How do you like your coffee? Cream, sugar — soybeans, twigs? A new report says some coffee suppliers are intentionally using fillers in ground coffee to compensate for supply shortages and increasing costs.
According to researchers in Brazil, coffee shortages mean fillers such as wood, husks, wheat and even dirt might be lurking in your cup of joe.
One researcher tells Yahoo most people can't even tell the difference once those fillers are roasted and ground up with the coffee beans. Sounds pretty unsettling, right?
The fillers aren't necessarily harmful, although they might become a problem for people with allergies. But with changing weather affecting crops in Brazil and global demand for coffee increasing, these fillers might not be going away anytime soon.
Severe droughts and torrential rains in recent years have affected crops in Brazil, the world's largest coffee bean grower. Paired with a significant increase in demand, coffee prices have gone up by as much as 75 percent around the world.
But the good news is, there's a test that might be able to detect any impurities in coffee.
To learn more about the test, watch this Newsy video.
