Its origin is assumed at the time of World War II, and was only popularized around the years 1995.
Today, it is the most widely used alternative method of development, with its development times being studied for a wide range of films. It has the advantages of the soup being reusable, of being able to be used in homemade revelation of color films, and, of course, of us preparing our soup, enjoying a beautiful coffee and an orange juice in the meantime - and why not??📷
The active chemical in coffee is not caffeine but caffeic acid, which behaves as pyrogallol. Of the types of coffee, Robusta is considered to be the richest in caffeic acid. Hence it is often read that it is not necessary to buy the most expensive soluble coffee (the most expensive coffee is Arabica, with a concentration of coffee extract lower than the robust coffee📷)to get the best results, advising yourself to a cheap:-).
The Caffenol Cookbook & Bible - Recipes and Tutorials.pdf
Reinhold's recipe
There are also Caffenol recipes using only coffee without vitamin C (doubling the development time and coffee concentration); Here's one of my favorite photos developed with Caffenol!
Pentax 645N
Neopan across 100
Caffenol C-M
(1l Water+54gr Na2CO3+16 gr Vit C + 40 gr soluble coffee - 15 min, 20º, 10 agit - 3agit/3 min)
Negativscan (Epson V500)
Important sites: