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Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#11

Post by fashion-at-cost »

jessekv wrote: post #9
zdragnar wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tea also has noticeably less caffeine than coffee, yet it has been treated as an energizing drink since it was first discovered. When you don't have any adrenal stimulants in your diet at all, even a small amount is noticable. Caffeine also has a metabolic half life of roughly 5 hours in the body, if I remember correctly. A few berries might not do much, but surely a handful will be enough.

Tea leaves usually have more caffeine than coffee beans, but tea itself is usually more diluted than coffee. If you want a jolt, make a matcha shot with the same mass of matcha as you would normally do for coffee ;)

Or a traditional Maté

Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#12

Post by bryanlarsen »

recursive wrote: post #8
iteria wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you truly detox from caffeine even extremely small amounts will be noticeable. I knew a woman who couldn't eat chocolate because she found the amount of caffeine to be too high. I didn't even know there was caffeine in chocolate.

> I knew a woman who couldn't eat chocolate because she found the amount of caffeine to be too high. I think the causality went the other way in that case. I've been roughly caffeine free at certain intervals. Never felt anything from chocolate.

I went almost caffeine free at one point. I once got a good buzz from 300g of 90% chocolate.

I say "almost" caffeine free because I still regularly ate chocolate. So I still had a little tolerance. Yet the difference between 50g of milk chocolate and 300g of 90% was very noticeable.

Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#13

Post by gruez »

iteria wrote: post #7
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

What puzzles me about the reported birth of coffee is that I wouldn't expect that just eating the cherries would give you that much of a caffeine kick to be noticeable. Yes, there's a little bit of caffeine in them, but far more in the "beans" (seeds).

If you truly detox from caffeine even extremely small amounts will be noticeable. I knew a woman who couldn't eat chocolate because she found the amount of caffeine to be too high. I didn't even know there was caffeine in chocolate.

>If you truly detox from caffeine even extremely small amounts will be noticeable.

Maybe for a subset of people. Otherwise kids will be getting crazy jitters the first time they eat chocolate (presumably before they ever drank coffee/tea), which obviously doesn't happen.

Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#14

Post by mortos »

djha-skin wrote: post #5

Caffeine production is likely difficult in the face of a drier climate. Caffeine is present in the plant as a pesticide. Insects are a much bigger problem in wet climates over dry. Having grown up in a wet climate (Chicago) but now living in a dry one (Utah) I can say that finding a droubt tolerant species which concerns itself with pesticide production may be difficult. The same water which coffee relies on is the s…

That's interesting, it's something I haven't really thought about.

There is some desire for less caffeine as it adds bitterness. Eugenioides, a parent species to arabica the commonly cultivated species, inherently has less caffeine and is said to have a remarkably sweet cup. It's had some attention in barista competitions in the last few years.

Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#15

Post by garciasn »

recursive wrote: post #8
iteria wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you truly detox from caffeine even extremely small amounts will be noticeable. I knew a woman who couldn't eat chocolate because she found the amount of caffeine to be too high. I didn't even know there was caffeine in chocolate.

> I knew a woman who couldn't eat chocolate because she found the amount of caffeine to be too high. I think the causality went the other way in that case. I've been roughly caffeine free at certain intervals. Never felt anything from chocolate.

Depends on the chocolate type and how much you're eating. Milk chocolate has very low levels (~2mg per 28oz), but dark chocolate is ~15mg per 28oz. Coffee, at 24oz, would be around 275mg, depending.

I find it hard to believe that some folks would feel the caffeine in chocolate unless they ate an entire dark chocolate bar in one sitting, but I suppose it's possible.

Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#17

Post by pzs »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

What puzzles me about the reported birth of coffee is that I wouldn't expect that just eating the cherries would give you that much of a caffeine kick to be noticeable. Yes, there's a little bit of caffeine in them, but far more in the "beans" (seeds).

They call the cherries cascara, and I have come across them in some specialty coffee shops packaged just like the beans. You can pour hot (not boiling) water over them and prepare a tea-like infusion. It tastes sweet-ish without adding anything else. It gives a pretty noticeable kick to me when I drink it, even though I am a regular coffee drinker. I think it is worth a try, if you haven't done so yet.

Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#18

Post by klausa »

mortos wrote: post #14
djha-skin wrote: post #5

Caffeine production is likely difficult in the face of a drier climate. Caffeine is present in the plant as a pesticide. Insects are a much bigger problem in wet climates over dry. Having grown up in a wet climate (Chicago) but now living in a dry one (Utah) I can say that finding a droubt tolerant species which concerns itself with pesticide production may be difficult. The same water which coffee relies on is the s…

That's interesting, it's something I haven't really thought about. There is some desire for less caffeine as it adds bitterness. Eugenioides, a parent species to arabica the commonly cultivated species, inherently has less caffeine and is said to have a remarkably sweet cup. It's had some attention in barista competitions in the last few years.

Eugenioides is sweet in a way that no other coffee I ever had is sweet.

You sometimes see "sweet" as an axis of flavor of coffee, or as a tasting note on a bag of fancy beans; but eugenioides is very different.

It's _the_ dominant note in that cup, and it is much less fruity or floral, it's just... sweet. You taste the sweetness, and then the rest of the "typical" coffee notes come in the background, but much less pronounced than usual.

I've seen people describe it as a "cereal-like", and while I don't think I fully agree with that description, I do get where they're coming from.

If you're a coffee person and ever see a bag of it on offer (and can afford it), I definitely recommend grabbing it — it's really, really unique (and quite rare!).

(And I do not think this is in any way related to the caffeine content — otherwise most of decafs would be very sweet, and they obviously aren't).

Re: Coffea stenophylla: A forgotten bean that could save coffee from extinction

#19

Post by hermitShell »

zdragnar wrote: post #6
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

What puzzles me about the reported birth of coffee is that I wouldn't expect that just eating the cherries would give you that much of a caffeine kick to be noticeable. Yes, there's a little bit of caffeine in them, but far more in the "beans" (seeds).

Tea also has noticeably less caffeine than coffee, yet it has been treated as an energizing drink since it was first discovered. When you don't have any adrenal stimulants in your diet at all, even a small amount is noticable. Caffeine also has a metabolic half life of roughly 5 hours in the body, if I remember correctly. A few berries might not do much, but surely a handful will be enough.

This is why I routinely wean myself from coffee by drinking tea on most holiday weekends. I feel it helps me to dissociate less while I should be present with family, plus when I return to work I have much less residual caffeine and can hit peak productivity, crank out some code. Props to devs who don’t rely on drugs!
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