All Quinnoa articles in one place.
Decaf does not mean caffeine-free. The FDA says an 8 fl oz cup of decaf coffee typically contains about 2–15 mg caffeine, compared with roughly 80–100 mg in regular brewed coffee. The reduction is large, but the residual amount can still matter to someone who is very caffeine-sensitive.
Coffee aroma fades fastest with exposure to air, moisture, heat and light. The National Coffee Association recommends buying smaller amounts, storing coffee in an airtight opaque container in a cool dark place, and grinding whole beans only when needed. As a freshness guide after opening, it lists about 1–3 weeks for roasted beans at room temperature and 1–2 weeks for ground coffee when properly stored.
Whole-bean coffee usually holds aroma longer because most of the bean remains protected from air. Grinding dramatically increases surface area and speeds volatile loss, which is why the National Coffee Association recommends grinding only what you need immediately before brewing when practical. Pre-ground coffee wins on convenience, not on a different nutrition profile.
Matcha is a type of green tea, not a different plant. Its leaves are shade-grown before harvest, processed into tencha and finely milled, and the powder is consumed rather than discarded after steeping. Reviews report roughly 18.9–44.4 mg caffeine per gram of matcha, so the amount of powder used strongly affects the dose.
The FDA gives about 80–100 mg caffeine for an 8 fl oz cup of brewed coffee. Published matcha analyses range around 18.9–44.4 mg per gram, so a 2 g preparation could provide roughly 38–89 mg. The ranges can overlap: coffee is often the higher-caffeine serving, but a strong matcha can get close.
Green and black tea come from the same species, Camellia sinensis. Green-tea processing quickly limits enzymatic oxidation; black tea is deliberately oxidized much further, converting many catechins into theaflavins and thearubigins. Caffeine does not cleanly separate the two: the FDA gives about 30–50 mg per 8 fl oz as a broad reference for either green or black tea.
Among four common fresh berries, raspberries lead with about 6.5 g fiber per 100 g, followed by blackberries at 5.3 g. Blueberries and strawberries provide about 2.4 and 2.0 g respectively. A 150 g bowl of raspberries therefore approaches 9.8 g fiber.
Dried goji looks far more concentrated per 100 g largely because it contains very little water, while fresh blueberries are about 84% water. In realistic portions, 28 g dried goji provides about 98 calories, 3.6 g fiber and 12.8 g sugar; 150 g fresh blueberries provides about 86 calories, 3.6 g fiber and 14.9 g sugar.
Maca is the enlarged underground hypocotyl/root of an Andean Brassicaceae plant, usually sold dried and powdered. Analyses of dry maca commonly find roughly 55–73% carbohydrate, 9–21% protein, 8–26% fiber and under 3% fat, but a 5 g spoonful contains only a small fraction of those per-100-g amounts.
Dragon fruit, or pitaya, is a relatively low-energy fresh fruit. One USDA reference provides about 57 calories, 3.1 g fiber and 9.8 g sugars per 100 g. A 200 g edible portion would therefore be roughly 114 calories, 6.2 g fiber and 19.6 g naturally occurring sugars.
Pomegranate arils provide about 83 calories, 4 g fiber and 13.7 g naturally occurring sugar per 100 g, along with about 236 mg potassium, 10 mg vitamin C and 38 mcg folate. Their polyphenols include anthocyanins and ellagitannins, while juice generally loses much of the fiber found in whole arils.
Blueberries and strawberries are both low-energy whole fruits, but they are not identical. Per 100 g, blueberries provide about 57 calories, 10 g sugar and 2.4 g fiber; strawberries provide 32 calories, 4.9 g sugar and 2 g fiber. Strawberries contain about six times as much vitamin C, while blueberries provide more vitamin K in USDA reference data.