How Much Caffeine in Coffee Cup? Effects of Processing Operations, Extraction Methods and Variables

Abstract

About 80–90% of the adults are regular consumers of coffee brews. Its consumption has positive effect on energy expenditure, power of muscle, while over consumption has negative effects widely debated. Across geographical areas, coffee brews may notably change when preparing Espresso, American, French, Turkish, etc. This chapter reviewed the phases able to affect the amount of caffeine in cup. Three most important areas will be addressed: (1) coffee varieties and environment; (2) coffee processing operations; (3) brewing methods extraction variables. What arises from the state of art is that, although there is a significant agreement on the effect of each critical variable on caffeine extrac- tion, there is also a great difficulty to precisely know how much caffeine is in a coffee cup, although this is the most important information for the consumers. The number of affect- ing variables is very high, and some of them are inversely related with caffeine content (brewing time and brew volume), while others exhibit a direct relationship (grinding level, dose, and tamping). Finally, some variables under the control of barista rarely are accurately reproduced during brewing. For instance, it was found that the caffeine con- tent in a Starbuck’s coffee cup during different days varied significantly.