That first-thing-in-the-morning coffee you crave might do more than help you wake up. It could also improve your breath, according to findings by Israeli researchers.

Mel Rosenberg, a Tel Aviv University biochemist, has found that a coffee extract can actually inhibit the growth of bacteria that lead to bad breath, the Jerusalem Post reports. Rosenberg presented his team’s research last month at a meeting in Germany of the International Society for Breath Odor Research. The research was led by Yael Gov, a researcher in Rosenberg’s lab.

“Everybody thinks that coffee causes bad breath, and it’s often true, because coffee, which has a dehydrating effect in the mouth, becomes potent when mixed with milk and can ferment into smelly substances,” the newspaper quoted Rosenberg as saying.

But not always. “Contrary to our expectations, we found some components in coffee that actually inhibit bad breath,” he said.

In the laboratory, the team monitored the bacterial odor production of coffee in saliva. In the study, three different brands of coffee were tested : Israel’s Elite brand, Landwer Turkish coffee, and America’s Taster’s Choice.  Researchers expected that bad odors would be produced.

Instead, the extracts had the opposite effect.

“The lesson we learned here is one of humility,” says Rosenberg, who has developed a mouthwash sold in Europe, a pocket-based breath test and a deodorizing chewing gum. “We expected that coffee would cause bad breath, but there is something inside this magic brew that has the opposite effect.”