The deeper the coffee beans are roasted, the more caffeine will there really be?

Caffeine is the main reason why most people eat coffee! Especially for people who need to stay up late and work overtime, caffeine is the supreme treasure. "DuangDuang" drinks a few cups of coffee just to get the energy of the night brought by caffeine!

Some time ago, Qianjie talked a little bit about the difference in caffeine content between decaf coffee and regular coffee, so a partner asked backstage: I heard that coffee brewed with deep-baked beans will contain more caffeine than coffee made with light-roasted beans. Does the degree of baking really affect caffeine?

Does baking really affect caffeine? For a long time, the Internet has been divided into two factions on the question of whether the degree of baking has an effect on caffeine content. One is that deep-baked beans have more caffeine than light-roasted beans! The point of view comes from the understanding of the quality of coffee beans: the deeper the coffee beans are roasted, the lighter their mass will be. If you use coffee beans of the same weight to brew coffee, deep-roasted beans will require more than light-roasted beans, and in addition, the structure of deep-roasted beans is more fluffy, so it is easier to extract the substances in coffee beans, so these people think that under the same weight, Coffee from deep-baked beans contains more caffeine than shallow-baked beans!

The other group thinks that the caffeine content of deep-roasted beans is less than that of light-baked beans, mainly because the melting point of caffeine is between 235 °C and 238 °C. however, caffeine will sublimate at 178 °C! So they think deep-roasted coffee beans will contain less caffeine! In order to give these two groups a correct answer, the Coffee Science and Information Association (Association for Science and Information on Coffee) conducted such an experiment, using three "cooking methods" for an Arabica coffee bean: a light roast, a medium roast and a deep roast! Measurements were made after baking, and the results were 1.37% (shallow), 1.31% (middle) and 1.31% (deep), respectively. Light-roasted coffee beans are only 0.06% higher than deep-roasted coffee beans, but from this point of view, deep-roasted coffee does have less caffeine than light-roasted coffee.

However, we have not taken into account the weightlessness rate! The weight loss rate of light roasted coffee is 11-13%, and that of deep-roasted coffee is 15-17%. Therefore, although deep-roasted coffee will lose a small amount of caffeine during baking, these losses are almost negligible. Both are true, but both are a little one-sided.

The key factors that really affect the caffeine content, I believe everyone who often looks at the front street can guess the main factors affecting the caffeine content! Yes, it is "bean seed". The genes of coffee beans determine the basis of caffeine content, as we often say: the caffeine content of Arabica is in the range of 0.9-1.4%, while the caffeine content of Robusta is twice that of Arabica, in the 1.8-4% range! Then change the caffeine content of beans according to the planting environment and post-processing!

But not all the caffeine in coffee beans will be extracted. There are about 30% of the substances that can be extracted from coffee beans, including caffeine, and their release will have a key relationship with the extraction efficiency. For example: 15g of Arabica coffee beans are extracted by hand, and 200ml's coffee liquid is obtained by using a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15.

Therefore, we know that the degree of baking of beans has little effect on caffeine! The only factors that can affect the caffeine content of beans are genes, planting environment and post-processing; what can affect the caffeine content in coffee liquid is the efficiency of extraction, not the depth of baking.

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