After all the hype about the necessity of GM coffee, it turns out there's a naturally decaffeinated version of the world's most popular coffee bean. One again we find this is a technology in search of a problem.

"The plants, which offer a more consumer-friendly alternative to genetically modified plants, produce up to 70 per cent less of the stimulant than normal plants, bringing their levels in line with chemically decaffeinated beans.

"However, the GM plant belongs to C. canephora, a species that makes low quality beans."
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Mother Nature's decaff coffee
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Daily Telegraph, 24/06/2004
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/24/wcoff24.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/24/ixnewstop.html

The quest for a full-flavoured decaffeinated coffee may be over: scientists report today that they have found a naturally decaffeinated version of the world's most popular coffee bean.

Full-strength coffee can raise blood pressure, trigger palpitations and disrupt sleep, and decaffeinated now accounts for about 10 per cent of the world market.

But the decaffeinating process often flushes out important flavour compounds, so the demand for a flavoursome, low-caffeine blend remains high.

Attempts to transfer caffeine-free characteristics from wild coffee species in Madagascar to Coffea arabica, the most cultivated and consumed coffee in the world, have failed - and would produce an inferior beverage anyway.

The solution would be to find a naturally decaffeinated C. arabica plant, a species normally recognised for its high-quality beans.

This is what Prof Paulo Mazzafera of State University of Campinas, Brazil, and colleagues at the Agronomic Institute of Campinas report today in the journal Nature.

After screening 3,000 coffee trees, they have isolated three C. arabica plants from Ethiopia with naturally low caffeine content, probably because they have a faulty caffeine-making enzyme.

They believe the low-caffeine trait can be transferred into more productive, high-quality plants through breeding. "We are very optimistic about the quality of the beans coming from these plants," Prof Mazzafera said.

The quest for a full-flavoured decaffeinated coffee may be over. Scientists today report that they have found a naturally decaffeinated version of the world's most popular coffee bean.

Full strength coffee can raise blood pressure, trigger palpitations and disrupt sleep. To avoid these side-effects, carbon dioxide or solvents flush the caffeine from beans, often along with other key flavour compounds.

The alternative, more costly, Swiss Water Process sieves out caffeine through a carbon filter but the demand for a flavoursome low caffeine blend remains high.

Unsuccessful attempts were made to transfer caffeine-free characteristics from wild coffee species in Madagascar to Coffea arabica, the most cultivated and consumed coffee in the world.

Prof Paulo Mazzafera, of State University of Campinas, Brazil, and colleagues at the Agronomic Institute of Campinas, report today in Nature that they have isolated three C. arabica plants from Ethiopia with naturally low caffeine content.

It is thought the plants have a faulty enzyme that makes caffeine.

Although only one third as productive as commercial varieties, the plant's low-caffeine trait could be transferred, by regular breeding with C. arabica plants, to commercially productive varieties of high-quality coffee, Prof Mazzafera said.

His team have not yet tasted the coffee, but Prof Mazzafera said: "There is not a report in the literature saying that arabica tastes bad. We are very optimistic about the quality of the beans."

The plants, which offer a more consumer-friendly alternative to genetically modified plants, produce up to 70 per cent less of the stimulant than normal plants, bringing their levels in line with chemically decaffeinated beans.

However, the GM plant belongs to C. canephora, a species that makes low quality beans.