The scientist
The scientist behind paraxanthine (Px) coffee
Most coffee gets formulated for flavor. This one started with a scientist who had a problem with his own cup. Jeffrey Dietrich, PhD, co-founded the company that pioneered putting paraxanthine (Px) directly into coffee — and co-holds the patent that makes it possible.
The problem he set out to solve
Like a lot of people, Dietrich hit a wall with caffeine in his early thirties — the afternoon crashes, the disrupted sleep, the low hum of morning anxiety.† He didn't want to quit coffee. He wanted a version that kept the lift and dropped the cost. When it didn't exist, he set out to build it.
What he built
The answer was paraxanthine — the metabolite your body already makes from caffeine, and the compound responsible for a portion of coffee's lift (here's how it works). Dietrich and his team developed a way to put it directly into real, decaffeinated coffee, and they hold the patents for that specific application (US 11,872,232; 12,178,820; and 12,310,971). Others can use paraxanthine elsewhere; the coffee application is theirs.
[Still needed before publish: a headshot.]
Why his word carries weight
- A working scientist, not a marketer. A UC Berkeley PhD in bioengineering; he approached coffee as a chemistry problem.
- NSF-backed research. The underlying science has been supported by the National Science Foundation (SBIR) — a competitive, peer-reviewed federal grant, not a marketing badge.
- 43North winner. The company took home a 43North award (Buffalo's startup competition), 2025 cohort.
- The patent. Co-inventor of the only patented method for paraxanthine in coffee — the clearest signal that this is genuinely novel, not a reformulation.
In the interest of full transparency: Jeffrey Dietrich co-founded Rarebird, the company that owns and sponsors decaf.info. We're telling you that plainly because this page is about the inventor of a product we're sponsored by — not an independent third-party review. For how we handle that relationship across the site, see how we rank.
† Personal-history detail drawn from approved Rarebird founder creative; confirm with Jeffrey before publish. Nothing on this page is a medical claim — see the disclaimer in the footer.