Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

theconversation.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 180 posts

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#131

Post by scruple »

nxobject wrote: post #118
iscrewyou wrote: post #21

A 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.

Yeah, that's cool. As someone who fell down this rabbit hole well over a decade ago, complete with a history of my own large storage bins for green beans, multiple roasters, thousands spent in makers, etc... Yet, today, my most used preparation methods are an AeroPress or a Chemex pour over, albeit with hand-ground beans that a friend and neighbor roasts... I just don't think I want to hear 2 minutes of useful information from watching 25 minutes of videos (between the 2 that are linked here).

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#132

Post by hilbert42 »

RamblingCTO wrote: post #130
hilbert42 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thanks. I don't drink decaffeinated coffee not because I don't get any effects but because of its tase, which I reckon is horrible. Caffeine is bitter (well slightly so) and I reckon removing it makes it unpalatable for me, it's likely why caffeine-free tastes bad. (I'd add I drink both coffee and tea without milk or sugar, that'd make the taste of the caffeine more noticeable I'd reckon).

Incidentally, I was unaware there is wild coffee sans caffeine.

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#133

Post by aequitas »

beAbU wrote: post #129
nxobject wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

I also like James Hoffman, a little bit more, a little bit less? I don't know.

Even his review of toy coffee machines[0] had me watching with full interest. This guy can sell you anything, but I think that is also part of being a barista?

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OFt2T8aH9I

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#134

Post by globular-toast »

dyauspitr wrote: post #123
dustincoates wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yoghurt doesn't generally produce whey. Cheese does. Whey protein used to be the cheapest form of protein by a long way because it was just a byproduct that doesn't taste good and most people have no need for. But we are now in an age where regular people buy stuff with the word "protein" slapped on it, for some reason.

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#135

Post by hilbert42 »

cryptonector wrote: post #81
sethhochberg wrote: post #68

Earlier 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.

Besides that if the caffeine-free variants were to spread in the wild and cross-breed with regular coffee that would be disastrous.

From comments it seems caffeine-free plants already exist.

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#136

Post by lionkor »

hilbert42 wrote: post #132
RamblingCTO wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure, there's a comment below my parent comment that indicates that there's wild caffeine free coffee. it just tastes bad apparently.

Thanks. I don't drink decaffeinated coffee not because I don't get any effects but because of its tase, which I reckon is horrible. Caffeine is bitter (well slightly so) and I reckon removing it makes it unpalatable for me, it's likely why caffeine-free tastes bad. (I'd add I drink both coffee and tea without milk or sugar, that'd make the taste of the caffeine more noticeable I'd reckon). Incidentally, I was unaware…

I would recommend trying it, its not as bad as you say it is

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#137

Post by jajko »

globular-toast wrote: post #134
dyauspitr wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with yogurt. Whey protein isolate goes for $11/lb, which is ridiculous pricing as a side note.

Yoghurt doesn't generally produce whey. Cheese does. Whey protein used to be the cheapest form of protein by a long way because it was just a byproduct that doesn't taste good and most people have no need for. But we are now in an age where regular people buy stuff with the word "protein" slapped on it, for some reason.

Most people in this world don't eat enough protein (cca 65g daily for average human IIRC) and way too many carbs, hence a lot of civilization diseases. Or ratio protein : carbs (ideally complex) : fats (ideally unsaturated) is bad long term.

But its true that not healthy food that has some additional protein mixed in ain't magically healthy.

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#138

Post by littlestymaar »

jajko wrote: post #137
globular-toast wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yoghurt doesn't generally produce whey. Cheese does. Whey protein used to be the cheapest form of protein by a long way because it was just a byproduct that doesn't taste good and most people have no need for. But we are now in an age where regular people buy stuff with the word "protein" slapped on it, for some reason.

Most people in this world don't eat enough protein (cca 65g daily for average human IIRC) and way too many carbs, hence a lot of civilization diseases. Or ratio protein : carbs (ideally complex) : fats (ideally unsaturated) is bad long term. But its true that not healthy food that has some additional protein mixed in ain't magically healthy.

> don't eat enough protein (cca 65g daily for average human IIRC) and way too many carbs, hence a lot of civilization diseases

We as a specie haven't eaten as many protein as today since the invention of agriculture millennia ago, so idk what you mean by “civilization diseases” but if you mean diabetes and such, then it's clearly wrong.

We're currently eating too much and too much sugar though.

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#139

Post by dukeyukey »

Murky3515 wrote: post #70

TIL about one of the solvents involved, ethyl acetate, and the fact that it is not good for you. How do I know that my local coffee shop's machine is working correctly and provides only safe levels of this solvent?

Local coffee shops won't do the decaffeination, that's usually done by the roasters before it gets to the shop.

Re: A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

#140

Post by herbst »

Teslazar wrote: post #60
pillefitz wrote: post #48

I'd love if all psychoactive compounds could be removed from coffee beans. The stress response and inability to sleep I get from decaf beans is pretty much comparable to that from normal beans (and distinctly different from pure caffeine or green tea)

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…

Stopped here to say L-Theanine as well. It's part of my morning routine for years now and without it coffee turns literal poison for my nerves.
Post reply on HN