"So far, caffeine-free natural coffees have been Madagascan species which are outside the mainstream, and not easy to breed from....Mazzafera and his colleagues discovered three naturally decaffeinated varieties after screening 3000 Ethiopian coffee trees, representing 300 strains. Experiments on the plants demonstrated that they lacked caffeine synthase, the enzyme in leaves that converts a compound called theobromine into caffeine. "This should be a step forward in terms of getting high quality decaffeinated coffee, not least because extraction of caffeine with solvents would no longer be necessary. There's always a risk of losing flavour compounds, although there are examples of very good flavour in today's decaffeinated products." --- Naturally decaffeinated coffee plant discovered By Andy Coghlan New Scientist June 23, 2004 A naturally decaffeinated coffee plant has been discovered. Coffee from the new strain could be tastier than e...