The acidity of coffee is what gives it its signature flavor. Tasting notes such as “bright acidity” or “citrus notes” are commonly found as acidity flavor descriptors on specialty coffee bags.
Coffee gets a bad rap for causing acid reflux, ulcers or even heartburn. And many doctors say to cut it out of the diet completely. Instead of swearing off coffee altogether though, why not try low acid coffee?
It could be your new best friend. But what do you do with your Keurig now?
Good news, there are now several options offering low acid coffees in the convenient little K-Cup pods we have come to love.
Low Acid For Lower Side Effects
Let’s talk about what makes a low acid coffee first. The pH scale ranges from 0-14 with 7 being neutral. Anything that tests below 7 is considered acidic.
Coffee acidity on average comes in at a pH of 5, so low acidic coffee is going to be anywhere between 5 and 7. The higher the pH level, the lower the acidity.
If your doctor has told you no more acidic drinks like coffee or you just find your stomach sensitive to coffee, have no fear, low acid coffee could work for you.
How Do They Do That?
There are two types of ways to make coffee less acidic, using technology or coffee’s natural means.
Technology
Some coffee companies use high-pressure water and steam to remove the waxy coating off the green beans before they are roasted. By exposing the beans to water at high heat while they are green, the roaster can then roast as they normally would.
Other companies use a lower roasting temperature for a more extended amount of time to essentially cook out the acid content in the coffee. This can cause a lot of the flavors also to be roasted out, leaving the beans relatively bland in flavor.
A less common and desirable way is to remove the acids with chemical additives. While it is sometimes done, none of the coffees we will talk about today use this method.
Naturally Occurring Low Acid Coffee
The cultivation environment or the natural results of the processing and roasting process can also yield a lower acid coffee. Roasting coffee darker such as a French Roast will often have a low acidity content than the medium or light roasts.
This might not be an option for you if you like the taste of the medium to light roasts. In that case stick with:
Coffee that is grown in lower elevations and not in volcanic soil. It has a lower acidity naturally. Sumatran, some Indonesian, Brazilian, and even Ethiopian coffees are both good candidates for this. Dry processed coffees that have been dried with the coffee cherry fruit on it will also have less acidity than wet-processed coffees. Ethiopian coffees are often dry processed because of the lack of readily available water as opposed to the South American coffees grown in rainforests.
12 Low Acid K-Cups You Can Buy Today
You still have your Keurig or other single-serve coffee maker on your counter, and you don’t want to get rid of it yet, right?
There are several options for you, and some are better than others. Let’s start with the lower rated ones and finish with the highest rated.
Healthwise
As the name suggests, the company creates healthy low acid coffee through its proprietary TechnoRoasting process. HealthWise claims that it “virtually eliminates all the excess acid and irritants the cause heartburn, without flavor loss and without resorting to steam blasting, which vaporizes some of the flavor elements.” They offer two varieties, caffeinated and decaffeinated.
- Uses 100% Arabica Beans
- Offers a rich and mellow taste
- Has all the original antioxidants and minerals naturally found in coffee
- pH is 6.18
HealthWise Colombian Supremo Decaf
- Uses 100% Arabica Beans
- Swiss Water Process that is chemical-free
- Allows you to have a decaffeinated low acid cup of coffee.
- pH is 6.18
Both of these K-Cup Coffees will allow you to enjoy coffee even if you have been diagnosed with a condition making you susceptible to the acids in coffee. Before you swear off coffee entirely, it is worth at least trying this brand. It has one of the lowest pH levels out there with coffee.
If you just need that traditional coffee taste, but health demands otherwise, either the decaf or regular could be a good option for you. But if you are a self-proclaimed coffee nerd like me, you may not be satisfied with the level of flavor this coffee provides.
It has a mellow flavor because the acid has been all but eliminated. However, the complex flavor profile you enjoy from single origin coffee is not going to be found in this variety. Sorry.
Cafe Don Pedro
Cafe Don Pedro uses a similar slow roasting process for small batch coffees and then air cools the beans. They say this is the traditional “Old World Style,” it could be marketing. They are essentially roasting at a lower temperature to slowly bring the beans up to their desired roast just like HealthWise. Amazingly, it works to make a lower acidic coffee, and Cafe Don Pedro gives you a few more taste and variety options. They do offer flavored coffees, but in this post, we are going to stick with the traditional unflavored coffees.
Be warned; these pods are not compatible with the Keurig 2.0 unless you are altering your machine with a Freedom clip or similar hack or cutting off your previous tops.
- Made from high elevation Columbian Coffee
- 100% pure Arabica
- Low Acid
- 100% pure Arabica
- Low Acid
- Bolder taste than the Colombian
- 100% Arabica Beans
- Low Acid
- Decaf blend
While these coffees again, aren’t made from the highest quality beans. You still get a few more flavor options and that can be important when you are making the switch over to low acid coffees.
Puroast
Puroast also uses a proprietary roasting technique that they claim yields 70% less acidic coffee, and while the coffee is not outstanding in flavor, it won’t upset your stomach lining or cause your reflux to hit you. One reviewer shared that the only thing that stood out about this coffee was that it wasn’t acidic. These are Keurig 2.0 compatible.
- Organic
- Darker Roast which is going to give you a less acidic cup anyway.
- pH is 6.18
- not available on Amazon right now but through Puroast’s website
- slightly lighter roast than the French roast
- This is not one of their organic blends
- the same roast as above, only decaf
- pH of 6.18
Trücup
Trücup has set out to have recyclable cups and low acid coffees. They also have gotten ahold of some higher quality beans which yield a much better cup. It seems that lowest acid coffees tend to have a bland flavor to them, but Trücup offers some better flavor profiles. Trücup uses the hot water and steam method to remove the acids so they can roast normally. Trücup comes in at a pH level of 5.74, so it has higher acidity than the Puroast and Healthwise, but you will get more flavor if you like to taste more than the just the roast in your cup of coffee.
- Slightly darker than a medium roast
- Offers chocolate and cardamom spiced hints
- Mild acidic flavor, mostly removed because of the roast level
- Ultra dark roast that keeps some sweetness and chocolate
- Bold, rich cup of coffee
- The darkest roast in Trücup’s line
- It offers a bold almost smokey taste with a thick body
Tully’s Coffee French Roast
Here is our outlier today, and almost goes unnoticed in the marketing world of low-acid coffees. It is naturally low in acid and lets you have your deep rich cup of coffee with a little bit of chocolate to it. It is the most complicated cup in our list today that offers a hint of orange acidity to the taste while still being relatively low acid.
If You’re Stubborn And Still Want Your Favorite Roast
If we still didn’t help you find a low acid K-Cup to please your taste buds, you can still have your favorite coffee. You can do this by brewing using the cold brew process. And while you can’t use your Keurig brewer for this, you can still enjoy a little bit of contraband coffee. Cold brewed coffee has the least amount of acid of all the brewing methods because the cold water doesn’t pull out the acid as much. You can do this with any ground coffee and it may help your addiction to good quality coffee.
While the low acid coffee selection isn’t going to win awards, sometimes you need to compromise and settle for something else. That something else are these 12 varieties.
So go ahead.
Try One.
The ability to still drink coffee is far better than the alternative:
Always smelling someone else’s cup of coffee and forever being haunted by that dark elixir of life-giving caffeine.
