How to Get Rid of Coffee Breath

There is nothing better than that first cup of coffee in the morning. The smell is incredible while it brews, the taste of your first sip is nothing less than heaven on earth, and it gives you that boost of energy you need to tackle your day.

Coffee has many amazing benefits and qualities. Unfortunately, it also has one big downfall to it, the dreaded coffee breath. The aroma of coffee may be amazing, but the smell that lingers in your mouth afterwards is awful.

Fortunately, there are some quick and simple steps you can take to avoid having coffee breath. This way you don’t have to give up your favorite morning beverage. Before we get to how to get rid of coffee breath, we need to understand what causes it in the first place.

Table of Contents

What causes coffee breath?

There are several factors that contribute to your coffee breath. They are:

1. The coffee itself: coffee has a strong aroma that can linger around hours after you have finished your beverage. While it smells good while you are drinking it. Later on, not so much. It can smell stale and gross, especially if you are drinking low-quality coffee.

2. The high caffeine level: coffee is high in caffeine. While it gives us a great energy boost in the morning, it also slows your saliva production. This causes Xerostomia to occur, better known as dry mouth. Why is this bad? Well besides the gross dry feel that you have to deal with, it also creates the perfect environment for bacteria to flourish. This in turn causes bad breath.

3. The acidity of coffee: coffee lowers the PH level in your mouth. This also creates an environment where bacterial will proliferate and feel right at home in your mouth. Yuck!

4. The additions you add to your coffee: certain addons such as milk and sugar also contribute to the abundance of bacteria that grow.

Does the kind of coffee you drink matter?

Now that you know what causes coffee breath, you might be wondering if you should change what kind of coffee you drink. Will it even make a difference for you? Some coffees are worse than others for coffee breath. One example is Espresso. This type of coffee is very concentrated and strong, which causes it to linger even longer on your breath afterwards.

Overall, though, no it doesn’t really matter which kind of coffee you love to drink. You will be dealing with dry mouth and coffee breath with all of them. So, you don’t have to swear off your favorite coffee beverage for all eternity or be doomed to being the person with bad coffee breath that everyone avoids like the plague.

Now that you know what causes coffee breath, there are some simple steps you can take to prevent and solve the problem once and for all. This way you can enjoy your morning brew without triggering the bad breath that comes with it.

How to Prevent Coffee Breath:

1. Drink Green Tea: by drinking green tea instead you will still get the caffeine boost you want without having to deal with bad breath afterwards. Green tea stimulates your saliva production and helps to clean your teeth and gums. Even if you don’t want to give up coffee entirely, you should still consider adding in some green tea to your routine.

2. Eat Yogurt for Breakfast: eating yogurt produces good bacteria that can replace the “odor-causing” bad bacteria living in your mouth. You only need a little bit, 6 ounces, in the morning to get the benefits. If you don’t like yogurt, you can take some probiotic pills instead.

3. Drink Your Coffee Black: we already learned that the sugar and milk that most of us add to our coffee every morning is contributing to our coffee breath. One simple way to deal with it is to eliminate them from the coffee. If you can’t stand black coffee, you should at least cut down on them. You can always use another kind of sweetener, such as natural honey, if you need it.

How to Get Rid of Coffee Breath:

1. Drink Water: by drinking water before and after your cup of coffee it will help to wash everything away. It will help you combat dry mouth and wash away the bacteria in your mouth. This isn’t a bad step to take because, let’s face it, we could all be drinking more water anyways.

2. Eat an Odor-Neutralizing Snack: there are many foods that will eliminate the orders that cause bad breath. A couple examples that you can eat after your morning cup of joe is an apple or some fresh parsley leaves. Both of these foods help to produce more saliva in your mouth, which will then help to clean and wash away the bad bacteria and odors that linger there.

3. Chew on a Clove or Piece of Ginger: these spices have a strong flavor that will quickly eliminate the smell of coffee and give you fresh breath.

4. Chew Gum: this is probably the easiest thing you can do. It will not only give you fresh breath, but can also help to whiten your teeth. Bonus!

Alternatives to Coffee:

Want to try and avoid coffee altogether? This is a difficult task to undertake. However, there are several alternatives that you can try and see if you like them. This way you can get your beverage fix in the morning without having to deal with the dreaded coffee breath afterwards. A few good alternatives are:

Black Tea or Chai Tea (high caffeine)
2. Chicory Root Coffee (caffeine-free)
3. Yerba Mate (herbal tea with caffeine in it)

Final Thoughts:

While we all love drinking our coffee, we don’t love the aftermath that follows it. There is no getting away from it. If you are drinking coffee on a daily basis, you inevitably have coffee breath. Fortunately, there are some super simple ways to solve this issue for us.

The quickest and easiest way would be to drink some water afterwards and then chew a piece of gum. However, we recommend you add in some of the other tips as well. They not only help with coffee breath, but many of them also have other benefits for a long-term healthy life.

References:

Related Articles:

How Long Before I Can Drink Coffee After Tooth Extraction?
What is the Most Widespread Type of Coffee?
Benefits of Drinking Coffee Every Day