Caffeine

People usually associate drinking coffee with the caffeine hit you get. It is used to keep people alert and awake or to help get people going in the morning.

It is a fact that most coffee drinkers are addicted to caffeine. Around 1 to 2 hours after waking a headache will have manifested itself until caffeinated coffee is consumed.

espresso

Does coffee wake you up and keep you alert? Studies have shown that most people are actually unaffected by caffeine if they are not addicted already. Those with a regular coffee habit will perform worse until they have had their daily fix!

Caffeine Benefits

  • Increases your focus and concentration
  • Increases alertness
  • Short term memory is enhanced
  • Stimulating your mood and speed

Caffeine Drawbacks

  • Raises blood pressure
  • Increased heart rate
  • Addiction causes dependency

Common Side effects

  • Insomnia
  • Restlessness and Irritability
  • Muscle Tremors
  • Nervousness
  • High blood pressure
  • Death (if you fell into a giant vat of ground coffee you would sink and suffocate!)

Caffeine does prevent you from feeling sleepy by binding to Adenosine a neurotransmitter that would make you feel drowsy. It will also help you to work or perform faster with a raised heart rate and higher blood pressure.

Expect around 80-175mg of Caffeine per cup of coffee.

To extract more caffeine use a lighter roasted bean the roasting process actually destroys caffeine but gives a stronger flavour. Robusta beans also contain less caffeine than Arabica beans.

extraction

You can also maximise the caffeine extraction with a finer grind and a slightly longer extraction. Caffeine has a bitter taste so the resultant coffee will taste bitter but will contain a stronger hit.

Caffeine will stay in your body for around 6-8 hours. Drinking more fluids will flush it through slightly quicker. The more Caffeine you have in your system the longer it will affect you.