Say you want the excitement and antioxidant effects of coffee (not to mention its gentle bowel-moving magic), but you don’t have time to gulp down a mocha latte in the morning or maybe just don’t love the taste of the stuff, no matter how much sugar and cream you put in it. That’s okay, because soon (and soon is a relative term), caffeinated edibles may be making their way to your favorite stores and bakeries, offering you everything that coffee does without all that liquid stuff.
According to Eater, Daniel Perlman, a professor at Brandeis University, has just invented a flour made out of green coffee, virtually guaranteeing caffeinated muffins for us and millions of dollars/free hugs for him. The process of making the flour, which Eater reports was patented in December and even those who like drinking the stuff may want to switch from their morning cup of joe to a coffee flour-based brownie. (There are going to be brownies, right?)
…according to Perlman, consuming foods made with the coffee flour would be quite different from drinking, say, a caffeine-loaded energy bar or an energy drink like Monster: “Unlike some bars that are loaded with chemically purified or synthesized caffeine, this is natural food source caffeine,” he points out. “I would expect it to be absorbed a little more gradually than the caffeine in a cup of coffee, so [it would offer] a more sustained release and longer-term stimulation than you get when you drink a cup or two of coffee.”
That’s great news for those of us who don’t want to have coffee breath all day from throwing the stuff down our throats to keep us going, but it might also mean a little bit of self-restraint on the part of the consumer. Remember that time you accidentally drank five cups of coffee at work and got sick (just me?), well you’re probably going to have to go a little bit slower on these, too instead of just slamming them back and demanding “another one” like DJ Khaled asking for kisses. And Perlman points out that he doesn’t “expect bakers to replace regular flour” with what he’s invented. Instead, it’s supposed to mix with whatever flour they’re already using to give their baked goods a boost.
From Eater:
“This flour contains 2.5 percent caffeine by weight, so if you were to put 4 grams of this into, say, a breakfast muffin, it would be the equivalent of drinking a cup of coffee.”
But don’t forget: There are antioxidants, too! According to studies (and this is important so you can tell all your friends about why you’re downing that caffeine-based rice krispy treat), coffee may be good for you due to “chlorogenic acid (CGA), an antioxidant that appears to modulate how rapidly the body breaks down glucose.” Getting healthy and consuming more caffeine? Sign us all up, right? As The Boston Globe points out: more coffee could lead to a longer lifespan.
(via Eater)
