Caffeine is a chemical compound that comes naturally from different kinds of plants. In its pure form you will see a white powder that has a bitter taste and no odor. As of today there are 63 different species of plants known to contain caffeine. The most common sources are coffee beans, tea leaves and kola nut. Other sources of caffeine are cassine, yoco, mate, and guarana.
According to the history pure caffeine was isolated for the first time during around 1821 by a German chemist named Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge due to the instigation of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. The substance was then called kafein which means "something found in coffee". It was then after 61 year that it was synthesized by a German chemist and Nobel laureate Emil Fischer.
Caffeine powder can be synthesized from a variety of starting materials, such as xanthine, urea, theobromine and theophylline. The high demand for decaffeinated products has resulted in an increasingly supply of caffeine washes that are commonly extracted from coffee and tea. Today, most caffeine powder is commonly derived from these natural extracts.
Caffeine extraction is a significant industrial process and it can be done by using a number of different solvents like benzene, chloroform, trichloroethylene, and dichloromethane. Though these methods are used through the years due to safety reasons, and other reasons like cost, flavor and environmental consciousness these methods are superseded by two main methods: water and carbon dioxide.
In the water method, green coffee beans are soaked in water. The water extract, which contains not only caffeine but also many flavor compounds, is then passed through activated charcoal, which then removes the caffeine. The water is then put back with the beans and evaporated dry. Coffee manufacturers will then be able to recover the caffeine and resell it for other uses such as in soft drinks and medicines.
Carbon dioxide is a solvent for caffeine extraction that is less toxic than the organic solvents that have been used before. The extraction process is quite simple: CO2 is forced through the green coffee beans at temperatures above 31.1 °C and pressures above 73 atmospheres. Under these temperature and atmosphere, CO2 is said to be in a "supercritical" state: it has gas-like properties which allow it to penetrate deep into the beans, but also liquid-like properties that dissolve 97-99 percent of the caffeine. The caffeine-laden CO2 is then sprayed with high pressure water to remove the caffeine. The caffeine can then be isolated by activated carbon or by other standard methods.
Caffeine is the worlds most widely consumed legal psychoactive drug due to its highly proven healthy benefits. Moderate consumption of caffeine can provide the following healthy benefits: increases muscle strength, increases metabolism by breaking down fat, freeing fatty acids and forcing them to be burned, increase pain relief medication effects, reduces asthma symptoms, benefits people who are high risk for liver disease, increases mental and physical faculty. More and more people are becoming aware of the healthy benefits of caffeine for the body thus making the general consumption to increase each year. Too much caffeine can also provide a few problems like restlessness, anxiety, heart burn, irritability, headaches, high blood pressure and sleeplessness, rapid heart beat and nausea. Always remember that caffeine can provide all these healthy benefits only if the consumption is in moderation. In order to save money it is best that you buy caffeine in bulk.
Kenneth Levenstein is an online publisher of health related websites. Click the link for more information on where to buy caffeine.