• dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
    1·
    3 months ago

    Rabbit hole time.

    Apparently, caffeine in soft drinks is synthetic. I thought they just used caffeine that is extracted from decaffeinating coffee beans - not so. Also it’s barely produced in the US (anymore), and we mostly import it from China.

    Neat part is: it doesn’t look all that complicated to synthesize and requires some common-ish organic compounds and solvents to make. As a bonus, the “the raw synthetic caffeine often glows - a bluish phosphorence”. If anyone is on his Patreon, please give NileRed a nudge to give this a shot; I think it would be right up his alley.

    So we can get by without coffee, but short of running your own chemistry lab, it’s going to be a bit before industry can ramp up production of the synthetic stuff. Meanwhile, caffeinated beverages across the board would be more expensive were synthetic caffeine a part of any tariff scheme.

    More here:

    https://www.decadentdecaf.com/blogs/decadent-decaf-coffee-co/174589383-ever-wondered-where-the-caffeine-comes-from-in-soda-or-energy-drinks-answer-synthetic-caffeine

  • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 months ago

    Not sure if nafta is still active but I don’t think we can tariff Mexico. Mexico has some good coffee options

    And I’m not defending trump at all but I don’t think he has any plans on putting tariffs for South America. I thought it was like only a China thing.

      • ericbomb@lemmy.world
        2·
        3 months ago

        Guyyyyssss, the vote was yesterday!

        Also how was that mess over 10 years ago and they still are in the “Finding out” portion of FAFO?

  • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 months ago

    Chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper, tea, bananas, and a fuckload of other things that are completely integrated into our regular diets are almost exclusively imported.

    • Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de
      0·
      3 months ago

      Sugar too. That ain’t healthy and is kinda fancy but… Can you see them losing their shit over sugar prices? I do.

      Tomatoes imports were 2.5B in 2023.

      Apparently the us imports 15% of it’s food supply.

      • MrVilliam@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        That can’t be right. Corn can’t be only 85% of our food.

        But seriously, there’s so much goddamn corn. Our meat is fed corn. Our processed foods and drinks are pumped full of corn. Even our fucking cars eat corn. We’re up to our fucking ears in ears of corn.

  • shastaxc@lemm.ee
    0·
    3 months ago

    As a non-drinker of coffee, I am fully onboard with raising the price of coffee. Everyone is far too addicted to it and drink excessively to an unhealthy amount. Less coffee would be better for general health. Same for chocolate, as I saw someone else mention.

    Too bad Trump doesn’t care about that and doesn’t actually have any plan in mind for this kind of economic policy for the welfare of the people.