Appreciating Coffee

Thank you for the great article, “Caffeine Jitters,” by Lauren Wolf (C&EN, Feb. 4, page 9). I must confess that I begin each day by conducting an aqueous extraction of a “natural product” in my kitchen. My coffee addiction goes back to grad school and those never-ending workloads. Over the course of many years in industry and academia, coffee has been my savior. Even in retirement, this chemical compound remains on my top three list (with water and ethanol). I still prize a coffee cup that reads: Thank a Chemistry Teacher! followed by If You Can Read This on the back side and including the structural formula of caffeine. It was a gift from a high school chemistry class.

Allen Denio
Newark, Del.