Stimulating Beverages
Secondary Plant Products
What are secondary products?
 Alkaloids
 Essential
Oils
 Glycosides
Caffeine
 Alkaloid
with physiological effects on
people
 Stimulates CNS
 Promotes alertness and endurance
 Constricts blood vessels
 Increase heart beat
Caffeine Content of Common Products
Drip coffee...115 mg
 Tea..................40 mg
 Cocoa..............13 mg
 Coca Cola.......46 mg
 Diet Coke.......46 mg
 Dr. Pepper......40 mg
 Mr. Pibb..........41 mg
 Mt. Dew..........54 mg

Pepsi...............38 mg
 Surge...............51 mg
 Jolt Cola..........71 mg
 Excedrin.........65 mg
 Anacin............32 mg
 NoDoz...........100 mg
 Vivarin..........200 mg
 Midol.............600 mg

Coffee - the beverage
 Made
from seeds of Coffea arabica
 Seeds occur in coffee berries (cherries)
 Fruit pulp is fermented to free seeds
 Roasting and grinding bring out
essential oils
 Caffeine and essential oils contribute to
properties and flavor
Flowers and berries of
Coffea arabica
Coffea arabica cherries ready
for picking
Coffee cherries are picked by hand
by worker in Columbia
Coffea arabica native to Ethiopia
History of coffee drinking
 Long
history of use in Arab world
 Introduced to Europe in 1615
 By 1700 coffee houses popular
throughout Europe
 Especially popular in England - often
called “penny universities” and
“seminaries of sedition”
Coffea arabica Plantations
 Dutch
established plantations in East
Indies late in 17th century
 Trees taken to Botanical Gardens in
Amsterdam and Paris
 From here plantations started on
Caribbean islands and S.A. early in 18th
century
 Today Brazil and Columbia are world’s
leading producers
Tea
 From
tip leaves of Camellia sinensis
 Shrub or small tree native to Tibet,
India, China, and Burma.
 Still largely grown in this region of the
world
 Caffeine, theophylline, tannins and
theol contribute to flavors and
stimulating properties
Botanical print
of tea plant,
Camellia sinensis
Workers at tea plantation in
the Darjeeling region of India
History
 Introduced
to Europe early in 17th
century about same time as coffee
 Became very important in England
before the end of the 17th century
 Important in history of US because of
the Boston Tea Party and its
involvement in Revolutionary War
 Two “inventions”in 1904
Chocolate and cocoa
 Seeds
of Theobroma cacao
 Confection as well as a beverage
 Native to tropical Central and South
America
 Today Ivory Coast and Brazil lead the
world in cocoa bean production
 Other tropical countries in West Africa
and South and Central America are also
major contributors
Early History
 According
to Aztec mythology the god
Quetzalcoatl that gave cacao beans to
the Aztec people
 The cacao beans were offered as gifts to
the gods and also used to make a
beverage consumed by noblemen and
priests on ceremonial occasions
Quetzalcoatl - Aztec god
Chocolatl - spicy bitter beverage
 From
roasted and coarsely ground
beans
 Various spices including chili peppers
and vanilla beans.
 Boiling water was added and the
mixture was whipped to a foamy
consistency
Ancient Chocolatl Vessels from
Central America
European discovery
Columbus in 1502
encountered cacao
beans in Caribbean
islands
 Natives used these
beans as money and
also for a spicy
beverage

Mexican Conquest
 When
conquistador Cortes invaded
Mexico in 1519, found Montezuma
drinking chocolatl from a golden goblet
 Aztecs believed Cortes a reincarnation
of Quetzalcoatl, Cortes was showered
with riches and offered chocolatl
Cortes encounters Montezuma
Introduction to Europe
Cortes introduced beverage to Spain in 1528
 Spanish court added sugar
 Spanish had monopoly on cacao for many
years
 By 1650 a recognizable cocoa was served
throughout Europe
 Competing with coffee and tea but never
equal because of high fat

Nineteenth century
 High
fat problems were solved in 1828
when a Dutch chemist developed a
process to remove some of the fat or
cocoa butter
 In 1847 an English company, Fry and
Sons, added cocoa butter and sugar to
the ground beans to make chocolate
 This was the creation of the first
chocolate bar
Cacao trees
Theobroma cacao is a
small tree
 Football-shaped pods
that form directly on
the main trunk
 Inside fruit are 20 to 40
seeds or beans
surrounded by a white
sweet sticky pulp

Processing



When pods are ripe the
pulpy seeds are
removed and allowed
to ferment
The chocolate taste and
aroma develop as the
beans ferment
Beans dried either in
the sun or mechanically
and shipped to
processing centers
where the beans are the
roasted
Further processing
 Seeds
are cracked open freeing the
large cotyledons, or nibs
 Nibs are crushed to produce a dark
brown oily paste, the chocolate liquor
 Liquor can be solidified into squares of
baking chocolate
 Cocoa butter can be removed to
produce cocoa powder
Uses of cocoa butter
 Added
to the chocolate liquor to
produce chocolate candy
 Main ingredient for white chocolate
 Suntan lotions, soaps and cosmetics
Recipe for chocolate candy



Chocolate liquor; sugar,
cocoa butter, vanilla, and
often milk
Conching process
involves a mechanical
kneading and stirring
that gives chocolate its
smoothness
After conching liquid
poured into molds
Coca Cola
 From
seeds of the kola tree Cola nitida
 Native to west Africa
 Relative of the cacao tree, bears pods with
8 seeds
 In Africa the seeds used as stimulant and
as an appetite depressant
 In addition to the caffeine, small
quantities of kolanin, which act as a heart
stimulant
Processing
 Fleshy
seed coats are removed and the
seeds are allowed to ferment
 Seeds dried and pulverized
Coca-Cola
 Developed
in 1886 by Dr. John Styth
Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist
 Contained carbonated water, caramel
coloring, an extract of coca leaves, an
extract from the powdered kola seeds,
sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and lime juice
 Exact formula is a highly guarded secret
 Coca extracts are still used - since 1903
the cocaine is removed
Other caffeine beverages
 Throughout
world native populations
consume other caffeine containing
beverages
Summary
Caffeine and caffeine-like alkaloids
have a stimulating effect on the
mammalian central nervous system
 Coffea arabica, Thea sinensis, and
Theobroma cacao long use in stimulating
beverages and historically have played
an important role in human affairs
 Today coffee, tea, chocolate, and cola
are consumed globally
