The announcement of the sequencing of the Coffea canephora genome in Science this month was met with a buzz
from coffee aficionados and researchers alike, namely because it provided new details on the chemical evolution of caffeine.
But when in the early 1960s the German chemist Kurt Zosel hit on a novel way of removing caffeine
from coffee beans, he could not have foreseen how the same technique would become the basis of a method for destroying toxic waste, the inspiration for ways of making industrially important chemicals without con - ventional, toxic solvents, and a bone of contention for real ale
aficionados.