How to Make Your Coffee More Hydrating

Modern Strategies to Make Coffee More Hydrating
Based on research from the Hydration Foundation, we can share how to make your coffee less dehydrating by simply making it with structured water. We use our simple spin funnel device to make a cup of coffee, pouring water through the funnel and over our grounds.

If you use a coffee machine, you can pour structured water into the machine. Structured water makes the coffee have a better mouth feel since structured water is silkier than tap or filtered water (its viscosity is 10% more than liquid).  But more important than taste, spin devices shift the water molecules’ bond angle, and this is what allows more of the water in the coffee to pass through the cell membrane into your cell, giving efficient hydration. You may find you need less coffee to have energy and focus.

Ancient Strategies to Add Further Hydration
Surely you have heard of Bulletproof coffee, of Dave Asprey fame…he adds MCI oil, a form of coconut oil, grass-fed butter, or ghee to his coffee. Guess what? That makes the coffee more hydrating too. In fact these are ancient strategies for efficient hydration used in every high altitude zone in the world.

In Tibet, they use hot tea mixed with yak butter and a pinch of salt. In the high Andes their most famous strategy is drinking hot cocoa. High altitudes are known to create needs for more hydration and a hot drink, plus fat, plus minerals is a more efficient and lasting strategy for hydrating.

Hot vs. Cold?  It’s a Personal Test
It may seem strange to us that hot coffee, or any hot drink is a hydration strategy because we, here in the US, are used to thinking of hydration as a glass of cold water. But cold hydration means your body has to do the work of warming the liquid up, and in the end, can be less hydrating. In China most hydration is accomplished by hot green tea, which has high mineral content.

For us today, a little hot coffee can be hydrating, not dehydrating, but too much can activate the diuretic effect, and too much coffee can also add acidity to your diet, so it’s an individual-by-individual determination, even season-to-season, or region-to-region.

Cold Brew Is In!
In fact most damage done by coffee is from the high acid content.   Did you know that cold brewing overcomes this issue? In fact you can cold brew tea too and preserve any organic elements damaged by heat.  All it takes is patience. It means you add cold water to ground coffee or to tea and let it steep overnight. Pour over strainer, and experience an unbelievably smooth and bright taste from your coffee or tea. Bring down the acid level in your life. Isn’t there enough agitation out there?

Recipe:
1 cup coarsely ground coffee or tea
4 cups cold water

Yield: Makes a concentrate, dilute to taste.

Add both to large bowl, stir briefly and refrigerate about 12 hours or overnight. Strain, paper filters or cheesecloth helps. Keeps in fridge up to a week, if it lasts that long.

Benefit from the Structured Water Difference
Try it out for yourself to see if you can notice a difference making your coffee or tea with structured water.  You should notice a difference in taste and the amount you need.

Thanks to Ronaldo Arthur Vidal for making this photo available freely on @unsplash.