COFFEE CHEMISTRY [A CAFE CULTURE CLASSIC] [From the vault - Aug 15, 2011]
Every day, millions of people around the world begin their day religiously with a morning cup of coffee.
forests of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
Caffeine
and consumed in its native cherry form, then later, passed
For many, coffee drinking is
through fire to significantly alter
simply a delivery medium for
its chemical state. But although
a potent alkaloid we have
coffee has been in existence for
come to identify as caffeine
Although today we easily
thousands of years, it has only
or technically as 1,3,7 –
identify coffee in its beverage
been in the past half century or
trimethylxanthine. Although
form, it wasn’t always this way
so that scientists have been able
caffeine is strongly associated
in the beginning. Throughout
to truly identify and understand
with coffee, its production
history, coffee has taken on
this beverage.
within the plant kingdom is not exclusive and is seen throughout
several physical transformations, initially serving as an energy
To date, scientists have identified
several other plants in nature.
source when nomadic tribes
over 1,000 unique chemical
Mate, for example, which is
combined coffee berries with
compounds in coffee, whereas
traditionally consumed in parts
animal fat as an early form of
products such as wine or
of Uruguay and Argentina,
an energy bar. Later, it was
chocolate, pale in comparison.
contains less than one percent
consumed as a wine, then a
Luckily, through advancements
caffeine by weight; whereas,
tea and finally to the beverage
in technology, much of coffee’s
tea leafs (Camellia sinesis)
we’ve come to love today.
chemical make-up has been
which originated in China,
Since the beginning, coffee
unlocked, and we now have
contains almost three times the
has always been a product of
a better understanding of the
concentration of caffeine by
great mystery, having been
chemistry contained within these
weight than Arabica coffee. But
discovered accidentally in wild
mystical beans.
overall, tea contains less caffeine
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