Science of coffee podcast

Salim sez, "The latest podcast from the New York Academy of Sciences goes into rather more detail than you could possibly want about the chemistry and technology that goes into growing, roasting, packaging and then eventually producing a cup of espresso." Awesome -- just downloaded this for my morning walk to the office; there's about ten wonderful cafes on the way and I'm working my way through all their brews. Link, MP3 Link, Podcast Feed Link (Thanks, Salim!)

(Image: Coffee Beans, a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike photo from Jeff Kubina's Flickr stream)

• [joakimrk]

  I’ve read somewhere that coffee really is not addictive. What’s the symptoms? =Headache. Try not drinking coffee for two or three days == Headache’s gone.

  Well, ok.. addictive in the short term.

• [Jeff]

  Does Cory Doctorow endorse a local brand? I’ve found that if I go to Whole Foods and pick my green beans (individually) then have them roasted fresh, that tastes the best to me. Summatra, dark roast, french press made with water that has been derived from ten million-year-old ice from Antartica. IT’s all about the water! And it only makes a cup of Joe cost $10.00.

  Reality: Coffee from Costco. Water from Detroit river. Bunn coffee maker. Average cost about 30 cents a cup.

• [Crash]

  To learn more about the addictive properties of caffeine, see “Caffeine Withdrawal: A Parametric Analysis of Caffeine Dosing Conditions” by Suzette M. Evans and Roland R. Griffiths. There’s other research too.

• [Takuan]

  ever tried that civet-poop brand? Is it worth it?

• [Attila]

  If you’re ever in Zürich, make sure to check out the Museum for the Cultural History of Coffee, established in the former house of Johann Jacobs:

  http://www.johann-jacobs-museum.ch/index.php?id=124&L=3

  Me and my wife visited it when we were in Zürich last December, and it is a delightful place, with multiple coffee bean varieties on display – etiopian, javan, etc., hung from the ceiling in sealed plastic spheres that you can open to sniff the beans, with exhaustive description of each variety’s – from its natural environment, chemical characteristics, to how it is being processed locally. And you can taste coffee brewed from freshly ground beans of any of the displayed variety as well! Tasting one cup is included in the admission fee, and you can taste even more for an additional reasonable fee. The exhibition goes on displaying various artifacts for grounding, brewing, and serving coffee, then on to some chemistry of molecular ingredients of the coffee aroma (with sniffable samples of a dozen major ones!), and in the basement you can find an exhibition of art featuring or inspired by coffee, coffee houses and such. It’s a real must-see for any serious coffee lover.

• [jonathan_v]

  I get massive headaches if i miss coffeee by a few hours. the last time i tried to quit, i made it 8 days – the headaches never died down much.

  i realized that its not just the caffeine- the best part of every morning and afternoon since i bought a machine a few years back has been the ritual of pulling & drinkng a double ristretto.

• [Anonymous]

  I also heard this podcast and wasnt too impressed by it. Im am a fan of Illy, but I think they are a little too dark…..anyways, i came across this site for those interested in coffee sciene

  http://www.coffeechemistry.com

• [badarabdad]

  i attended this talk and was very disappointed that it seemed to be much more of a sales pitch than an informative scientific talk. in hindsight, i should not have expected anything more from the chairman of illy (andrea illy).

  on the bright side, my girlfriend and i swiped 5 gift bags on the way out and we’re still loving our illy espresso today!

  finally, if it’s not included in the podcast:
  during the question session mr. illy was asked about the addictiveness of coffee to which he responded, “No such thing exists”.

• [mrfitz]

  mmmm…coffee