Scientists discover decaf coffee bean

Colin Blackstock
Thursday June 24, 2004
The Guardian

It's the news coffee-loving insomniacs the world over have been waiting for - scientists have discovered a naturally caffeine-free coffee plant.

A cup of decaf could soon taste as good as caffeinated thanks to an Ethiopian variety of Coffea arabica, which provides high-quality coffee for about 70% of the world market.

Scientists hope that by crossing the caffeine-free variety with commercial crops they can make natural brands that could be available in five years.

Decaffeinated coffee is made from normal coffee and accounts for about 10% of the world market, but it is expensive to manufacture. It tastes different from normal coffee because solvents used to extract the caffeine also remove some of the compounds that give coffee its flavour.

The new coffee was identified during a genetic breeding programme aimed at reducing levels of caffeine.

Researchers in Brazil studied 3,000 coffee plants from Ethiopia, and found three that had almost no caffeine. The plants, labelled AC1, AC2 and AC3, appear to lack an enzyme needed to make caffeine.

Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers added: "Given that C arabica has a narrow genetic diversity and that even accessions from Ethiopia and Arabia (now Yemen), as well as old varieties, all produce high-quality coffee, it is likely that AC plants will produce a good beverage."

Caffeine-free natural coffees have already been found among wild Madagascan species which are not sold on the world market. However, they produce inferior coffee and are difficult to breed from.

Coffee has been linked to risk factors for heart disease, stillbirths, rheumatoid arthritis and sleeplessness. But researchers have also claimed that drinking coffee could lower the risk of Parkinson's disease and help protect against bladder cancer.