When is the Best Time to Drink Coffee in the Morning?

Many coffee drinkers consume their life-giving coffee first thing after waking up. It sounds like a good idea. Coffee wakes you up and right after getting out of bed is when you seemingly need it most. Although, science has been telling us that the best time to drink coffee is around 10 AM.

If you are indeed the type of person who NEEDS their coffee as soon as they get up, this might not be wonderful news for you. So why is 10 AM the best time? Well, according to research from AsapScience, our cortisol levels peak between 8 and 9 AM; cortisol is the "stress hormone" which is how our bodies naturally wake themselves up.
If you are sipping your coffee during this time, the effect of the caffeine is not helpful.

Aside from 8-9 AM, our peak cortisol times are 12-1 PM (during most of our lunch times), and then at 5:30-6:30 PM.

We should mention that if you are waking up very early or much later than the average person (who wakes up between 7-8 AM), then your peak cortisol times are going to be different. If you are one of these people, just know your peak cortisol time is about an hour after waking up.

So there is another health benefit of drinking fresh ground coffee at home! Or even if you go out and buy your Starbucks coffee or another brand, as long as it's coffee!

Where's the Best Place to Store Bagged Coffee?

Buying coffee is the easy, fun part. Finding the right place to store it is not so easy. You read all these things about "don't keep your coffee here!" or "Don't keep your coffee there!" And it seems like you basically have to have a vault in your basement with a 9-digit code to keep your coffee fresh.

Bottom line, keep your coffee light, air, heat, and moisture. A simple shelf in a cupboard that is not near your stove is a great spot. The cupboard door will shield it from the light, so you just need an airtight container. To shield it from moisture, keep your coffee away from your sink, fridge, and freezer.

For bagged coffee, make sure to keep the top of the bag closed tightly; this can be done with a bag clip,  office clip, or a rubber band. Just make sure that the top of the bag is rolled a couple times and held tightly with one of those options.

Why does it matter to keep it away from light, heat, moisture, and air? All of these things change the cell structure of the coffee. That cell structure change causes a reduced quality in flavor and aroma. Light and heat create higher temperatures in the delicate coffee grounds, which break down the cell structures that hold the great flavor and aroma together. Think of it like a building, if there is a fire (which creates lots of heat), then the structure is broken down and ruined. Specifically for moisture in the coffee, when the moisture from a fridge or freezer gets into the coffee, which it will, it soaks into the grounds and beans. It then absorbs the coffee's flavor and aroma and takes it away when the water evaporates out (when thawed). Think about anything else that you've had when it's watered down; the flavor is reduced, right? That's how it is with coffee.

It would be a real shame to buy great fresh ground coffee and then have it ruined by something like keeping coffee in the wrong place. Especially when that coffee is Starbucks bagged coffee or Marley bagged coffee.