If you’ve ever peeped the Wave Soda webpage, the first thing you will read is this line

“It’s Simple: 85% sparkling water, 15% fruit juice and 42 milligrams of all natural caffeine derived from the green coffee bean.”

Okay, so, they’re talking about a natural soda. A healthy, flavored sparkling water, with a caffeine pick-me-up. Ingredients include:

Sparkling water — Yup, we know that that is.

Fruit Juice — Mhmm, yes. Got it.

And natural caffeine derived from the green coffee bean — Sounds good! But… what’s a green coffee bean?

Well, as per usual my inquisitive friends, I dug so you don’t have to! 

What is the Green Coffee Bean?

Let’s back it up just a tiny bit, so we’re all on the same page. A coffee plant is a leafy green plant that produces red and purple fruits, often referred to as cherries. Like the common cherry, these stone fruits have pits. What we call ‘coffee beans’ are actually the pits of the coffee plant’s cherries. The pits become coffee beans, as we know them, when they are roasted. A green coffee bean is then the pit of the fruit, as it is naturally, before it is roasted. 

How Do We Use it?

Green coffee beans are most commonly consumed in the form of an extract. The beans are placed in boiling water and steeped. The hot water will extract all the caffeine and other good stuff from the beans. The whole concoction is then dried, leaving behind just the beans’ most powerful essence. That powder is then added to beverages or taken in capsule form.

But, Why Green Coffee Beans?

Green coffee bean extract is new and exciting in the beverage world because, with it, you get all the natural (as opposed to synthetic) caffeine without that distinct ‘coffee’ taste. Plus, there may be some other potential health benefits.

What Other Potential Health Benefits?

Before the beans are roasted, they are packed with chlorogenic acid. For that reason, green coffee bean extract has been used as a weight loss supplement for a few years now. While the effectiveness is still up for debate on the internet, NCBI concluded in a study on mice that the beans extract may positively affect how our bodies absorb carbohydrates, and by reducing the amount of glucose we absorb, may help with diabetes and weight loss. It has also been known to lower blood pressure and promote blood vessel health! 

We aren’t here to tell you that Wave Soda will necessarily make you skinnier or anything, but we aren’t saying it won’t… 

See for yourself! Try out a healthy, aspartame free soda with a natural energy kick today. 

If you are interested in roasting or grinding your own coffee at home, check out this blog, "For the Coffee Connoisseur: How to Roast and Grind at Home".