Drinking three to four cups of coffee daily, without sugar or cream

People who drink three to four cups of coffee each day have a roughly 17% lower chance of dying during the same period compared to those who don’t drink coffee at all.

Making coffee at home costs just one or two yuan per day. It takes only a few minutes to brew a cup, so it doesn’t take up much time at all.

One review combined results from 201 separate studies; all of these original studies simply recorded data without any subgroup analysis. The overall finding was that daily coffee drinkers (3–4 cups) faced a 17% lower risk of death than non-drinkers (relative risk 0.83, 95% CI 0.79–0.88 — this is a reliable range).

There is some debate here: the original authors pointed out that almost all evidence comes from observational tracking studies, and they also noted that “reliable randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm a causal link.” In other words, to prove causation, participants would need to be randomly assigned to either a coffee-drinking or non-drinking group. For this benefit to apply, coffee should be consumed black; adding sugar or cream negates these positive effects. This recommendation does not apply to pregnant women, or to people suffering from arrhythmia, anxiety, or insomnia.

Poole R, Kennedy OJ, Roderick P, et al. (2017). Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes. BMJ, 359, j5024. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5024，含更正 BMJ (2018), 360, k194. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k194（摘要里总死亡率的可信范围由 0.83–0.88 改为 0.79–0.88）；Wang X, Ma H, Sun Q, et al. (2025). Coffee drinking timing and mortality in US adults. European Heart Journal, 46(8), 749-759. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehae871；Yang R, Lei Q, Liu Z, et al. (2024). Relationship between timing of coffee and tea consumption with mortality (total, cardiovascular disease and diabetes) in people with diabetes: the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003–2014. BMC Medicine, 22, 526. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03736-x；EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (2015). Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine. EFSA Journal, 13(5), 4102. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4102；EFSA 咖啡因专题页（每份含量表）https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/caffeine；FDA. Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much? https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/spilling-beans-how-much-caffeine-too-much；Health Canada. Caffeine in foods. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-safety/food-additives/caffeine-foods.html；加糖：Liu D, Li ZH, Shen D, et al. (2022). Association of Sugar-Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Coffee Consumption With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. Annals of Internal Medicine, 175(7), 909-917. https://doi.org/10.7326/M21-2977；Treskes RW, Clausen J, Marott JL, et al. (2023). Use of sugar in coffee and tea and long-term risk of mortality in older adult Danish men. PLOS ONE, 18(10), e0292882. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292882；房颤：Wong CX, Cheung CC, Montenegro G, et al. (2026). Caffeinated Coffee Consumption or Abstinence to Reduce Atrial Fibrillation. JAMA, 335(4), 317-325. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2025.21056；Joglar JA, Chung MK, Armbruster AL, et al. (2024). 2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation. Circulation, 149(1). https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001193