Is coffee high in histamine?
Coffee is probably mostly low in histamine, but our sources did not measure it: the amines reported in coffee are mainly putrescine, spermidine, spermine and serotonin, with histamine linked to low-quality and defective beans.
- Histamine
- Not measured
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Review of amines in beverages, 2022 1 | Putrescine, spermidine, spermine and serotonin are the main amines in coffee; histamine has been found in low-quality and defective beans. | |
| 10 published low-histamine diets (2021 review) 2 | Coffee is not on the review's chart of excluded foods. | |
| Review of histamine intolerance, 2020 3 | Its table of substances shown to inhibit DAO lists medicines and two vitamins; coffee and caffeine are not among them. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
How freshness and processing change it
Roasted coffee keeps well and is brewed fresh, so storage at home is not the issue it is for meat or fish. Bean quality is: the 2022 review links histamine to defective and low-quality beans, which a bag label will not show.
Not measured. Brewing extracts only part of the amines in the grounds. (estimate)
Not measured. Reported to contain fewer amines than regular coffee. (estimate)
Not measured together. Five cow's milks had no histamine. (estimate)
Why we rate coffee 1
Coffee was not measured in the studies we use for numbers, so this page explains what the reviews say and how we reached an estimate. For a drink many people have every day, the evidence is thinner than you might expect.
The reviews describe coffee's amines in some detail. A 2022 review of amines in drinks says the main ones in coffee beans and brewed coffee are putrescine, spermidine, spermine and serotonin, with smaller amounts of cadaverine and tyramine. Histamine is mentioned in a narrower context: it, tryptamine and cadaverine have been found in coffees of low cup quality and in defective beans, and the way unripe beans are processed affects how much forms. The review calls the effect of roasting controversial, with some studies finding fewer amines after roasting and others more.
Two other points come from a 2016 study of tea, whose authors compared their results with coffee research. Brewing with hot water extracts only part of the amines in the leaves or grounds, so the cup carries less than the grounds. And decaffeinated and instant coffees have been reported to contain fewer amines than regular coffee, the same pattern the authors found for decaffeinated and instant tea.
Coffee is not on the 2021 chart of foods excluded by ten published low-histamine diets. You may also read that coffee blocks diamine oxidase (DAO), the gut enzyme that breaks down histamine from food. The 2020 review's table of substances shown in experiments to inhibit DAO lists medicines and two vitamins; coffee and caffeine are not on it.
We rate coffee 1, "mostly low", as an estimate. There is no measured histamine figure for an ordinary cup to point to, and histamine has been reported in poor-quality beans, so we do not rate it 0. Milk adds little: five cow's milks in the University of Barcelona survey had no histamine. If coffee seems to bother you, note it in a food diary and discuss it with your doctor or dietitian.
Questions about coffee and histamine
Is coffee high in histamine?
It was not measured in our sources. Reviews report that coffee's main amines are putrescine, spermidine, spermine and serotonin, and that histamine has been found in low-quality and defective beans. We rate it 1 as an estimate.
Is instant coffee low in histamine?
Instant and decaffeinated coffees have been reported to contain fewer amines than regular coffee, but neither was measured for histamine in our sources. We rate both 1 as an estimate.
Does coffee block DAO?
We found no evidence for it. A 2020 review's list of substances shown to inhibit DAO in experiments includes medicines and two vitamins, not coffee or caffeine.
Evidence behind this page
- The amines most represented in coffee beans and coffee beverages are putrescine, spermidine, spermine and serotonin, with cadaverine and tyramine at smaller concentrations; histamine, tryptamine and cadaverine have been found in coffees of low cup quality and in defective beans; the effect of roasting on amines is still controversial. 1
- Decaffeinated and instant coffee have been reported to contain fewer amines than regular coffee, and hot-water brewing extracts fewer amines than are present in the grounds. 5
- The substances with an experimentally demonstrated inhibitory effect on DAO listed by a 2020 review are medicines plus vitamin C and vitamin B1. 3
- Five samples of milk sold in Spain had no detectable histamine or other amines. 2
Sources
- Visciano P, Schirone M. Update on Biogenic Amines in Fermented and Non-Fermented Beverages. Foods 11(3):353, 2022. doi:10.3390/foods11030353 (Visciano P et al. 2022)
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2021)
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)
- Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)
- Spizzirri UG, Picci N, Restuccia D. Extraction Efficiency of Different Solvents and LC-UV Determination of Biogenic Amines in Tea Leaves and Infusions. Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry 2016:8715287, 2016. doi:10.1155/2016/8715287 (Spizzirri UG et al. 2016)