What a new body composition study actually found and five independent Nashville coffee shops worth your next cup. Coffee already has a permanent place in many Nashville mornings. Now a new study is giving regular coffee drinkers one more reason to feel good about that first cup: researchers found that people who drank more coffee tended to have more skeletal muscle and less total and visceral body fat.

Before anyone orders a fifth cold brew in the name of gains, there is an important catch. The
research found an association, not proof that coffee builds muscle or causes fat loss.

What the researchers found
The cross-sectional study examined 2,264 adults, all aged 46, from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort of 1966. Researchers compared participants’ reported coffee consumption with measurements of body composition, metabolic markers, and sex hormones. Participants in the higher coffee-intake groups tended to have lower total body fat, lower visceral fat and greater skeletal muscle mass, even though body mass index was similar across groups.
They also had lower concentrations of branched-chain amino acids, or BCAAs, which have been associated in other research with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes risk.

The researchers also observed differences in certain sex hormones, with some patterns varying between men and women. Those findings may help scientists investigate how coffee interacts with metabolism, but they are not yet a reason to change anyone’s hormone or nutrition plan.

What the study cannot tell us
Because the study captured information at one point in time, it cannot determine whether coffee produced the differences in muscle and fat. People who drink more coffee may differ in other ways, including activity, sleep, diet, work patterns, or overall health.

Coffee intake was also self-reported, and the study did not establish a specific type, serving size, or preparation method responsible for the associations. A black coffee, a protein-enhanced latte and a blended drink topped with whipped cream may all contain coffee, but they do not have the same nutritional profile.

Why coffee remains interesting to fitness researchers Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and can improve alertness while making exercise
feel more manageable for some people. Coffee also contains compounds such as chlorogenic
acids that researchers are studying for possible roles in inflammation, blood-sugar regulation, and energy metabolism.

Those mechanisms offer plausible explanations for the new findings, but plausible is not the same as proven. The strongest evidence for building muscle still involves progressive resistance training, adequate protein, sufficient recovery and consistency.

Should you drink more coffee?
Not based on this study alone. The research did not establish an ideal amount of coffee, and
individual caffeine tolerance varies widely. Too much can contribute to anxiety, headaches, digestive discomfort, a racing heart, or disrupted sleep. Losing sleep in pursuit of better body
composition would be a fairly spectacular way to miss the point.

For most healthy adults, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cites 400 milligrams of caffeine per day as an amount not generally associated with negative effects, but pregnancy, certain medications and health conditions can change what is appropriate. Anyone with concerns should talk with a qualified healthcare professional.

The Nashville Fit take
This is fun and promising research, especially for those of us emotionally committed to our morning coffee. It does not make coffee a muscle-building supplement or a fat-loss strategy. Enjoy the cup, pay attention to how it affects your body, and keep doing the habits with much stronger evidence behind them: lift, move, eat well, and sleep.

Where Nashville is getting its coffee right now. If this research gives you one more reason to enjoy a cup, make that cup local. These five independent Nashville favorites combine serious coffee with the kind of personality, community
and neighborhood energy a national chain cannot manufacture.

8th and Roast
The hometown roaster took first place for Best Coffeehouse in the Nashville Scenes 2025 readers’ poll. With cafes on 8th Avenue South and Charlotte Avenue, it is an easy stop before work, after a
class, or whenever your afternoon needs a reset.

Crema
Crema finished second in the same readers' poll and has been helping define Nashville’s specialty coffee scene since 2008. The women-owned, carbon-neutral and zero-waste roaster is a strong pick for anyone who cares about how the coffee was sourced and roasted, not just how quickly it appears in the cup.

Elegy Coffee
Elegy placed third in the 2025 readers’ poll and now serves several Nashville neighborhoods, including East Nashville, Germantown, Downtown, and Wedgewood-Houston. Its polished spaces and creative seasonal drinks make it a natural choice for a coffee meeting, work session, or
weekend stop.

Retrograde Coffee, founded on Dickerson Pike in 2018 as a neighborhood coffee stop, has grown while keeping its independent Nashville identity. Its Germantown location overlooking First Horizon Park
makes it especially convenient for a pregame cup or a walk through the ballpark district.

Matryoshka Coffee Small, colorful, and proudly unpretentious, Matryoshka is an art-centric, queer-owned coffee shop in Wedgewood-Houston. The creative menu and inclusive atmosphere make it one of the city’s most distinctive stops when a plain drip coffee is not matching the day’s energy.

The practical takeaway is simple: order what you enjoy, notice how caffeine affects your sleep and
training, and do not turn one observational study into a complicated new coffee protocol.

Supporting a local shop is a much better use of the headline.
Sources Nashville Scene 2025 Best Coffeehouse readers; poll
8th and Roast locations
Crema Nashville profile
Elegy Coffee locations
Retrograde Coffee
Matryoshka Coffee

Peer-reviewed study in the European Journal of Nutrition
Food and Wine study summary published September 14, 2026
FDA guidance on caffeine consumption