Lifeboost Coffee is a low-acid coffee that's marketed as a healthier alternative to regular coffee. The brand suggests their coffee is "created by eliminating variables that science has shown to have potentially negative effects on your health" like mold and heavy metals.
But does Lifeboost actually publish testing proving the purity of their coffee, or is this just a marketing claim? Are there any ingredients in Lifeboost other than coffee? How do real users rate and describe the effects of Lifeboost? And how does the price compare to other "healthy" coffee brands?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we review Lifeboost's website to see if the brand publishes testing to back up their purity claims.
We'll analyze the ingredients in Lifeboost Coffee, share our thoughts on whether low-acid coffee is really healthier, and compare the cost of Lifeboost Coffee to other coffee companies that brand their products as healthy.
We Can't Find Any Test Results
We scoured the Lifeboost website while researching this article, and we can't find any information that proves the brand's claims about either acidity or purity.
We find it to be strange that a brand so clearly marketing their products on low acidity and low toxins fails to clearly publish evidence to back these claims, and this is a red flag in our opinion.
We looked at both the product pages and the FAQ page, and couldn't find this information anywhere on either page, at the time of publishing this article.
The company has a Certificate of Analysis listed as a product on their site, so perhaps they will physically mail test results to customers, but we don't understand how this benefits any party over just publishing the test results in digital form on product pages.
We hope that in the future, Lifeboost publishes their test results on their product pages for any potential consumer to review.
Is Low-Acid Coffee Healthier?
Coffee is relatively acidic, and Lifeboost's marketing suggests that since that their coffee is less acidic, that makes it a healthier choice.
We can't find any medical studies (nor does Lifeboost appear to cite any) suggesting that low-acid coffee is a better choice for otherwise healthy individuals.
However, it may be a better choice for some individuals with pre-existing health conditions.
A medical review published in the Nutrients journal analyzed the effects of coffee on the gastrointestinal tract, and the authors concluded that:
"Most data are not in favor of a direct effect of coffee on gastro-esophageal reflux, which is rather a combined or additive effect to other risk factors such as obesity and a poor diet."
This suggests that Lifeboost Coffee may be a better option than regular coffee for obese individuals or individuals who eat an unhealthy diet. Both groups appear to be more prone to developing gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and low-acid coffee may help to mitigate that risk.
However, a separate 2014 meta-study found no significant effect between coffee consumption and GERD risk.
Overall, we're unconvinced that low-acid coffee is healthier than regular coffee, although it doesn't appear to be less healthy either. We don't consider the acidity of coffee to be an important consideration in relation to health effects.
We Tried Lifeboost Ourselves
As the author of this article, I wanted to try Lifeboost Coffee myself to share my thoughts on the taste and product's effects.
I purchased Lifeboost's Optimist Light Roast on Amazon.
I don't drink coffee every day, but when I do I make a French press with about two cup's worth.
Lifeboost gave me a similar mental boost to my regular coffee, which suggests the caffeine content is within a normal range (it's not published on the packaging).
These coffee grounds seem "finer" than the coffee I usually use: there was no resistance when pushing the plunger rod down to strain the coffee grounds, like there usually is.
As far as the taste, I found it to be a bit more muted than I enjoy. The light roast I typically purchase is rich and flavorful (and a bit more acidic). I drink my coffee black, so I like a more flavorful coffee.
Since this brand is around twice as expensive as the coffee I usually purchase, I don't plan to purchase it in the future.
Perhaps it may be useful for individuals with stomach issues, but otherwise I don't see much of a benefit in drinking low-acid coffee.
I'd rate Lifeboost Coffee 6.5/10.
Is Lifeboost Overpriced or Underpriced?
It can be hard to get an apples-to-apples price comparison for coffee because the format and package size varies so much.
Here's a per-ounce price comparison between Lifeboost and other coffee brands that are marketed as healthy:
Ryze Mushroom Coffee: $4.72
Everyday Dose: $4.72
Lifeboost: $2.33
To the credit of Lifeboost, their coffee is significantly cheaper per-ounce than some other popular "healthy" coffee brands.
However, all of these brands are significantly more expensive than regular Starbucks coffee (which itself is branded as premium), which costs only $0.64 per ounce at the time of publishing this article.
Here's a price breakdown showing which retailer sells Lifeboost for the best price:
Brand website: $27.95 (plus shipping, link)
Walmart: $27.95 (free shipping, link)
Amazon: $27.95 (free shipping, link to official Amazon listing)
Real People Try Lifeboost
A YouTube creator named "Coffee Geek TV" tried Lifeboost coffee (both the espresso and the decaf versions) to test whether or not they caused indigestion:
A YouTube creator named "The Sustainable Mama" did a taste test of Lifeboost:
Can You Reduce Coffee Acidity At Home?
A YouTube channel called "JayArr Coffee" has a video that's less than two minutes long, discussing how people can reduce the acidity of coffee at home:
Our Clean Coffee Picks
MBG Clean Coffee+ is our top coffee product, because it’s ground for convenience, organic certified, and third-party lab tested for purity (which is highly uncommon for coffee).
Four Sigmatic Think is our top nootropic coffee brand, because it contains organic Lion's Mane which is clinically shown to enhance cognitive function.
Both of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Real Customers Review Lifeboost
Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.
Lifeboost Medium Roast is the brand's most-reviewed product on Amazon, with over 2,500 reviews and a 4.2 out of 5 star rating at the time of publishing this article.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Life is Good" who gives the product a 5/5 star rating, and likes both the taste and product benefits:
"This coffee is amazing. It is low acid but great flavor. You would never know it is low acid if you go by taste BUT you will notice 'No tummy problems'!!!! I am a big fan!!!!"
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named "Sharon" who gives the product a 1/5 star rating and disliked the taste and complained about the caffeine content:
"it was very weak and just not much flavor at all. The real sign that this coffee was not that great was because the next morning I woke up with a caffeine-deficit headache."
Lifeboost Coffee currently has an average review rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars on Google.
Pros and Cons of Lifeboost
Here are the pros and cons of Lifeboost Coffee in our opinion:
Pros:
- Low-acid coffee may be a good choice for people with health issues
- Cheaper than some other "healthy" coffees
- Positive online customer reviews
Cons:
- We can't find any toxin testing
- We can't find any acidity testing
- More expensive than regular coffee
- Brand website charges for shipping
- We can't find ingredients in flavored coffees
