Not all of caffeine is completely removed with any of these current methods. To qualify as decaffeinated coffee in United States, coffee must have at least 97 percent of its caffeine removed.

Coffee beans are decaffeinated before they are roasted because that's when it has least effect on beans flavor.

The reason decaffeinated coffee costs more is because of additional labor, equipment and material needed to remove caffeine.

So what do they do with all of that caffeine? The extracted caffeine is manufactured and used mostly in medicines and soft drinks.

As an example, caffeine content in soft drinks mainly comes from caffeine extracted from these decaffeination processes. The kola nut accounts for less than 5 percent of caffeine in cola drinks.

For past 30 years scientists have done extensive research on coffee and effects of caffeine. New research has even shown that caffeine has many positive effects.

Some of these effects include more energy, ability to concentrate better and has even been used as an appetite suppressant.

But not all scientists agree with these findings and coffee and effects of caffeine will continue to be thoroughly researched.

There will always be a market for decaffeinated coffee because some people just love their coffee without caffeine buzz.

The rest of 100 million regular coffee drinkers either love their coffee for wonderful flavor or enjoy effects of a caffeine boost. For most of us, I'm sure it's a little of both.

Gourmet gift baskets are a gift for senses, a gift to be shared between two people who enjoy food. Or they can be an opportunity to expand culinary horizons for people who haven't paid a lot of attention to food in past, or are content with fast foods or standard 'meat and two veg' meals. Either way you're in for a treat when you share a gourmet gift basket. An evening spent indulging senses in this way will certainly create a highly romantic mood.

If you haven't explored gourmet food world before, it's an excellent experience to share with your partner. You may change your eating habits forever and bring more pleasure into your life. Or you may decide it's not for you but you had a great time experimenting. Here's a story about some friends of ours who did exactly that.

When Terry met Alicia they were both university students. Alicia came from a Mediterranean family where olives, salamis and all sorts of interesting foods were part of family's diet. Terry came from an Anglo-Saxon family that ate very traditional foods. Dinner was generally meat, potatoes and a vegetable such as frozen beans or peas, with apple pie for dessert. By Alicia's standards, range of foods he consumed was extremely narrow.

When relationship became serious, they moved in together and began to share weekly food shopping. Alicia introduced Terry to a wider range of vegetables, including broccoli, zucchini and other squashes. He was surprised to find he enjoyed trying these new foods, and they soon began experimenting with massive array of raw vegetables used in salads.

Along with shopping at supermarket, Alicia had always visited local delicatessen for her treats. When Terry accompanied her, he reluctantly tried olives for first time. Again he became a fan, devouring green olives, black olives and pimento stuffed olives, with every kind of dressing. Terry and Alicia also had fun experimenting with cheeses, trying at least one new cheese every week. They rated cheese on a scale of 1 to 10, then decided which to include as a regular part of their diet.

In Alicia's family wine was served with meals so they began experimenting with different wines as well. Terry was strictly a beer drinker until he developed a taste for wine. Sharing a gourmet snack with wine became one of many pleasurable experiences they shared. And Terry was forever grateful to Alicia for introducing him to this new world of sensual delights.

Are there gastronomic worlds out there you've yet to explore? Take a trip to that ethnic grocery or restaurant today and discover what you're missing.