Reuters reports that Ethiopian coffee farmers will soon be able to grow a variety which is naturally low in caffeine. Details are sketchy. The whole thing seems to be based on the following statement by Mr Abera Deressa, State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, at an unnamed coffee research conference:
“Coffee research centres are in the process of planting seedlings of natural coffee with low caffeine varieties, to enable Ethiopia to supply the world market within the shortest possible time.”
The article mentions the 2004 controversy between the Ethiopian government and Brazilian researcher Paulo Mazzafera, who
declared he had discovered a variety of naturally decaffeinated coffee from 6,000 specimens collected in Ethiopia in the 1980s. The find sparked a dispute with Ethiopian authorities who accused him of taking the bushes without permission.
However, it is not clear whether the low-caffeine variety now being planted in research centres has anything to do with the one Mazzafera identified.
Decaffeinated coffee accounts for 10 percent of total coffee sales in the world, a multibillion-dollar industry. Natural decaf brews could dominate over the current chemically caffeine-reduced options in today’s health-conscious market.
The story has been picked up all over the place. It should run and run. Hopefully we’ll get some more details soon.
When the Chiapas organic coops decided to do decaf due to customer requests they sent coffee samples off to be tested they found that organic coffee tended to be lower in caffeine, only a few points above what is considererd ‘decaf’. Higher altitude coffee was also lower in caffeine.
Thanks, Ron. There’s been a lot of talk about naturally low-caffeine varieties for years. I remember lots of interest some years ago in wild Coffea species from Madagascar with low caffeine levels which people thought could be bred with arabica. I don’t think much ever came of it. Maybe crop management is the easier way to go, as you suggest.