No Coffee For Celiacs

A strange thing came across my radar the other day – after a lifetime of waking up in a blind stumble towards the coffee grinder at 5 a.m. – and a near lifetime of living gluten free, someone told me that people with gluten sensitivities are not able to digest the protein in coffee. In fact, 10% of coffee is a protein that cross reacts with gluten antibodies and can cause the same immune system response that causes health problems in celiac disease. Those problems include: Immune disorders, migraines, neurological issues, hormone and thyroid problems, certain forms of cancer (lymphoma), as well as, gastrointestinal disease.

Apparently, if you are reactive to gluten, you are more than likely immune reactive to the cross contaminant protein in coffee. Coffee is the most common cross-reactor to gluten – which means a cup can trigger your body to launch a full scale attack on what it perceives as a foreign invader. Immune responses cause inflammation resulting in brain irritation (known to underlie depression and more serious brain disorders) and also cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, colitis, and whole smorgasbord of autoimmune related diseases.

So I put away my porcelain Melitta-style coffee maker, my brown, non-dioxin coffee filters, and my so-old-the-button’s-broke coffee grinder, and took a trip to the supermarket to find matcha tea. Not being a tea person, I had no idea that matcha normally comes as a powder. In the tea aisle, I spotted matcha tea bags – not organic, but at least GMO free. They were the only ones. I snagged a box and proceeded on my mission to replace caffeine, while hopefully avoiding the inevitable migraines that come with coffee-withdrawal.

Strangely, it worked. Not even a headache – and the caffeine keeps me going for hours. I am even up late at night if I drink more than two cupfuls. Though the matcha tea bags are not hipster, they are pretty straight forward, un-messy, and non-labor-intensive. I even heat the water in a tempered glass mug in the microwave, instead of in the pot on the stove I used to use for coffee.

Even still, I can’t claim to be one hundred percent satisfied. There is that small nagging coffee bean size craving still causing fleeting visions of a bolder morning beverage – one in which you can toss cinnamon, creamer, -a dash of honey… But my morning routine is decidedly simpler, I have my morning wake-up beverage in no time, though I admit, I still drink my tea from a coffee mug.

On the upside, if I can only keep up this latest gluten-free food penance, in about a month, I figure I can start searching the mirror for signs of the anti-aging effects of green tea antioxidants.

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