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Caffiene test strips

By Max Requenes
December 29, 2001
NEW YORK —The other night, while out with our friends Tarek and Rachel, we ran into a problem: how to know if the coffee they serve you is really caffeinated or decaffeinated, as you ordered. After all, you might not want to slug down a mug of caffeine right before retiring for the night. I thought that a caffeine test strip ought to be invented.
You would dip the strip, like litmus paper, into your coffee and it would change color to indicate the presence of caffeine. Ideally, the strips wouldn't be too expensive, would be discreetly sized, and would not alter the flavor of the coffee.

My worry is that the chemistry of caffeine detection is more complicated than simple litmus paper. If the strips cost as much as a home pregnancy test, for instance, the idea won't fly. Tarek promised to find seed money to develop this idea, so for now, this idea is not public domain.

Update: another one of my big ideas appears close to being realized. Science Daily reports researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are developing a caffeine "dipstick".
Next in ideas:Man pants

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