In terms of popularity, coffee is top of the list in Canada. Coffee lovers in Canada consume more than four million bags (60kg) of coffee every year. 

Not only is coffee popular, but the industry is also a creative industry. Because of the large number of coffee lovers, coffee manufacturers now have different types of customers to please. 

This popularity has led to healthy competition between these companies to provide the best taste, quality, and price. Nowadays, coffee comes in different forms. 

Coffee pods and capsules have grown popular over the years and have soon become a go-to for many. If you enjoy coffee capsules, it’s likely because of the taste consistency. When you take a coffee capsule on two different occasions, you can rest assured of getting the same taste. However, the coffee capsule didn't exactly have an easy ride when the idea was new. 

There was a lot of criticism when the idea of coffee capsules first came into the industry. Many coffee lovers questioned if capsule coffee was healthy primarily because of the packaging. 

The issue of health and safety in relation to coffee capsules is the cause of worldwide debate between coffee capsule lovers. It’s a debate we’ll solve once and for all with this blog. Here, we’ll discuss the health effects of capsule coffee and whether or not they’re safe for drinking. 

History of Coffee Capsules

Of course, you are curious to know if capsule coffee is healthy for consumption. However, it's also essential to know the history of coffee capsules. Coffee capsules are delicious, and many ground coffee lovers have a love for the product. Not many coffee capsule lovers know much about the historical background of coffee capsules.

You can trace the existence of coffee capsules to more than four decades ago. The first inventor of coffee capsules, Eric Favre, comes from Switzerland. He may be the first producer of the coffee capsule, but he needed some motivation to develop the idea. Favre's wife, Anna-Maria, played an essential role in the creation of the coffee capsule. 

Anna-Maria is Italian, and as you would expect, she understood the taste of the Italian coffee. In her opinion, the coffee from Switzerland left a bland taste in her mouth. She wasn't happy with the taste of Swiss coffee, so she told her husband since her husband worked in a coffee manufacturing firm. She challenged him to make a good espresso that would suit her taste. 

It was the challenge from his wife that inspired Eric Favre to create the coffee capsule. Before Eric created the healthy coffee capsule, he and his wife travelled to Italy to test different espresso coffee. Finally, after trying many tastes of espresso coffee and asking many people, they found Caffè Sant’Eustachio. Caffè Sant’Eustachio was the coffee shop that sold the coffee many coffee lovers vouched for. 

The Production Process

Producing a healthy coffee capsule didn't come easy for Eric Favre. The first step he had to take was to learn how the experts in Italy made their espresso coffee. He did this to study the secret behind the apparent best in Italy, Caffè Sant’Eustachio. They found the mystery of the coffee shop's success was in their brew preparation. 

Most other baristas prefer to pump their coffee machine's piston once while making their brew. The baristas at Caffè Sant’Eustachio pumped their coffee machine's piston more than once (between three to four times). After the multiple piston pumping, they go on to add oxygen to the brew. The addition of oxygen to your coffee brew is aeration and it enhances the taste and smell of the coffee. 

As a result, the first healthy coffee capsule Eric created had air trapped within the pack. The air trapped will make tasty coffee with a lovely brew scent when you add water. 

Today, there are various types of coffee capsules all over the world. Each one of these coffee capsules differs in its tastes, brand, and flavour. Likewise, many other beverages create a capsule format for the different flavours of their drink. All of these different variations of coffee capsules get their source from Eric Favre's first coffee capsule. 

How Do Coffee Capsules Work?

As a true coffee lover, you'll have come across some vocabulary used to describe some coffee products. Some examples of the coffee vocabulary include; k cups, coffee pods, and coffee capsules. 

Sometimes, you'll see these words used interchangeably by some experts. They all mean different things, and the only similarity is they're all single-serve coffee products. 

A coffee capsule is essentially ground coffee ground, measured, and packaged into a capsule. The capsule will be enough to brew you a standard cup of coffee. The primary materials used to manufacture coffee capsules are either aluminum or plastic. The materials are tough enough to withstand heat and pressure so you can use hot substances. 

Should I Try a Coffee Capsule?

Coffee capsule brings convenience and taste consistency to your coffee brew. However, the materials used to manufacture coffee capsules, as we have mentioned, are plastic and aluminum. These two materials aren't a great addition to the environment as they take time to decompose. 

The good news is most companies producing coffee capsules have a viable recycling process in place. That way, you don’t strictly need to dispose of coffee capsules yourself. Let's look at some features that affect the taste, brewing process, and usability of a coffee capsule. 

Related Article: Health Benefits: Why Coffee Pods Are Good For You

The Characteristics of Coffee Pods: Are they Good for Me?

For a coffee capsule to be healthy for you, it has to meet specific criteria:

Shape and Materials

A healthy capsule of coffee usually has plastic and aluminum as the primary materials. The shape of a coffee capsule always resembles a cylinder. Some coffee capsules have a plastic container and an aluminum foil at the top. The aluminum foil is the blockage hindering the ground coffee from spilling out. 

Size

Usually, coffee capsules come in various sizes. These size patterns are a function of brand, ground coffee content, and machine type. So, you may see a coffee capsule with a small size today and another with a big size tomorrow. 

Taste Freshness

The process of making ground coffee may be cumbersome, but it makes the freshest coffee. 

Your coffee will have the best taste when you finish roasting the coffee beans. If you leave it open for a while, like ground coffee, air and other contaminants will find their way into the coffee. These contaminants will, in no time, affect the freshness of your coffee. 

With coffee capsules, you don't have to worry about the freshness of your brew reducing. Manufacturers encapsulate ground coffee into its capsule immediately after roasting. Healthy coffee capsules always taste and smell fresh.

Brewing Process

A healthy coffee capsule is essentially ground coffee in a capsule. As a result, you have to know how to brew the coffee capsule to enjoy its rich taste. There are two major ways to try brewing your coffee capsule excellently. You can either brew the coffee capsule with a machine or without a machine. 

Brewing coffee capsule with a machine

Brewing a coffee capsule with a coffee machine can be an effortless task. At the same time, brewing the coffee capsule with a device can be a big challenge. Whether it's easy or daunting depends solely on the compatibility between the coffee capsule and coffee machine. 

If you're using a compatible coffee capsule and a coffee machine, you'll find it simple. Brewing a coffee capsule in this situation will be as simple as pressing a button. There are two different systems you can have when you're brewing coffee with a machine, they are; 

• Open system: An open system during a healthy coffee capsule brewing is when you have a compatible machine. This machine isn't compatible with a single product but multiple coffee capsules. In this system, the coffee machine may have a coffee capsule holder with multiple sizes. In some other cases, the coffee machine works with the typical standard size for coffee capsules around. 
• Closed system: The closed system, as you would expect, is the exact opposite of the open system. In the closed system, a particular coffee machine works perfectly well with one specific coffee capsule brand. Most of the time, the coffee capsules and machines mostly have patent protection to their brand. 

Brewing capsule coffee without a machine

Aside from "is capsule coffee healthy?" another common question is if you can brew capsules manually. Yes, it's possible to brew coffee capsules without using a machine. Brewing coffee capsules without a machine will, however, be more challenging than using a machine. 

You need to find a way for hot water to pass through the coffee content inside the capsule. So you can try cutting the upper and lower part of the coffee capsule carefully without affecting the filter. Introduce hot water into the already cut coffee capsule. Brewing without a machine may not exactly give you the best out of your coffee capsule.

Health Effects of Coffee Capsules 

Healthy capsule coffee, without a doubt, has been a great addition to the coffee industry. Without making a mistake in taste quality, you can easily make your cup of coffee from a coffee capsule. 

The easy brewing process of coffee capsules has reduced the number of people reliant on baristas and coffee shops around. Since you can make great coffee at home, it’s likely you would prefer to buy a coffee machine. It means no more waiting lines and trips outside the home. 

This healthy coffee capsule also means you can take your coffee pods anywhere and anytime. For instance, let's assume you buy coffee capsules in Canada for you and your family. If an emergency trip comes up and you need to go to Italy. You don't exactly need to fear trying different coffee there; you'll just travel with some coffee capsules. 

The coffee capsule has had many health benefits and reports since its inception. However, it has also come under severe criticism from non-lovers of a coffee capsule. Mostly, the primary factor they always mention is the environmental impact of coffee capsules. People who don't like coffee capsules say it's not healthy because of the primary production materials discussed above. 

However, there have been massive improvements in the side effects of a coffee capsule. Many companies have renewed focus on recycling as many coffee capsules as possible to save the environment. It’ll also interest you to know green coffee capsules are gaining traction in the coffee industry. 

The goal of a coffee capsule is to save time, strength while delivering tasty coffee to you. The coffee capsule has a lot of health benefits to you and, of course, the environment. Before you assume coffee capsules are bad, you should consider the benefits. Let's take a look at some of the healthy benefits of a coffee capsule; 

Coffee Capsule is Safe to Use and Prepare

Preparing a coffee capsule, as we have explained, is essentially putting it in a machine and waiting for your brew. You don't necessarily need to go through the process of making your coffee with ground coffee. 

Producing ground coffee in itself can be a tedious job to take on. You have to look for the best coffee beans first, then pick out dirt. You will go ahead to toast the coffee beans before you can grind it. The process of creating ground coffee is a lot of hard work. 

With a healthy coffee capsule, you don't need to know about the hard work behind the scenes. All you need to bother about is getting your coffee capsule in the right spot on the coffee machine. After placing the coffee capsule correctly, press a button and with a bit of patience, you're ready to drink. As a result, you save yourself a lot of risks and exposure to harm. 

Stress Reduction

Making coffee with grounds is a tedious task for everyone. You need to take your time to get the proper dosage of coffee for every brew. Since you're not a perfect human, mistakes will occur while making the coffee. Sometimes, these mistakes can make it unpleasant to drink the final brew. 

People prefer to take their favourite cup of coffee early in the morning before they get to work or start working. Due to the time crunch, you may not have the patience and calmness to brew ground coffee perfectly. Instead, you'll prefer to head to a cafè shop for your cup of coffee. 

When you choose a healthy coffee capsule, you have little or no reason to visit a cafè shop. The process of making your coffee becomes straightforward thanks to the capsule. You can place the coffee capsule in a machine, and viola; your coffee is ready. 

Moreso, since the machine has the accuracy and the capsule has correct measurements, you don't need to worry about making bad coffee. Your coffee will come out as fresh as possible.

Neat Preparation Process

Usually, ground coffee production involves sophisticated machines and stressful production. When you finish making the ground coffee, preparing it also becomes a big issue. Apart from the process being long and stressful, it's always dirty. The table will get messy and dirty regardless of how hard you need to try. 

Needless to say, no form of dirt works well with the human body system. Dirt will always bring about adverse effects to your body system. So it's safe to say the dirt from the preparation process of ground coffee harms your body system. 

If you choose a healthy coffee capsule instead, there is little or no worry about dirt. You can make your favourite coffee without any health concerns due to a dirty environment.

Contamination Reduction 

Ground coffee always sees exposure to the environment. As a result, different germs and contaminants in the air can find their way into the mix and harm your body system.

Except you’re careless with them, coffee pods will rarely experience contamination. A coffee capsule is ground coffee processed in a single-serve capsule. Once the manufacturer packs and seals the capsule, that is the end of contamination. Since the coffee capsule has a seal, there is no way for dirt to get in. 

While your ground coffee may have good packaging, you still have to open it each time you need a brew. The more you open it, the higher the possibility of contamination.

Weight Reduction

The weight loss industry is booming. Many products and supplements to help reduce weight are common all across Canada. Healthy coffee capsules can be a more natural and effective supplement for weight loss.

A green coffee capsule originates from the kernel of a coffee cherry. These coffee capsules don't exactly go through the normal roasting process and have many health benefits. 

One of the many health effects of green capsule coffee is weight reduction. A green coffee capsule comes with high levels of chlorogenic acid. These chlorogenic acids influence the metabolism rate of your body system. The increased metabolic rate helps to burn fat more efficiently in your body system. 

Skin Enhancement

As we grow older, we wish our skins could grow younger. While this growth pattern is impossible, coffee capsules can help enhance your skin. Some coffee capsules come with healthy compounds, and antioxidants, to help you fight ageing skin. These compounds in the coffee capsules help your skin fight ageing damage. 

Maintains Blood Sugar

If you still believe coffee capsules are bad for you, let's consider your blood sugar level. You should keep your blood sugar at moderate levels. If your blood sugar level increases, you have a higher chance of getting diabetes. 

Some coffee capsules have compounds like tocopherols and acids like chlorogenic acid. These two combined help reduce the glucose level of your blood. Also, the presence of these compounds regulates the blood sugar level of diabetic patients. 

Cleaning thr Liver

Detoxifying your body system is one good piece of advice any medical practitioner will give to you. Coffee capsules can help you detoxify your body organs naturally.

Are there any Adverse Effects to Coffee Capsule?

Coffee is a chemical compound, and as such, it's normal to have chemical substances within. While a coffee capsule has many benefits as we have mentioned above, there are one or two downsides. The downsides of a coffee capsule are due to its chemical compound. 

According to a research in France, the coffee capsules within twelve different brands had high chemical compounds. These compounds were typically found in coffee, but in coffee capsules, they were slightly higher than usual. Some of the compounds include zinc, tin, cobalt, copper, amongst others. Another huge finding in a coffee capsule is furan. 

Furan is a roasting aroma that comes up when you're roasting a coffee. Some research believes furan is dangerous to one's health. But the amount of furan in coffee capsules isn't enough to cause a health issue. 

Is Coffee Capsule Healthy?

If you're asking for our opinion, the answer will be a big yes! The health benefits of coffee capsules are more than the adverse effects of the product. The only adverse effect coffee capsules come with are the chemical compounds within them.

When it comes to food and consumables, almost all have chemical compounds.  So the safest way out is to consume any food item, including coffee capsules, moderately. 

Are Coffee Capsules Good for The Environment?  

Because coffee capsules have aluminum and plastic as the primary materials, they may be bad for the environment. Of course, plastic and aluminum may combine to need about 500 years for decomposition. However, you should remember there are biodegradable plastics to reduce decomposing time. Moreso, most coffee capsule manufacturers, have a working recycling process in place.

Related Article: Coffee Pods Vs Ground Coffee: Cost, Taste, Features, Which Is Best?

Conclusion

Healthy capsule coffee has been a great introduction to the coffee world, no doubt. As usual, many will criticize and analyze the invention of these coffee capsules. Some will love and support the idea of coffee pods, while some won't. We have listed some health benefits and the adverse effects of coffee capsules above. 

The benefits of coffee capsules supersede the adverse effects. However, if you want to get coffee capsules, you should get good products that won't harm you or the environment. Here at Invigo Coffee, we offer great coffee capsule products with excellent taste quality. Check out our online store for coffee capsules today!