Dark roast coffee has a special compound that might stop two harmful proteins in the brain from clumping together, which could be good for brain health.

Dark roast coffee seems to stop harmful clumps in the brain better than light roast coffee, and scientists think it’s because the darker roasting creates special compounds called phenylindanes.

Dark roast coffee seems to stop harmful clumps in the brain better than light roast coffee, and scientists think it’s because the darker roasting makes more of a special compound called phenylindane.

When coffee beans are roasted, they make a chemical called phenylindane that might stop harmful clumps in the brain—linked to Alzheimer’s—from forming, at least in test tubes.

Even without caffeine, dark roast coffee can still stop harmful clumps in the brain from forming—so it’s not the caffeine doing the job, but other chemicals created when the coffee is roasted.

When coffee beans are roasted, they make some natural compounds that, in lab tests, stop harmful clumps of brain proteins from forming—clumps that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease. One of these compounds, called phenylindane (6), was super effective at stopping these clumps.