Coffee is one of the most widespread beverages in the world today. One of the main reasons it is so popular is its ability to relieve stress and tiredness. The ingredient that helps it to do these is caffeine. But caffeine and coffee are not the same things.
Coffee is a type of drink that is brewed when you pour water over and through roasted and powdered coffee beans. On the other hand, caffeine is a kind of psychoactive drug that can be found in coffee as well as other carbonated drinks.
Let’s take a look at a comparative analysis of caffeine vs coffee to see what their differences are.
Difference between coffee and caffeine
Coffee is most commonly used as an early morning drink to wake people up properly and get them going. However, you can not have a conversation about coffee without mentioning the ingredient that makes coffee a wake-up drink – caffeine.
Coffee
Coffee is made by brewing the coffee beans that are obtained from coffee plants. Originally green in color, these beans are later roasted. The roasting takes place in various degrees depending on the tastes. Arabica and robusta are the two most common beans found in the market.
After obtaining the beans, they are ground and used to make drinks, mostly by using machines. Depending on the type of drink you are making, the grinding of the powder will be different. Then you pass hot water over the ground beans with some added pressure which results in a drink that is dark brown. You can then either consume it with additives such as sugar and cream or without them if you want a more bitter taste.
Southern Arabia has been credited with the discovery of coffee. Evidence has been found that
During the 15th century, the Sufis of Yemen drank coffee. Nowadays, coffee is cultivated in Arab, Brazil, and other countries all over the world. To know more about the different types of coffee, their origin, and connect with other avid coffee drinkers, visit Eraofwe.com.
Caffeine
Coffee and caffeine go hand in hand. But surprisingly, caffeine is not even a drink. Rather it is a psychoactive drug that is quite mild. But as with all drugs, continued consumption of it results in caffeine addiction. This psychoactive drug affects the brain, alternating perception, mood, and consciousness. Due to its mild nature, caffeine is legal and the food and drug administration has deemed it safe as it doesn’t cause that much damage to the human body.
Depending on the bean being used, usually, a cup of coffee has between 80 to 175 mg of caffeine in it. So, to consider caffeine as lethal, one has to consume about 50 cups of coffee in one day. The caffeine is released from the beans due to the passing of hot water over them.
Caffeine has both its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of caffeine include protection against some diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s diseases.
On the other hand, the disadvantages are that as it can cause addiction, if someone doesn’t consume coffee, they may face symptoms that resemble withdrawal. Coffee also increases heart rate, blood pressure, and urine output.
Does all coffee contain caffeine?
All kinds of coffee drinks do not contain caffeine. Some people such as pregnant women and new mothers are advised to not consume caffeine. So they can drink decaffeinated coffee. This particular type of coffee is packaged after they are gotten rid of the caffeine in them. So, it is a much safer option for the aforementioned patients.
Final thoughts
As we have seen from the above comparative analysis of caffeine vs coffee, these two are not the same things. Although most coffee drinks contain caffeine, they don’t need to have the drug. As caffeine is a drug that can cause addiction over time, you must responsibly consume caffeine so that you do not get addicted to it to such a degree that after not drinking coffee for a short period, you suffer from withdrawals. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms vary person to person. The more your intake of caffeine, the worse the withdrawal symptoms you experience. Check out this article to know more about the duration of caffeine withdrawal.