SCIENTISTS now have the technology for producing decaffeinated coffee and tea from genetically modified plants, according to research published today.

Unlike current decaffeinated products, the GM beans will have the full flavour of ordinary coffee, according to Professor Alan Crozier and scientists at Tokyo's Ochanomizu University who discovered the technique.

Prof Crozier, an expert in plant products at Glasgow University's Institute of Biomedical and Life Science, said it could take five to 10 years before the caffeine-free coffee bean was available in the shops.

He added: ''For those of us interested in full-flavoured tea and coffee, the technique we have discovered should allow a decaffeinated product with the full-bodied taste of the normal bean.

''Also, decaffeination is only partly effective, leaving around 10% of the caffeine behind. The modified beans will have a tiny trace of caffeine.''

The findings, published today in the journal Nature, are the culmination of more than 10 years of work by Professor Crozier and Japanese co-worker Professor Hiroshi Ashihara.

The new technique involves isolating a crucial protein, called caffeine synthase. Without this enzyme, which puts the finishing touches to the caffeine molecule, the coffee plant remains caffeine free.

Professor Crozier said: ''It proved difficult to isolate the protein as it is very fragile, and we spent a long time working on that.''

This discovery opens the way to blocking the caffeine biosynthesis pathway and creating a naturally caffeine-free tea or coffee.

Because it is so new, no coffee plants have been grown yet using the discovery, but the techniques are fairly straightforward in terms of molecular genetics, and the Japanese researchers have been granted patents on the use of caffeine synthase to create a no-caffeine bean.

Decaffeinated coffee currently accounts for more than 20% of the US market and 9% of the UK market, giving the product significant commercial potential.

The findings were hailed as a welcome alternative to current decaffeination methods by Friends of the Earth Scotland.

However, Mr Richard Dixon, head of research at FoE - one of the groups calling for a five-year freeze on the use of GM foods to allow further research - claimed it would be dangerous to grow the GM coffee plant for commercial use before more was known about possible side-effects.

He said: ''Professor Crozier is right to say that there are positive sides to this research because the decaffeination process at the moment involves some rather nasty chemicals.

''However, as with all genetically modified food we are frightened that we don't know enough about the effects of the process.''

Glasgow coffee set cool over low-boost option

COFFEE drinkers in Glasgow yesterday said they wouldn't be tempted by genetically-modified alternatives.

Some expressed concern about the GM element, others declared they enjoyed a caffeine ''boost''.

City coffee enthusiast Tony McClelland, 37, said: ''I like caffeine in my coffee, it helps me stay awake.

''Probably the fact it was decaffeinated would put me off more than the fact it was genetically modified but I think we need more information on GM food.''

This view was shared by Paul Mooney, 21, who disagreed with genetic modification.

''I'm not into things that have been messed about with,'' he said.

Another self-professed caffeine addict, Douglas Wilson, 20, agreed, adding: ''I need my caffeine.''

Other coffee drinkers in the city didn't feel so strongly about the need for caffeine, although few were enthusiastic about the GM element.

One of the waitresses at Deli France on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street, 17-year-old Catherine McDonald, said she often drank decaffeinated coffee at night before going to bed.

Miss McDonald, who also works at Glasgow's Inn on the Green, said she wasn't sure about trying something that had been genetically modified.

She added: ''I don't think our customers here would buy it, not many buy decaffeinated coffee here anyway.

''I work at a restaurant in the evening and more people buy decaff there when it's late at night.''

The regional manager at Deli France, Ms Pam Smail, 34, also thought the product would be unpopular among customers.

However, Ms Smail wasn't concerned about the effects of genetic modification. She said: ''I drink my coffee strong - full of caffeine.

''I would try this new coffee but I personally wouldn't change my eating and drinking habits.''

Sixty-year-old Alice Calder said she drank coffee ''all the time'' but wanted to switch to a decaffeinated drink.

She said: ''I would try this new coffee.

''I would like to drink decaffeinated coffee if it didn't give me headaches. I wouldn't be put off just because it's GM.''