Turkish coffee has an important place in the lives of countless coffee lovers around the world.

You can drink it after breakfast to enjoy your morning, when you get home from a long day at work to relax and when you visit your friends to chat up a little and so on.

Who wouldn’t make use of such great excuses for a good cup of coffee?

Not only that Turkish coffee is a fitting drink for a whole variety of occasions in your life but it also has an incredible flavor and an inviting smell.

When you’ve got such a delicious beverage and that many options to drink it, it’s easy lose track of your consumption and overdo it. Everything is bad when done in excess, even Turkish coffee.

If you’re health-conscious and want to be responsible with what you put in your body, you might be wondering whether Turkish coffee is bad for you or not.

Due to its caffeine content, Turkish coffee can cause problems such as restlessness and anxiety, sleep disturbances and addiction. Caffeine might also be dangerous for the baby when consumed by pregnant or breastfeeding mothers. Compounds such as cafestol and kahweol in Turkish coffee may aggravate cholesterol problems.

But before you see Turkish coffee in a bad light and swear to never drink it again, let’s dive in and learn more about what issues it may cause and how to protect yourself against these.

Restlessness and Anxiety

We all know that all types of coffee have caffeine in it, even when it’s decaffeinated it still keeps around 3% of its caffeine content.

One thing that caffeine does among many things is that it sticks to a certain type of receptors in your brain and keeps them from getting in contact with a compound called adenosine that helps your brain to slow down and relax, aiding you in going to sleep.

This is why, when you drink coffee you feel energized. Caffeine simply fools your brain into working faster than it should.

During this process caffeine works against a natural hormone in your body that’s designed to help you chill out and relax.

Because of this for people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, restlessness and panic attacks consuming caffeine might not be the smartest option.

Turkish coffee contains 65mg of caffeine per serving and can aggravate restlessness and anxiety.

Sleep Disturbance

Along with its taste, smell and enjoyable feelings we associate with coffee, many people consume caffeine to stay awake and feel that energy boost.

It’s powerful ability to keep you awake can be considered a double edged sword.

Consuming too much caffeine can make it quite hard to fall asleep and feel rested and fresh the next day.

If you’re struggling with sleep problems, it’s best to avoid or moderate your caffeine consumption and limit it exclusively to morning hours.

Not Ideal for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

One of the happiest events in many people’s lives is undoubtedly having a baby and watching him/her grow everyday.

Having a baby is such a big responsibility that requires lots of changes to be made in a couple’s life. There’s a new person added to the family and this whole process can be quite confusing and many people get frustrated with the amount of new things they have to learn.

You might be able to deal with the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee just fine. But this doesn’t guarantee that a newly formed fetus with a metabolism that’s still growing can do that as well. This is why coffee may be bad for pregnant women to drink.

And when a mother breastfeeds her baby, nutrients she consumes gets transferred into the milk. It means when a breastfeeding mother drinks coffee, there will be caffeine in the milk.

Although studies have conflicting and inconclusive results, when it comes to such an important topic it’s better to be safe than sorry and stop or limit caffeine consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Addiction

Remember that compound we talked about that’s called adenosine that helps you sleep?

When you consume caffeine on a regular basis, your brain starts producing more adenosine to keep up with the caffeine that blocks it.

When you stop drinking coffee, you end up with more adenosine that you had but nothing to block them. This causes you to feel more tired than normal without the aid of caffeine.

Along with this, drinking coffee increases the production of serotonin and dopamine in your brain. Serotonine is the hormone responsible for feelings of well-being and dopamine is the hormone that motivates you.

Drinking coffee on a regular basis eventually makes you less sensitive to these hormones. It means that you need more to feel the same level of happiness or motivation.

When you stop drinking coffee, your brain still needs the same level of hormone production and this causes craving coffee.

But we can get around this problem by not going overboard and enjoying coffee in moderation.

Cholesterol Problems

Caffeine is not the only chemical in your coffee.

Coffee beans have two chemicals called cafestol and kahweol that are linked to increased levels of total and LDL-cholesterol in blood.

Filtering coffee gets rid of most of these chemicals and leaves only negligible amounts of it in your cup.

But Turkish coffee is served unfiltered and still has cafestol and kahweol both floating in your coffee and left in the cup mostly accumulated in the sediment at the bottom.

Because of this, if you’re struggling with your cholesterol levels, it’s best to avoid Turkish coffee.

How to Protect Yourself

After reading all of this, you might be convinced to never drink Turkish coffee ever but I beg to differ. Everything that we consume on a regular basis can be dangerous when consumed in excess, even water.

Millions of people drink Turkish coffee everyday and they’re all just fine. Also, Turkish coffee is not the only type of coffee that has caffeine, cafestol or kahweol. All types of coffee contain caffeine and popular options such as Espresso and French press coffee have cafestol and kahweol in them.

So if you want to enjoy Turkish coffee and not deal with any side effects, remember that moderation is key and just don’t go overboard. A cup or two a day won’t kill you.

If you have any underlying medical conditions, don’t forget to talk to a professional and get detailed information about everything you consume.

If you’re a healthy adult, Turkish coffee is perfectly fine to drink. And why even bother with living if you can’t even enjoy a delicious cup of Turkish coffee?

Conclusion

Whenever consuming any food or drink, it’s smart to want to know whether it’s good or bad for you.

Turkish coffee has caffeine which can cause problems such as restlessness and anxiety, sleep disturbances and addiction. Caffeine can be dangerous for the baby when pregnant or breastfeeding women consume.

Turkish coffee also has compounds called cafestol and kahweol that have been linked to cholesterol problems.

But Turkish coffee is not the only type of coffee that has these chemicals and can still be enjoyed in moderation. If you’re a healthy individual it’s unlikely that Turkish coffee will cause any serious problems and might even be good for you.

If you’ve found this post helpful or interesting, please don’t forget to share it on the social media. Help spread the enjoyment that Turkish coffee brings! 😉