Before mid-20th century physicians wielded it as a cardiac stimulant and diuretic in vials with built-in needles (AMPINS [Automatic Ampule Injectors], top right), caffeine supplied coffee’s percolated pep for centuries. A familiar delivery system for the world’s most popular stimulant drug, coffee’s discovery continues to be shrouded in myth. A first-century tale famously told of Kaldi, the goat herder, whose animals sampled the berries of a flowering plant (left) and became so animated they danced for hours, piquing the attention of nearby monks. It was not until the 19th century that coffee drinking pierced the European social scene, and chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge extracted caffeine from those peculiar beans. With a more scientific era of medicine dawning, Henry H. Salter, M.D., encouraged the drinking of coffee to ward off asthma attacks in 1860, recognizing its centrally stimulating properties. In the past century, medical practice continued valuing this methylxanthine in addressing neonatal apneas, ameliorating postdural puncture headaches, and enhancing the analgesic properties of acetaminophen and NSAIDs. Inquiries into caffeine’s medicinal potential continue today, including exploring the stimulant’s enhancement of analgesia and reversal of anesthesia’s sedating effects. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
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Before mid-20th century physicians wielded it as a cardiac stimulant and diuretic in vials with built-in needles (AMPINS [Automatic Ampule Injectors], top right), caffeine supplied coffee’s percolated pep for centuries. A familiar delivery system for the world’s most popular stimulant drug, coffee’s discovery continues to be shrouded in myth. A first-century tale famously told of Kaldi, the goat herder, whose animals sampled the berries of a flowering plant (left) and became so animated they danced for hours, piquing the attention of nearby monks. It was not until the 19th century that coffee drinking pierced the European social scene, and chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge extracted caffeine from those peculiar beans. With a more scientific era of medicine dawning, Henry H. Salter, M.D., encouraged the drinking of coffee to ward off asthma attacks in 1860, recognizing its centrally stimulating properties. In the past century, medical practice continued valuing this methylxanthine in addressing neonatal apneas, ameliorating postdural puncture headaches, and enhancing the analgesic properties of acetaminophen and NSAIDs. Inquiries into caffeine’s medicinal potential continue today, including exploring the stimulant’s enhancement of analgesia and reversal of anesthesia’s sedating effects. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)

Before mid-20th century physicians wielded it as a cardiac stimulant and diuretic in vials with built-in needles (AMPINS [Automatic Ampule Injectors], top right), caffeine supplied coffee’s percolated pep for centuries. A familiar delivery system for the world’s most popular stimulant drug, coffee’s discovery continues to be shrouded in myth. A first-century tale famously told of Kaldi, the goat herder, whose animals sampled the berries of a flowering plant (left) and became so animated they danced for hours, piquing the attention of nearby monks. It was not until the 19th century that coffee drinking pierced the European social scene, and chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge extracted caffeine from those peculiar beans. With a more scientific era of medicine dawning, Henry H. Salter, M.D., encouraged the drinking of coffee to ward off asthma attacks in 1860, recognizing its centrally stimulating properties. In the past century, medical practice continued valuing this methylxanthine in addressing neonatal apneas, ameliorating postdural puncture headaches, and enhancing the analgesic properties of acetaminophen and NSAIDs. Inquiries into caffeine’s medicinal potential continue today, including exploring the stimulant’s enhancement of analgesia and reversal of anesthesia’s sedating effects. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
View largeDownload slide

Before mid-20th century physicians wielded it as a cardiac stimulant and diuretic in vials with built-in needles (AMPINS [Automatic Ampule Injectors], top right), caffeine supplied coffee’s percolated pep for centuries. A familiar delivery system for the world’s most popular stimulant drug, coffee’s discovery continues to be shrouded in myth. A first-century tale famously told of Kaldi, the goat herder, whose animals sampled the berries of a flowering plant (left) and became so animated they danced for hours, piquing the attention of nearby monks. It was not until the 19th century that coffee drinking pierced the European social scene, and chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge extracted caffeine from those peculiar beans. With a more scientific era of medicine dawning, Henry H. Salter, M.D., encouraged the drinking of coffee to ward off asthma attacks in 1860, recognizing its centrally stimulating properties. In the past century, medical practice continued valuing this methylxanthine in addressing neonatal apneas, ameliorating postdural puncture headaches, and enhancing the analgesic properties of acetaminophen and NSAIDs. Inquiries into caffeine’s medicinal potential continue today, including exploring the stimulant’s enhancement of analgesia and reversal of anesthesia’s sedating effects. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)

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Melissa L. Coleman, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.

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