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Permalink Reply by Migle Douvia on May 4, 2010 at 5:52pm

Just returned from Seattle. My son and I visited a shop along Alki Beach and quizzed the young barista. She had a White Espresso Bean called White Lightening. The big promotional push is the fact the bean offers twice the caffeine. I've not researched this; so please do not hate me if you try it, but www.pioneercoffee.com may offer some insite; they were the supplier to this particular shop. Have a great day all! Thanks for being so awesome! Brett (Migle's husband)

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on May 6, 2010 at 7:07am

My doors have been open to the public going on 2yrs. I have had maybe 3 people interested in this anomaly. Next person that asks me about this will get a mortar and pestle (sp) and some green beans and instructions on how to use their frying pan to tan the beans. Oh did I forget the sock to brew the elixir?
Joe
-- Ambassador for Specialty Coffee and palate reform.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Lyons-Bailey on November 4, 2012 at 4:42pm

I know this is an old thread, but I do gourmet raw vegan and was wondering about this myself.  On a raw food board this was posted and has been circulated around several raw food boards:

"But, in the mean time, I took some of the green coffee beans and soaked them for twenty four hours, and then sprouted them. This morning I took the sprouted beans and ground them up in a clean coffee grinder, and to my surprise, they were brown on the inside! (Also I should mention that after I was done soaking them, the water was turquoise!). I put the green grounds into a a cup and heated water to just 90 degrees and then poured the water over the beans to let them brew. After 10 min. I poured the brew through a nut milk bag to strain off the coffee grounds. The coffee was much weaker, but still tasted like coffee, but without the bitter flavor."

If anything can be done cooked, somebody will figure out how to do it raw!!

If anybody wants to know about soaking and sprouting, let me know.  I'd like to try this myself only have NO idea where to buy green coffee beans.

--Linda Lyons-Bailey

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Permalink Reply by Seth Gold on November 5, 2012 at 10:50am

I remember being offered a sample by the Starbucks in my local grocery store

http://www.starbucks.com/refreshers/en-us/Green-Coffee-Extract

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Permalink Reply by will frith on December 22, 2012 at 1:38pm

Not sure if this thread still has a heartbeat, but I feel the need to weigh in:

The "twice the caffeine" claim is actually a tricky bit of business.  Fully roasted coffee is twice the size (due to increased number of empty spaces opened up during the roasting process) of the unroasted green.  Bean size is pretty consistent until about 2/3 through the roast, really plumping up at first crack and through dry distillation.  White coffee is usually roasted to the halfway point (usually by color, depending on roaster's interpretation).  "Roasting the caffeine out" isn't accurate, as it is retained for the most part.  (brewing, as an aside, has much more an effect on the amount of caffeine extracted than roast)

How does this tie together?  Density.  Because the same volumetric amount (portafilter basket full) is constant, the weight (or amount of coffee) is nearly double.  Hence, "twice the caffeine" due to the amount of coffee, not the roast.  Dark roasts, if measured volumetrically in whole bean form, will give you less caffeine because your dose will be less by weight and have fewer individual coffee beans.  White coffee, usually dosed volumetrically, will have more individual coffee beans.

It's a marketing gimmick, a bad-tasting one at that.

Also, "Green Coffee Extract" is very different than White Coffee.  Throw it on the ever-growing heap of marketing gimmicks, too.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on December 23, 2012 at 5:06pm

Hi Will,

Well I have a customer that will pay anything for this "white coffee" so I told her I would roast her up some. I have a very heavy duty commercial grinder so I won't worry about the burrs getting messed up by grinding this under roasted product. Depending on how under roasted the coffee is, I'm sure it is not good for most grinders.

will frith said:

Not sure if this thread still has a heartbeat, but I feel the need to weigh in:

The "twice the caffeine" claim is actually a tricky bit of business.  Fully roasted coffee is twice the size (due to increased number of empty spaces opened up during the roasting process) of the unroasted green.  Bean size is pretty consistent until about 2/3 through the roast, really plumping up at first crack and through dry distillation.  White coffee is usually roasted to the halfway point (usually by color, depending on roaster's interpretation).  "Roasting the caffeine out" isn't accurate, as it is retained for the most part.  (brewing, as an aside, has much more an effect on the amount of caffeine extracted than roast)

How does this tie together?  Density.  Because the same volumetric amount (portafilter basket full) is constant, the weight (or amount of coffee) is nearly double.  Hence, "twice the caffeine" due to the amount of coffee, not the roast.  Dark roasts, if measured volumetrically in whole bean form, will give you less caffeine because your dose will be less by weight and have fewer individual coffee beans.  White coffee, usually dosed volumetrically, will have more individual coffee beans.

It's a marketing gimmick, a bad-tasting one at that.

Also, "Green Coffee Extract" is very different than White Coffee.  Throw it on the ever-growing heap of marketing gimmicks, too.

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