Current Trends in Producing Low Levels of Caffeine in Coffee Berry and Processed Coffee Powder

Caffeine is a bioactive compound present in coffee. The physiological effects of caffeine
on human and animal models are well documented, and this has led the coffee industry
to develop an artificially decaffeinated coffee based on solvent extraction process. An
alternative to this approach would be to identify naturally occurring low caffeine lines,
breeding for low caffeine coffee trait or to generate transgenic coffee with regulated
caffeine pathway. This review is mainly focused on caffeine and its health effects; information
on decaffeination processes; latest developments in the understanding of caffeine
pathway and development of genetically engineered coffee with low caffeine.