Instant coffee can save the world and help you live longer, says new research

Instant coffee, it has been revealed, is the drink which will save the planet. At the same time, it may help humans live longer.

The curious findings come from one new research report, and one product launch.

It is an Edinburgh scientist who has said that it is better for the environment if we drink instant coffee.

Edinburgh scientist Dr Dave Reay, a specialist on carbon emissions, said instant coffees were better for the environment because filter coffees put 50% more carbon into the atmosphere than soluble formats.

He said that the average cup of black filter coffee was responsible for 125 grams of carbon emissions, whereas the figure for soluble coffee was about 80gm. Two-thirds of the figure for filter coffee comes from production methods, and most of the rest from brewing.

In other familiar coffees, the environmental situation becomes worse - Dr Reay said that it took 200 litres of water to produce the coffee, milk, sugar and paper cup for one conventional takeaway latte.

Meanwhile, Nescafé has launched Green Blend, a highly-unusual combination of roasted coffee beans and unroasted green beans. The unroasted green beans are naturally rich in polyphenol antioxidants, which can help protect the body from day-to-day damage, and fight against some ageing processes.

The benefits of the unroasted bean were announced two years ago in the November 2007 edition of the Journal of International Medical Research. In that study, which was funded by a Norwegian company that makes a slimming drink from unroasted green coffee beans, the green bean was shown to be an aid to slimming.

By Ian Boughton