Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh! Gonna have to try that!
Watch out for the lead and heavy metals and cacao https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/a-third-o...
Ah yes, there's that. Bah.
A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
121–130 of 180 posts
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two main decaf plants, one in Vancouver and one in Mexico. The Mexican one is supposedly superior in taste, but the majority is processed through Vancouver with the Swiss Water plant. https://www.swisswater.com/blogs/sw/swiss-waters-new-decaffe...
Is this for North America or worldwide?
Definitely not worldwide, Colombia has a plant doing EA decaf
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The German inventor of a decaf process sold the extracted coffein separately in pills, which might have given him a second income: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Roselius
This is like what happens with milk fat. I was surprised to see whole milk cost more, and I found out that it's because the fat skimmed off is used for other products.
Same with yogurt. Whey protein isolate goes for $11/lb, which is ridiculous pricing as a side note.
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#124SWP is trendy and "chemical-free" but in my experience every decaf made with it is lacking something. C02 is neutral. EA is probably the best for fruity coffees.
I find the ethyl acetate processed to be the better of the decafs. It's my go to these days.
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a similar problem. Coffee, decaf, even dark chocolate would be very stimulating and would mess with my sleep, even a single cup in the morning. I tried quite a few things to solve this and ended up discovering that supplementing with molybdenum solved it. Molybdenum is an essential element important in the metabolization of some compounds, including caffeine. It's cheap and may be worth trying. Also, I found th…
I'll add some more info to my post. Caffeine is a purine ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine ). A Google Scholar search for "molybdenum purine" will come up with many studies discussing how molybdenum is involved in purine catabolism. For example, the following article states "[molybdenum] is considered essential because it is part of a complex called molybdenum cofactor that is required for the three mammalian…
I find discussion about caffeine sensitivity in humans rather fascinating given the very broad range of the amount required to induce an effect.
If those above are to be believed (or not suffering a psychosomatic response) and are still affected by decaffeinated coffee then the dosage between different individuals for given psychotropic effects to occur could be as high as 100:1.
As someone who can drink copious nubmers of cups of coffee in a single sitting and notice very little effect I'm curious to know why this range is so wide (heaven help patients, doctors and pharmaceutical manufacturers if all drugs had such a wide range).
Whenever I raise this the common retort is that I've developed a tolerance to caffeine, and no doubt that's true to some extent. But from experience it's pretty limited, I've been in situations where I've not had caffeinated drinks for months and not noticed any difference when I returned to them. Also, decades ago when I was a student I took up coffee to help stay awake whilst studying and it was pretty inefective. I tried evey strong brew availabe including up to five heaped teaspoons of Moccona instant coffee per cup and it was like water off a duck's back—almost useless/inefective.
The question is why do some people have a supersensitive response to caffeine whilst others do not.
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#126So, in the Swiss Water process, caffeine-free coffee is made by soaking the beans in... caffeine-free coffee? (My initial though was, "then how do you get the cafeeine-free coffee in the first place", but I see the answer is that you can decaffeinate liquids by running them through charcoal filters... something you can't do with solid beans.)
I wonder if instant decaf is more effective, as you skip a step to pour your coffee cup.
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#127Well, they used some unhealthy solvents to extract the caffeine in the past.
Swiss water method should be ok, but I just don't trust that some cheap company is not cheating in the process every now and then.
I drink regular coffee.
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#128The decaf process seems expensive so you might expect the end result to cost more, but it never does. Which means either the producers are making less profit on decaf, or they are using lower quality beans. If the latter is true, which seems more likely, that might explain why decaf sometimes tastes less good, separately from the effect of the process itself on taste.
Decaf is bad business becuase processed beans are loosing taste more rapidly. You should drink it freshly roasted, buy more often but smaller packs and if this is not the case decaf simply tastes less good. So as a producer you have more expensive process and less consumer satisfaction...
> So as a producer you have more expensive process and less consumer satisfaction...
This is illogical. People buy decaf for several reason, that don't include it's taste. Either they're allergic to coffein, they get nervous from it, they get elevated heart rates from it, or want to enjoy a coffee in the evening. All of of these reasons are fulfilled, therefore satisfactory.
Personal note: I don't taste a difference in caf and decaf and ALWAYS prefer decaf.
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#129A good video explanation from James Hoffman: https://youtu.be/yYTSdlOdkn0 And a quick follow up: https://youtu.be/IszQ2JR3Olc
I can’t recommend James Hoffmann’s channel enough - he’s such a passionate coffee guy who’s just as happy teaching what he knows about coffee to anyone and everyone. (He also won a world barista championship back in the day, too.) I daresay he’s even got me into coffee.
Personally I like Hames Joffman a bit more, but he's not posting as frequently any more.
Jokes aside, another endorsement from James. He's an absolute coffee weirdo, and he knows it, and he embraces it. The equipment and ingredients that he buys is so out of touch with my reality it can't even compare, yet I watch his videos.
I like his content because he does not take himself seriously, which is always a good sign to me. And because he's very pragmatic. Even though he takes snobbery to the next level, he will always sniff at a new product if it is complicated to use, because like me, his primary need for coffee is to overcome morning grogginess, and he does not want to faff about during that time.
Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
At least part of the reason coffee plants produce caffeine is as a defense mechanism from insects. If you genetically engineer out the caffeine, your effort to farm the plant just went up if you aren't also able to genetically engineer insect resistance.
On HN only the other day in a discussion about caffeine and coffee consumption I pointed out that caffeine was one of the more innocuous toxins plants use to protect themselves against insects—innocuous to humans that is, there being many more that are very much more toxic to humans. What I've never seen quoted is a comparison of caffeine's toxicity to insects compared with other common plant toxins (pyrethrins, terp…
Not sure, there's a comment below my parent comment that indicates that there's wild caffeine free coffee. it just tastes bad apparently.