Caffeine is a natural component of coffee and contrary to claims for many years it has been proven that caffeine has more positive effects on our body than negative ones.

A coffee plant develops caffeine as a protection against pests. For most insects, caffeine is a deadly poison. The caffeine content of individual coffees is very different. The explanation for this can be found in nature, in higher altitudes there are fewer pests. Therefore, the caffeine content of coffee that grows in higher altitudes is lower. In other words, Arabica coffee, which usually grows in higher elevations, has less caffeine than Canephora coffee, which grows in lower elevations. Arabica coffee has a caffeine content of about 0.8 to 1.8%, Canephora about 1.0 to 3.8%.

Everyone reacts differently to caffeine, e. g. I can drink coffee and sleep well at any time of the day or night and others have a complete caffeine intolerance. The caffeine can be removed from the green coffee. There are currently two common methods of doing this, direct and indirect decaffeination. I do not want to go into these processes in detail here, but I would like to mention that they either require a large amount of natural resources or chemicals that are hazardous to health and not harmless to the workers.

Since there is not always a complete caffeine intolerance, it can help one or the other to try a coffee with less caffeine instead of switching to decaffeinated coffee and or to vary the preparation. With more water or milk you can reduce the concentration of caffeine in coffee.