Cafestol and kahweol concentrations in workplace machine coffee compared with conventional brewing methods

Unfiltered coffee contains high concentrations of cholesterol-raising diterpenes. We aimed to measure the levels of diterpenes in machine coffee.

Coffee samples were collected from Swedish workplaces and compared with home-made coffee brews. Concentrations of cafestol and kahweol were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The median (range) cafestol and kahweol concentrations were 176 (24-444) mg/L and 142 (18-434) mg/L for brewing machines (n = 11), 8 (2-343) mg/L and 7 (2-288) mg/L for liquid-model machines (n = 3), and 12 (4-24) mg/L and 8 (3-19) mg/l for home-brewed, paper-filtered coffees (n = 5). Boiled coffee had high concentrations of cafestol and kahweol, 939 mg/L and 678 mg/L, but having it poured through a fabric filter reduced the concentrations to 28 and 21 mg/L. Other coffee brews (percolator, French press) contained intermediate levels of cafestol (∼90 mg/L) and kahweol (∼70 mg/L), with the exception of some espresso samples with high levels (up to 2447 mg/L cafestol).

Most coffees from workplace brewing machines contain higher diterpene concentrations than paper-filtered coffee, but lower than unfiltered coffee. Intake of insufficiently filtered coffee during working hours could be an overlooked factor for cardiovascular health due to its effect on plasma cholesterol concentrations.