Coffee / Espresso Article

Genetically altered bush produces decaf coffee beans

The Daily Telegraph (London) June/2003

A genetically modified coffee bush that produces decaffeinated beans has been developed by Japanese scientists.

They believe the plant could revolutionize the coffee industry, and provide decaffeinated coffee that tastes as good as the real thing.

The plant was created by a team at the Nara Institute of Science, Nara, who suppressed one of three genes that playa crucial role in the synthesis of caffeine.

Using a technique called RNA interference, the CaMXMTl gene was effectively switched off, the team, led by Dr. Shinjiro Ogita, report in Nature this week.

"The caffeine content is reduced by up to 70 per cent, indicating that it should be feasible to produce coffee beans that are intrinsically deficient in caffeine," the researchers said.

Removing caffeine using conventional chemistry is a costly process. Often beans are softened with steam before being rinsed with an agent, such as methylene chloride or ethyl acetate, to remove caffeine. Carbonated water and hot water can also be used.

The experiments were done on the Robusta coffee plant, 'Coffea canephora'. The Japanese team is now trying to create a GM version of Coffea arabica which accounts for around 70 per cent of the world's coffee beans.