What is the healthiest type of coffee? Expert recommends skipping sugar and choosing organic coffee.

Coffee is the second most popular beverage in the world, after water. Its range of flavors, notes, and drinking styles makes it a versatile and universal ingredient. The question is whether all coffee is healthy: the answer is no. Within this wide range of options, it's important to keep in mind some recommendations, such as adding sugar or buying ultra-processed coffees.

Gastroenterologist Saurabh Sethi, a Harvard-trained physician who works at Stanford and the University of Texas, shared on social media that for coffee to be truly healthy, two fundamental conditions must be met that most people ignore: one is to never add sugar, and the second is to always look for organic coffee, even if it's more expensive.

According to their research, the polyphenols—natural compounds found in plants, known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties—found in coffee can be beneficial for the brain, gut, and liver. These benefits can be offset by adding sweeteners or by mixing them with chemicals in more processed products.

Although it may seem like a joke, in the end, the problem often isn't the coffee itself, but rather what it's paired with—bread, cookies, pastries, desserts, or ice cream—or sweetened with. The calculation is that if a person drinks three cups of coffee with sugar a day, they would be consuming about 20 grams of sugar, which is the daily human consumption limit.

Below is a list of tips that may be helpful in making coffee an ally for your health.