An article in the UK paper, The Mirror, published this week prompted us to depart from our usual content to honor our brand and bring you this caffeinated PSA.

Grind your own coffee and avoid drinking bugs because if you don’t you’re likely drinking coffee that includes ground-up cockroaches.

Luke Matthews for The Mirror wrote about a professor at the University of Montana biology professor  Douglas Emlen who shared a story about one of his professors who would only drink whole bean coffee.

 After years of teaching entomology, the study of insects and their relationships with humans, the professor became badly allergic to cockroaches from handling them so often.

He couldn’t touch a cockroach without getting a reaction and suffered similarly when he drank coffee made from pre-ground beans.
When the professor looked into it he found pre-ground coffee is all processed from huge stock piles which get infested with cockroaches.

He explained that little can be done to filter out the creatures, so they all get ground up along with the beans. ..

…Dr Emlen said at the the time US defect standards allowed coffee beans to contain as much as 10 per cent ‘insect filth and insects’.

It’s unlikely unless you have an allergy that you will be harmed by drinking hot caffeinated bug juice, but the thought of it is simply gross.

Look, grinding your coffee beans just takes a few seconds, coffee stays fresher longer if you use whole bean coffee, it does not cost any more money (unless you’re using Folgers or Maxwell House which, in that case, you’re hopeless), and it tastes better.

Also, for the best result brew it using a French press, pour-over, or cold brew. I haven’t used a automatic drip in years.

Your taste buds will thank me.

This concludes this caffeinated PSA.

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