Lifeboost Coffee Review. Guide to Best Beans From Lifeboost!

If you’re like the majority of Americans, you rely on coffee to get you through the day. While coffee is generally good for you, it can be laden with pesticides and other harmful chemicals. It can also cause stomach upset.

Lifeboost Coffee was created to give you a healthier choice that is easy on the stomach. This certified organic coffee is low acid, non-GMO, and mycotoxin free. We’ll tell you about their phenomenal journey from an idea to a well-known national brand. Here is our Lifeboost coffee review, including our experience with two varieties.

Who

One morning, Dr. Charles Livingston got to thinking as he drank his ritual cup of coffee. He contemplated how vital coffee was in America. 70% of Americans drink coffee at least once a week, and 62% drink coffee daily!

What

Lifeboost offers 100% arabica specialty coffee. The focus is on clean coffee that tastes good and is good for you. It is USDA Organic, shade grown at elevation, and single-origin. You’ll find Lifeboost coffee in a range of origins and roasts as well as flavored and decaf coffee.

Workers harvest the coffee cherries by hand. This ensures that they only pick ripe fruit. Unripe beans can be astringent or like hay. Overripe beans will be sour. Handpicking also leaves the green cherries on the plant to mature.

Regular Coffee

The staple offerings from Lifeboost are their light, medium, dark, and espresso roasts. In 2022, Lifeboost assigned these trademarked names: the lightest roast is Optimist, medium roast is Adamo, dark roast is Emboldened, and the espresso roast is Luxuriance.

Decaf

Lifeboost uses the Swiss Water Process for their decaf coffees. This gives you 99.9% caffeine-free coffee. The good news is that it has all the delicious qualities of the original.

What’s more, this delicious beverage is gentle on the stomach. The combination of low acid coffee and no caffeine can help you enjoy your coffee any time, night or day. You can buy these as whole beans or pre-ground.

Biotics Cold Brew

It’s not uncommon for folks to give up drinking coffee because it was too rough on their stomach. If coffee usually gives you a lot of tummy trouble, you may want to try this variety.

Each bag of Lifeboost has 12 different strains of probiotics. Probiotics promote a healthy gut and might help decrease inflammation and boost the immune system. So, this is a great one-and-done way to help your belly while getting your go-juice.

Whiskey, Bourbon, or Wine Barrel Aged vs Infused

One of the latest trends in coffee has to do with alcoholic beverages. One is to age coffee in used bourbon, whiskey, or wine barrels for around 30 days. This imparts a rich aroma and subtle undertones that add complexity to the brew.

The other trend is wine or spirits-infused coffee. It seems there are several ways to do this. Some might soak the coffee cherries in the wine or alcohol. Others might infuse the beans before or after roasting. Lifeboost does not divulge their infusion method.

Flavored Coffee

Flavored coffee is a great way to go if you want to add unique flavors to your morning cup of coffee with  without adding sugar or calories. Lifeboost offers many delicious options year-round such as standards like French Vanilla, unusual tastes like Honey Lavender Latte, and seasonal offerings like Pumpkin Spice.

K-Cups

You love the convenience and freshness of using K-cup coffee pods. But you don’t like these plastic cups piling up in landfills. How do you choose between convenience and the environment?

With Lifeboost’s Pods, you don’t have to choose. These are plant-based and 100% compostable! You won’t sacrifice your principles for convenience.

The pods are compatible Keurig or Keurig 2.0. These are available in light, medium, and dark roast and several flavors.

Go Bag

If you don’t have a Keurig, you can still enjoy a convenient, single cup of coffee on the go. Check out Lifeboost’s Go Bags.

These bags work much like a teabag. Steep the bag in hot water for five minutes! The bags and packaging are fully biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable. Available in medium and dark roast coffee.

Why

Lifeboost Coffee is especially known for its focus on health and being free of harmful chemicals. All of their coffee beans are organic and low acid. They claim that even people who had to give up coffee because of the acidity could drink this Lifeboost Coffee.

Dr. Livingston also wanted to ensure the coffee benefited the people who grew it. He chose coffee farmers who used sustainable practices and he paid a fair wage. Lifeboost Coffee selects its coffee beans from small plantations in Nicaragua.

Where

Initially, all of the coffee beans for Lifeboost’s coffee came from Nicaragua. These farms are at 5,700-feet in elevation or higher. Elevation allows the plants to grow slower, which helps develop deeper tasting notes.

The company recently expanded to offer South America, Indonesia, and Africa beans. But they still insist on organic. Many of these more exotic coffees are limited editions.

The coffee plants grow in the shade of guava trees. The shade of the trees makes it more comfortable for the harvesters and helps the beans develop sweetness. Also, the leaves from the trees make a natural mulch for the plants. This provides nutrients as well as discourages weeds.

Whatever your preference, you can find a Lifeboost Coffee variety to fit your needs. They offer their Nicaraguan coffee beans in light, medium, dark, and espresso roasts. They also have ultra-dark midnight roast coffee beans.

If you like more flavor, here is a wide selection of all-natural Lifeboost Coffee with flavor. Be sure to check out their seasonal coffee beans with different flavors, which change throughout the year.

Here are some reasons for and against purchasing a bag (or more) of Lifeboost’s coffee.

Focus on Health and Sustainability

From the beginning, the founder of Lifeboost Coffee focused on the health benefits coffee could provide. Dr. Livingston was committed to being a better person each day. He felt that a daily ritual like coffee should help meet that goal.

As he searched for the healthiest coffee, he knew that the trade should not just benefit him and his customers. He wanted it to help the coffee farmers and producers as well. That’s why Lifeboost Coffee only offers fairly traded, organic coffee beans.

Single Origin Coffee Beans

For most coffee lovers, the term single origin equals quality. With single-origin coffee, there’s nowhere to hide. Single-origin coffees highlight the flavors unique to that region.

Low Acid

High acidity in coffee means a bright flavor. Unfortunately, increased acidity can also lead to digestive troubles. The pH scale that measures acidity ranges from 0 to 14. Lemon juice has a pH level of around 3, and water has a pH of 7.

Most coffee has a pH level of around 5.0. But Lifeboost coffee has a pH level of 6. The level of acidity depends on many things. A lighter roast is more acidic and a darker roast coffee is less acidic. The brewing method also affects acidity. For the lowest acidity, drink cold-brewed coffee.

But one of the more critical factors for acidity is the bean’s origin. Lifeboost Coffee specifically selects beans that have low acidity but are still delicious.

Third Party Tested for Mycotoxins

You may be wondering, “What are mycotoxins?” Mycotoxins are a toxic compound produced by certain fungi. At high levels, mycotoxins can lead to kidney disease and tumors.

However, mycotoxins occur naturally. They are everywhere, but usually at very low levels. The mycotoxins in coffee come from a fungus that grows on the beans.

Improper harvesting, processing, and storage can dramatically increase the fungus. That’s why Lifeboost cares about the whole process, from plantation to table. They use processing methods that reduce the risk of mycotoxins.

Coffees We Tried

For this Lifeboost coffee review, we sampled two coffees from Lifeboost: Adamo and Whiskey Barrel Aged. Both of these coffees were sourced from Nicaragua.

Adamo is the name of Lifeboost’s medium roast. In 2022, Lifeboost undertook renaming their “basic” coffees. Previously, they were simply denoted by their roast level.

Lifeboost coffee comes in simple, attractive bags. The material is heavy and air- and water-tight with a one-way valve. It opens with a pull tab. The bags are securely resealable; the fragrance was just as strong after a week as when it first opened.

Adamo Medium Roast Coffee

Roast: Medium

Origin: Nicaragua

Fragrance: Earthy, tobacco

Aroma: Cocoa, slightly fruity

Tasting notes: Cocoa, cherries

Recommended brew method: Pour over

We prepared this coffee as a 1:16 pour-over, a 1:16 French press, and as a cold brew. Although we did not make this as espresso, the smooth and slightly sweet variety will probably work very well as espresso.

The beans had a fairly strong aroma when the bag was first opened. The color of the beans was a nice, even brown, with some beans noticeably darker than others. The beans appeared slightly oily, which usually only happens with a very dark roast coffee or old beans.

Similar to many Central and South American coffees, The Adamo brew is very smooth and rich. It was slightly sweet with a clean after-taste.

These beans had an aggressive bloom that actually overflowed the dripper. A promising sign if you love freshly roasted coffee. Overall, this was thoroughly enjoyable.

Whiskey Barrel Aged

Roast: Medium

Origin: Nicaragua

Fragrance: Sweet, earthy

Aroma: Caramel, slightly fruity and tangy

Tasting notes: Caramel, cocoa, oaky smoke, slight whiskey after-taste

Recommended brew method: French press or cold brew

We prepared this coffee from Lifeboost as a 1:16 pour-over, a 1:16 French press, and as a cold brew. The immersion methods (French press and cold brew) allowed the subtle whiskey barrel notes to develop.

We weren’t sure if this barrel-aged trend made a noticeable difference. The final verdict? Yes, it does!

The barrel aging adds complexity to this Central American. Lifeboost ages their green coffee beans for 30 days in a charred coffee whiskey barrel.

From the first whiff, it was noticeably sweeter than the regular medium roast. The first sip delivers the taste typical of coffee from Central America with notes of cocoa. The whiskey aging adds a fullness to the middle- and after-taste. It left almost a tingly sensation on the tongue with caramel notes. It might be especially nice with a dessert, but it would be good any time of day.

Lifeboost Coffee offers a range of roasts, grinds, and flavors. You can get most varieties as either whole bean coffee or ground and many are available as K-cups. They are all certified organic.

Growing Conditions

The coffee plants grow at high altitudes. These high elevations bring cooler temperatures. The cooler temperature allows the beans to develop flavor. The beans Lifeboost chooses are also shade-grown. When the coffee cherries are ripe, workers pick them by hand.

Processing

Lifeboost uses a hybrid wet/dry method to process the coffee cherries. Freshly picked coffee cherries first rest and ferment for 26 hours. This allows the farmers to then remove the skins without damaging the bean.

Next, they wash the cherries in spring water. Many coffee growers allow the cherries to ferment at this point to separate the cherry pulp from the bean. Instead, Lifeboost uses a mechanical process to separate the pulp from the bean.

Careful Drying and Storing

Next, they let the beans dry in the sun. Then, they store the dry beans inside burlap bags in a sterile warehouse. This allows the beans to rest and fully develop their flavor before roasting.

Fair Trade Certified

Fair trade coffee is all about supporting small farms and their workers. With this certification, you know that the company paid farmers a fair price for their coffee.

A number of different organizations offer a fair trade certification. The primary goal of a fair-trade seal is to ensure that your money is going to help boost the standard of living of the workers and farmers.

Most people know about the energy boost from caffeine. Studies show that caffeine can help break down fat and give your metabolism a lift. This natural drug can also help increase neurotransmitters, increasing your focus.

For many Americans, coffee is the largest source of antioxidants in their diet. These substances may help protect against cancer, heart disease, and other serious illnesses.

Do these claims sound too good to be true? Well, researchers at Harvard have studied all these potential benefits. Here is a short video summarizing what they have found.