The New Complete Book of Food

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Nutritional Profile

Energy value (calories per serving): Low

Protein: Trace

Fat: Trace

Saturated fat: None

Cholesterol: None

Carbohydrates: Trace

Fiber: Trace

Sodium: Low

Major vitamin contribution: None

Major mineral contribution: None

About the Nutrients in This Food

Coffee beans are roasted seeds from the fruit of the evergreen coffee tree.

Like other nuts and seeds, they are high in proteins (11 percent), sucrose

and other sugars (8 percent), oils (10 to 15 percent), assorted organic acids

(6 percent), B vitamins, iron, and the central nervous system stimulant

caffeine (1 to 2 percent). With the exceptions of caffeine, none of these

nutrients is found in coffee.

Like spinach, rhubarb, and tea, coffee contains oxalic acid (which

binds calcium ions into insoluble compounds your body cannot absorb),

but this is of no nutritional consequence as long as your diet contains

adequate amounts of calcium-rich foods.

Coffee’s best known constituent is the methylxanthine central ner-

vous system stimulant caffeine. How much caffeine you get in a cup of

coffee depends on how the coffee was processed and brewed. Caffeine is

Caffeine Content/Coffee Servings

Brewed coffee 60 mg/five-ounce cup

Brewed/decaffeinated 5 mg/five-ounce cup

Espresso 64 mg/one-ounce serving

Instant 47 mg/rounded teaspoon

Source: USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory. National Nutrient Database

for Standard Reference. Available online. UR L: http://www.nal.usda.

gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/.