What is caffeine?

There are 800 to 1000 chemicals in coffee, and it is not easy to eliminate 1% to 2% of caffeine without upsetting their balance.

City life is not as simple as rural life. If a person has more than 500 mobile phone and msn contacts, he must update and supplement some information frequently to maintain his decent position in social circles. Twenty years ago, it was very easy to achieve this. Just a few signature dishes from five-star hotels and a few designer clothes were enough to win the envy of most people. In the Google era, do not spend a lot of energy, want to get some people's approval in the dinner or cocktail party? Don't even think about it.

Take coffee, for example. Gone are the days when a bronzed red Nescafe cup and a casual stir with a gold spoon could satisfy guests; the difference between cappuccino, Italian espresso and blue mountain coffee has become common sense; coffee machines that cost more than 100 yuan make people who emphasize "brewing" cups of coffee every morning lose their fun.

So it's necessary to know that coffee originated in the Ethiopian highlands, became popular in Europe in the late 17th century, and that caffeine consumption worldwide is about 70 milligrams per person per day, but it's obviously the most timely and cool thing to do if you take a break from a planning meeting in a coffee shop and talk about coffee science lightly.

Pay attention to coffee reviews (Weixin Official Accounts vdailycom ) and find a beautiful cafe to open your own shop

Caffeine is naturally responsible for the global coffee craze, but it is unwise to try to explain how black caffeine works in the brain. No scientist can smile and say that he has solved the problem of how the brain responds to various psychoactive substances. So instead of repeating the vague idea that caffeine affects the brain's mesolimbic dopamine system and produces pleasure, talk decaf coffee! This is a very cool topic.

Caffeine belongs to a group of plant chemicals called alkaloids, which are in the same group as nicotine, cocaine, morphine and pituitine, all of which share the common characteristic of being bitter. Caffeine is also the number one offender for coffee addiction. If you want to enjoy coffee every day without addiction, you have to remove caffeine from your coffee. More than 97% of caffeine is usually eliminated before it is truly decaffeinated coffee. Don't worry about decaffeinated coffee losing its bitter taste. Caffeine accounts for only 10% of coffee's bitterness.

This process usually takes place before the green coffee beans are roasted. Most of the caffeine can be eliminated by steaming the beans, allowing most of the caffeine to be transferred to the surface of the beans, and then washing with solvent.

There are 800 to 1000 chemicals in coffee, and it is not easy to eliminate 1% to 2% of caffeine without upsetting their balance. There are always smart people in this world. In 1903, a German businessman named Ludwig Roselius first figured out how to get rid of caffeine-some said that he thought his father's health was affected by caffeine, some said that he discovered it by accident-anyway, he discovered that caffeine easily dissolved in organic solvents such as benzene and chloroform, and applied for a patent for this. He created a coffee brand called Sanka, which was popular for a while.

But benzene can be a carcinogen, inhalation of high concentrations of benzene vapor or benzene liquid can cause acute poisoning, toxicity quickly inhibit the central nervous system, in addition to hematopoietic, respiratory system to start. Ten milliliters orally and it's gone. Chloroform is chloroform, but also highly toxic things, not only can anesthetize the central nervous system, but also damage the heart, liver, kidney and other internal organs. Under light, chloroform reacts with oxygen in the air to produce highly toxic phosgene…If you want to poison your boss's coffee, you can, otherwise, what do you want?

Later, methylene chloride was selected for experiments. Except for caffeine, it dissolves only a small amount of other substances, and it is easy to volatilize. If there is any residue, it can be driven away by heating. Caffeine's gone,

By 1980, methylene chloride was considered a carcinogen, and although it usually did not exceed the limit of one in 100,000, the word toxic hardly made people feel safe. So methylene chloride was replaced by the organic solution acetic ether. Because it's found in many fruits, we can fashionably call it the all-natural decaffeination method.

Another high-tech method is to extract caffeine into carbon dioxide, but not as gas, solid, or liquid carbon dioxide, but as a unique form of carbon dioxide that is supercritical at high temperatures and pressures.

The Swiss water solution method is clearly the most innovative, using only water from start to finish. Coffee beans are washed, and then a filtration system "filters" the caffeine out of the water. Finally, all the coffee chemicals, which are loaded with everything but caffeine, return to the beans. Sounds smart and safe.

However, whether it is acetic ether, Swiss water solution or carbon dioxide extraction, these technologies are mature and safe, and the choice is entirely up to personal preference, which must be emphasized.

Well, the next time you drink coffee, whether it's Starbucks or the company pantry, sip ice water, sip coffee, talk about the coffee extraction process slowly, and quietly, your other people's mental connotation score will increase by at least 10%