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Scientists Work Towards Naturally Caffeine-Free Coffee
First time accepted submitter eternaldoctorwho writes "Research has been underway to produce a coffee bean plant that naturally has no or little caffeine content. Now, it looks like that might become a reality in the near future: Paulo Mazzafera of the University of Campinas in Brazil has come closer than ever with a strain containing 'only 2% of normal caffeine levels.' Coffee, anyone?"
It's like a car without wheels or a computer without a CPU.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
If it has no caffeine it isn't coffee. Yes, this includes decaf.
This time science has gone too far!
...Is why I have the first post
Wicked, tricksy, false! It chokeses, burnses us! Gollum! Gollum!
So there goes my only reason to drink this disgusting dark fluid....
"Scientists Work Towards Naturally Caffeine-Free Coffee"
Why would anyone do such a thing?
This will allow me to drink twice as much Mountain Dew!!!
So you have a brown bitter liquid which lacks the characteristics of coffee?
We already have that, it's called E150
And we wonder why people see scientists as evil, soulless bastards out to destroy the very fabric of society? Doesn't this university have an ethics committee?
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Non caffeinated coffee is like non alcoholic beer! And you can't tell me you drink either for the taste!
Practice Static Safety - Hack Naked
Since when is GM natural? :P
Any society that would create an abomination like caffeine-free coffee deserves an apocalypse .
I wonder what other abominations they'll come up with next...
Non-alcoholic beer?
Sugar-free candy?
Fat-free milk?
Oh, wait...
Whats the point of caffeine-free coffee then?
Some people have medical conditions that make the consumption of caffeine harmful. However, many of these same people enjoy the taste of coffee. The people who are commenting to the effect that this discovery is useless apparently believe that only their own needs matter.
Because why?!?
seem to have real lust for working really hard, sometimes during years and years, on whatever especially stupid senseless "discovery" they can make.
What a wasted life!
We have to stop science!!
Scientists work toward naturally vagina-free women.
I've heard/read that most caffeine that ends up in soda and energy drinks is the caffeine that's pulled out of coffee during the decaffeination process. If all coffee growers switch to naturally caffeine-free coffee, won't that drastically reduce the supply of caffeine as an ingredient, causing its price and therefore Mt. Dew's price to spike? Uh....
... gone to stock up on Mt. Dew ...
-- My hovercraft is full of eels.
and set an example for the next set of meddlesome toads.
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
...oh, wait...
They would have been done a lot sooner, but the scientists keep falling asleep.
People spend too much food worrying about how stuff tastes rather than what that stuff does to their body.
Forget about taste. It is fuel.
scientists are working on orgasm-free sex, first person shooters with blank bullets, and political discussions free of nazi-references. Next up: soccer games where swearing at the referee gets muffled with anti-sound.
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
As a grown up who is allergic to caffeine but loves the taste of coffee, I'm excited about this. I have a cup of decaf a week, and that's about all I can handle. Same thing with soda and candy: most caffeinated sodas make me want to puke. Although I don't know if 2% coffee will have the same effect.
I get enough sleep and exercise, and eat properly so that I don't need stimulants. I just like the flavor.
The new strain invariably produces something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee.
I enjoy coffee on occasion, especially during the winter season. We've got this great little coffee shop in my town of residence that has some great flavors. The only issue is that I have TMJ Disorder; No caffeine for me anymore.
Coffee becomes a ritual for many people, and giving them a nice option to ween themselves off while still keeping up the habit is pretty awesome.
Coffee tastes like shit, most people i know flood it with milk (or my boss with water) before they can even attempt to drink it.
And too my knowledge, there's 2 (main ones, I guess a third is some people legitimately enjoy it) reasons to drink coffee:
1. For the caffeine, because ya know, they need the energy. Or
2. Because it's socially acceptable, to fit in and what not. My coworkers all think I'm weird because if I need the caffeine in the morning, I drink a coke.
Taking out 1 of the 2 reasons to drink the shit isn't really going to do anyone any favors.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
you know which one I mean, just imagine I put it here.
JUST PLAIN STUPID!
About time. The processes used to remove the unwanted chamicals from my coffee (caffeine, in particular) from my coffee so y'all can have the straight drug are nasty and degrade the fine flavor. Since caffeine does absolutely bupkis for me (aside from headaches when I go off of it) I don't see any point in consuming something that does no good and might, maybe, raise my blood pressure and screw with my sleep patterns. Waking up ready to go at 0300 is fine; I don't see any point in getting any less sleep.
So y'all enjoy the extract while I'm still sending it to you, because when they finally get some decent Sumatran with no caffeine to begin with I'll be roasting up a pot of heaven every day.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Vodka without the alcohol. What's the point; for the taste??
Low caffeine coffee sounds like a useless product... but if they can develop low caffeine coffee beans, couldn't they create high caffeine beans? Now that is a product I would buy!
I've been drinking coffee for 50 years. No grandchildren yet, and I intend to be around to watch them grow up.
Yeah, yeah -- not a reason most people on /. can identify with.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
While certainly not caffeine-free, the Bourbon Pointu variety grown on Reunion Island is a delicious drink without needing the "kick" to justify itself to incults.
It is naturally low in caffeine and bitterness, horrendously expensive, and highly prized in Japan, where it sells for fifty euro per kilo.
http://www.teacoffeeasia.com/section-blog/78-features-q1-11/438-comeback-of-a-mythical-coffee-french-bourbon-pointu-.html
Pet rocks can be re-tasked to be a coffee subsitute as well. Like sucking on a rock
I hold very few things sacred. Human Life. Freedom of expression. Privacy. Most everything else is negotiable.
But this.
Is.
EVIL.
Caffeine is Life. It is the Divine Spark. It is by the beans of java that the thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. Life without caffeine is nasty, brutish, and dull.
Monsters, all of them! ...
Ok, now that I got the silliness out of my system, a quick thought... Caffeine is essentially a natural pesticide, a poison. And, if memory serves, coffee beans grow within a fleshy, sweet fruit, like a grape with a stone. I skimmed the fascinating article, and they only briefly touch on the fact that caffeine is a pest deterent, so, here's my question:
Would coffee plants without the innate pesticide property of caffeine be able to grow in the real world, or would we be offering up a delectable snack for local critters that would require depressing amounts of man-applied pesticides to protect?
In other words, would we be making a low-caffeine plant that farmers would have to invest more money and effort in protecting than it would cost to extract by other methods, for a small market of coffee drinkers who are offended enough by the taste alterations of current decaff coffees so they may get their drink without the buzz?
I used to love the stuff, 2 a day on most work days. I stopped cold turkey at the start of February, giving in to a quarter cup after 3 weeks after a big breakfast when up north. Had half Starbucks "short" this morning because I was just too damn tired.
I was partly inspired by this blog article, partly by health concerns that had developed over the previous few months including a feeling of over-sensitivity to the caffeine, and partly just to see if I could do it.
After the first week of withdrawal symptoms, mostly slight headaches in the afternoon, I was pretty much operating as normal. I think it's good to force one's self out of a habit for a while.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
If they farm it and it cross-contaminates the world coffee DNA, there will be an apocalyptic uprising of caffeine deprived people.
Like booze without alcohol?
Almost twelve years ago, Slashdot posted an article about the caffeine gene in coffee plants being isolated. At that time, the Futurama references were fresh, but what we all wanted was caffeinated bacon (and baconated grapefruit). Or at least caffeinated apples. An apple with caffeine would solve 100% of the problems in my life. The future was promising. We all believed that genetic engineering would allow this gene to be spliced into other vegetables, animals, and yes, even minerals by now.
Now, over a decade later, the last great promise of the pre-9/11 world has been broken. We are using science not for good, but for evil. Our only hope is that the scientists committing this blasphemy drink their own creation and fall asleep before they can finish their work.
Can they make a coffee with 150% of the usual caffeine just for me. i love that tingle in my dingle.
They must be stopped, and I mean now, otherwise the world's productivity will suffer!
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
- Jeff Albertson
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
They're claiming a lack of coffee in the cafeteria (with caffeine) is keeping them sleepy.
Scientists Work Towards Naturally Orgasm-Free Sex
I mainly drink it for the bowel movement, so as long as I still get that, I'm good.
If you're like me, and love coffee, but hate the fact that your cat looks at you in disgust because you're awake too late at night, this is perfect. And before you say it doesn't affect you that way, try quitting it cold turkey. Just be prepared to hate everyone, and for everyone to hate you, for about two weeks.
Now I'll just get back to my heathen apostate business.....
Easy Online Role Playing Campaign Management
Back! Back into the foul depths with you, eldritch spawn! I don't care if they're about to purge the joy juice out of your java, the stars are not yet right for your emergence! Back unto your deathless slumber!
The reason decaf tastes like crap is because of the decaffeination process. It removes most of the caffeine but the side effect is that it also removes some of the flavor compounds. There is good decaf out there, but it's very expensive because you have to start with ultra-premium beans to make up for the flavor lost from decaffeination.
If the beans are grown to not have caffeine in them in the first place, hopefully the flavor is there to begin with, and with no decaffeination process necessary, there will be some flavor.
Let's hope Monsanto doesn't get a hold of this and taint the world's supply of coffee beans with their imaginary intellectual property.
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Who drinks coffee for the taste?
I am John Hurt.
... doesn't mean you should.
_________________________ Sigs Kill Bandwidth Dead!
People in droves in the streets, half dead, slowly, slowly walking towards anyone who seems even slightly alert. Moaning "Kaa-feee... kaaa-feeee...."
FRA: STFU GTFO
"Research has been underway to produce a coffee bean plant..."
There's something about producing a plant that doesn't seem natural to me.
Drinking decaffeinated coffee is like breathing de-oxygenated air.
why, god?! why?!?!?!? why coffee without caffeine? is it because you hate us? is it because i got a facebook account? take me, lord, just don't hurt the ones i care about.
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
about the zombie apocalypse. And you laughted! Laughed, I say! Ha!!
You'll see! <laugh="evil">
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
I suspect, if this effort is successful, it won't be long after that some misguided government or social entity tries to mandate its use. A pox on their houses!
Vietnam Veteran / Former Postal Worker -- Use Caution When Taunting!
The problem I have with Coffee is the Coffee part :)
(yeah I'm one of the few programmers who does does not turn coffee into code.. I just crank out code.. No coffee nor caffeine! )
That sounds about as useful as a cock flavored lolly pop.
Coffee that does not work eh? Is this some kind of stupid metaphor?
The purpose of existence is to make money.
First, they took our smokes. Then they came for our cars. Then they told us, the planet would get too warm unless we paid Al Gore & Co to 'off set it'. They leaned on us to move out of the country and into their engineered environments. Then we herd where scientist wanted to genetically engineer humans to not like meat. Now, they come for the coffee.
I am starting to see that we might not really need this many scientist.
stage one of the zombie apocalypse... eliminate caffeine
I quite like coffee. I like the way it tastes. I like the way it smells. It's has more anti-oxidants than tea. It's a lovely drink.
But, the older I get, the less well my body deals with caffeine. It's not that I can't go to sleep if I drink coffee later than around 3pm, but if I do, I will toss and turn and constantly wake up all night. My sleep will be crap.
I'd like coffee-free caffeine.
...coffee without caffeine isn't coffee.
I'm now anti-GMO. The danger of cross-contamination of the native coffee stock is just too great.
If they selectively breed it or genetically manipulate it, it isn't naturally caffeine free. It's man modified, and specifically NOT naturally without caffeine
I say we need to reboot this civilization... No, wait - can't take any chances - reboot the planet!
Slartibartfast, where are you?
What is the PURPOSE of coffee without caffeine? So, you can wait in line for 20 minutes at Starbucks in order to talk to the nice Barista? And that experience is worth seven bucks?
Well, ok fine, it'd be a strange old word if we were all the same. But there's a nightmare in the back of my head that this is the next logical step for the people who want to take away our cheetos.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
These esteemed researchers spend their time to produce coffee without the caffeine, otherwise known as dirty water. Don't they have anything useful to do? Have all the other problems in the world been solved? Next up: food without any nutritional value that tastes like dirt.
Wow, look at all the addicts here. You guys know you can buy caffeine in pill form, right? You don't even need a prescription. Or would that hit a little too close to home? :-p
For those of you who have never tasted good coffee, here's some stuff to try. I'm not a connoisseur or a fanatic, so this is just the easy stuff. First, buy good beans and grind them in the store. (You can roast and grind fresh beans daily but that's a little much for me.) Store the grinds at room temp, not in the freezer. Next, ditch the low-end creamers. Go to the grocery store and get some heavy whipping cream. Once you try it you'll never want to go back. Pour in enough so that the coffee is medium brown (however brown you like it -- experiment!). Finally, sweeten. I like a 50/50 mix of sucrose and sucralose. Sucralose (Splenda) is one of the best artificial sweeteners. You can buy it online in pure liquid form, which is better than the powdered packets. Go 100% if you can; this is an easy place to save calories. Each sweetener has a different onset/aftertaste profile, so experiment to find one you like.
The result of all this is a hot, sweet, creamy drink with the warm comfort of hot cocoa and the delicious aroma of coffee. Give it a try and see if you still think coffee sucks.
Visit the
Why not engineer coffee with twice the caffeine? There would be a serious market for coffee with and even stronger punch.
Caffeine free coffee (shudder). The horror..... the horror...
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
would be a much healthier breakfast
they are clearly going the wrong way
Beer without alcohol. Coffee without caffeine. Tea without caffeine.
What's next?
Cannabis without the THC?
Oh yeah, we already have that. It's called "hemp". :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
no text
If you think the only reason to drink it is to get caffeine, why don't you just take caffeine pills? I like the taste of coffee, but caffeine makes me anxious.
Twinstiq, game news
WITCHES!!
BURN THEM!
You can't handle the truth.
I want to know more about this fast-drip coffee maker! Is it like a french press that presses itself?
I want to know more about this fast-drip coffee maker! Is it like a french press that presses itself?
No, it's just regular coffee brewer that have a stronger heating element and much wider filter shape - instead of the \./ typical in the US, they're more like a \___/. Combined with the stronger heating element, it allows the hot water to go through the coffee much quicker, bringing out flavour without pulling out all the acids.
Of course, you pay for this by having to use much more coffee, but the taste difference is really huge. Less acidic and more of the taste of what coffee smells like.
I am a new watchmaker, and I loved coffee- but even the smallest amount of caffeine makes my hands shake under magnification. It makes my job near impossible, but I cannot wake up without coffee.
Imagine the hell I live in for a second. The very item that is the only thing that makes you feel awake no matter how long you go without it to wean off,
fundamentally makes your daily life hell.
Maybe if I could get perfectly caffeine free coffee, I would have some solace. Yes, there are people like me who have a need for this!!
I would like to see over the course of the next 20 years tobacco decrease in nicotine content by 10% a year, ever so slowly reducing it to nothing. At least smokers then would be addicted to a habit and not a damn chemical.
the progression of some diseases, notably Polycystic Kidney Disease, is negatively affected (accelerated) by caffeine intake.
See http://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/13/11/2723.abstract for why this is.
looks like it's time to become a creationist
To me, decaf coffee is much like alcohol-free tequila - an oxymoron! Yech! In any case, this "product" would not make any $$ from me!
Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real-time.
People that buy it are doing it to punish themselves, our out of some insane religious devotion, or whatever else the diseased mind of a decaffeinated coffee drinker can think up. I think this research is going entirely in the wrong direction. The goal should be, how to create a super hybrid coffee plant that contains more caffeine, with fewer toxic byproducts that a normal cup of coffee would have. Clean, smooth, packed with energy. That's what real coffee drinkers want.
Although the peergroup reinforcement here about geeks and caffeine is expected and funny, the fact is, there are many excellent reasons for creating naturally caffeine-free coffee plants.
The simplest of all is that many people simply like the taste of coffee and don't always want the effect of caffeine --- for instance just before going to bed. The higher quality decaf methods produce coffee that retains the taste very well, but if one could avoid the chemical processing altogether then it's likely to be even tastier as well as a healthier product.
Not rocket science. There would be a colossal market for this.
Simply get a funnel, a paper filter, put in coffee, pour on the water, let drip into mug. Done. More or less a simple batch extraction compared to the percolation performed by most machines - and that's what keeps the acidity out. I never got the point of coffee makers.
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
This is an abomination of nature. What's next -- beer that is fermented without alcohol production? This madness must end.
Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.
The scientists will not be able to finish the project due to caffeine deficiency.
... a woman with a Dick.
... it's like a MAN without a dick.