FAQs
Subscriptions
What are the benefits of subscribing?
Subscribers get:
- Free delivery worth £3.48
- An account to manage your subscription.
- Cancel anytime within a few clicks.
- Easily amend the frequency, coffee, grind size etc.
- Get notified 3 days before your subscription renews via email (so you can change or delay delivery).
Benefits include:
- Special rates on product launches
- Exclusive invite to our live Coffee Club over zoom where industry experts teach everything from brew guides to how to use coffee for health optimisation!
If I subscribe will you lock me in and throw away the key?
Not at all! You can cancel immediately, or pause or push a delivery very easily yourself via your account. All within a few clicks.
It's as flexible a subscription as they come.
How do I reset my account password?
There is a forgotten password link on the log in page. If you don’t receive an email please check for an account activation email which should have been sent when you placed your first order. If this also hasn’t come through (even to your junk inbox) then let Laura know and we can resend it –hey@exhalecoffee.com
How do I swap my product to something else?
Log into your account and select manage subscription and edit. Select your current product and then use the ‘Swap Product’ tab at the bottom to change to something else! If you’re struggling let us know and we can amend for you.
How do I pause my subscription?
If you log into your account, you can delay orders by either skipping upcoming shipments using the ‘Skip Shipment’ tab. Or you can alter your next charge date to a date that suits you as far into the future as you desire.
Can I add an extra bag to my subscription?
Absolutely! Under ‘Manage Subscriptions’ you should see an ‘Add Product’ button. You can add more subscriptions from here or just one off bags to your next order.
Referral Program
For full info check our referral page.
Do you have a referral program?
We did but it's temporarily down while we search for a different platform. Watch this space or our email newsletter for updates.
Shipping
What are your shipping rates?
UK:
- Sent with Royal Mail fully tracked next day service
- Over £35 is free shipping.
- Free delivery on subscriptions.
- Non-subscriptions cost £3.48
International:
Subscriptions and one-time purchases are now available internationally.
We've had some real issues with customs over the last year so now have a maximum order of 5kg. With packaging this is a maximum of 9 x 450g bags.
International shipping costs vary depending on country and weight. Calculated during checkout. Orders will be sent with a fully tracked service.
Do you ship overseas?
Yes, we ship all over the world! And we've already shipped to 34 countries and counting.
Subscriptions and one-time purchases are now available internationally.
We've had some real issues with customs over the last year so now have a maximum order of 5kg. With packaging this is a maximum of 9 x 450g bags.
International shipping costs vary depending on country and weight. Calculated during checkout. Orders will be sent with a fully tracked service. .
How long will it take to get my orders?
We offer same day dispatch if ordered before 8pm weekdays or Saturdays, and we send all post Royal Mail Tracked 24 so hopefully it will arrive quickly!
Note: It's in the Royal Mail's hands so please do allow a little longer just incase.
What packaging do you use?
Our packaging is plastic-free and made from renewable, plant-based sources.
We use a certified home compostable pouch which has an industrially compostable valve (the best currently available).
It's made from kraft paper and polylactic acid (PLA) – a plant-based renewable material - posted in a mailer made from 100% recycled and recyclable FSC certified paper.
We're continually looking for the most environmentally friendly solution so watch this space for our next phase of packaging....
My order hasn’t arrived yet – can you help?
Oh no! Of course – drop Laura an email on hey@exhalecoffee.com and she’ll look into it for you.
Our coffee
Which coffee should I choose?
- Our House Roast is our flagship coffee which is a medium roast. Choose this if you prefer a lighter, fruitier, more lively cup of coffee.
- For a bolder, punchier flavour go for our Dark(ish) Roast. This particularly suits espresso machines, any milk based drink or Bulletproof Coffee. But is good for anyone who wants a stronger taste.
- For all the goodness without the caffeine choose our Decaf.
Which grind size should I choose?
Wholebean - Choose this if you have your own grinder.
Fine Ground - Choose this for espresso machines.
Medium Ground - Choose this for a cafetiere.
For a steel dripper, AeroPress or moka pot we recommend opting for our fine ground because the smaller particles mean more of the healthy compounds are extracted from the coffee for a healthier brew. It can be a little tricker to use fine ground coffee but you will be rewarded with 15-20% more polyphenols!
Is Exhale coffee instant?
No, it needs brewing in something like a cafetiere, AeroPress, espresso machine or dripper etc.
It's well worth the effort though because it's healthier and more delicious!
Read our article to learn how to brew the perfect coffee.
Instant coffee has been linked to some nasty diseases and has 4 times the amount of mould / mycotoxins on average! Read our article reviewing the latest research.
Is Exhale coffee Fairtrade?
Yes it is.
We source coffees that elevate and sustain the people who supply them, so we only buy coffee that pays a fair price to the producers.
Our current coffee is Fairtrade certified. This means we can be confident the people in our supply chain are receiving a fair price and experience decent working conditions.
Knowing our supply chain is an essential part of ensuring the people within it are experiencing decent working conditions and fair pay. We only buy coffee fully traceable back to the farm.
Is Exhale coffee organic?
All our coffee is Soil Association organic certified and we go above and beyond this by testing our coffee at an independent lab for pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals and moulds to verify the coffees absolute purity.
How do I brew the coffee?
It’s slightly different for every brew method but if you’re using a cafetiere - our brewing tips would be 33g of coffee to 550ml hot water for two cups. Water should be about 30 seconds off the boil or 96-97C. Stir after 30 seconds, leave to brew for 5 minutes, plunge and you’re good to go!
Read our brew guide for more recommended brew methods.
I’m looking for a grinder – what do you recommend?
You should always look for a grinder with ‘burrs’ for a more even extraction and better flavour. The best entry-level one is the De’Longhi KG79 at around £45 but if you’re willing to spend a bit more the Baratza Encore is pretty epic for around £160.
We sell the world's best handgrinder (in our opinion!) so check out the Timemore hand grinder if you want to add to the ritual of preparing your coffee.
What is your decaffeination process?
We use the Mountain Water Process. It is a unique, chemical-free decaffeination process similar to the Swiss Water method.
It uses clear glacial waters from the highest mountain in Mexico, the Pico de Orizaba, known as Citlatepetl in the local indigenous language.
It works by immersing the green beans in water to extract the water soluble compounds, including the caffeine.
The water is then passed through a filtration system to remove most of the caffeine while leaving the healthy compounds in place.
How should I store my coffee?
The best way to store your coffee would be in an airtight container or jar in a cupboard/cool dark place.
Coffee will stay at its best for around 6 weeks but can be enjoyed for three months after it's roast date.
The taste is better when it's fresher and you'll get more of the healthy compounds when it's fresher - some of them start to degrade at a rate of around 20% per month - so best to drink it when it's been freshly roasted like ours!
What is speciality coffee?
The world’s best coffees are scored by the Speciality Coffee Association out of 100. Speciality grade coffees must score over 80/100 and represent the world’s most exciting and best tasting coffee’s. Ours scored 84 which puts it in the top few percent of coffee globally.
Is it suitable for Bulletproof Coffee?
Also known as 'Butter Coffee' or 'Keto Coffee', Bulletproof coffee is a popular way of drinking coffee blending it with ghee/butter and MCT Oil.
To be suitable, coffee should be independently lab tested mycotoxin free and ideally high in polyphenols making Exhale the perfect choice.
Our Dark(ish) roast works best so get yours today!
Cafes and other B2B
Do you have a cafe offering?
We do indeed. Please email our co-founder, Kirsty, and she will share more info.
kirsty@exhalecoffee.com
Can I order in bulk for my office?
You can indeed. Please email our co-founder, Kirsty, and she will share more info.
kirsty@exhalecoffee.com
Do you have wholesale rates?
We do indeed. Please email our co-founder, Kirsty, and she will share more info.
kirsty@exhalecoffee.com
Discounts
Do you offer discounts?
We do, but we will only ever discount for new subscriptions.
I’ve been given a discount code – how do I use this?
There is a little box under your order summary on the checkout page where you can enter your discount code. Please note discounts are only applicable when taking out a subscription and not on non-subscription orders.
I placed an order and forgot to use my discount code – is it too late?
Absolutely not! Drop Laura an email on hey@exhalecoffee.com and she can add it on for you.
My discount code isn’t working?
Oh no! Make sure that it’s a subscription you’re taking out and not a single bag order. If you’re still having problems drop Laura an email on hey@exhalecoffee.com
Returns and Refunds
I’m not happy – can I have a refund?
So sorry to hear you’re not happy. Please email Laura on hey@exhalecoffee.com and we’ll see what we can do for you.
I ordered the wrong coffee by mistake – can I change it?
If you let us know as soon as you can we will see if we can make the change! Drop Laura an email on hey@exhalecoffee.com
How long will my refund take?
Refunds take 5-10 days to appear in your account.
My order arrived damaged.
So sorry to hear this! Please email Laura on hey@exhalecoffee.comand we will rectify this for you.
I was sent the wrong product – what can I do?
Sorry for the inconvenience! Please email Laura on hey@exhalecoffee.com and she can sort this for you.
Health
Is decaf as healthy?
Most of the health benefits are the same across the caffeinated and decaf versions, with only a minor magnification of effects in some areas due to the ‘entourage effect’. So you’re still onto a winner with the decaf.
The areas where decaf isn't as protective are broadly:
- Liver health. Coffee is very protective of the liver. Those effects are more pronounced in regular coffee.
- Cognitive health. Especially age-related cognitive benefits are slightly less pronounced in decaf.
I wouldn’t worry though, if you’re not a fan of caffeine (or it's not a fan of you!), the decaf is still packed full of antioxidants and polyphenols so is hugely beneficial.
How will Exhale make me feel?
Rather than answer this ourselves here are what other customers feel after drinking Exhale (all verified Trust Pilot reviews):
“I’m so alert and stable for the entire day, compared to a normal coffee which spikes before shortly plummeting.
Exhale are game changers.”- Amanda Evans, 19th Dec 2022.
“I'm in love. No blood sugar crashes, no IBS stuff. Just focus and energy”. - Magdalena M, 6th Feb 2023.
“I am a coffee snob and this is simply delicious!” – Vicki, 4th Feb 2023.
“As a life long IBS sufferer who has struggled with coffee exacerbating symptoms I can honestly say that Exhale has
been only beneficial for my gut health, my IBS is gone!” – HannaP, 13th
Dec 2022.
“Really have noticed the difference in my alertness since using Exhale” – danielmensah, 31st Jan
2023.
“I can honestly say, my one cup of exhale mid morning is one of the highlights of my day, it is simply happiness in a mug!” – L F Wates, 18th Jan 2023.
“The flavour of Exhales organic house roast is exquisite. I'm not even going to try and describe the taste sensation, it just needs to be experienced.” – Jane, 3rd Jan 2023.
“if you are on the fence about buying and looking at reviews to see if you should, then this review is to tell you that YOU SHOULD! And if this review doesn't do it for you then just head over and talk to Exhale Coffee their humility and kindness will definitely sway it
for you. :)” - John Brotherton, 11 Nov 2022.
Why is the coffee healthy?
Put simply – Coffee comes from a fruit and contains over 1000 different compounds – the most beneficial being polyphenols such as chlorogenic acid.
Through over roasting and poor handling these compounds are often significantly reduced in other coffees. Through our unique process we sourced a bean naturally high in them and then created a specific roast profile which locks in as much of the good stuff as possible while keeping out the bad.
For more detail visit our ‘Learn’ tab.
What is it in your coffee that makes it healthy?
Science has proven coffee is seriously healthy and associated with a reduced risk of contracting some of the world’s nastiest diseases.
But there are a lot of things that impact just how healthy.
Our process is designed to find a coffee that’s higher in coffee’s most researched healthy compounds (polyphenols like chlorogenic acid, cafestol, kahweol, melanoidins, niacin) as well as excluding any potential contaminants (mycotoxins, pesticides, heavy metals, ochratoxin, aflatoxin).
Can you live off coffee?
Yes. Well not you specifically, but the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemushampei) lives off nothing but coffee!
But how you might ask? It turns out that like most other living creatures, the coffee berry borer has a microbiome in its gut. Some species of bacteria that live there, such as Pseudomonas fulva, are masters at breaking down caffeine.
It’s really fascinating from an evolutionary stand point as the beetle has evolved to live solely off coffee, but only because it has a certain bacteria in it’s intestines… lucky him because without it he’d probably have to live off tea and where’s the fun in that!?
Can’t I get health benefits from all coffees?
Yes you can, but multiple studies show the quantity of the healthiest compounds vary immensely from coffee to coffee.
In 2014 one study tested 104 espressos from cafes in Scotland, Italy and Spain and found a 31 fold difference between the highest and lowest concentrations of coffee's healthiest compound!
Coffee makes me anxious or jittery, will Exhale be any different?
It should... One study shows that polyphenols counteract the negative effects of caffeine, reducing anxiousness. So a high polyphenol coffee like Exhale should reduce the jittery effects from caffeine.
This has been confirmed by lots of our customers who have reported this (just search for jitters or anxious in our Trust Pilot reviews).
However, everyone is unique so it’s impossible to say for certain how you will react. And if you're really worried then we also do a cracking decaf.
I’d love to know how you get on so please drop me an email on alex@exhalecoffee.com if you do try it.
Can’t I get antioxidants from other food in my diet?
Yes you totally can, but coffee is by far the biggest dietary source of them (taking serving size into account, i.e. you’re unlikely to eat 0.5kg of Tumeric with your breakfast).
In fact a 2004 Norwegian study showed that 66% of participants TOTAL DIETARY INTAKE of antioxidants came from coffee!
This has since been confirmed in 6 other studies from across the globe. Read more in our review of the Science on Coffee.
Will consuming so many antioxidants in coffee stop my body producing it’s own?
No. Quite the contrary. It has been proven that coffee’s most abundant polyphenol, chlorogenic acid, supports your bodies own endogenous production of the ‘master antioxidant’ glutathione as well as being a powerful antioxidant itself.
Antioxidants have been poo poo’ed by some as having no proven benefits haven’t they?
Yes, there has been no conclusive evidence to show that antioxidant supplements can benefit your health.
However, antioxidants in foods have been extensively shown in science to be beneficial to your health.
Further evidence that eating whole food diet, including drinking coffee, is far superior to supplementing.
Isn’t coffee just caffeine and hot water?
Coffee actually contains a many as 1,000 different compounds and caffeine is just one of them. In fact caffeine only makes up around 1% of the total weight of the bean whereas the much researched phytonutrient, chlorogenic acid, for example, can be over 7%.
What is niacin? It sounds like something used to poison capitalist spies.
It’s a fancy name for vitamin B3 which is used by the body to turn food into energy… not end it. Exhale coffee has been tested to provide 20% of your RDA of it in just 2 cups meaning it’s one of your diet’s richest natural sources.
If chlorogenic acid starts in it’s highest concentration in the green been, shouldn’t you just roast it as light as possible to get the healthiest coffee?
No. That’s a reductionist view of coffee. The health benefits imparted by coffee are a sum of it’s parts. Some, for example melanoidins, are formed during the roasting process and they have anti-inflammatory effects and are beneficial for the gut. They peak at around a medium roast so you’d miss out on them if you roast too lightly.
Does roasting affect the health of coffee?
Massively. For example one of the healthiest compounds in coffee, chlorogenic acid, decomposes during the roasting process and it’s concentration drops off a cliff around medium roast to less than 10% of their original amount in very dark roasts.
Does xenohormesis affect the concentration of polyphenols in coffee?
I’d love to debate this with someone so please drop me an email onalex@exhalecoffee.comif you have an opinion! My assumption is it reacts the same as resveratrol in red wine but haven’t seen any research on this… yet.
Is fresh coffee healthier?
Yes, definitely. One of coffee’s healthiest compounds, chlorogenic acid, degrades from the point of roasting, some say at a rate of c. 20% a month. Only buy coffee that you know has been freshly roasted. Aside from this, after a couple of months coffee has lost a lot of it’s delicious flavour and around 4-6 months after roasting starts to stale.
Hasn’t coffee been linked to a spike in cholesterol?
Yes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - the cholesterol debate is far more complicated than we used to think. If the spike was an issue we would have seen epidemiological evidence of negative effects.
We actually see the opposite with coffee being associated with a reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease, CVD mortality & death from myocardial infarction – the main diseases thought of as being caused by high cholesterol. Potentially because coffee spikes the harmless LDL-C and not the more harmful form, LDL-P.
Does coffee break a fast and stop it’s benefits?
Coffee has no calories in it so doesn’t break a fast.
Interestingly it could actually benefit it. A 2014 study showed coffee induces autophagy in mice which is the mechanism causing the main health benefits of fasting. They point to polyphenols in coffee 'promoting health by stimulating autophagy' concluding 'both natural and decaffeinated coffee similarly induce a broad organism-wide autophagic response'.
At Exhale we love nothing more than a delicious cup of our high-polyphenol decaf before bed to make us benefit even more from our overnight fast.
Can coffee benefit my DNA?
Yes! Regular coffee consumption has proven to have beneficial protective effects on human DNA integrity. Most recently a 2019 randomised controlled trial (the most rigorous of scientific studies)saw a 23% reduction in DNA damage– DNA damage is known to accelerate the aging process and can cause cancer.
I just want the caffeine, can’t I just take caffeine supplements?
You could, but your DNA doesn’t like it. Telomeres are the protective ends of our DNA (sort of like the plastic aglets on shoelaces) and as you age they shorten until eventually they become so short the cells they are within stop replicating and die.
This is bad news so you want to keep your telomeres as long as possible for as long as possible.
3 studies show coffee drinkers have longer telomeres. A study in 2016 in the UK on 5,000 NHS nurses showed coffee was significantly associated with longer telomeres in fact. Better still, in 2017 another study showed coffee was associated with longer telomeres but caffeine from all other sources was associated with shorter telomeres.
So get your caffeine from coffee to keep your DNA happy! …and of course to gain all the other health benefits associated with coffee.