The Art of Decaf

There are many routes by which to arrive at the same destination.  There are many ways to remove the caffeine from a coffee bean.  There are many ways to drink a cup of coffee.  Whatever you choose, we'll encourage you to enjoy the heck out of it.

Lets have a little chat about the process by which coffee is decaffeinated.  There are several methods and each one involves starting with the coffee berry (an unroasted or green coffee bean).  The next step is also the same for each of the decaffeination processes.  The "green beans" are steamed and/or soaked in hot water.   

The first and most preferred method used to decaffeinate is called "Swiss Water Process" because this system was developed in Switzerland.  It goes something like this (I'm learning as I go, please let me if I miss something!), the unroasted beans are soaked in hot water, essentially this creates a giant pot of coffee, at this point, still containing caffeine.  This coffee-like liquid is passed through and active charcoal filter which filters out the caffeine.  Now the beans are re-introduced to the de-caffeinated liquid, thus restoring the flavor characteristics of the bean.  The leftover caffeine dispelled from the bean is not sellable, so this process is more costly, but leaps and founds more ecologically friendly.

I'm gonna lump the next 2 decaffeination methods together, as they're fairly similar.  They're known as the "indirect" and "direct" processes.  Both involve soaking the green coffee berries in big vats of water for long periods of time, then, they are intermittently rinsed with solvent baths.  These solvent baths are combinations of dichloromethane or ethyl acetate; these "organic" chemicals are the caffeine extractors.  After 96-99 percent of the caffeine has been removed the beans are again soaked and rinsed to remove any residual solvents.  The caffeine "by-product" is marketable, thus making it a more economical process and product.  Ecological?  Ethical?  You tell me!?

The last of the commonly used decaf methods is known as the "CO2 method".  I'm sure you can extrapilate that carbon dioxide is used, but how?  I'm gonna turn this one over to our friends at Wikipedia.  The website tells us,

"Pre-steamed beans are immersed in supercritical carbon dioxide in a pressure chamber at 73 to 300 atmospheres. After a thorough soaking for around ten hours, the pressurized CO₂ containing dissolved caffeine is removed from the chamber which is returned to atmospheric pressure, allowing the CO₂ to evaporate. The caffeine is removed from the CO₂ using charcoal filters and is recycled for use on another batch of beans.<sup>"

Well, if you're reading this, you hung in far longer than most!  Good job and thanks for reading.  We carry decaf coffees that use all of these methods.  If you're interested in knowing which is which, the sign above the airpot may explain, but your barista should be able to tell you more or find the answer for you..

Be well.  Take Good Care. Drink Good Coffee.</sup>