There is no news if we say that coffee contains caffeine, but we will address some concepts of this topic.
It is believed that caffeine exists to protect coffee plant from predatory insects and to prevent competitors beans germination.
In our body, caffeine acts like an stimulating. Some people, to avoid this effect (maybe at night) drinks decaf coffee.
Decaf coffee is just coffee treated to take some caffeine off. Caffeine itself doesn’t have a flavour, but some decaf methods remove other important compounds that give flavour to the coffee. That is why, if you like coffee, it is interesting to ask the barista to know how to take some natural coffees with less caffeine dose. Here you can find some ways to do it:
- According to the variety. For example, Arabic has 1,5% of caffeine, Robusta has between 2.4%-3%. Ethiopian coffee has just 1.13%, Tanzanian 1,42%. That is why, in specialty coffee that usually is 100% Arabica and cultivated in high grounds the caffeine dose is less.
- As less roasted is a coffe, more caffeine will have. When the beans are roasted (by time/temperature) some caffeine is lost.
- More brewed a coffee is, more caffeine will have. That is why, in general, a filter method will have more caffeine than an espresso (more time the water will be with coffee). In addition, the amount of water that is used in a filter method is bigger than in an espresso. Grounded finer will also generate more extraction, and so, more caffeine dose. Also, if the temperature is higher, extraction and caffeine dose will be greater.
Do you know? Tea contains more caffeine than coffee by weight. But in general we use less weight to make a tea than a coffee.
