Boiled coffee in a pot contains high levels of the worst of cholesterol-elevating substances. Coffee from most coffee machines in workplaces also contains high levels of cholesterol-elevating substances. However, regular paper filter coffee makers filter out most of these substances, finds study.

[u/mvea]

https://www.uu.se/en/press/press-releases/2025/2025-03-21-cholesterol-elevating-substances-in-coffee-from-machines-at-work

[u/Caspica]

I don't see why it shouldn't. According to the study the paper filter filters out the substances. Moka brewers only "filters" like espresso makers, which is basically pressing the water through a metal mesh. Espresso makers were found to have high levels of these chemicals.

[u/darekta → u/Caspica]

So why doesn't everyone in Italy have insanely elevated cholesterol? There is a Moka pot in every household.

[u/Consistent_Bee3478 → u/darekta]

Because nutrition isn’t only ever one thing.

Also drinking litres of moka/espresso isn’t a thing. So those 2 cups espresso a day is kinda not the same as drinking a cup of coffee an hour.

And then you got the whole other nutrition around: if you don’t eat excess calories, as well as eat not highly processed foods, your cholesterol is not being elevated from food intake in the first place, compared to a diet rich in easily absorbed fats and high calories.

So any impact of cholesterol Increasing compounds in espresso will only have a minor effect.

Basically if you eat an actual well rounded and otherwise healthy diet, one ‘sin’ won’t do significant harm. 

[u/flummyheartslinger → u/Consistent_Bee3478]

This post should be printed and posted in every fitness and nutrition sub. So many people focus on a single macro or even micro nutrient and miss the big picture of how things all work together.

[u/TastyTaco217 → u/flummyheartslinger]

Agreed, most people tend to look at nutrition as black and white, good or bad, when actually it’s about taking into account the 100s of different elements and weighing it out on balance.

[u/S_A_N_D_ → u/Consistent_Bee3478]

Basically if you eat an actual well rounded and otherwise healthy diet, one ‘sin’ won’t do significant harm.

And one health food, "superfood", or fad that was promoted to you on Instagram can't make up for years of poor diet and chronic lack of exercise.

[u/GoldenFox7 → u/S_A_N_D_]

And that you can’t outrun your diet. People are getting a little better about this but I still hear “I just need to start running again” from people that want to lose weight, and I’ve given up explaining that eating 500 less calories of junk food is a lot easier than 500 more calories burned running.

[u/S_A_N_D_ → u/GoldenFox7]

I’ve given up explaining that eating 500 less calories of junk food is a lot easier than 500 more calories burned running

While that's true, being skinny but sedentary is also unhealthy.

So while it might not help you lose weight, the exercise will contribute to overall cardiovascular health, and you can be mildly overweight but in better cardiovascular health than someone who is skinny but never exercises and has a poor diet.

Though it would be better to just do both. The reality is that being healthy requires working on all the above.

[u/Arrakis_Surfer → u/Consistent_Bee3478]

So basically the headline is click bait and this substance is only concerning for people that already take risks with ultra processed food and bad habits.

[u/RunningNumbers → u/[deleted]]

It’s cheese and cured meats

[u/house343 → u/RunningNumbers]

Yeah but they walk everywhere instead of driving between parking lots.

[u/Jubenheim → u/house343]

Shots fired.

[u/binkleyz → u/[deleted]]

Please tell me that nobody drinks coffee from Arby's.

[u/Iceonthewater → u/[deleted]]

It's pasta and bread with hazelnut spread

[u/tenebrigakdo → u/darekta]

Notice also that they measured concentration, not whole amount consumed. Espresso and mokka coffees are drunk in very small amounts at a time, about 30-50ml. Boiled coffee in a pot is often drunk at 2dl or even more (at least in my locality). So even if both preparations contained the same concentration of harmful substances, people would have to drink 4 espressos to get to the same end amount as a single cup of boiled coffee.

[u/stupidshinji → u/tenebrigakdo]

They report that espresso has approximately 5x the concentration of the compounds than boiled coffee. The graphical abstract is accounting for serving size by using "cup' even though for espresso the serving size is much smaller. When it comes to serving size espresso is comparable to boiled coffee, i.e., even if you're drinking less you're getting similar exposure because espresso has a higher concentration.

[u/tenebrigakdo → u/stupidshinji]

They note a large range for espresso. I think this is something that warrants more research.

[u/TotallyDissedHomie → u/tenebrigakdo]

Was that 4 data points? I didn’t read it but the graph is odd with solid bars and some data points

[u/Emberwake → u/stupidshinji]

And 5x a miniscule amount is still an insignificant amount.

Coffee is simply not a high source of cholesterol no matter how you brew it or how much you consume.

[u/stupidshinji → u/Emberwake]

1) I never claimed that it is a lot. My point was that the comment above mine erroneously claimed that espresso and boiled coffee have the same concentration of these compounds, which is not remotely true based on the reported findings. They have a similar amount based on serving size. Espresso shots are smaller in volume, but higher in concentration resulting in approximately similar levels per serving.

2) The paper isn't discussing cholesterol in the coffee. Studies have shown that dietary cholesterol does not heavily influence a person's cholesterol levels. What this paper is reporting is compounds that are known to impact a person's cholesterol levels.

[u/Emberwake → u/stupidshinji]

The paper isn't discussing cholesterol in the coffee.

No, it is discussing the relative concentration of "cholesterol increasing compounds."

But the issue remains that the volume of "cholesterol increasing compounds" found in even an extreme amount of coffee is dwarfed by a single serving of butter.

This whole topic is blown out of proportion.

EDIT:

I would like to apologize. I clearly did not communicate well and may have given offense as a result.

I understand that you were not discussing the significance of these amounts of cholesterol increasing compounds. It was never my intention to dispute the accuracy of your comment, but rather to question the relevance of the entire issue. This probably could have been its own parent comment, and I understand if you felt unfairly targeted.

If you would like me to remove my comments, please let me know and I would be happy to do so. Either way, I hope you have a good day!

[u/Ranessin → u/tenebrigakdo]

Hides the 500 ml "10 servings" Mokka pot used for making two cups in the morning.

[u/friendlyfredditor → u/tenebrigakdo]

Yea I'm super weirded out they didn't convert it to a "per serve" value. All their brewing methods utilised different doses of coffee (7-21g) and they had no knowledge of the espresso coffee dose and I'm assuming they didn't dilute it at all.

Among the coffee community espresso is known for a pretty medium level of extraction compared to brewing methods that take a longer time like drip.

An espresso shot starts with 2-3x the amount of coffee they used in their filter method and is diluted 6 to 10x more for a standard long black/americano or milk drink. Their espresso concentrations are inflated anywhere from 12x to 30x.

Just as a further anecdote the coffee grounds themselves act as a high resistance filter for espresso otherwise you wouldn't be able to generate 9bar of pressure.

[u/thongs_are_footwear → u/tenebrigakdo]

The use of deciliter (dl) is quite uncommon.
Was there a reason you decided on this unit of measure?

[u/Rambus_Jarbus → u/darekta]

Lots of walking.

[u/YetAnotherDaveAgain → u/darekta]

Very fine coffee actually makes a surprisingly good filter. But espresso and moka pots (and especially French press!) both do contain more of those compounds than filter coffee.

Perhaps part of it also dose. I'd be curious to know the actual amount of coffee beans (in grams) that Italians consume versus Americans. A lot of their commercial shots are single shots, if I recall correctly (ie 8-10 grams versus Americans more typical 16-20 gram doubles). But that definitely could be wrong....

[u/Mrqueue → u/darekta]

Because it’s click bait 

[u/DearLeader420 → u/darekta]

Because Italians have a far better diet than many other Western nations, and they walk a lot more.

[u/iamjacksragingupvote → u/darekta]

countered by olive oil, prob

[u/EuphoricLettuce → u/Caspica]

According to the study percolator and french press coffee had low levels of the substances so one could extrapolate that moka pots aren't much worse than those methods.

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0939475325000870-ga1_lrg.jpg

[u/Butterflyelle → u/EuphoricLettuce]

Thank you for linking to the graph. I was curious about cafetiere coffee as that's what I drink but seems that's low too. It must be a large molecule they filter out because compared to paper the metal mesh is pretty coarse that's used in a cafetiere. The fabric filter looks like a Christmas stocking- anyone know what it's supposed to be?

[u/The_Revisioner → u/Butterflyelle]

The fabric filter looks like a Christmas stocking- anyone know what it's supposed to be?

Literally a "coffee sock". Cotton or linen in the shape of a tube that holds the grounds while you pour the mix or hot water through it. Reusable.

[u/SophiaofPrussia → u/Butterflyelle]

If you search “Thai tea strainer” or “Thai coffee filter” you can find them. It’s just a cotton tube, usually with a rim & handle, that you use similar to the way you’d use a paper filter for pour-over coffee except, unlike a paper filter, it’s reusable.

[u/3DBeerGoggles → u/EuphoricLettuce]

Interesting that percolators and french press units were no where near as bad. I wonder if that's because boiling (and espresso) are more vigorous and freeing up more of the oil into solution.

[u/TheGreatRandolph → u/3DBeerGoggles]

I would have gone with temperature since french pressure and other coffee is better a little below boiling, except a perc relies on keeping the water at a boiling temp. Hmmm…

[u/3DBeerGoggles → u/TheGreatRandolph]

Yeah, it's an interesting question - espresso involves high pressure water, perhaps that's why it's similarly effective at "cracking" the oil out of the ground coffee as boiling.

[u/Dokterrock → u/EuphoricLettuce]

I notice that coffee from the moka pot irritates my bladder more, so I started making it there and then pouring it through a paper filter. I think it tastes better than just drop coffee, but I could be fooling myself.

[u/Reddit_from_9_to_5 → u/EuphoricLettuce]

ty for the link!!

[u/DominusValum → u/Caspica]

I use these paper filters for my moka pot that apparently are supposed to filter that stuff out a bit. I notice a difference when I use it or dont

[u/forams__galorams → u/DominusValum]

What kinda difference are you noticing? Taste? Texture? The way you feel afterwards?

[u/DominusValum → u/forams__galorams]

Should have been more specific. There is definitely a less filmy quality, like some oils in the drink were absorbed. It's a smoother cup of coffee too, less of the 'sludge' kind of feeling from it.

[u/passenger_now → u/forams__galorams]

Mostly to me just the obvious - with filter it's clearer, without it's more murky, in look, feel and taste. How much I'd notice it if I tasted it blind is another question, but I detected a more subtle version of the same when blind-comparing Aeropress with pour-over (forced through the filter vs gravity drip).

Personally I prefer the clarity, so combined with probable health benefits I'm all about the filter.

[u/Spiritual_Calendar81 → u/Caspica]

What if you use those circular paper filters in your espresso portafilter?

[u/gbcfgh → u/Caspica]

Mesh basket only, I can see that. I wonder if the paper wrappers used for E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso) pods are sufficient for filtration, or if the 15bar pressure used counteracts the filtration through sheer power of will.

[u/oneoftheryans → u/Caspica]

They had other non-paper filtered options that weren't anywhere near as high as the boiled option in the relevant compounds, so you might be surprised.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939475325000870?via%3Dihub

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0939475325000870-ga1_lrg.jpg

[u/ClamClone → u/Caspica]

I started making paper filters out of Chemex filters with a 2.25 Friskars paper punch that fit perfectly into a standard E61 portafiltre. Each Chemex sheet makes 16. I think I might need to start using two instead of one to catch the the problem components better. One box of 100 filters is about $10 so less than a penny each. That is so much cheaper than the ready made ones.

[u/faximusy → u/Caspica]

There is a built-in filter in the moka to keep the coffee out. Also, the water has to reach the top of the funnel and may be losing even more material in this way. I would not be so conclusive without actually testing it.