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Comment by technothrasher | Hacker News Reader

"While caffeine is the major individual component of coffee, the study suggests that it may not be the primary driver of these health effects."

All you haters that give me grief for drinking my daily cup of decaf can shut up now.

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The decaf tries to warn you itself with its bright carafe colorings. In nature that means "Do not touch me, I am poison."

except on packaging which means "Buy me, I'm sugar".

Hey, man, drink what you want. It doesn't change my life in any way, shape, or form. But I have to ask, have you seen the image describing where decaf coffee comes from?

https://i.imgur.com/aDt06Lg.png

I do find it amusing. But drink your decaf, brother, do what works for you.

What would be a healthy drink that tastes like a (sweet) coffee but without caffeine?

Perhaps try roasted fig coffee substitute? It's definitely not coffee but has enough of the same roasty flavor notes to be passable. With milk and sugar, I probably wouldn't notice it wasn't coffee if I wasn't paying attention.

Depends on your definition of healthy and sweet. ‘Healthy’ is vague and fairly subjective. Plenty of coffee substitutes exist, such as roasted chicory-barley mixes that taste decent and provide you with some fiber. Is it healthy?

I've had a roasted barley drink called "Orzo" in Italian McDonalds. It had some of those same roasted/caramelized flavour notes as in coffee.

I should hope you're not being serious! In case anyone thinks this is real, decaf is not made from the dirt. It's beans that have gone through one of a few different processes. Swiss water method is what I prefer due to the low chemical processing.

My question is whether espresso-method coffee has all the same properties. The study itself clearly states "brewed coffee" and they brew the crap out of it ("extraction in boiling water for 8–10 min"), I can't take brewed coffee on the regular b/c it upsets my stomach.

Why should someone hate on you just because you enjoy decaf?

It's common amongst "real men" types. It's basically making fun of someone because they actually like coffee and aren't just drinking it for the drug.

Real men drink raw unpasteurised milk while chomping on the coffee beans themselves, of course.

Real men would not care what you consume.

Are you familiar with the process of extracting the caffeine in decaf?

Unfortunately it isn't without potential downsides.

Supercritical CO2 extraction is pretty innocuous. Just buy good decaf from a place that doesn’t bathe their beans in toxic waste.

Good to know. Any recommendations where to find this?

Many coffee distribution sites (like drink trade dot com) tell you the process. I’m a fan of the Swiss water method.

Right? All high quality coffee makers use a proper method so there is absolutely zero downside in decaf. Just make sure to check which method they use (all big ones state it on their website or else)

There are multiple methods that James hoffman breaks down in this video iirc, if anyone is curious.

https://youtu.be/yYTSdlOdkn0?si=uAo3pipjBA91OV5V

Yes, I know the four main methods of decaffeination. The haters have gone down this road with me many times. Why can't people just let me drink my decaf? It's like they can't enjoy their caffeine unless everybody does. It's weirdly pushy.

My initial charitable reading -- as someone who sometimes dabbles in decaf -- is that decaffeination has the bad side effect of stripping flavors, and likely many of the other biologically active chemicals. I can see from their further posts that they were more interested in unscientific fear mongering instead.

That said, I do think there is some truth that decaf is lacking (including via supercritical CO2) and I wonder how long until we could have a product like genetically engineered coffee plants that produce everything except caffeine. I'd like that, though I can immediately see an issue with growing a plant without its natural pesticide.

> likely many of the other biologically active chemicals.

Do you reckon taking green coffee beans and roasting them til they’re brown right through has any detrimental effect on the biological compounds in the beans?

What do you mean by detrimental?

What do you mean by asking that question?

Isn’t it obvious? I mean within the same context where you wrote:

” is that decaffeination has the bad side effect of stripping flavors, and likely many of the other biologically active chemicals.”

I don't think GP was criticizing you for liking decaf. Just pointing out that the decaf process may have affects on the beneficial compounds that aren't caffeine.

True. I love black coffee, decaf or not. Just thought it was worth pointing out since the thread is about health benefits

By "All you haters that give me grief for drinking my daily cup of decaf can shut up now", you are implying that decaf has the same health benefits of real coffee. That's not proven. And if you weren't meaning to imply that, there was no point to that reply.

I didn't even know there were 4 methods - supposedly Swiss Water Process is the best in terms of not affecting the flavor or exposing you to exotic solvents, is one of the four superior to SWP?

I'm all for decaf 100%.

if you love coffee, drinking decaf can let you do it all day.

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