Iced coffee: bad for you and the environment?

For those of us who are fully immersed in caffeine culture, the morning commute would not be complete without a stop at the local coffee shop – and in a heat wave, it’s no surprise that many java junkies turn to iced coffee as a cooler, more refreshing alternative to a steaming hot brew.

But disposable coffee cups are not the only eco-nasty lurking at the coffee shop counter, although they have been one of the biggest headlines in recent years as the industry searches for an economical way to cleanly recycle its disposable cups.

Here are a few more ways in which your iced coffee on your daily commute could be adding to the environment’s woes, as well as putting your health and bodily fitness at risk.

The final straw

You’ll typically get a straw with cold drinks whether you want one or not, and in iced drinks especially, coffee shops love to give you one of those plastic straws with the flattened spoon-like bottom end.

Like any single-use plastic straws, these are as much of a headache for the environment as disposable coffee cups, and straws in particular have a way of getting into watercourses and, eventually, into the ocean.

A switch to paper straws isn’t necessarily ideal as they quickly become soggy and collapse into your drink, so the latest eco-warrior fashion accessory is apparently a metal straw that you can carry with you and use whenever you need it.

Don’t milk it

Iced coffee is likely to be pretty milky, and no matter what type of milk you go for, there are ethical concerns to face.

Traditional dairy milk raises questions about cattle welfare and is obviously off the menu for vegans; almond milk takes nearly 1,000 litres of water to produce a single litre of milk; and soy milk is linked with major deforestation.

The magic ingredients

The pleasure response we get from drinking iced coffee is linked with certain key ingredients, such as sugar and caffeine.

But of course a prolonged high intake of sugar can lead to diabetes in later life, while excess caffeine is excreted by the body, again finding its way into natural watercourses and posing a health risk to aquatic life.

A sensible alternative to single-use

If you’re still throwing away a coffee cup (most likely plastic, rather than lined paper, when it’s iced coffee) and a plastic straw for every coffee you drink, you’re in danger of very quickly becoming outdated.

Recyclable cups and straws are firmly on the agenda but, as always, reusable wins the day – and many coffee shops will now not only fill your own travel mug for you, but even offer a discount for doing so.

If you can’t carry a mug and a metal straw with you, consider taking a few extra minutes to have your coffee on-site rather than to-go, and ask that it be served in a glass or mug that can be washed and reused, rather than something that will be thrown away.