12 June 2009
Naturally decaffeinated coffee beans
I'm not sure people have believed me when I've said that there have been discovered uncaffeinated coffee beans. Well, here's one and the article links to others. Gallery - Eight more bizarre species that are new to science - Image 7 - New Scientist: "It is the first known caffeine-free species from Central Africa, though others have been found elsewhere."
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2 comments:
For one, this isn't even news...
From 1998:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15721261.500-pure-brew--why-mess-with-beans-when-you-can-grow-decaffeinated-coffee.html
From 2004:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6064-naturally-decaffeinated-coffee-plant-discovered.html
For another, this information is useless. There are over 20 species of coffee plant. Of those, only three species produce beans that can make anything palatable enough for humans to consume as what we know as "coffee".
Of those three, two go through chemical altering to taste more palatably like the one coffee species we do drink straight: coffea arabica, or "Arabica" coffee.
By those odds, it would be a really rare chance that this decaf species could make anything we could turn into palatable coffee. It would be an outright miracle if it could make palatable coffee without chemical processing. At which point, what chemical processing do you choose: the one to decaffeinate proper-tasting coffee, or the one to make the species taste more like palatable coffee?
Chill! I did indicate that this wasn't news and the article says it's a first from Central Africa. As to taste, the article refers to the need to cross breed (and this was an Arabica-related plant) to try to get something decent.
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