Kicking caffeine - the buzz on decaf coffee and what it entails (for us and the environment)

As someone who loves coffee but gets heart palpitations with too much caffeine, I listened to this podcast with great interest -- and highly recommend it to everyone who cares to understand why decaf coffee is even a thing. 

Through this episode, we hear from not only coffee makers (including the scions of the Lavazza family, with a very humourous bit about which members of their family do consume decaffeinated coffee ... and their age!) but also scientists who explain what caffeine does to your body. I learned that caffeine is absorbed into the blood stream, breaking the blood-brain barrier within two minutes. How's that for a really quick buzz? And we heard from scientists about what the process of extracting caffeine from the coffee bean entails. I was abashed to learn it's actually quite energy intensive, definitely not a very clean eco-footprint here, BUT there's hope, because every single bit of the residue finds a use and a home, so that's a silver lining. Finally, a little brain teaser! What if there were a way to modify the coffee plant so that some beans were grown without the caffeine naturally? Meanwhile, I'll continue drinking decaf after noon, and take heart that someone has explained the whole idea behind decaffeination for the layperson, from bean to brew, and I'll just point people who argue with me or judge me for it to this podcast! Cheers!