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Chemist Explains the Chemistry Behind Decaf Coffee (theconversation.com) 81

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Conversation, written by Michael W. Crowder, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Dean of the Graduate School at Miami University: For many people, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee is the start of a great day. But caffeine can cause headaches and jitters in others. That's why many people reach for a decaffeinated cup instead. I'm a chemistry professor who has taught lectures on why chemicals dissolve in some liquids but not in others. The processes of decaffeination offer great real-life examples of these chemistry concepts. Even the best decaffeination method, however, does not remove all of the caffeine -- about 7 milligrams of caffeine usually remain in an 8-ounce cup. Producers decaffeinating their coffee want to remove the caffeine while retaining all -- or at least most -- of the other chemical aroma and flavor compounds.

Decaffeination has a rich history, and now almost all coffee producers use one of three common methods. All these methods, which are also used to make decaffeinated tea, start with green, or unroasted, coffee beans that have been premoistened. Using roasted coffee beans would result in a coffee with a very different aroma and taste because the decaffeination steps would remove some flavor and odor compounds produced during roasting.
Here's a summary of each method discussed by Dr. Crowder:

The Carbon Dioxide Method: Developed in the early 1970s, the carbon dioxide method uses high-pressure CO2 to extract caffeine from moistened coffee beans, resulting in coffee that retains most of its flavor. The caffeine-laden CO2 is then filtered out using water or activated carbon, removing 96% to 98% of the caffeine with minimal CO2 residue.

The Swiss Water Process: First used commercially in the early 1980s, the Swiss water method uses hot water and activated charcoal filters to decaffeinate coffee, preserving most of its natural flavor. This chemical-free approach removes 94% to 96% of the caffeine by soaking the beans repeatedly until the desired caffeine level is achieved.

Solvent-Based Methods: Originating in the early 1900s, solvent-based methods use organic solvents like ethyl acetate and methylene chloride to extract caffeine from green coffee beans. These methods remove 96% to 97% of the caffeine through either direct soaking in solvent or indirect treatment of water containing caffeine, followed by steaming and roasting to ensure safety and flavor retention.

"It's chemically impossible to dissolve out only the caffeine without also dissolving out other chemical compounds in the beans, so decaffeination inevitably removes some other compounds that contribute to the aroma and flavor of your cup of coffee," writes Dr. Crowder in closing. "But some techniques, like the Swiss water process and the indirect solvent method, have steps that may reintroduce some of these extracted compounds. These approaches probably can't return all the extra compounds back to the beans, but they may add some of the flavor compounds back."
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Chemist Explains the Chemistry Behind Decaf Coffee

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  • by chuckugly ( 2030942 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @10:35PM (#64656490)

    A Mormon friend explained decaf products as "Mormons dirty little secret" quite some time back, and it still makes me smile. Yeah a lot of them drink it and yeah, it has caffeine. Next up, non-alcoholic beer ...

    • Roasted grain beverage Postum was reportedly popular with Mormons, and there was disappointment when Post discontinued it. It reportedly has been licensed for production by a different company. Though not Mormon, we frequently used it in my household, and as a kid, I liked it. Mormon teen neighbors would come over to our house at breakfast time for a coffee fix.
    • Chocolate (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Roger W Moore ( 538166 ) on Friday July 26, 2024 @12:00AM (#64656590) Journal

      Yeah a lot of them drink it and yeah, it has caffeine.

      Nowhere near as much caffeine as chocolate: one serving of dark chocolate has about 25% the caffeine of a cup of coffee. Unless they also give up chocolate that's a far larger source of caffeine than decaf coffee.

    • by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Friday July 26, 2024 @12:50AM (#64656624)

      They also drink Coca Cola.

      As a former (non-LDS) Utahn, I often asked Mormons if they didn't think there's a slight disconnect between drinking high caffeine, high sugar soda and professing the avoidance of addictive substances. A lot of them told me "Oh but that's different: it's an American tradition."

      Which goes to prove that the LDS church is a true church: like all religions, a lot of followers are hypocrits.

      • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

        I heard it was pepsi back in the 80s because they owned a large amount of pepsi stock. Which sounds about right for a hypocrite organization lol

        • It works both ways. An LDS colleague thanked me at a company event for pointing out that a can of Barq's root beer that he had picked up from the ice chest with a variety of sodas, contained caffeine; he put it back and chose something else. On the other hand, a home visit to an LDS person recovering from a medical condition, revealed a living room with several cases of Jolt cola in plain sight. The Pepsi trope is familiar from the 80s.
      • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

        In the midwest there are a lot of Baptists. Theres an expression about baptist: A baptist will always recognize another baptist; unless they both happen to be in a bar.

        If you dont know anything about baptist, drinking alcohol is supposed to be a major sin. Nevermind the fact that Jesus threw parties all the time to the point he supposedly ran out and had to make more out of water. Not sure how that logic played out. He was even drinking his ass off when Judas sold him to the Romans.

        • If you dont know anything about baptist, drinking alcohol is supposed to be a major sin. Nevermind the fact that Jesus threw parties all the time to the point

          I don't get the segue between talking about some modern Christians, then switching to talking about "Jesus". It's almost as if some people think that Jesus, if he existed at all (a belief without significant supporting evidence) was a Christian.

          He wasn't. The religion wasn't invented until decades after his death (either one). He was a Jew, and famous

          • Nearly all modern "biblical" scholars with decades of research and study: "Yes Jesus existed as a singular person and the main points of the bible are verified."

            That one annoying scholar: "Jesus probably existed but the historical, religious figure was an amalgam of a few different people"

            Josephus, a rich jewish historian whose family was heavily involved in temples and religious orders: "Yeah that Jesus aka the christ man was definitely the brother of that stoned James guy"

            Tacitus: "Yeah Pontius kil
            • Yep. Nothing significant.

              Josephus was about the time of the Gospel-writers, none of whom could have had anything better than hearsay evidence. Tacitus quoting Pontius - also hearsay evidence. Would not be admitted to court, due to not being good enough evidence.

          • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

            well christianity, as a religion, is supposed to be following in the footsteps of christ. Following his examples, etc. So one would expect that if jesus partook in wine publicly, and is the alleged son of god, it very well cant be a major sin.

            • Well, the story is that he turned water into wine. So what would have been the point if one was not supposed to drink it?

              • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

                at a party... and dont forget the story of passover. the last supper. they were already drinking wine when he said it represented his blood. In fact, it was not uncommon for regular water to be cut with wine to ensure it killed off bacteria.

        • You know why you always take two baptists with you when you go fishing?

          If you only take one, he'll drink all your beer....

      • Having had a brief experience with that """church""" (more like a cult), plus the experiences of various ex-Mormons, I can tell you: it's chock full of hypocrites, and dangerous rhetoric they keep to themselves.
      • They also drink Coca Cola.

        As a former (non-LDS) Utahn, I often asked Mormons if they didn't think there's a slight disconnect between drinking high caffeine, high sugar soda and professing the avoidance of addictive substances. A lot of them told me "Oh but that's different: it's an American tradition."

        It's odd that they told you that, since the real reason is that the Word of Wisdom doesn't ban consumption of caffeine per se, it bans tea and coffee. A common assumption is that the ban on tea and coffee is because they contain caffeine, but there's no doctrine to that effect.

        I'm a Utah Mormon and I've never heard the "American tradition" line. That's odd.

        Which goes to prove that the LDS church is a true church: like all religions, a lot of followers are hypocrites.

        If you want to find hypocrisy in Mormons' observation of the Word of Wisdom, there are stronger arguments: Consumption of meat and participation in e

    • by Cyberax ( 705495 )

      Next up, non-alcoholic beer ...

      Slavic countries have a fermented non-alcoholic drink called "kvas", it's a bit like non-alcoholic beer, except that it's not bitter. I'm seriously surprised it's not popular in the Western countries.

      • Slavic countries have a fermented non-alcoholic drink called "kvas", it's a bit like non-alcoholic beer, except that it's not bitter.

        This is called "kotikalja" ("home beer") in Finland and "svagdricka" ("weak drink") in Sweden. Like a lot of "non-alcoholic" beers it's not exactly non-alcoholic as it uses the same fermentation process. I brew my own beer including this variant and I've estimated this to have about 1 % ABV. I think you could get it down to about 0.5 % but you need a certain amount of fermentation (esp. secondary/bottle fermentation) to make enough CO2 for the fizz.

        • How would you classify your brew then, like the 10% Polish drink (example only), but it does sound interesting

        • Not exactly the same process. Kvass fermentation is originally not just yeast but also LAB fermentation, somewhat similar to kefir, water kefir and kombucha. Of course, nowadays most people don't bother.

          • Not exactly the same process. Kvass fermentation is originally not just yeast but also LAB fermentation, somewhat similar to kefir, water kefir and kombucha. Of course, nowadays most people don't bother.

            Finnish "kotikalja" does include some lactic acid, partly because yeast often contains some lactobacillus impurities, and baking yeast is particularly impure in this respect. AFAIK kombucha fermentation also involves yeast to some extent, and there's always some wild yeast in the ambient air. So I'd say the differences are a matter of degree.

            • Yes, kefir, water kefir and kombucha are all produced by yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in a symbiotic relationship. Kombucha additionally has acetic bacteria that convert the alcohol produced by the yeasts into vinegar.
              IIRC kvass was originally made with a sourdough starter, another symbiotic relationship between yeasts and LAB. I am kind of wary to try it out, though, because sourdough uses raw flour that can be contaminated with salmonella and e. coli hence I only use it for baking bread. I have made it

        • Linguistically related, English has "small beer", which is the beer made from the third or fourth washing of the malted grains ("wort"? I am not a ... zymurgist [wikipedia.org], even if I can remember the word from knowing one decades ago) to produce a low-sugar "wash", which ferments to a low-alcohol beer, suitable for kids, ox-cart drivers and Americans. (American beer is typically half the strength of the rest of the world's beers. Probably why spirits are relatively more popular.)

          It's the boiling of the water used to

        • by Cyberax ( 705495 )

          I think you could get it down to about 0.5 % but you need a certain amount of fermentation (esp. secondary/bottle fermentation) to make enough CO2 for the fizz.

          It's not supposed to be fizzy, though. It _can_ be fizzy, but it's not a requirement.

          • It's not supposed to be fizzy, though. It _can_ be fizzy, but it's not a requirement.

            This also depends on storage. Many traditional beers don't undergo secondary fermentation in sealed containers, so the CO2 is lost, but it won't affect the final alcohol content very much. In fact, common chemistry would suggest that more alcohol is generated this way as some of the reaction products are removed.

    • Next up, non-alcoholic beer ...

      Indeed. I'm a regular consumer of decoffeinated coffee, non-alcoholic beer and sugar-free cola.

      Get 95% of the flavor with only 5% of the downsides.
      Science!

      For the record, I drink a few cups of normal coffee before 1500hrs, but after that I tend to go for a decoffeinated cup. Even though people say it doesn't affect their sleep, coffeine does affect your deep sleep and therefore how much rest you get.

      Avoiding alcohol is obivous. No, there's absolutely no benefits to alcohol.

      And yes, IMHO the artificial sweet

      • by piojo ( 995934 )

        And yes, IMHO the artificial sweeteners are better than getting all of the sugar. All that research about cancer linked to sweeteners used a metric shitload of those compounds, and sugar in your intestines does the same thing and worse. Still, I don't drink much. Maybe 2 pops / week. But when I do, always go sugar-free.

        Not sure this is true. In fact for one study I dug into, it's definitely not. However the more valid criticism is that the most unhealthy people are the most likely to replace sugar with other sweeteners. So poor prior health (or poor blood lipid levels or whatever) is a confounding factor that leads to both bad health outcomes and artificial sweeteners.

        • by piojo ( 995934 )

          I mean it's not true that all the studies looked at massive amounts of sweeteners.

        • I'm troubled by many of the newer studies that are seeming to indicate that many of the artificial sweeteners are playing havoc with the gut biome...which more and more is being shown to be highly important to full body health in more ways that ever suspected until just recently.
    • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

      A few non alcoholic beers actually taste fairly close. Heineken 0.0 is a pretty good example. Now Heineken is a beer that if served at 37F (normal fridge temp) doesnt taste that great. But if you serve it at 45F like other german biers (weihenstephaner is a good example) the taste improves quite noticeably. Hence why I keep my import beers in the white wine zone of my wine fridge. I had an IPA 0.0 when I was prepping for a colonoscopy that tasted pretty dead on. Dont judge. The dietary restrictions for that

      • Corona's N/A tastes pretty close to Corona too. It helps that Corona has (imo) a distinct flavor already. You could likely have a blind taste test of N/A beers without knowing what brands you'll be testing, and identify the Corona one. Which is a good thing, I think.
    • by swillden ( 191260 ) <shawn-ds@willden.org> on Friday July 26, 2024 @10:45AM (#64657558) Journal

      A Mormon friend explained decaf products as "Mormons dirty little secret" quite some time back, and it still makes me smile. Yeah a lot of them drink it and yeah, it has caffeine. Next up, non-alcoholic beer ...

      I'm Mormon, and drinking of decaffeinated coffee is pretty rare, because it isn't any more compliant with the Word of Wisdom [wikipedia.org] than regular coffee. If you're going to break the rules, you might as well get the caffeine.

      Lots of Mormons drink caffeinated soda, though.

      The misunderstanding here is that the Word of Wisdom doesn't ban consumption of caffeine, it bans consumption of "hot drinks", which is interpreted to mean "tea and coffee". On the tea side this is explicitly "real" tea (black, white, green), not herbal teas (spearmint, chamomile, etc.). People -- including Mormons -- often assume that the primary reason for the prohibition is the caffeine, but that's not in the official doctrine. This leads to some debate among Mormons who want to be very rigorous about their faith as to whether caffeinated soft drinks should also be avoided, though the idea that they should is a distinctly minority view. Coffee, however, is definitely out, and it doesn't matter whether it's decaffeinated.

      What is actually somewhat common, or at least was a few decades ago, is consumption of Pero and Postum. These are grain-based drinks that are vaguely coffee-like. There was some controversy over whether they were too coffee-like, not because this would make consuming them a violation of the Word of Wisdom, but because it would lead people to build a taste and desire for the real thing. The same argument is used about non-alcoholic beers. But, again, these are all debates about the wisdom of consuming things that might make you want to consume the prohibited thing; no one claims that Postum is prohibited.

      Decaffeinated coffee is still coffee and therefore prohibited in and of itself, not merely because it would motivate you to want to drink regular coffee.

  • by vivian ( 156520 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @10:56PM (#64656512)

    ...is like beer without alcohol.
    There are so many other better options to choose if you don't want to drink alcohol or caffeine.
    As someone who probably drinks far too much coffee each day (in the 4-6 cup range) if I'm not drinking coffee, I'm drinking water or rarely, a herbal tea of some sort that generally don't have caffeine - of which there are many many options.

    I have yet to taste a cup of decaf that was indistinguishable from a regular cup of coffee - the decaffeination process seems to leave a strange after-taste that just ruins the coffee experience for me - whether it's instant coffee (which is generally horrible 0 but decaf especially so) or nespresso pods.

    Same for zero alcohol beers and wines - I have yet to find an enjoyable one of those, though there are a few ok low alcohol beers about 2.6% alcohol if you are driving and want to be able to have two or three.

    • I, for one, pity those who insist on decaf coffee. It's like masturbation without the payoff. In my case, I try to make it a point to slam at least 4-5 Monsters a day. I don't know why my heartrate is always elevated but the metoprolol takes care of that. /s
      • "Quercetin, not caffeine, is a major neuroprotective component in coffee" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]
      • by Coius ( 743781 )

        Wish it didn't take caffeine to jack with my hearth rythm. But I guess I'll always get that rush off of my immune system trying to kill me. Trust me, say no to Hanta Virus. Unless you like your heart to occasionally stop beating for 1.25 seconds. But I guess Metroprolol takes care of that...

    • I would quite happily pay for a caffeine-free Red Bull.
    • ...is like beer without alcohol.
      There are so many other better options to choose if you don't want to drink alcohol or caffeine.

      There are so many other better options to choose if you're only drinking beer for the alcohol and not for the taste. You could just drink neat ethanol (with a little water) if you really need to maximise your alcohol levels, but really don't like the taste of any of the beers.

      If you think that all other drinks taste better if you ignore the alcohol content, you might be a problem drinker.

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      ...is like beer without alcohol.

      Pretty much this. If you don't want the caffeine, don't drink the coffee (same with beer), loads of alternatives out there... Not tea though, most tea also contains caffeine, and chocolate, most soft drinks... On reflection I think it's just better not to be a Mormon.

      But I digress, it's the headline that I have an issue with. It should really say "heathen tells of dark magic used to rob coffee of it's most vital essence".

    • Actually, coffee (and decaff) have other uses too. For example, they're both an appetite suppressant.

      I generally avoid caffeine (I'm not religious about it - I don't mind a bit here and there, but I don't like to be 'hooked' on it), but I'm also trying to 'compress' my eating hours, as to do so is apparently good for gut health (maybe an age thing, I'm not sure). Since I generally wake up absolutely starving hungry, the prospect of holding out another hour or two doesn't appeal - but a black espresso (decaf

    • ...is like beer without alcohol.

      There are a lot of quite tasty non-alcoholic beers, including following many of the craft style flavour profiles - not just pilsners or weizenbier. I have had many non-alcoholic beers that I have rated more highly than beers with alcohol.

      There are so many other better options to choose if you don't want to drink alcohol or caffeine.

      It sounds like you want to drink alcohol to get drunk and caffeine to get high. That's not many people's goal of beer and coffee. Many people like the flavours. If you're only in it for the addictive substances then sure go crazy into left field, but that doesn't mean that

  • Awesome (Score:5, Funny)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Thursday July 25, 2024 @11:31PM (#64656542)

    I love decaf, it allows me to hang out with the cool kids. Chilling with a coffee cup in our hands, wearing temporary tattoos, and slick back hair .. catcalling women. Just being cool. You know what I'm saying.

  • Always thought the Swiss water method was _cold_ water, not hot water. I have read that the caffeine dissolves in cold water so less of the oil and flavors from the coffee are lost. Anyway, the companies extracting the caffeine turn around and sell it to the soda makers of course... It's insane the quantities involved, too.
  • OK, I can maybe see why you couldn't chemically remove the caffeine without removing too much of the other stuff, but is that the only approach?

    As I understand it, caffeine works on the brain because there are cell receptors it fits. Would it be possible to develop a biological mechanism for extracting caffeine?

    • What about this?

      Differential gene expression profiles and metabolic networks are valuable tools for the genetic characterization of agronomic traits. In this study, we used large-scale expression analyses to identify modified biological processes in caffeine-free coffee plants. The first step was the large-scale sequencing of RNA from young and developing tissues of caffeine-free plants (AC1) and plants with normal concentrations of the compound (MN). The resulting 65,000 sequences were analyzed in silico for identification of 171 genes with differential expression between treatments, and establishment of metabolic networks associated with levels of caffeine. Few genes were mapped onto metabolic pathways, indicating that low caffeine has no major effects on physiological processes. The differential expression observed in silico was validated for 12 selected genes in field experiments using qPCR. The expression profile of 5 genes differed on the analyses, and the rest confirmed the in silico profile. Among the validated genes two of them, FIG and LSM-l, may control other agronomic traits associated with low caffeine content in coffee tissues. These genes are potential markers for use in association with other current markers for assisted selection of low-caffeine coffee. Therefore, they may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of coffee breeding programs. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/... [harvard.edu]

    • Then you would need to chemically synthesize these receptors in a sufficient quantity and also find a way to re-generate them, i.e. remove the caffeine from them. The article focuses on the coffee, but the caffeine is a valuable by-product of the process that is sold to the pharmaceutical industry. Then you can re-use your extraction chemical (the receptors) and sell the caffeine at a good price. Also note that the beans are whole during caffeine extraction. This means that your solvent needs to be able to
  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Friday July 26, 2024 @01:45AM (#64656676)

    "Chemist in league with Satan attempts to make an abomination sound normal"

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      "Chemist in league with Satan attempts to make an abomination sound normal"

      Please don't bring our dark lord into this heresy. This horrifying art is far beyond even his malevolence.

  • I'm mildly allergic to coffee but love the taste.
    My health nut wife found this https://www.notcoffee.com.au/ [notcoffee.com.au]
    Its made from chicory root, carob and chickpea.

    It has a very similar taste to coffee. My wife thinks it tastes even better (and She is very fussy, we use an expressor machine and freshly grind our beans) than coffee as it doesn't have the bitterness.
    It takes a bit more skill to use than coffee beans as the product expands more in the group head.
    but.. thumbs up from me for anyone in Australia that want

    • Do you think it could be HERV?

      Caffeine and aspirin have been suggested to be involved in neurologic diseases, such as schizophrenia, and previous data have revealed that abnormal expression of HERV-W elements may be an important factor in the etiopathogenesis of those diseases. In this article, we reported that caffeine and aspirin contributed to the expression of HERV-W env and gag in Human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR and quantitative Real-time PCR were used to detect the mRNA of HERV-W env and gag in cells exposed to caffeine or aspirin. Western blotting was used to detect the protein of HERV-W env. Luciferase activity assay was employed to detect the activity of HERV-W env promoter. It was found that both caffeine and aspirin could increase the expression of HERV-W env and gag in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Caffeine could activate the HERV-W env promoter, while aspirin could not. With previous studies we can conjecture that HERVs might play a bridging role between environmental factors, such as drugs and neurologic diseases. https://link.springer.com/arti... [springer.com]

      More on HERV and other mobile DNA

      more than half the human genome is derived from mobile pieces of DNA called transposable elements (colloquially known as “jumping genes”). Transposable elements were discovered in corn by Barbara McClintock more than 60 years ago,5 but few people would have guessed that the aggregate length of these sequences exceeds that of protein-coding exons by a factor greater than 40 (Fig. 1).1 Although the bulk of transposable element–derived DNAs are remnants of their former selves and cannot transpose, some retain the ability to mobilize.11,12 The insertion of mobile elements into the DNA of gametes or the early embryo can disrupt genes, leading to sporadic cases of disease,13 and their insertion into the DNA of somatic cells may contribute to cancers and neuropsychiatric disease.9 https://www.researchgate.net/p... [researchgate.net]

      Here's a nice pie chart https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]

    • My health nut wife found this https://www.notcoffee.com.au/ [notcoffee.com.au] Its made from chicory root, carob and chickpea.

      You can find similar drinks under different brand names such as Barleycup. In Italy, you can order a cup of "orzo" meaning it's made from barley.

      In Finland, older people might associate this kind of drink with wartime scarcity, as it was used as a substitute when real coffee was being rationed. So it's a bit funny that it's now become a kind of specialty/luxury drink.

      • under different brand names such as Barleycup

        Oh yeah, had that. It's acceptable, but not so easy to find. I can think of two shops in town where I'd look for it, and neither of them is one I've entered since I moved here.

        As you say, many equivalents. And many different personal tastes. Just tell visitors what you've got, and if they don't like it, they can bring their own choice of brew next time.

    • Grinding coarser, not brewing for as long, brewing at a lower temperature, and using soft water will all decrease bitterness when brewing coffee.

  • Gross!
  • There was an alternate storyline of a Terminator unit sent back in time to bypass Sarah Connor, and eliminate the inventor of decaf, but the T101 unit was already in Los Angeles.

  • by Wdi ( 142463 ) on Friday July 26, 2024 @06:09AM (#64656894)

    are from the 1980s. This is elementary textbook stuff for chemists and food technologists. Where is the news?

    • To anyone who didn't know it before it's news. Incidentally Slashdot has headlines. You could have read the headline and moved on to the next story. It takes less effort than complaining about something which is currently undergoing a very interesting discussion,

      You seem to miss the point of Slashdot. No one is here for the news.

  • This explains a lot actually. I have a medical condition where caffeine can outright kill me and 7mg is dangerous. Staying away from "decaff" now.
  • But caffeine can cause headaches and jitters in others.

    I only get those symptoms when I seriously OD on coffee - like, a couple of litres of full-strength Douwe Egberts before mid-afternoon, for several days on the trot.

    I was under the impression that the normal cause for the need for an "early morning fix" of caffeine was that the body was actually expressing withdrawal symptoms for the caffeine they had yesterday, but eliminated while sleeping. But as a relatively low caffeine-user (half a litre of coffe

  • I don't know how or why but I'm more or less developed a caffeine allergy over the years. I had to stop drinking the stuff entirely. Regular decaf still has quite a bit of caffeine sometimes as much as 80%. The Swiss water method decaffeination takes out over 90% ready to actually hurt it's as high as 99 but the article says more like 95%

    The only downside is it tends to get used for the fancy stuff because you're allowed to call your coffee organic if you use Swiss water. The good news is it's easy to f
  • Lots of people making jokes about how horrible decaf is, and speaking fondly of their regular coffee and energy drinks, but if you develop any sort of arrythmia or heart condition, you can say bye-bye to your caffeine and alcoholic drinks. Atrial fibrilation, for instance, is very common as you get older, and episodes of it can cause you to throw a blood clot, and therefore suffer a stroke -- which of course can kill you. Caffeine and alcohol both can cause AF episodes, even if you're on a beta-blocker or have cardiac ablation. So laugh at decaf coffee while you can, chances are you'll end up having it regularly at some point.
  • ```
    These approaches probably can't return all the extra compounds back to the beans, but they may add some of the flavor compounds back.
    ```
    Not really.

    Yield isn't 100% but they fractionally distill the solute because caffeine is very valuable for soda and nodoze and then put the non-caffeine solute back in under pressure.

    It's a simple matter of competitive advantage.

    I roast my own decaf to get flavor (better than commercial regular) but you can get Illy and similar brands in the $25+/lb range which are just

  • Mr. Crowder, what went on in your head?
    Oh, Mr. Crowder, did you want me to the dead?
    Your brew there, to me, seemed so tragic
    Without a thrill at all
    You fooled all the people with decaf
    Yeah, you waited on Satan's call

  • It's interesting to watch. I hated studying chemistry. In general, I always asked write my essay for me, I used https://ca.edubirdie.com/write-my-essay-for-me [edubirdie.com] for this. The only subject I liked was History. I consider everything else useless, the main thing is to know the basics.

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