A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee | Hacker News Reader

A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

phys.org

49 pointscoloneltcb16 comments

Why did this no-comment post get re-upped when there was a perfectly good dupe with plenty of comments? Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. ;)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41067616

Happens frequently. People act in weird ways, especially here.

This submission was first (if you mouse over the age you'll see it's 4 days old but reports 5 hours), although the content is lifted from the one you linked (the URL should have been theconversation).. it probably got put in the second chance pool[0].

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308

I’ll take my chance (because I missed it in the other more popular post) and ask this:

Why does decaf coffee make me as nervous as normal coffee? A coke doesn’t so I don’t think it’s the caffeine…

Could it be psychological?

The fact that caffeine doesn't seem to play a role, it looks like the act/ritual of drinking coffee and probably expecting some effect from it has a psychological impact?

You could always run a double-blind experiment on yourself and find some objective ways to report nervousness (purely a state of mind or is it translated into physical factors, like heart rate or blood pressure?).

> Could it be psychological?

I think so. If you strongly associate the taste and smell of coffee with its stimulating effects, your body might react similarly to decaf coffee due to conditioned responses, even if the caffeine content is much lower

Why rush to put the effect on this person? There are over 1,000 compounds in coffee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_compounds_in_....

Interesting since I feel it should be the reverse, psychologically.

Personally, my sole reason for drinking decaf is to avoid the caffeine's stimulant effects...so, I'm mentally expecting zero effects.

Decaf coffee has less caffeine than regular coffee but it still contains a small amount of caffeine. This residual caffeine might be enough for you.

Since he wrote that Coke doesn't create this effect, I guess caffeine can be ruled out?

It could be the drink's affect on your stomach. I believe there's lots of evidence that anxiety can be caused by what's going on in the digestive track as much as what's happening in the brain.

Coffee is laden with beta-carbolines, some of which are known to be anxiogenic.

I think two reasons:

Caffeine is not the only stimulant in coffee. It’s just the most well known.

Some decaf coffee is more like “reduced caffeine”, not “no caffeine”.

I drink coffee. About 2 cups per day (single espresso or batch brew). The third one makes me depressed at evening. When I stop drinkimg coffee I realise that my energy curve throughout the day is flatter and I also sleep better and dream more vividly. I know that Im sensitive to substances, but could not google anything in regards to this. Also, Ive stopped, but I love the ups the caffeine gives me, without being able to consider the longterm downs.

I used to drink 3 cups of coffee per day. I recently switched to decaf and it has improved my sleep considerably. I still enjoy the ritual of grinding, brewing, pouring, sipping.

I love to drink my decaf at night sometimes. Do not think I'm the only one.

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