guarana

Tatu, crocodilo and pirarucú formed from guaraná

The bastão is grated with the bony tongue of the pirarucú

Gentle roasting of 'de-arilled' seeds to facilitate testa removal

Seeds coated with the sugar-rich arillus

There is no doubt that the dehisced fruit's striking appearance made up of the deep yellow to orange-red pericarp, of the white, scentless aril and the glossy, almost black seed coat in the centre is to attract dispersing frugivorous vertebrates, and most likely matches the 'bird fruit (diaspore) syndrome' (Van der Pijl, 1982). Indeed, large birds such as toucans (Ramphastos spp.) and guans (Penelope spp.) have been reported to gulp guaraná seeds (Gonçalves 1971), which they may regurgitate after having digested the arils. Since birds are, like other organisms, sensitive to caffeine we should put the crucial question, why are avian seed dispersers not intoxicated by the ingested, caffeine-rich seeds of guaraná?

To find an answer we determined the amount and concentration of purine alkaloids in the various fruit parts. Thereafter, we simulated the conditions in the avian digestive system and studied caffeine release during aril 'digestion'. It became obvious that the guaraná plant has not only evolved a tissue-specific allocation of this purine to protect the seeds from destructive predation but also a strategy avoiding caffeine intoxication of the seed disperser digesting the arils rich in sugars.

Fore more information about the biochemical ecology of guaraná, see the article by Baumann et al. 1995, from which some of the above text passages were taken.

heavy-armed eyes from the Amazon

quality & manufacturing

THE pioneer of guaraná manufacturing is Reto Kaspar (1956–2011). He introduced this very stimulating drug into the Swiss market using the top quality sources from Maués in the central Amazon. Besides the plain seed powder, he created under the label seen on his T–shirt a pleasant granulate easily soluble in water (or milk or fruit juices) as well as solid, chewable forms called 'drops' or 'rocks'. It has to be mentioned, that many operations were managed in the background by his sister Ursula Kaspar, who was and is a key partner in launching and continuation of the new and successful product line.

The author of this webpage assisted him during quality control. Apart from color and flavor, the PuA ratio i.e. the numerical proportion between caffeine and the traces of theophylline and theobromine, is significant for non-adulterated plain seed powder. Since the productivity in the Amazonas state steadily declines – officially, it is claimed to amount to about 500 tons p.a.(see Table 1 in Schimpl et al. 2013) – , high quality guaraná is an extremely rare stuff. Therefore, the global market is supplied with inferior or massively adulterated stuff, not to speak of the so-called guaraná extracts, which are used by soft drink manufacturers. Unfortunately, these mostly low grade products spoiled the guaraná market and soon ruined the image of the best caffeine drug we have on this planet.

The high quality guaraná is based on Paullinia cupana var. sorbilis, which is possibly the cultivated variety of the wild type var. cupana Ducke, repeatedly found in the Upper Amazon (Ducke 1937), but first collected by Bonpland und Humboldt in the Upper Orinoco basin more than 200 years ago. The traditional cultivation of the guaraná liana and the processing of its seeds is carried out by the Saterê–Maué Indians in the Central Amazon basin around Maués (Henman 1982, Erickson et al. 1984). They pick the eye-shaped seeds as soon as a few fruits are opening. The 'white of the eye', botanically an aril of mealy consistency, is rubbed off manually and the seeds are gently roasted to facilitate the removal of the glossy, tough and dark brown seed coat and the later grinding of the kernels in a hardwood mortar. While grinding, water is added to make a 'dough', which is portioned and shaped into the so- called bastão. It looks like a peeled salami and serves as the storage form of guaraná after a slow drying process over the fire. As needed, the bastão is grated and the resulting powder suspended in water to give a highly stimulating drink not only appreciated by the Indians to withstand hunger and climate but also by others, especially and not very long ago by young people in Europe to get through dancing all night at 'technoparties'. The seed caffeine content of guaraná is reported (Marx et al., 1985) to range between 3.6 and 5.8% (dry wt), i.e. 3-5 times higher than in an Arabica coffee bean (Charrier and Berthaud, 1975).