Researchers found that hot coffee has higher levels of antioxidants, which are believed to be responsible for some of the health benefits of coffee.

The study also found that the pH levels of both hot and cold coffee were similar, ranging from 4.85 to 5.13 for all coffee samples tested. It is very important to know when coffee companies and many lifestyle blogs have tended to tout cold brew coffee as being less acidic than hot coffee and thus less likely to cause many health complications like heartburn or gastrointestinal problems.

The study was done by Nina Rao and Megan Fuller, both of them coffee drinkers who wondered whether the chemical make-up of cold brew differed from that of hot coffee.

While the overall pH levels were similar, Fuller and Rao found that the hot-brewed coffee method had more total titratable acids, which may be responsible for the hot cup’s higher antioxidant levels.

“Coffee has a lot of antioxidants, if you drink it in moderation, research shows it can be pretty good for you,” Fuller said. “We found the hot brew has more antioxidant capacity.”

And considering hot and cold brews have comparable pH levels, Rao said, coffee drinkers should not consider cold brew a “silver bullet” for avoiding gastrointestinal distress.