Caffeine 'Dipstick' Test for Coffee

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are developing a quick test for caffeine that works even with hot beverages and plan to adapt their technology to a simple ('dipstick') test that can be used to check for caffeine in a variety of drinks. The key to the caffeine test comes from llamas and camels since these camelids happen to be among the few creatures whose immune systems can produce antibodies that aren't destroyed at the high temperatures common to brewed beverages. The researchers reasoned that if they could create heat-resistant camelid antibodies that reacted to caffeine, they could potentially build a durable assay suitable for use almost anywhere."

Comments

roast paradox

[yagu]

Great, I first had to look up assay:

3 : analysis (as of an ore or drug) to determine the presence, absence, or quantity of one or more components

(from Merriam Webster).

Anyway, sometimes when I drink coffee I seem to have an entirely opposite reaction and am overcome with sleepiness. It only happens occasionally, and counterintuitively it always seems to be a very strong brew of some Starbucks blend. After doing a little research I discovered what you might expect to be a stronger (caffeine-wise) coffee is actually the weakest.

Turns out the darker the roast, the longer the beans have to be roasted to become that dark. And the longer the beans are roasted, the more caffeine is destroyed in the process. So, while a roast may be described as bold, but it doesn't necessarily mean it has extra kick. I prefer the bold roast taste, but have taken to preparing much lighter roasts for my morning kick-start.

Interestingly enough, this could also explain why I am positively higher than a kite when I drink someones A&P Maxwell House Drip grind coffee. It is a bland light looking roast/blend, but it can really have a kick.

Here's one page that answers some questions about caffeine.

Re:roast paradox

[superbondbond]

As a roaster (hobbyist) I find the best of both worlds can be achieved by working with a "Black and Tan" roast of sorts.

Caffeine aside, you'll find that the lighter roasts have all kinds of flavor profiles (floral, citrus) that combine very well with those of a darker roast (chocolate, nutty*, "earthy").

I've always enjoyed coffee, but a whole world was revealed when I started raosting it myself. It makes the best coffeehouse brew taste like sludge.

* please, no Austin Powers jokes.

high-temperature animals = high-temp enzymes

[smellsofbikes]

I think it's really cool that they said "we want high-temperature biologicals: where can we get them?" and went and found them in temperature-resistant animals. It's obvious, in hindsight, but it's a great idea.

When Kary Mullis invented the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA to detectable levels -- which is more or less responsible for the viability of genetic engineering as a discipline -- the original system was extremely expensive because it used enzymes that got cooked in the high-temperature portion of the cycle. So they went to Yellowstone and found similar enzymes from creatures that lived in geyser pools, which dealt very well with those high temperatures, and that made PCR a viable research tool. So the idea was already there, but -- camels. Dude. I don't think I would ever have made that particular leap.

By the way, the reason they didn't just go back to Yellowstone is because while mammals and birds produce lots of antibodies, other animals either don't at all or don't in a manner that's well understood. (Or at least that's what they were teaching when I took immunochemistry.) Plants and bacteria don't produce them at all. Since an antibody is both incredibly specific and incredibly avid for a given chemical, you can stick their butts to a substrate and their front ends will stick out just waiting to attach to their chosen molecule -- much like a leech, if you've ever seen how they work when they're in water.

Sugar, Cream, Extra Caffeine?

[Java Ape]

When I was a grad student in Biogeochemistry some years ago, many of the students were serious caffeine junkies. Since Think-geek wasn't around to supply everything from bubble-gum to body-wash with a cafeine kick-start built in, they found another solution.

Next to the coffee pots were all the usual additives, and nice little sugar bowl containing a mixture of pure caffeine and powdered sugar, labled "Caffeine: 100mg/tsp". The average cup of joe contains about 100mg naturally, so a couple of teaspoons of this sweetener would make expresso look like diet cola!

The truly frightening thing was watching some students add four or five teaspoons to their double-brewed black death fluid in the mornings.

not just for drinks...

[Anonymous Coward]

it is fairly common in the evironmental remediation industry to test for caffeine in soil samples and ground water, as a way to determine location of sewer leakage.

you see, caffeine goes right through the body and leaves as caffeine. In most of the world, there are no natural caffeine sources. So, if you detect it, there is a good chance it came from that possible faulty sewer line.

usually these tests are done in a lab, but quick, on-site tests via something like this could provide an easy 1st pass diagnosis.

cue the jokes, but this just goes to show that there could well be other uses of this product.