Where Does Caffeine Come From?
The Role of Caffeine in Human Civilization
Caffeine is a very fascinating compound, which plays an enormous role in human civilization. Researchers actually think that caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance on the planet. Almost every culture on earth integrates caffeinated plants into their daily lives, from a quick espresso. Hours-long tea ceremonies also exemplify this global tradition. What’s especially interesting to note, is that these caffeinated plants seem quite different from each other. However, they actually have quite a lot in common!
Caffeine Biosynthesis and Plant Diversity
Caffeine biosynthetic pathways developed in various species of flowering plants, most surprisingly in fact, various citrus species! Thus it is no surprise that the majority of caffeine-containing plants are in fact flowering plants. When drinking a roasty cup of coffee, coffee flowers are probably the last thing you think of. However, the coffee tree displays some beautiful flowers!
Flowering Plants and Pollination
These flowering plants attract pollinators through scents and the nectar contained in the flowers. Research found adding a small amount of caffeine to citrus flower nectar enhances bee memory and return visits. Research has even indicated that small doses of caffeine actually have a cognition and productivity enhancing effect on bees! However, in higher concentrations, caffeine is a deterrent for bees, and other insects. Caffeinated nectar attracts beneficial pollinators, while caffeine deters pests, maintaining a balanced ecosystem.
Caffeine plays a crucial role for flowering plants, explaining its presence in various plant species. Humans, unlike bees, don’t consume caffeinated nectar. How did they first encounter this stimulating compound?
How Did Humans Discover Caffeine?
The Origins of Caffeine Consumption
The origins of human interaction with caffeine prompt various theories. One common theory suggests that once humans discovered fire, they heated water and infused various leaves. This makes sense; tea is delightful, but chewing tea leaves isn’t pleasant. Additionally, caffeine is highly water soluble in the context of hot water. Lots of different plant species worldwide contain caffeine in their leaves. For instance, Camelia sinensis (Asia), Ilex paraguariensis (South America), Ilex vomitoria (North America), and Coffea arabica (Middle East & Africa).
Ceremonial and Spiritual Use
More than likely however, the first uses of caffeine containing plants likely were spiritual/ceremonial. These beverages would have acquired tastes, and would not be nutritious while demanding quite a bit of effort to make. However, caffeine, especially in ancient times would have had mind blowing effects on the consumers of these mystical leaf infusions. This would especially be the case for leaves that are especially rich in caffeine, such as the Ilex species. Various Native American tribes historically used Ilex vomitoria and Ilex cassine ceremonially in “black drink” ceremonies.
Historical Ritualistic Use
People likely utilized other caffeine-containing plants ceremonially as well. Theobroma cacao for example comes to mind, having been a highly important botanical for the ancient Mayans. People traditionally used tea and even coffee ritualistically as well. Typically, people brew these plants in hot water to extract their bioactive compounds, including caffeine. The theory suggests that humans first encountered caffeine through the discovery of hot water.
Fire, of course, led to the discovery of coffee. Its flavors come from fermentation, drying, and roasting processes. Coffee preparation involves more complexity and sophistication than other caffeine sources. They typically entail picking, drying, and infusing leaves in hot water. However, as civilization progressed, so did technological advancements in caffeinated products.
The intricacies of coffee production span from cultivation and processing to roasting and brewing.
From Farm to Cup: The Journey of High-Quality Coffee
High-quality coffee growers cultivate their beans at high altitudes. Picking coffee, especially for high-quality beans, presents a challenging task often accomplished by hand. Workers then sort the coffee cherries by density to ensure quality during processing. Workers must then liberate the seed from the coffee cherry during the processing stage. The seeds are dried in the open air until they reach the perfect moisture content level.
Processing and Roasting
A coating of parchment covers the seeds, requiring removal before further processing. Now we have green coffee beans, which are shipped around the world to roasters. Roasters meticulously roast the processed coffee beans. The coffee bean functions as a bioreactor, generating bioactive compounds.
Brewing the Perfect Cup
Homebrewers or baristas receive the beans. They precisely grind them to exacting particle size standards. Then, grind sizes need to be dialed in, in order to make the perfect cup of coffee. The effort into crafting our morning coffee is substantial. Many resources and much labor are invested.
Our obsession with coffee is vast, and has been the case for a long time. Roasters then take the processed coffee beans and meticulously roast them. In this process, the coffee bean itself starts to function as a bioreactor. The actual isolation of caffeine is quite a fascinating story too. It resulted from the unlikely liaison of a poet and a chemist! Around the time when caffeine was isolated from coffee beans, coffee was a highly prized commodity. It wasn’t commonly drunk by the average person.
Thus, it was quite incredible that one of the most famous poets at the time, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had quite the affinity for both coffee and science. After seeing a demonstration from a young chemist called Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, where Runge dilated the pupils of a cat with atropine he had isolated, Goethe was so impressed that he handed Runge a bag of coffee beans. Goethe’s intention with this transaction would be for Runge to isolate the, at the time, unknown compound from it, which gave coffee its unique properties. After tinkering with it for a few months, Runge was successfully able to isolate caffeine, which he at the time called “Kaffebase”
Synergies Of Caffeine Within Caffeine Containing Plants
When Runge isolated caffeine from coffee beans, he only discovered part of why coffee is stimulating. Over the years, we have discovered that coffee contains a plethora of psychoactive compounds. For example, it contains other methylxanthines which are related to caffeine and have similar effects, such as theophylline and paraxanthine, albeit in very small quantities. More interestingly though, coffee beans contain beta-carbolines which block monoamine oxidase (MAO) enzymes, which can enhance the stimulant properties of caffeine. Coffee beans also contain the unique compound trigonelline, which appears to have significant mood promoting effects.
Diverse Bioactive Compounds in Caffeine-Containing Beverages
We quickly discover that other caffeine-containing beverages often contain various bioactive compounds alongside caffeine. Take green tea for example, which contains caffeine in addition to small amounts of L-theanine, and catechins like EGCG and epicatechin. Yerba mate oftentimes contains a broad spectrum of methylxanthines in high concentrations such as theophylline and theobromine, in addition to of course caffeine itself. Yerba mate also contains a wide array of polyphenols and flavonoids, like rutin and quercetin, which can also modify the effects of caffeine. Theobroma cacao is also a very interesting example, it contains high amounts of theobromine in addition to caffeine, while also containing endocannabinoid compounds such as anandamide.
Shift to Isolated Caffeine: Historical and Subjective Perspectives
The presence of various bioactive compounds alongside caffeine in plants indicates that caffeine is never naturally consumed in total isolation. It was only until Runge isolated caffeine from coffee beans, that we really started to focus on caffeine in total isolation. This became especially prominent once pure caffeine was easily obtainable through total synthesis, which was first performed in 1895 by Hermann Emil Fischer.
Pure synthetic caffeine took a long time to be commercialized, but once it was, it became ubiquitous. Synthetic caffeine is very cheap and abundant, so it’s easy to make pure caffeine products. Subjectively, individuals often find pure caffeine in isolation less stimulating compared to traditional sources like coffee or tea. Thus, it is no surprise that most commercial energy drinks (which usually utilize synthetic caffeine or pure isolated caffeine) often contain a plethora of other bioactive compounds such as taurine and B-vitamins.
Personal Experience and Subjectivity in Caffeine Consumption
Subjectively speaking I (Emiel, Noo-tropics.eu product specialist) have noticed huge differences in effects between pure isolated caffeine, and my favorite caffeine delivery systems, coffee and yerba mate. In fact, I’ve even noticed stark differences in effects between different cultivars of coffee, and even coffees from different origins. For example, coffee beans from Ethiopia tend to feel smoothly stimulating with a prominent mood brightening effect. On the flipside, coffee beans from Columbia tend to have a much zippier and focusing effect for me. I recently brought this up on a reddit thread, and discovered others had experienced these differences too. I’ve even noticed that the type of coffee extraction makes a big difference too.
For example, a shot of espresso often feels more “full bodied”, stronger, motivating and mood boosting to me, whereas a simple filter coffee can oftentimes feel more cleanly stimulating and focusing. This is somewhat independent of caffeine content, because contrary to popular belief, espresso actually contains less caffeine than filter coffee! This was recently brilliantly demonstrated in this great video by James Hoffman:
This clearly demonstrates that caffeine appears to be highly modifiable by other compounds. For example, the high pressure of an espresso extraction may be extracting other non-caffeine bioactive compounds from ground coffee beans, such as the beta-carbolines, more efficiently than percolation. There is still a lot we have yet to discover on this front, but one thing is clear, caffeine makes a fantastic base compound for designing nootropic stacks around. So let’s jump outside of the plants caffeine is contained in, and let’s look at some novel caffeine based combinations we can make utilizing pure isolated caffeine!
Synergies Of Caffeine With Other Plants & Compounds
There are going to be a few distinct goals when making caffeine stacks, the two most prominent goals here will be to make the caffeine feel more potent, and/or to smooth out the effects. For example, the majority of energy drinks that are on the market often aim to achieve both goals. Let’s take a look at the formula for one of the most popular energy drinks, red bull: Caffeine (80 mg), Taurine (unknown amount), Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12.
This is a pretty simple formula, which includes a very modest dose of caffeine which is being smoothed out by the relaxing effects of taurine. The energizing effects are then slightly enhanced by the selection of B-vitamins, but overall, red bull will be a fairly smooth ride due to the low caffeine dose and addition of taurine.
Also read our blog on Centrophenoxine
