Yahoo! Answers

Hey Guys,

It’s not complicated to add ingredients to food. For example, a bag of potato chips with “50% more salt” won’t cause much astonishment. On the other hand, foods and beverages that remove naturally occurring ingredients amaze me. Take decaffeinated coffee — how in the world do they do it? I downed a double espresso with a twist of lemon and set out to find out.

The short answer: Hot water and lots of it. A column from LBC.co.uk explains that when coffee is soaked or steamed, the caffeine goes into the hot water. However, a lot of the flavors also get removed. To get the flavors back, “the water is then returned to the beans for reabsorption of flavors and oils.” The caffeine stays out, but the flavor comes back. Weird.

The site GoAskAlice goes into more detail, but keeps it easy to understand. Apparently, there are several methods for removing the caffeine from coffee. Some are more chemical than others, but all end with the same results — a pleasantly bitter beverage that won’t you keep awake at night.

Interestingly, just because a cup of coffee is classified as “decaf,” that doesn’t mean it’s 100% caffeine free. In order to be called decaffeinated, the coffee has to have caffeine levels of 2.5% or less. Anything more, and the coffee can’t legally be classified as decaf.

Wikipedia details all the various methods one can use to get the caffeine out of coffee, and also notes that “the first commercially successful decaffeination process” was invented by Ludwig Roselius and Karl Wimmer in 1903.” The pair used brine and benzene to remove the caffeine. According to About.com, the process may have been discovered by accident. Kind of like Post-It Notes and penicillin.

Personally, while I love coffee, I’m hardly a connoisseur. Do you guys know how to tell the good stuff from the bad? Is it like wine tasting or do you think all coffee tastes the same? Please leave a comment with your advice below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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“I first got into Yahoo Answers by accident.  A friend used it & she said it was really good – one day curiosity got the better of me, and I’m still here.”

- Spellbound: 30,127 points, Level 7, 65% Best Answer

Every so often we like to profile some of the amazing answerers we see on the site like Tunisian Belle and Calimecita. Today we are happy to put the spotlight on Spellbound: our resident history expert. Russia is his real passion but he is able to answer questions on many subjects. But don’t just take our word for it–here are some of his Best Answers:

• Did Joseph Stalin command the army during the Second World War?
• Why did the Art capitol move from Paris post-War?
• What was the significance of the Soviet satellite nations?

Spellbound in his own words…

“I’ve always enjoyed history, probably that comes from being taken round castles in North Wales as a child, but I also think that the past is alive, because the consequences of actions taken hundreds of years ago can have a direct impact on our lives – Magna Carta being an obvious example.

I am, by education, a Russologist, specialising in the late Soviet period.  I find the USSR fascinating.  It was such a mysterious place, as Churchill said of it “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.

Other than the Soviet period, I love the medieval English period.  It was such a theatrical period, with larger than life characters, such as Simon De Montefort and Owen Glydwr.

The most misunderstood period of history is probably the Roman period.  In school Roman history is taught as though it were a homogenous, unchanging entity, whereas it was a fluid, dynamic ever changing creation, so much so, that the late Roman period bears little relation to the Rome of Julius Caeser and Augustus.

My favourite question is probably “Why did Germany surrender in 1918?”

The reason I like this question is that it is a clear question, the questioner sounds as though they are interested in the topic – it’s not just for homework help, and although the question may be a simple one, to answer the question well requires a detailed, well thought out answer.

Favorite answer? I have so many, but I think Brother Ranulf always provides food for thought, I thought the questions were really interesting and his answers are really well researched and thought out.”

Some Best Answers by Brother Ranulf, chosen by Spellbound:

• What happened to unchivalrous knights?
• How were monk’s animals and possessions protected in a Viking raid?
• After the Norman Conquest in 1066, what buildings were destroyed and what was built?

Know someone who’s “wowed” you on Answers? Think somebody deserves to be celebrated as next Featured User on the Answers Blog? We want to hear from you!

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