Decaf Coffee Not Caffeine Free

USA Today had an article out yesterday about the caffeine content in decaffeinated coffees. The facts are quite interesting. We all kind of know that decaffeinated coffee does have some caffeine in it - just how much?

The University of Florida published an article in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology about decaffeinated coffee. The researches bought 10 cups of 16oz drip decaf coffee from 9 chain and local coffee houses and tested them on caffeine content.

Research found that Folgers Coffee Crystals was the only decaf with 0 caffeine. Others ranged from 8.6 milligrams to 13.9 milligrams (regular coffee has approx 170 milligrams).

Starbucks in particular was tested. Espresso decaf had 3-15.8 milligrams, while brewed had 12-13.4 milligrams. Interesting variance. Perhaps based on the cleanliness of the machines?

This research was conducted for health reasons, as many people cannot have caffeine due to some medical conditions. Caffeine as low as 10 milligrams can cause effects in sensitive people.

Some Thoughts on Flavoured Coffee

Here is a humorous comic by J.D. Frazer and his thoughts on flavoured coffee. Flavour revelation or cheap marketing ploy?

Link

It Brews Coffee and Gives the Weather!

Every morning, when I am making coffee, I wish that my french press would tell me if it’s going to rain later in the day… Well, not really. But if I you do care about having that feature in my coffee maker then take a look at the Melitta ME1MSB, a 10-cup grinder/brewer combo with a weather forecast display. It gets the weather data from MSN Direct, using FM signals, and no subscription is required.

Features include “brew-pause function allows for pouring a cup midbrew, and its clock display automatically springs forward, falls back, and resets after a power failure. Other highlights include a water reservoir with a large viewing window, high-quality stainless-steel grinding blades, a permanent stainless-steel filter basket, a warming plate with automatic shut off, and hidden cord storage.”

But the feature I like the most is “In addition to its optional sleep function, where if the unit is idle for a period of time an animated, napping cat appears”.

One For the Coffee Junkies!

For those who love to drink their coffee in excessive amounts, or those fans of Futurama, here is a link that you will enjoy. The epsiode in question is where the main character, Fry, receive a $300 refund. He then sets about using his $300 to consume 100 cups of coffee. I won't spoil what happens, but this link is for a 3 minute condensed version of the story.
100 cups of coffee

Unavailable At Any Price?

Source: Coffee and Commentary
At Coffee Review, Kenneth Davids has heaped praise on a select group of premium coffees, each of them Cup of Excellence auction lots. The winners — not surprisingly — are pretty much the Who’s Who of today’s specialty roasters, from left coast to right: Stumptown Coffee Roasters’ El Salvador Montecarlos Peaberry, Intelligentsia Coffee’s El Salvador Montecarlos Tablon Crater and Terroir Select Coffee’s Nicaragua Madriz Jose Alfredo Zeledon Cooperative. Ken paints a pretty palate of these uncommon coffees, and awards them 94, 94 and 93 points, respectively. In short, he left me ready to pry open my wallet and try one of each.

The only problem? It doesn’t exactly appear that they’re offered for sale. None of these coffees are to be found on any of these roasters’ web sites, nor are they available on Coffee Review’s companion site, GreatCoffee.com.

Surely it’s a simple snafu. Or, perhaps we’ll all simply read about (and long for) some of the best coffees that are unavailable at any price…