COFFEE NEWS

Many of the more macho coffee drinkers think that all decaffeinated coffee is beside the point. “Why bother?” they ask.

But those who value the taste of coffee as well as the stimulation may disagree. Then, there are those people who, despite their love and appreciation of coffee, can’t tolerate much caffeine; others, who tolerate it well in the early part of the day, can’t sleep if they drink coffee later in the day. Caffeine metabolism varies widely among individuals. Generally, men process caffeine faster than women, especially pregnant women, who are slowest. The liver metabolizes caffeine, so age and liver health also affect one’s tolerance. (See “Caffeine and Decaf” in the curator’s Joy of Coffee, or the Wikipedia entry on caffeine.)

All this brings us to decaffeinated coffee.

All decaffeination methods adversely affect flavor, but careful selection of green beans along with competent roasting and brewing can produce a cup that may fool the experts.

As recently as the mid-’80s, people were drinking more decaf, thinking that caffeine was bad for them. As more and more research showed the health benefits of coffee, people began to switch back to caffeine. Sales of decaf in the late ’80s for some roasters were as high as 25 percent of total coffee sales. Today, among both commercial and specialty roasters, the percentage is more like 10 to 15: lower, but still a significant portion of coffee drinking.

Please suspend any chemo-phobia you may have while reading this. Don’t let the technical words for chemicals put you off, and don’t play into the hands of the irresponsible scare tactics of unscrupulous advertisers of Swiss Water-process decaffeination.

There are four main methods of decaffeination in wide use today, each named for the solvent used: di-hydro-oxide (aka water), ethyl acetate, supercritical CO2, and methylene chloride (dichloromethane in Europe). Even if you remember your high school chemistry, the words may be unfamiliar, but keep that chemo-phobia in check. (A new method using ultraviolet light is coming to the market. Don’t get your hopes up–poor flavor, so far.)

All methods produce a range of quality primarily due to bean selection (garbage in = garbage out) and process temperature, which affects the speed and thus the cost of processing. The American standard for decaffeinated coffee is to remove 97 percent of the original caffeine. Since caffeine content of individual coffees varies widely (see my earlier post on the topic), the amount of residual caffeine will also vary. Unfortunately, all decaffeination methods adversely affect flavor, but careful selection of green beans along with competent roasting and brewing can produce a cup that may fool the experts.

For decades, we have preferred coffees decaffeinated with methylene chloride (MC) because time after time, year after year, they have produced the most flavorful cup. The method is simple enough. First, steam swells the beans to make it easier for the caffeine to be removed. The solvent is then circulated through the beans and then into distillation to remove the caffeine and wax that have been removed from the beans. The cleansed solvent is recirculated and re-distilled until the caffeine has been removed. The beans are then rinsed with water and vacuum-dried.

The most sensitive test for detecting residual MC detects as little as one part per million. I have never seen a test result that detects any amount in specialty decaf. Furthermore, the boiling point of the solvent is 104 degrees F and coffee is roasted at 375 to 425 degrees F. Any remaining solvent, if there were any, would be vaporized during roasting. MC has been eliminated from cosmetics and has stringent worker safety regulations in Europe, but the procedures used in coffee processing and roasting leave nothing to cause any concern.

Most important, after safety, is taste. MC is the most selective solvent, leaving the greatest coffee flavor in the beans.

We have also cupped many samples that have been decaffeinated using either ethyl acetate or carbon dioxide (CO2). Neither method has consistently produced satisfying flavor in the cup. Ethyl acetate, a synthetic fruit ester, leaves a fruity aftertaste in the coffee–unfortunately nothing like the berry and citrus flavors we find in East African coffees. And we had high hopes for the CO2 process in the early ’90s. Carbon dioxide is the carbonation in sparkling water, but it is forced into the coffee at pressures well in excess of 1000 pounds per square inch to extract the caffeine. Perhaps it’s the pressure that also forces out the coffee flavor.

The last method to discuss is dihydro-oxide–water. At one time, water process was the most damaging to coffee flavor. That general statement is no longer true, due to improvements in the processing by some companies. Although some water-process decaf has flavor approaching methylene chloride (and a relatively new North American company is making great strides in cup quality), further development will be required before it can be methylene chloride’s equal.

In general the process uses water as the solvent, supersaturated with soluble solids from green coffee beans, except caffeine. The idea is that when the warm solvent is circulated through the coffee, it will extract only caffeine, which in turn is removed from the circulating fluid with activated carbon. It’s a thesis that in practice has not produced great cups of decaf.

The old standby water decaffeination company, Swiss Water (the only attempt to brand a process), of Vancouver, Canada, is doing all the advertising while others are improving their process. We prefer the cup quality of other companies, and I deplore the marketing tactics of Swiss Water.

In the late ’80s, when I first wrote to the previous owners, I decried their deliberately misleading advertising. Here they go again. They are falling back into advertising tactics that assume the ignorance of the audience. Their attempt to associate the chemical names of the other processes with some chemo-hysteria is unethical.

To summarize, of the four major processes for decaf, only methylene chloride and water are widely used in specialty coffee (here, by the way, Wikipedia on decaffeination is less strong than it is on caffeine). Methylene chloride can produce the best cup results when good coffee and careful processing are used. Good coffee and careful processing also produce the best results from dihydro-oxide, but the best is still second in cup quality to MC.

Source: http://food.theatlantic.com/coffee-culture/in-defense-of-decaff-1.php

Starbucks officials recently decided decaffeinated coffee was too pricy for the company’s own good.

In a cost-cutting move, the coffee company announced last week it would limit its sales of decaffeinated coffee after noon to request only.

Rachel Stottleymer, manager of Starbucks in the Auburn University Student Center, said she was informed of the new business decision Jan. 29.

“The demand for caffeinated is much higher,” Stottleymer said. “This will eliminate waste and save money.”

The company was previously required to brew both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee every 30 minutes, no matter if it was being used.

“If it’s not used then we have to throw it away,” Stottleymer said.

Stottleymer said the demand of decaffeinated coffee is hardly comparable to that of caffeinated in the afternoon.

Cari Philen, a graduate student in art education, said she thought it was a smart move for the company to cut back on unnecessary costs.

“I think they should try it out,” Philen said. “They’re probably wasting a lot of money, and in a time when the economy is really bad, they don’t need to waste any money.”

Megan Withrow, a freshman in history, said she visits Starbucks every day, but doesn’t think the change was necessary.

“To cut costs kind of seems ridiculous with as much business as they get,” Withrow said. “The one here has to make more money than any other place in the Student Union.”

Although it only takes three to four minutes to brew a new pot of decaffeinated coffee.

The wait could cause an inconvenience to busy students who find themselves waiting longer for their order.

However, Stottleymer said each individual Starbucks is allowed to use its judgment and brew decaffeinated coffee regularly after noon as long as there is a high demand for it from its customers.

“We’ve had decaf on this afternoon because we’ve kind of had a pretty high demand,” Stottleymer said. “It’s kind of each individual store’s call, but we are no longer required to brew it after 12 p.m.”

Stottleymer said the decision took effect Jan. 30 and is permanent as far as she knows.

Source: http://www.theplainsman.com/intrigue/2009/feb-05/starbucks_limits_decaf

I don’t understand drinking decaf coffee. It’s like non-alcoholic beer. Both are crappy, neutered versions of the original. But if you’ve absolutely got to drink decaf, D+caf will make sure it’s the real (fake) deal.

D+caf test strips are simply little strips of paper coated with antibodies that tell if you a beverage is properly decaffeinated, turning up blue lines if it’s got more than 20mg of caffeine per 6oz serving. Even modern decaffeination procedures can’t remove every single trace of caffeine, but between 20 and 30 percent of coffee and tea drinks “contain unacceptably high levels of caffeine” according to the strip’s maker, Silver Lakes Research.

The strips are 98 percent accurate for detecting caffeine, plus you have to use them before you add anything else to your coffee tea, like milk or sugar. And at $10 for a pack of 20, you’re paying 50 cents a strip, instantly propelling even cheap decaf coffee into Starbucks pricing territory. So I’m not sure these are worth the small bit of security that some smartass doesn’t occasionally slip you real coffee instead of decaf.

Besides, how the hell do you decaf people get through the day, anyway?

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5120739/d%252Bcaf-detects-if-youre-drinking-real-coffee-instead-of-decaf

Japanese gene jockeys at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology have knocked out a key gene for caffeine in coffee plants. They report in Nature that their GM coffee plants contain 70 percent less of the buzz-inducing compound. Future work will focus on genetically-engineering Arabica to produce vanilla flavoring. (Just kidding on that last part. I think.) Link

Source: http://www.boingboing.net/2003/06/18/geneticallyengineere.html

Spike Priggen of Bedazzled found this funny old ad that shows how an uptight dad stopped beating his child after switching to decaffeinated Sanka.

Source: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/28/old-ad-suggests-caff.html

Ethiopia plans to start commercial production of a coffee variety with naturally low caffeine that was found growing in the wild, the agricultural minister has said.

JAVA WITHOUT JOLT: Ethiopia plans to market a coffee discovered in the wild which is naturally low in caffeine.

Decaffeinated coffee accounts for 10 per cent of total coffee sales in the world, a multibillion-dollar industry. Natural decaf brews could dominate over the current chemically caffeine-reduced options in today’s health-conscious market.

“Coffee research centres are in the process of planting seedlings of natural coffee with low caffeine varieties, to enable Ethiopia to supply the world market within the shortest possible time,” said Abera Deressa, State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In July 2004, a Brazilian scientist, Paulo Mazzafera declared he had discovered a variety of naturally decaffeinated coffee from 6,000 specimens collected in Ethiopia in the 1980s.

The find sparked a dispute with Ethiopian authorities who accused him of taking the bushes without permission.

The Horn of Africa country prides itself as the origin of coffee, said to have originated in the Kafa region, a misty forested highland region in the south west. The nation is also the continent’s biggest producer and consumer of the bean.

The decaf coffee could prove a hit with coffee lovers who enjoy the rich aroma and taste but not the caffeine, and generate much-needed income for poor Ethiopian farmers, economists say.

Abera, who spoke at a coffee research conference, also urged researchers to seek coffee varieties with higher yields.

“Although Ethiopia is home to arabica coffee with high generic diversity, the national average yield has not exceeded five to six quintals per hectare, which is lower than in other coffee producing countries,” he said.

He attributed the low yield to poor management and lack of initiative owing to low and fluctuating world coffee prices.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4166960a7773.html

Ethiopians were the first to cultivate coffee trees. They were also the first nation to notice the bracing effect of the coffee beans. But the idea of “a cup of coffee” was unfamiliar to them. They did not drink, but ate coffee at those times. They fried coffee beans in boiling fat and served them as an appetizer.

	Decaffeinated coffee may cause cancer (ko-fe.com)

Thanks to Arabs we now have coffee in Europe – it was them who began to export coffee there. Europeans liked the beverage. However, coffee as a drink has been drawing criticism since then. There were times when the church ranked coffee drinking as a mortal sin. Nevertheless, contemporary scientists do not consider coffee to be quite safe. But now the majority of scientists agree that the main thing for every fan of this hot drink is to stay within limits, and then coffee will be of no harm healthwise.

Coffee beans contain such micro- and macro elements as iron, iodine, magnesium and phosphorus, which provide harmonious body functioning.

Long ago people knew that caffeine stimulates the activity of the central nervous system, increases the capacity for work and improves cerebration. One or two cups of coffee are enough to concentrate and get ready for work. But coffee has a downside if you drink it on an empty stomach, American scientists say.

Coffee is also a good euphoriant. Thanks to serotonin (mood enhancer) coffee acts as antidepressant. One cup of coffee a day is enough to halve the risk of depression. Probably, it is connected with the fact that coffee boosts sexual activity. Historians claim that in the 16^th century coffee helped elderly Constantinopolitan sultan Suleiman restore the lost interest in his harem. Happy sultan ordered to import coffee in plenty. Contemporary scientists agree that caffeine improves sexual potency of men and extends sexual activity of women over 50.

Scientists consider that two or three cups of coffee a day would be of no harm to your health. Approximately four cups of coffee a day are quite appropriate, dietitians say. But the excess of the stated dose can have negative consequences.

Caffeine increases heart rhythm and enhances pressure. Therefore, hypertensive people shouldn’t abuse the bracing beverage. In addition, people drinking more than six cups of coffee a day increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases by 70 percent.

Coffee can be dangerous to bones, it makes them more fragile. Caffeine washes calcium out of the body and blocks its digestion. About 40g of calcium can recompense one cup of coffee. So, coffee drinkers should eat more dairy products, fish and leafy vegetables.
Pregnant women should avoid coffee to decrease a possibility of miscarriage and growth impairment of the fetus. But that does not mean that caffeine should be completely excluded – one cup a day is not injurious at all.

Of course, insomniacs should not fall on the coffee. Do not drink coffee at least six hours before going to bed if you want to sleep sound.

Many people believe that coffee beans contain much more caffeine than instant coffee granules. In truth the difference is not so big. One average cup of non-instant coffee contains about 80mg of caffeine, whereas a cup of instant coffee – 60mg. To reduce the content of caffeine you should pour some ground coffee with boiling water, bring to the boil and fill the cups with it at once. This method keeps the flavor, and, at the same time, the beverage contains less caffeine.

However, one should not necessarily resort to such tricks. It is quite easy today to find decaffeinated coffee. But some people are prejudiced against this drink. They think that such coffee contains harmful substances. Earlier, methylene chloride, used in the 1980s to retrieve caffeine from coffee, caused concern. Some experts thought that it partially causes cancer, that is why it is not used nowadays.

At present the majority of coffee producers retrieve caffeine with the help of liquid carbon dioxide or steam. This technology entails no harmful substances. So, decaffeinated coffee drinkers can enjoy their favorite beverage without any apprehensions.

Source: http://english.pravda.ru/science/health/27-11-2007/101720-coffee-0

Soft Drinks
12-ounce beverage milligrams

Red Bull (8.2 oz) 80.0
Jolt 71.2
Pepsi One 55.5
Mountain Dew 55.0
Mountain Dew Code Red 55.0
Diet Mountain Dew 55.0
Kick Citrus 54.0
Mellow Yellow 52.8
Surge 51.0
Tab 46.8
Diet Coke 45.6
Diet Coke with Lemon 45.6
Diet Coke with Lime 45.6
Diet Vanilla Coke 45.6
Shasta Cola 44.4
Shasta Cherry Cola 44.4
Shasta Diet Cola 44.4
RC Cola 43.0
Diet RC 43.0
Dr. Pepper 41.0
Diet Dr. Pepper 41.0
Diet Sunkist Orange 41.0
Mr. Pibb 40.0
Sugar-Free Mr. Pibb 40.0
Red Flash 40.0
Sunkist Orange 40.0
Slim-Fast Cappuccino Delight Shake 40.0
Ruby Red 39.0
Storm 38.0
Big Red 38.0
Pepsi-Cola 37.5
Pepsi Twist 37.5
Diet Pepsi 36.0
Wild Cherry Pepsi 38.0
Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi 36.0
Diet Pepsi Twist 36.0
Aspen 36.0
Coca-Cola Classic 34.0
Coke C2 34.0
Cherry Coke 34.0
Lemon Coke 34.0
Vanilla Coke 34.0
Diet Cherry Coke 34.0
Snapple Flavored Teas (Reg. or Diet) 31.5
Canada Dry Cola 30.0
A&W Creme Soda 29.0
Nestea Sweet Iced Tea 26.5
Nestea Unsweetened Iced Tea 26.0
Barq’s Root Beer 23.0
A&W Diet Creme Soda 22.0
Slim-Fast Chocolate Flavors 20.0
Snapple Sweet Tea 12.0
Lipton Brisk, All Varieties 9
Canada Dry Diet Cola 1.2
Diet Rite Cola 0
Sprite 0
7-Up 0
Mug Root Beer 0
Diet Barq’s Root Beer 0
Sundrop Orange 0
Minute Maid Orange 0
A&W Root Beer 0
Slice 0
Sierra Mist 0
Fresca 0

Other Beverages
8-ounce Beverage milligrams

Coffee, Drip 115-175
Coffee, Brewed 80-135
Coffee, Espresso (2 ounces) 100
Coffee, Instant 65-100
Tea, iced 47
Tea, brewed, imported brands (avg.) 60
Tea, brewed, U.S. brands (avg.) 40
Tea, instant 30
Tea, green 15
Hot cocoa 14
Coffee, Decaf, brewed 3-4
Coffee, Decaf, instant 2-3

For those who love the full flavor of real coffee but can’t handle the kick, the genetics revolution may have a solution.

Researchers say they have genetically engineered coffee plants that have 70 percent less caffeine than usual in their leaves. The crucial question for brewing coffee — whether beans from those plants will have less caffeine — won’t be known for three to four years when the plants mature, said study author Shinjiro Ogita.

However, the results indicate it should be possible, according to the researcher’s report in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

The researchers at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan used RNA interference — an increasingly popular genetic tool — to manipulate the plant, interfering with the gene responsible for an enzyme used to make caffeine.

Experts contend a caffeine-free bean would be an improvement over current decaffeination processes, which use water or organic solvents to remove the stimulant from the beans before they are roasted, taking out some flavor and aroma as well.

Alan Crozier, a University of Glasgow researcher who has worked on genetically modifying coffee, said the Japanese group is the first to engineer the plants to produce less caffeine.

However, concerns about genetically modified foods and a lack of interest by the coffee industry could slow development, Crozier said.

“I suspect it will come in first at the boutique end of the market and grow from there,” Crozier said. “If it were to take over, clearly it’s a much cheaper way to produce decaffeinated coffee.”

Pablo Dubois of the London-based International Coffee Organization, which includes coffee-producing and consuming nations, said genetically modified foods “are regarded with wide suspicion in Europe” and current decaffeination processes are well established.

John Stiles, a scientist working to develop a caffeine-free coffee plant for Waialua, Hawaii-based Integrated Coffee Technologies, said the Japanese researchers have not yet reached the commercial decaffeination level of 97 percent.

Stiles said the Hawaiian company hopes to have plants ready for field use in a year. While the Japanese researchers used the robusta variety of coffee plant, Stiles said the Hawaiian work uses the more commercial arabica variety.

Ogita said the Japanese researchers are also working on arabica plants and should be able to eventually remove all caffeine.

Coffee plants make caffeine in a three-step process. The targeted gene in the modified plant normally prompts the plant to produce an enzyme that carries out the second step, said Hiroshi Sano, one of the paper’s authors.

RNA interference eliminates the chemical messenger the targeted gene sends to the cell’s protein-making machinery.

The researchers are also working to induce plants other than coffee to produce caffeine, which would act as a pest repellant, Sano said.

At the Daily Grind in Baltimore, some welcomed the news of the genetically modified coffee plant and others were as lukewarm as a half-finished cappuccino.

Marcia Sternbergh, 52, of Baltimore said she prefers regular coffee for the taste, “and the jolt.”

At night, though, she would drink the non-caffeine kind.

Harold Cones, 60, of Newport News, Virginia, who has to drink decaf because of an irregular heartbeat, said he would welcome the new coffee because he could avoid caffeine and get the flavor.

“Oh, that would be good. There’s a difference,” Cones said, sipping a decaf. “Every now and then I have a cup of real coffee and it’s really nice.”

While some decaf is good, Cones said it tends to get stale because it’s not ordered as much. The real thing is still the best, however.

“Sometimes, you get that cup of coffee,” Cones said, “and you think you’re high in the mountains, in an old hotel, and the aroma goes up into your sinuses and you say, ‘That’s a good cup of coffee.’”

Source:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/06/59302