Cafestol
Cafestol is an oily compound in coffee beans, with a close relative called kahweol, and it is why unfiltered coffee raises LDL cholesterol. A paper filter removes almost all of it, which makes brewing method the one coffee choice with trial-grade evidence behind it for your cholesterol.
If your LDL cholesterol is high or heart disease runs in your family, drink paper-filtered coffee — drip, pour-over, or an AeroPress or capsule machine with a paper filter — and prefer it over French press, Turkish, boiled, moka-pot and espresso for your daily cups.
What it is and how it raises cholesterol
Cafestol and kahweol belong to a family of compounds called diterpenes, found in the oil of the coffee bean. They pass into the cup when the coffee is brewed without a paper filter. Cafestol switches on a receptor in the liver, the farnesoid X receptor, that suppresses the enzymes turning cholesterol into bile acids. That blunts the liver's main route for clearing cholesterol, and LDL ("bad") cholesterol rises.[1] The same receptor is central to bile acid metabolism more broadly.
How big the effect is
Pooling six randomised trials, about six cups a day of unfiltered coffee raised LDL cholesterol by about 0.39 mmol/L (roughly 15 mg/dL) compared with filtered coffee. The authors of the pooled analysis graded the evidence high-certainty, and noted how rarely guidelines mention an effect of this size. Paper-filtered coffee, at around 4.6 cups a day, did not raise LDL at all compared with drinking none, and neither decaffeination nor roast level changed the picture.[2]
Whether that matters for hard outcomes has only observational support. In a Norwegian study of 508,747 people followed for 20 years, filtered coffee had a better record on cardiovascular deaths than boiled or unfiltered coffee — and than drinking no coffee at all.[3]
Which brews carry it
A paper filter traps the oil. Methods without one keep it:
- French press
- Turkish coffee
- Boiled coffee, Scandinavian-style
- Moka pot
- Espresso
Espresso is the least predictable. In one study of cafestol across brewing methods, espresso's typical level sat slightly above boiled coffee's, but it varied nearly seventyfold across just four samples, a spread the authors could not explain. Self-serve workplace machines sat in between: their coffee carried about fifteen times the cafestol of home paper-filtered coffee, but still well below boiled.[4]
Cold brew probably carries little. Going by extraction chemistry rather than measurements, the diterpenes are oil-soluble and extracted efficiently only by hot water, so cold brew should be low in them whether it is strained through paper or metal — useful if you like cold brew and your LDL is high.[5]
Who should care
Brewing method matters most if your LDL is already high, if heart disease runs in your family, or if you drink several cups a day of a method that keeps the oil. See cholesterol for the bigger picture, and Coffee for everything else about the drink.
What to do
- Know your LDL. If it is high, switch your daily coffee to a paper-filtered method.
- Keep the oily brews occasional. French press, Turkish, boiled, moka-pot and espresso all keep cafestol; espresso can carry the most.
- Decaf and roast don't change it. A paper filter keeps it out; office self-serve machines don't count as filtered.
Further reading
- Schoeneck M, Iggman D. The effects of foods on LDL cholesterol levels: A systematic review of the accumulated evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2021.[6]
- Orrje E et al. Cafestol and kahweol concentrations in workplace machine coffee compared with conventional brewing methods. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2025.[7]
- Tverdal A et al. Coffee consumption and mortality from cardiovascular diseases and total mortality: Does the brewing method matter? Eur J Prev Cardiol 2020.[8]