Coffee is one of the most popular caffeinated beverages in the world, among tea, soda and others – but why? It could be the aroma and distinct taste of fresh-brewed coffee or maybe it’s cheap and accessible in most parts of the world, or better yet, maybe the caffeine that exists in coffee is made differently than in other caffeinated drinks.
Scientists at the University of Buffalo in New York recently sequenced the genome of a species of coffee and discovered something they weren’t expecting. By analyzing the differences in gene families between coffee and other caffeine-producing plants, they learned that the caffeine produced by coffee plants is made through an entirely different chemical process with different molecules. Scientists believe this information may imply that the process of caffeine production evolved and occurs differently in coffee than in tea and other caffeine-producing plants.
Initially, I was drawn to this article because I am a big coffee drinker myself and I wanted to know what it was about. It’s interesting how the gene sequence can tell us so much about a species, and proves how important gene sequencing is in the future of science.
Submitted by Emma Stancey
I think this is a really interesting topic to research. I also am a big coffee drinker but have heard how tea is so different health wise compared to coffee. I never knew it was the chemistry specifically the gene sequencing of the elements that make up caffeine in each drink. I would like to further research as to what makes the caffeine in coffee better/worse for you compared to tea. Tea seems to be the more natural alternative in this category but maybe other alterations can be made to coffee, so that coffee drinkers such as myself will be able to have to same nutritional chemical affects.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I wonder if the different chemical makeups of caffeine each affect our bodies in different ways? This would explain why some people, like me, never drink coffee, while others cannot get enough of it. I think scientists should research the health affects of coffee caffeine vs. others caffeinated drinks in order to determine if there are any beneficial reasons for drinking one drink over another.
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