Wake Up and Smell the Nauseating Coffee

jacobjyu writes "The NY Times is running a story about a coffee roasting plant being accused of polluting the air. The city inspector claims the smells are making people sick, however the plant owner retorts, 'This is not a smell that makes people sick ... This is one of those sweet smells like cut flowers, like fresh-baked bread, that's part and parcel of life in every city across the world.' Whatever the case, some people are claiming plastic-smelling fumes coming from the stacks: my only question is what the heck are they putting in this coffee??"

Comments

Decaffeinated

[Strange Ranger]

If they are using a chemical decaffeination process that would likely cause the stink.

The chemical solvent method is the most commonly used method for removing the caffeine from coffee. Common solvents include methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, and highly pressurized carbon dioxide. After the green beans are moistened they are then immersed in the solvent. After the solvent performs its action, the beans are rinsed with water. After the beans have been rinsed, they are steamed. Residual solvents evaporate in the steam. The rinsing and evaporation systems collect the solvent for recycling and re-use. Any remaining solvent will be burned off in the roasting process. The chemical caffeine method will remove 96 - 98% of caffeine.

Re:Decaffeinated

[Strange Ranger]

Actually I did RTFA and it only says they are not using plastics. I also visited his company's web site where they advertise decaffeinated coffee. And read the addendum to the decaffeination link I posted above that Schoenholt wrote himself. He advocates using Methylene Chloride.

"Methylene Chloride

Methylene Chloride is a synthetic chemical solvent. It is not naturally found but must be created by chlorinating methane gas. It sounds terrible but it makes very good tasting decaf.

About The Author:
Donald N. Schoenholt can be reached at:
Gillies Coffee Co.
America's Oldest Coffee Merchant
Toll Free: 1-800-344-5526
Fax: 1-718-499-7771"

Something tells me Methylene Chloride smells like plastic.

Simple simple simple--overexposure

[Stone Rhino]

I read this article in its hard-copy form earlier today. The simple thing is that exposure to anything for long enough will make you sick of it. I'm sure many /. readers have a game they love, but if they played it 24 hours a day and had to play the same level over and over, I think they would be sick of it too. Here, the people are just smelling coffee for hours on end, and while that may a pleasant or at least tolerable smell to you or I, to someone who deals with it for hours on end, it is a very different situation. As the article says, they even get these against Krispy Kreme donuts--and who doesn't love those?

Nuisance

[MacAndrew]

The administrative code under which Gillies was cited specifies that "no person shall cause or permit the emission of air contaminant, including odorous air contaminant . . . if the air contaminant . . . may cause detriment to the health, safety, welfare or comfort of any person."

That's a pretty darn broad regulation once you throw "or comfort" in at the end. The stadard boilerplate formula is "health/safety/welfare" which are considerably less subjective. Badly-worded rule right there.

As for the smell, and to be technical no one has the right to force anyone else to smell anything in particular, it's technically a nuisance and could range from baking bread to sticking offal. Usually we keep conflicts down by zoning where things like pig farming can take place.

Now, I have no trouble regulating it if the coffee really smells like "burning plastic" or even vanilla hazelnut. (Between the two I'd pick the plastic, and that's because I like coffee.) Interesting Q: How do you try this in court? Take air samples and blow them in jurors' faces? I think you'd have to have a field trip.

Anyway ... uh ... why is this a /. story? Are we supposed to think the critical supply of roasted coffee beans is imperiled here?

Bay Bridge

[linuxwrangler]

I remember a few years back when there was a big roasting facility (Hills Bros. ??) at the San Francisco end of the Bay Bridge. The smell was quite strong (and not as pleasant as the smell of a brewing cup). Other than being annoying to some, I have no idea about the health effects of coffee-roasting byproducts.

A number of bakeries were required by the Bay Area air folks to add pollution controls. Everyone likes the smell of baking bread but baking drives off the alcohol created by the yeast and the quantity of alcohol being released into the air was really surprising.

Still, I'd rather go after bad-smelling pollution first - I'm willing to take the risk from bread baking and fireplaces as they bring me sufficient pleasure.