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Decaffeination Reduces Buzz But Doesn't Eliminate It

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@tampatrib.com

Published: December 13, 2008

Some jittery people out there have grounds to suspect the decaf coffee they drink is secretly laced with that demon caffeine.

But, don't get jumpy about it. University of Florida researchers found in 2006 that the decaffeination process doesn't eliminate caffeine. It merely reduces the levels of the stimulant.
Test samples from 10 national chains and local Florida coffeehouses showed that 16-ounce decaf cups contained caffeine levels between 8.6 to 13.9 milligrams. A 16-ounce cup of regular coffee: 170 milligrams. That means drinking five to 10 cups of decaffeinated coffee equals that of up to two cups of caffeinated coffee.

If you're sensitive to even the slightest levels of caffeine, you might want to lay off coffee altogether and try herbal tea - completely caffeine-free.

Absent access to a lab, consumers can use new self-test strips recently put on the market. Called D+Caf ($9.95 at www.caffeinetest.com), the strips can determine after a five-second dip whether you're drinking caf or decaf.

The strips don't give an exact measure of caffeine levels. But if a decaf sample level is above 20 milligrams per 6-ounce serving, the strip will test positive with a dark line similar to results of a pregnancy test.
Independent tests at three Sacramento, Calif., cafes showed that each cup tested came up clean and tested negative for excessive caffeine. But, says Tom Round, vice president of the product's maker, Silver Lake Research, 25 of the 100 decaf samples the biotech firm tested during the research phase had too-high caffeine levels.

The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee

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