New coffee drink good for gut health
If you have to start the day with a coffee you might like one specially packed with gut-friendly ingredients.
Two new drinks – one made from fermented coffee and one from fermented tea – complete with extra nutrients, have been developed at the National University of Singapore.
The live probiotics in both drinks promote gut health.
Each drink contain at least one billion units of live probiotics – a daily amount recommended by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics.
The coffee mixture, which has retained the distinct coffee taste, is left to ferment for a day and then chilled in a fridge.
The researchers developed several versions of the coffee drink some with better balanced acidity, some with better “mouthfeels” and some with a deeper smoky flavour.
The caffein content is kept so people can still get their coffee fix.
Tea
The tea mixture is left to ferment for two days and is then ready to drink. The researchers say “the original flavour of the tea is largely retained, with fruity and floral noted introduced”.
Sugar, sweetners and milk or cream can be added to either drink.
“Most commercially available probiotic coffee and tea drinks are unfermented. Our team has created a new range of these beverages using the fermentation process.
“It produces healthy compounds that improve nutrient digestibility while retaining the health benefits associated with coffee and tea,” explains Assoc Prof Liu Shao Quan from the University Department of Food Science and Technology.
“Coffee and tea are two of the most popular drinks around the world, and are both plant-based infusions.
“As such, they act as a perfect vehicle for carrying and delivering probiotics to consumers,” he adds.
Both drinks can be stored for more than 14 weeks without compromising on their probiotic content.
The researchers are refining their recipes to enhance the taste and flavour of the two beverages.
The NUS team has also filed a patent for the probiotic coffee recipe and hopes to collaborate with industry partners to commercialise the drink.
