Available on all seven continents, coffee truly is a global beverage. Indeed, over 2.25 billion cups of the stuff are consumed every day around the world. And coffee is generally equated with positive health benefits thanks to its bioactive compounds.

However, new research led by Uppsala University in Sweden investigated how the brewing method used to make coffee can affect levels of natural compounds called diterpenes that can raise low-density lipoprotein, also known as LDL or 'bad' cholesterol, levels, which can, in turn, affect cardiovascular health.

"Considering how much coffee is consumed in Swedish workplaces, we wanted to get a picture of the content of cholesterol-elevating substances in coffee from these types of machines," said David Iggman, a researcher at the University's Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Unit and the study's corresponding author. "We studied fourteen coffee machines and could see that the levels of these substances are much higher in coffee from these machines than from regular drip-filter coffee makers."