Black coffee isn’t for everyone. But if you’re hoping to cut calories, reducing milk is a good start as your count can rack up quite quickly if you’re a heavy coffee drinker. Not all coffees taste good without milk, but the best coffee to drink black are those options that don’t even need milk as it’s smooth and creamy enough on its own. A light roast can be particularly good when you’re going milk-free, but we’ll have a look at the list further down below.
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Our Top Picks: Best Coffee to Drink Black
Is it Healthier to Drink Coffee Black?
Milk is a controversial subject, some say it’s healthy and some say it’s really bad for you. We’re not exactly medical experts in that sense, but leaving the milk out of your coffee will reduce the calorie count of your cup. So if you’re watching what you eat and keeping tabs on those calories then skipping the milk makes sense.
Black coffee is rich in antioxidants and has a range of health benefits such as reducing the risk of cancer, preventing Alzheimer’s disease, giving energy, improving your mood and managing diabetes. To read more about the health benefits of black coffee, hop on over the Web MD for more info.
Our Picks: Best Coffee to Drink Black
Marley Coffee, Keep on Moving
- Roast Level: Light Roast
- Speciality: Organic
- Flavour notes: Intricate stone fruit tones, roasted nuts and a smooth mild body balanced with lemon floral tones.
Marley Coffee was founded in Jamaica in 2007 by Rohan Marley a family member of Bob Marley. Keep on Moving light roast is an incredibly smooth coffee that is creamy, slightly sweet and delightful. The greatness of this coffee kind of take you by surprise, but it makes a fine bitter-free espresso or a standard cup of coffee.
It’s a subtle coffee to sit down with and contemplate the day to come. It’s mellow yet flavourful and rich with a malty undertone.
Keep on Moving is lightly roasted to reveal intricate stone fruit tones, roasted nuts and a smooth mild body balanced with lemon floral tones.
Volcanica Nicaragua Coffee
- Roast Level: Medium Roast
- Speciality: Fairtrade
- Flavour notes: Apple, cherry, raspberry, rose
Volcanica is a speciality coffee from the world’s finest volcanic regions. Founded in 2004, they offer organically grown, rainforest alliance and certified fairtrade coffees. Nicaragua is known for its lakes and volcanos, providing the perfect growing conditions for a great cup of coffee.
This is a medium to full-bodied coffee with a balanced aroma and a mild tanginess. The acidity is well balanced and gives a hint of sweetness.
This is considered a classic cup: great body, clean flavour, and balance. It is unique among Central American Coffees being the highest grown (SHG Grade: Strictly High Grown), which does not develop other Centrals’ pronounced and sharp acidity.
KOFFEE KULT COFFEE BEANS
- Roast Level: Medium Roast
- Speciality: Certified Organic, Fairtrade
- Flavour notes: Mild cherry, caramel, dark chocolate and walnut.
Located in Florida Koffee Kult has been making and crafting some of the best coffees around. They’re a family-owned business but have one of the largest roasting facilities in South Florida. This roast is strong, yet smooth with balanced acidity.
Surprisingly this Koffee Kult medium roast coffee has more caffeine than its darker roast. It has a smooth finish, but it will also kick start your day without much fuss. Their medium roast has a well-balanced flavour, aroma and acidity and uses a combination of Brazilian and Columbian coffee beans.
Medium Roast coffee is composed of aroma and flavour notes, including mild cherry, caramel, dark chocolate and walnut with a medium body and acidity level.
STONE STREET COFFEE COLD BREW RESERVE, COARSE GROUND
- Roast Level: Dark Roast
- Speciality: Fairtrade
- Flavour notes: Bold yet smooth and slightly sweet with chocolate notes
Stone Street Coffee is an artisanal roaster from Brooklyn, NY. And they have been roasting since 2009. They take pride in ethical sourcing as coffee which is always a plus point in our books.
Use this dark roast for cold or hot brewing, whichever method you prefer on the day it’s bound to taste wonderful. Your brew will be beautifully tasty without milk. Pair it with a bit of dark chocolate and you’re in for a treat.
NO SLEEP ‘TIL BROOKLYN – Stone Street Coffee Company is a speciality small-batch roaster located in Brooklyn, NYC, and we’ve been roasting delicious coffee since 2009
STONE COLD JO: COLD BREW GROUND COFFEE BLEND
- Roast Level: Dark Roast
- Speciality: Certified Organic
- Flavour notes: Hints of toffee, caramel, chocolate and grape
We’ve featured this coffee in our best cold brew coffee list previously. Jo Coffee’s Stone Cold Jo Cold Brew Blend is Organic speciality grade, which means it’s in the top 2% of speciality grade organic Arabica raw coffee. This coffee is perfect for cold brewing.
This packet of amazing coffee is bound to sweep you away to coffee heaven and put a smile on your face. Jo Coffee is an artisan craft coffee roaster first and foremost which makes all the difference. For a milder coffee, just add a little less and it will still deliver great taste. This is a great coffee to have black as you’re bound to taste hints of caramel, toffee and chocolate with every sip.
Descriptive flavour terms are naturally occurring undertones in the coffee and no flavours are added. Each batch of this fresh roasted organic coffee is hand-crafted, by artisan coffee roasters, in our micro-roastery.
How do you Make Black Coffee Taste Better?
The short answer to this question is to consider the coffee you’re buying. Instant coffee can be quite a bitter affair black, so can some other whole bean and ground coffees. But every now and again you’ll find a delicious coffee that actually tastes great without milk. These are nice and smooth coffees that are rich and creamy without the bitterness. Of coarse your brewing method can affect the taste of your coffee as well, so choose your beans to match your brewing method for best results. Let’s have a look at how you can make black coffee taste better:
1. Go for a Lighter Roast
Coffee does not have to be roasted to pure blackness to taste good. Well, roasted light roast coffees can be a lot better than some of the dark roasts. The subtle flavours in coffee are more prominent in light brews, they’ll be less abrasive and smoother.
Darker roasts don’t necessarily mean better or more flavour, on the contrary, dark roasting was historically used to mask the taste of lower quality beans. It can also bring out bitterness or an absurdly high level of smokiness that doesn’t go well without milk.
2. Always Choose Fresh
The best coffee comes from freshly roasted, freshly ground and freshly brewed beans. Honestly the fresher the better, so grinding your own beans are best. Look out for whole beans that display the roasting date on the packaging as that will help you to identify freshness.
3. Match your Grind Size and Brewing Method
Most non-instant coffee drinkers will go for French press brewing or drip coffee. There’s an array of ways to brew coffee, but to get the best cup it’s important to match the grind size of your bean to the brewing method as you can end up with bitter-tasting coffee otherwise.
The finer the grind, the faster the flavours will extract, so don’t use a fine grind for your French press for example. You’ll end up with lots of floaters in your cup and a bitter brew. And no one likes a floater, nevermind the bitter brew right?
Finely ground coffee usually works better for espresso-making or even Turkish coffee if it’s very fine. On the other hand, a coarse grind is good for French press coffee making or a cold brew that will help to reduce the acidity within your cup.
Over extracted coffee will generally be bitter and nasty so keep a watchful eye over the match between your grind size and brewing method. It can be a Bonny and Clide affair – a fiery crime against good coffee making – if you’re not careful.
4. Adding Salt – Don’t Do It
We’ve heard of recommendations to add salt to coffee to take the bitterness away. We won’t recommend this option as you’re likely to end up with coffee that tastes like it was made with seawater. The tips described above are much more likely to deliver a great cup of coffee than adding a bit of salt to your cup.
Let good beans and good brewing do the work. Yes, salt makes most things better, even apples and oranges can work with a little bit of salt. But coffee isn’t one of these in our opinion.
Can I Drink Black Coffee on an Empty Stomach?
The bitterness in coffee can increase stomach acid production but even then, most people can tolerate coffee on an empty stomach. However, if coffee makes you feel nauseous, it’s best to eat something first or avoid it for a day or so altogether. We suggest listening to what your body is telling you and going with that.
Some people will have days where drinking coffee on an empty stomach will make them feel sick when it’s fine on other days. It often depends on the state of your stomach and gut on the day especially if you’ve had a few drinks the night before. So again listen to your body, and don’t force things.
Last update on 2022-07-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API