A Caffeine Clarification

[funranium]

***Cross-posted from Funranium Labs***

In response to an urgent missive that asked if I was adding an extra caffeine to BBotE (or, perhaps, massive quantities of speed) I must answer with a most emphatic "No". He took a 50ml belt around 10pm before heading out the clubs, was still dancing long after the bar closed and, after willing himself to sleep sometime around 8am, woke up without the usual trashed feeling he got from his usual "Club Power Ups".

Incidentally, I think someone's been playing a bit much Mario.

While BBotE may indeed by the club drug of the future (new ad copy: "The dance-all-night pep of meth, but delicious and without losing teeth"), the only thing I've got in BBotE is what I can extract from the beans.  Experience from environmental clean up operations tells me that nothing tends to grow well in the soils contaminated with methamphetamine and the precursor chemicals, so the bean growers around the world probably aren't lacing their beans with it.

The average coffee bean has somewhere between 10-20mg of caffeine in it, depending on varietal.  By comparison, the average 8oz cup of drip coffee has approximately 120mg of caffeine.  The is speaks to the efficiency of the normal extraction techniques as I somewhat expect that we all use more than six beans to make a cup of coffee.

So, no, there is no need to add extra caffeine.  There is plenty there to work with in the beans, you just have to work a bit to get at it.  Besides, the happy days of getting reagent grade chemicals by mail order is receding further into the sunset.  Alas...

Comments

[confusiontempst.livejournal.com]

So, I understand that proper lab grade glass is COOL, but it's essentially impossible to own in this country.
So, my question is, is the labglass really necessary to making the killer coffee I failed to sample? And are there relevant howto's you could point me in the general direction of?

(I suspect I'll lose focus before actually investing much time into such a pursuit, but on the other hand, maybe not. I do OCCASIONALLY follow up on the plans that come of my boredeom.

[funranium.livejournal.com]

Lab glass is not strictly necessary, though I would recommend it as the best alternative (surgical steel) isn't much cheaper.

For howto, I will have to direct you toward your local representative of the Phil Collective, Mr. Anderson, for further inquiry and collaboration. I have conveyed a methodology in person to the Ancient and Aoteroan Brotherhood of the Black Blood (translated: it is a trade secret, and one that is worth money).

If you'd like to try some, there should be some of my best effort BBotE in the fridge at Chez Homer created with the limited equipment available to me in Christchurch. I believe the bottle I brought with me from America is empty now though.

[confusiontempst.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Cheers, that answers my questions well enough to allay my interest for now.

Good luck with your travels, I hope to hear more of your stories someday.

[funranium.livejournal.com]

Please do work with Phil to realize the dreams of the AABBB. It is my gift to a group that provided me some good fun after Antarctica, spirited internet conversation over nearly a decade, and hosted my girlfriend and I on my return to NZ this last month. KAOS should never suffer from unnecessary sleep again ;). Everyone should be so lucky to run across such kindred spirits.

By all means, feel free to drop me a line at direktor at funranium dot com.