# Feeling sick after drinking coffee



## stecoffee (Oct 3, 2017)

Hi All

A bit of a cry for help, I have a Barista express and have been using union coffee beans. I have really enjoyed the revelation beans (heavy roast) however I realised after drinking a double expresso or Latte I feel a little unwell....a bit like having a hangover.

I purchased some medium roast beans from union and they made me way more ill, like a full 2 day hangover...no headache just a feel of sickness/nausea.

I can drink coffee at work and from shops and have never had this problem so was thinking maybe I just can't handle the beans I have been buying.

Has anyone else had this issue and if so could you recommend beans that won't make me pay for their consumption in my general well being!

Steve


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Which shops & drinks (sizes) are you buying from shops?

Whilst I guess it's possible that certain beans might make you feel ill, more so than others, it seems more likely that other factors might be at work. Shop bought coffees are more likely to be made up of blends from differing origins, so I struggle to see how you might be dodging the bullet there?

Your doses may differ to those you buy elsewhere? Maybe something about the way you are extracting them? For example, under-extracted coffee makes me burp & can cause me acid reflux, over-extracted coffee can make just want to lie down in a darkened room & drink a lot of water, silty coffee can make me agitated. Despite this, I still drink 3-5 cups a day and easily avoid any of those scenarios when making my own coffee.

Can you tell us your shot procedure? Grinder setting, how many g of coffee in the portafilter, how many g of shot in the cup & how long you run the shot for?


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

Some coffees I've made make my lips tingle and I struggle to pronounce words correctly 

Hopefully you get to the bottom of this


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

joey24dirt said:


> Some coffees I've made make my lips tingle and I struggle to pronounce words correctly
> 
> Hopefully you get to the bottom of this


Are you quite sure it was coffee that you had been drinking and not something in tall glasses







for instance


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

El carajillo said:


> Are you quite sure it was coffee that you had been drinking and not something in tall glasses
> 
> 
> 
> ...


18gram lip tingler I used to call it haha


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## stecoffee (Oct 3, 2017)

Hi, Thanks for your response:

Using the integrated grinder in the sage barista express, using grind "5"

I'm grinding 18g coffee into a double portailter

The extraction is registering in the middle of the "expresso" range on the dial and last approx 14-15 seconds

This gives me 54g of expresso in the cup

Hope this helps

Steve


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Stecoffe, could it be you are making / brewing your coffee at home much stronger ??

Might be worth trying some de-caff coffee to see if you have the same result or rule out the caffeine.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

stecoffee said:


> Hi, Thanks for your response:
> 
> Using the integrated grinder in the sage barista express, using grind "5"
> 
> ...


That is rather a long coffee for the amount of beans, you can pull short or long but usually the start point is 18 gms in = 36 gms out IN app 25-28 secs


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

stecoffee said:


> Hi, Thanks for your response:
> 
> Using the integrated grinder in the sage barista express, using grind "5"
> 
> ...


14-15 seconds doesn't sound very long. What happens if you go finer & the shot takes longer?

How do you feel if you just drink half of the shot?

How does the shot taste, anything untoward jump out? Tangy, sour, sharp, very smokey, drying etc.?


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

eSpresso. sorry


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## u2jewel (Aug 17, 2017)

Parts of MWJB's suggestions might hold the answer, if the problem you have happens to be the same as what i experienced and learnt from a long time ago.

For me, immersion brewing gives me indigestion.

Indigestion, or acid reflux, can at times, with/without the burning sensation give you nauseous feeling too. Smoking (I do) while drinking heavy oily brew at the same time do the same too. And, if it's on empty stomach, that's a trifecta for big time stomach abuse.

For me, it's not the caffeine. I drink about 8 doubles a day. Although caffeine OD can have similar side effects (a few years back, I had 3 consecutive Caphe Phins which gave me the tremours and nausea) I ultimately discovered it's the oils.

Long story short, oily and fried food gives me acid reflux. So does oily coffee. Oily stuff taste better. Food and coffee. But I need to control the intake.

Heavy French press is my public enemy number 1. My hario SS cone filter also lets some oil through. This can sometimes give me heartburn too. But if I use good quality paper like a v60, which takes some of the flavourful oils out, then less problems for me.

How does that translate into your lungo? Not sure.

I have a feeling that increasing your shot time by at least doubling it would help, that is if you insist on keeping the same brew ratio. Preferably a bit longer than 35 sec.

Either way, you need to grind a lot finer to increase your brew time.


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## thesmileyone (Sep 27, 2016)

I found after developing a problem with caffeine and not having any for 4 years, that the same amount of coffee from ground beans gives me far more of a "kick" than the same amount of pre-made stuff.

I use it for cognitive effect as part of a stack.

Try getting some l-theanine 400mg and taking that with your espresso, it smooths out the caffeine symptoms. One of caffeine OD symptoms is nausea.

Will never forget the day where I drank 2 rockstar energy drinks (buy 1 get 1 free), a double espresso from beans and took a Caffpro tablet all within 4 hours.

Almost as bad as too much nicotine!


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## holdtheonions (May 5, 2016)

u2jewel is right, coffee is acidic and oily, so makes some nauseous or get reflux. Coffee loses acidity as it ages, so could also try older beans, e.g. 2 weeks old or so, and see if better.


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

Glass of water with the coffee may help.


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

my wife has a kind of allergic reaction to caffeine, fast heart beat, cold sweat, shaking hands, bad stomach...so it is decaf for her


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

Rave italian job can make me feel queezy. I put it down to it having a higher level of Caffeine cos of the rubusta.

For what ever reason, i dont know,, blends seem to have a higher chance of giving me the Caffeine tremmors and make me feel jittery so i stick to single origin now.

Not sure how true it is but ive read that the higher up the coffee is grown the less Caffeine the beans contain. Something to do with the plant not having to produce as much Caffeine cos the insects dont like it that high up.

Maybe try a single origin from a very highly elevated Plantation


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## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

My wife had similar reactions to coffee brewed in a moka pot (mixed with milk) once it knocked her out for two days with serious gut problems, headache etc. she seems to think it was just too strong and since then only has very mild capps instead, no moka at all.

I get acid reflux from anything other than espresso, although badly brewed espresso also causes issues, no idea why though, lightly roasted beans seem to disagree with my gut most of the time also. Brewed is a killer, causes huge heartburn, but sometimes it starts off deeper in the gut and feels like an upset stomach with a sensation similar to nausea.

Try cutting down the shot in half or more, having it on its own or diluting and seeing how those variations work out for you. From what I've heard most people that never drink espresso and try it straight often get the shits as the shots are fairly aggresive to the gut lining. Something to keep in my perhaps when downing shots without previous espresso experience...

T.


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## u2jewel (Aug 17, 2017)

Slightly off topic, but for those who are sensitive to acid in the coffee.

Cold brew (difficult and expensive to make it tasty) seems to somehow not extract any of those acids. It is the friendliest coffee on my stomach of of all prep methods I've tried. As a downside, major parts of the flavour profile is lost, but the upside is that I can drink it as much as I want. It's even cleaner tasting if you then filter it v60 to take away the sediments. Brilliant during the summer!


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## radam87 (Sep 27, 2017)

How long has the coffee rested? I sometimes get a bit of nausea if I grind within the first day or so of roasting. Or when I am getting accustomed to a new roast.


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## Batian (Oct 23, 2017)

Have you considered the water?

If it has been sitting in your machine in a warm environment it may have developed some "wildlife". Even more likely if you are using natural bottled water.

Sure the heating process should kill any "wildlife", but it will not remove any toxins they have created.


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