We may NOT need caffeine for its effects.

Appetite. 2011 Jul 29. Expectation of having consumed caffeine can improve performance and mood. (University of East London, London, United Kingdom)

• 88 non-smokers, aged 18-47 years, half female
• Habitual coffee drinkers (>2 cup/day for >6 months)
• Randomly allotted to each group, double-blinded
• Told to receive ordinary cup of caffeinated or decaf coffee
• In fact, half of each group given the other kind of coffee
• 5 min for drinking, 55 waiting before test

• Improvement in attention and psychomotor speed shown with expectancy of caffeine.

	Given caffeinated	Given decaf
Told caffeinated	++	++
Told decaf	+	-

Coffee components of antiviral activity

Int J Mol Med. 2011 Jul 1. Inhibition of multiplication of herpes simplex virus by caffeic acid. (Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan)

• Previous finding: components of coffee extract inhibits viral multiplication.
• caffeine
• N-methyl-pyridinium formate
• This article is about caffeic acid, which is
• another coffee components, unrelated to caffeine
• commonly found as chlorogenic acid 
• esterification of quinic acid + caffeic acid
• a polyphenol, abundant in plants
• reported to have antioxidant activity
• Caffeic acid inhibits HSV-1 (virus causing cold sore) replication 
• in vitro (HEp-2 cell culture)
• at early time point only
• However, neither chlorogenic acid nor quinic acid did show such antiviral activity.