.
To get straight to the point, here is a table with the nutritional value of a normal cup of coffee.
per 100 grams coffee
| Nutritional value | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Energy (kcal) | 0 g |
| Fat | 0 g |
| – Saturated | – 0 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 g |
| Natrium | 2 mg |
| Kalium | 49 mg |
| Carbohydrates | 0 g |
| Dietary fibre | – 0 g |
| Sugar | – 0 g |
| Protein | 0,1 g |
| Caffeine | 40 mg |
| Vitamine A | 0 IU |
| Vitamine B6 | 0 mg |
| Vitamine B12 | 0 µg |
| Vitamine C | 0 mg |
| Iron | 0 mg |
| Magnesium | 3 mg |
* This is based on Arabica coffee
No fat, calories or sugars
At first glance, a cup of coffee seems pleasantly healthy. And this is also largely true. Carbohydrates are naturally present in the form of sugars, but these are broken down by the roasting process. A cup of coffee also contains little to no fat. The oil in coffee beans contains 'healthy' fats. It depends on the brewing method how much of these fats are found in your coffee. The filter in filter coffee blocks almost all fats. With other brewing methods, fats pass through better/differently. This is reflected in the cream layer on top of your coffee.
Conclusion on the nutritional value in coffee: healthy or not?
Coffee is harmless, but of course in moderation. A normal cup of Arabica coffee contains 80 milligrams of caffeine and the daily recommended amount is 400 milligrams. A cup of robusta coffee contains around 230 milligrams of caffeine. If you stay under this limit, you will be fine as far as caffeine is concerned. For the rest, there is nothing wrong with coffee. A coffee can become very 'unhealthy' if you add a lot of milk, creamer and sugar. And that piece of cake or biscuit doesn't help the diet either. Although it does make that cup of coffee a lot more enjoyable.
