A brand focussing on wellbeing supplementation might not be the first place you would look to buy your coffee but Kion (pronounced key-on) offers something quite unique. According to their website, central to Kion’s brand is the Japanese concept of ‘Ki’ which can be broadly translated into _energy, spirit _or _life force. _This inspires them to make a range of energy enhancing foods and supplements that focus on the enhancement of your body’s natural energy that contain as few impurities as possible rather than using artificial means of boosting your energy.
Products they offer range from creatinine to colostrum capsules to cater for a wide variety of needs including weight management, gut health, muscle recovery and immunity support. Nestled away in the ‘Energy’ section of their website is the slightly unexpected find of Kion’s coffee.
- CERTIFIED ORGANIC: Kion Clean Coffee is grown in a manner that supports your health and the planet’s.
- SPECIALTY GRADE: Kion Coffee is in the top 3% of all coffees worldwide that are classified as “speciality grade,” the highest quality coffee available with near zero defects.
- TESTED FOR TOXINS: Our coffee beans are regularly tested for mold, mycotoxins, and pesticides.
- ETHICALLY SOURCED: We only source beans from farms that meet the highest standards for ethical and sustainable farming practices.
- ALWAYS FRESH: Kion Clean Coffee is expertly roasted using an environmentally-friendly smokeless roaster, and sealed in nitrogen-flushed bags to maintain freshness.
- CERTIFIED ORGANIC: Kion Clean Coffee is grown in a manner that supports your health and the planet’s.
- SPECIALTY GRADE: A distinction only the top 3% of all coffees worldwide can claim, specialty grade means the highest quality coffee available with near zero defects.
- TESTED FOR TOXINS: Our coffee beans are regularly tested for mold, mycotoxins, and pesticides.
- ETHICALLY SOURCED: We only source coffee beans from farms that meet the highest standards for ethical and sustainable farming practices.
- ALWAYS FRESH: Kion Clean Coffee is expertly roasted using an environmentally-friendly smokeless roaster, and sealed in nitrogen-flushed bags to maintain freshness.
- CERTIFIED ORGANIC: Kion Clean Coffee is grown in a manner that supports your health and the planet’s.
- SPECIALTY GRADE: A distinction only the top 3% of all coffees worldwide can claim, specialty grade means the highest quality coffee available with near zero defects.
- TESTED FOR TOXINS: Our coffee beans are rigorously tested for pesticides, yeast, mold, and mycotoxins.
- ETHICALLY SOURCED: We only source coffee beans from farms that meet the highest standards for ethical and sustainable farming practices.
- ALWAYS FRESH: Kion Clean Coffee is expertly roasted using an environmentally-friendly smokeless roaster, and sealed in nitrogen-flushed bags to maintain freshness.
Last update on 2024-04-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Keeping with their central philosophy, Kion say their coffee stands apart form the bulk of so called ‘commercial coffee’ in that it isn’t sprayed with pesticides or engineered to boost yield. In particular, they say that they go to great lengths through their quality assurance process to ensure their coffee is mold free. At first glance, this may seem a little redundant, surely _ALL_coffee should be mold free? However, it has been shown [1] that up to 60% of coffee crops can contain mycotoxins, metabolic molecules produced by tiny fungi that grow as a result of the need for coffee to be stored for long periods of time. Coffee crops are particularly susceptible to containing aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A which Kion eliminate in their coffee.
Moldy coffee is certainly alarming and both aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A have been shown to be carcinogens in addition to being harmful to organs such as the brain and kidneys [2-3]. However, it is worth bearing in mind that you would need to ingest a much larger amount of these mycotoxins to suffer the ill effects than the trace amounts you are exposed to in coffee and many other food products. Additionally, the vast majority of countries have strict regulations on the levels of mycotoxins permitted in food and drink [4]. In this respect, depending on what is most important to you, the ‘mold free’ aspect of Kion’s coffee may not be so important.
Kion Coffee Taste
Regarding taste, Kion’s coffee is described as being medium roast and smooth with notes of apple, marzipan and spice with a hint of dark chocolate. This is backed up by reviewers who consistently said that the coffee had a ‘clean‘ taste. The beans themselves are a blend of 100% arabica grown by a few small producers in Mexico and Central America and it is particularly pleasing to see that the beans are fairly traded and carry organic accreditation from USDA. The green beans are roasted in either of Kion’s two sites in the United States.
Kion Coffee Beans
The beans come whole so you are free to grind them to your desired size and brew them however you would brew your usual coffee. Helpfully, their website has a comprehensive brewing guide that tells you how to use their coffee with a range of methods from moka to cold brew and more meaning that everyone is catered for.
Currently, Kion coffee is only available for purchase online and one 12oz (340g) bag will set you back $19.99. On average, one bag contains around 70tbsp of ground coffee and around 30 8oz cups of brewed coffee. Savings can be made by purchasing a bundle of three bags for $53.97. Interestingly, the coffee is also available in a ‘Fasting Bundle’ which also contains their Aminos capsules which they say helps suppress appetite and reduce fatigue should you be following an Intermittent Fasting lifestyle. The coffee is also included in the ‘Performance Bundle’ which adds creatinine, said to increase muscle mass and recovery following a workout.
To wrap things up, here are some of the pros and cons that you may wish to consider before buying Kion Coffee:
REFERENCES
1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24152987/
2) https://academic.oup.com/carcin/article/22/4/535/2529893
3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17195275/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17195275/]
4) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17508207/
