Coffee Breath Woes

It had been a morning filled with good coffee, and even better conversation. An idyllic time when everything just seems right in the world.

Returning home I sought out my wife to give her a kiss thinking it would be a great way to cap off a perfect morning. As I leaned in to give her a kiss I saw an alarmed look on her face.

With the speed of a ninja she pulled away and dodged my kiss. “Whoa!” she said, “You have some nasty coffee breath.”

I quickly reviewed my morning. Vigorous brushing of teeth, consumption of fine coffee. It just didn’t add up.

It was then that I did the age old hand breath test. A move time tested by countless men before dates, interviews, etc. It was confirmed. I had nasty coffee breath, and it was not pleasant.

Little did I know at the time that coffee ranks in the top three bad breath causing foods, losing only to the mighty garlic and formidable onion. Some things you might not know about coffee:

• Coffee contains high levels of Acids.
• By turning your mouth into an acidic environment, coffee causes bacteria reproduce more rapidly.
• This increased bacterial reproduction creates a bitter/sour/metallic taste for many people (this happens with any type acidic food).
• Like nicotine, coffee can coat the back of the tongue and the tissues of your mouth. This coating can be difficult to remove.

Given this information, its no wonder that my breath was bad by the end of the day. I immediately began to look for a cure to this problem.

Sure there were the heretics that suggested abandoning coffee and switching to tea. These radical ideas were immediately discarded as pure insanity.

I contemplated brushing my teeth at work, which while not a bad idea, was not something that I could do before every meeting, etc. I needed something decidedly more portable in nature.

My solutions — Sugar Free Peppermint Altoid Smalls. About a third the size of normal Altoids, these small peppermint breath mints pack a punch that kills bad breath and clears your sinuses at the same time.

When they say these mints are “curiously strong” — It’s no lie. Altoids mints are some of the strongest I have ever had. What I like about the Peppermint smalls is the small travel nature of its case. It easily fits unobtrusively in my pocket and allows me to freshen my breath at a moments notice.

We would love to hear about your solutions to coffee induced bad breath. While Altoids Peppermint Smalls are a great solution, if there are other better solutions I would love to hear about them.