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Coffee is popularly known as the source of caffeine. Therefore, everything that comes from coffee is likely to contain caffeine. Caffeine is the chemical element in coffee that boosts energy and enhances concentration and boosts brain health. It is also known to contain many health benefits that are gained from the continued intake of coffee.
Does Coffee Extract Contain Caffeine?
Yes. Coffee extract is extracted from coffee beans. Coffee beans are the source of caffeine. This could only lead to the conclusion that coffee extract contains caffeine. Coffee extract is made by dissolving coffee beans in ethanol. Caffeine dissolves in ethanol, therefore, extracts have caffeine.
How To Make Coffee Extract At Home?
- You will require a quarter cup of your coffee beans, mortar and pestle, clean jar with an airtight lid and one cup of vodka.
- Using your mortar and pestle, crush your coffee beans slightly and place the resulting grounds in the clean jar.
- Pour the cup of vodka into the crushed beans. Vodka is the most popular extraction agent. You can use cold water to carry out the extraction process too.
- Seal the jar with an airtight container. Let it rest for a week.
- Every day, make sure that you shake the mixture at least once.
- At the end of the week, your mixture will now look like a brewed cup of coffee. This is the ready coffee extract.
- Empty it into another jar as you sieve the contents getting into the new jar.
- Your coffee extract production process is now finished. You can use the extract immediately. If it isn’t for immediate use, store it in a cool, dark, and dry place until you are ready to use it. The extract has a long shelf life and is unlikely to expire quickly.
What Is Coffee Extract Used For?
- For flavoring. If you are baking cakes and cookies you can use this coffee extract to add a coffee flavor to your baking. You can even use it to add coffee to flavor ice cream that you make at home.
- Coffee extract is also used as an ingredient for other coffee products. For example, instant coffee.
The Difference Between Coffee Essence and Coffee Extract
Both the coffee extract and coffee essence are used as baking flavors. We have already seen how to make coffee extract at home. Coffee essence is a concentrated coffee liquid. It is sold in supermarkets in a variety of sizes as a baking flavor.
An essence unlike an extract is a manufactured product. It’s a diluted extract. The extract has a higher price than the essence. An essence is a synthetic product while the extract is made from the source.
As a synthetic product, there are several types of essences in the market. All of these are used as flavors. They are used mostly in the food sector and popularly in baking.
Health Benefits of Coffee Extracts
Weight Loss
The other popular way that coffee extract is used in weight loss. Those who have used it swear on its efficacy. Studies have shown that caffeine is effective in removing fat from the whole body. In turn, it helps lower BMI and blood sugar.
The chemical researchers in the office feel that chlorogenic acids which are within the coffee beans are the main driver in boosting weight loss when you use extracts. It helps lower insulin levels and improves body metabolism fighting against fat accumulation effectively.
Helps Control Type 2 Diabetes
Chlorogenic acid also controls the absorption of insulin and glucose. These are the major body chemicals that are affected when one has type 2 diabetes. Medical surveys have been conducted to check the truth on how coffee extract can be used to make insulin and glucose uptake in the body.
Regulates Blood Pressure
For people with high blood pressure, continuous use of the coffee extract helps to control the condition. This helps to improve the health of the heart by controlling the blood dispersion pressure to other body parts.
Extract Is A Strong Antioxidant and Helps Control Inflammation
The strong antioxidant capabilities of the coffee extract have been recognized as important for good health. The extract has antioxidant properties that lower inflammation in the joints and other parts of the digestive system.
Doctors have been advising people to add generous servings of coffee extracts to their daily portions of food. The coffee extract helps to boost the health of all those who consume it through its antioxidant capabilities.
Warning From Doctors On Coffee Extracts
That although we have listed out the medical benefits of coffee extract, there is still a need for further research. It should therefore be consumed carefully or according to the doctor’s recommendations.
It is difficult to pinpoint the correct amount of extract one can consume for better health. The prolonged use of caffeine also has adverse effects on the body. When using coffee extracts, for your health, take care to prevent more harm from taking place.
Levels In The Extraction Process
When making coffee extracts, there are certain levels that you need to consider. Like in everything else, there is a possibility of the process going in different directions. The extraction process may lead to over-extraction, under extraction, or extract in the exact proportions. When the process isn’t allowed enough time, there is under extraction. Over extraction occurs if you take long to check on the process. When the extraction process is completed at the right time, then you have an ideal extract.
You can identify these different levels of extraction by tasting and observing the extract. Here is how to identify how far the extract is from the ideal.
Over-extraction
This is how you can tell that over-extraction has taken place in your extraction process. First, your coffee extract will be bitter. It is hard to enjoy bitter coffee. There isn’t an amount of sugar or sweetener than can make it better. A bitter coffee extract is worse. It can be used for flavoring or anything else.
Over-extraction also leads to a hollow extract. Your extract will lack substance, in addition to the bitterness, it will also be flat. It is lacking in the coffee flavor and taste.
Drying is the other effect of over-extraction. When you taste your extract, it is dry and leaves you looking for water over a long period.
Under-extraction
When you finish the extraction process before you are supposed to, you will have under-extracted. As the name suggests, you will have less of what you would need for an ideal coffee extract. The first way to identify when under-extraction happens is that your extract doesn’t leave an aftertaste.
Further, your extract will be sour. It will be a taste that you don’t want to have in your mouth twice. It will also not have enough of the flavorful substance of a well-done coffee. It tastes like it still needs some more time in the kitchen.
As a flavor, you can’t use under-extracted coffee extract. It will only spoil what it should be making better.
Ideal Extraction
This is when you have the best coffee extract solution. It will taste sweet and have a fine aftertaste that lasts hours or even days. Tasting a well-done coffee extract doesn’t cause you to cringe with bitterness. It also has just the right amount of acidity you would want in a coffee.
Conclusion
Like everything else coffee, coffee extracts will have caffeine. As you make your coffee extract, make sure that you do it well. Follow the tips on identifying an ideal coffee extract before you assume it is ready. All you need is a sweet-tasting, full-bodied coffee extract that will add a beautiful coffee flavor when used.