History of caffeine

Caffeine was discovered by Runge in 1820 and the chemical name of this purine is 1.3.7 trimethylaxanthine. 

Humans have consumed caffeine in various forms since the Stone Age when people found that chewing on the seeds, bark, and leaves of certain plants helped ease fatique, make them more aware and better their mood.

The most ancient documentation on the consumption of caffeine-containing plants and their derivatives dates back to the China of the third century, where caffeine was consumed as tea.

Coffee as a beverage was first imported in Europe by the Venetian Prospero Alpino in 1570.

In Africa, people have been using another caffeinated plant, the kola nut, for centuries, though its use did not become popular in Europe and the United States until the late 1800s.when people began combining it with carbonated liquids to create what now known as ‘cola’.

It was a chance meeting between a poet and a scientist that led to the identification of caffeine in 1819, as the stimulant in coffee.

The poet was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, renowned German writer. He handled over Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge to see if the chemist can discover a substance responsible for the stimulating effect.

With the aid of the paper chromatography technique, in a few months’ time Runge purified a crystalline white powder with a bitter taste, and name it caffeine.

In 1881 Emil Fisher identified caffeine’s chemical properties. Using oxidation with moist chlorine, he found that caffeine had a similar heterocyclic skeleton as uric acid. He then found that it was a trimethylaxanthine. 

Nowadays, caffeine can be found in dietary products like coffee, tea, mate and chocolate as well as an additive to soft drinks, particularly in the so called ‘energy drinks’.
History of caffeine