Most people have a ritual they do when they wake up in the morning to start the day energetically. We wake up, pour ourselves a nice cup of coffee in our favorite mug. But according to some urban legends, your morning coffee may contain more than just coffee beans and water. Well, could this source of energy be cockroaches?
The idea for coffee with cockroaches was first suggested in 2009 by Douglas Emlen, a biologist at the University of Montana. He talks about an incident that happened about George Eickwort, a respected entomology professor at the university when he was a student.
For Eickwort, she says she’s one of the greatest entomologists she’s ever met, but is overly addicted to coffee and caffeine. When he was working with his professor, they had to travel far to find good coffee. It was now normal for them to drive 45 minutes to find a place with freshly ground coffee.
But Emlen soon realized that it wasn’t just the consultant’s obsession with coffee. It was because of the cockroaches. Eickwort realized that he was allergic to small insects, after years of teaching entomology and dealing with insects every day. This was a big problem for caffeine addiction. Because the large amount of coffee put in cans is processed from huge coffee stocks. These coffee stocks are infested with cockroaches and there is no solution to filter them out.
So is this true?
There is no conclusive evidence as to whether this claim is true or not. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets the maximum levels of natural contaminants allowed in foods. These include insect parts, mold, fly eggs and larvae, and mouse hair and droppings. Analysis by the institution confirms that there were previously insects in coffee beans.
Insect control company Presto-X claims that coffee producers are quite successful in this regard. He says they provide insect control services to the largest coffee production facilities in the United States and that there is absolutely no cockroach problem at these facilities.
From what we understand, cockroaches do not infest coffee production facilities. But there is no absolute guarantee that your morning coffee is completely free of cockroach particles. According to Emlen, it is very difficult to find a building without cockroaches in public places. A 2012 study found detectable levels of cockroach allergens in the dust of children’s rooms. That means kids sleep in the room with scary bugs every night.
If that bothers you, we have even worse news for you. The kitchen is where cockroach allergens are highest. A 2019 study reveals that the smell of coffee is highly attractive to cockroaches. That’s why you might see a few cockroaches around your coffee machine from time to time.
It could be worse
While there is no absolute guarantee that your coffee is cockroach-free, don’t worry too much about consuming a lot of cockroach legs or antennae with your coffee. We’re sure this won’t worry you too much, especially when you consider other things that might be in your coffee.
A Reddit user states that he has never seen cockroaches despite making hundreds of coffees a week for 4 years as a roaster for a small coffee company. Although he saw small animal bones, corn, small pieces of stone and concrete, he never encountered insects. Another user says he found hives in unroasted coffee beans, while another says that lizards appeared.
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