What is Decaf Coffee?

Naturally, coffee has caffeine in it. Through special processes (like using organic solvents, carbon dioxide or water), at least 97% of caffeine is removed from the coffee beans. But how does this process actually work?

As the name suggests, the Swiss Water process was developed in Switzerland and relies solely on water to decaffeinate coffee beans:

1. Initial soaking: Green coffee beans are soaked in hot water so the caffeine is dissolved. This, however, also removes all of the sugars and other coffee flavourings.

2. Caffeine extraction: The water from this batch of green coffee beans is passed through a charcoal filter which traps the caffeine molecules allowing the sugars and other coffee elements to pass through. This creates the green coffee extract.

3. Decaffeination: The filtered water, now free of caffeine but rich in coffee flavour compounds, is used to soak a new batch of green coffee beans. The caffeine in the beans is drawn out into the water through a process called diffusion.

4. Drying: The delicious beans are then caffeine free and dried, ready to be roasted and ground for brewing a flavourful, decaffeinated cup of coffee.
This method means that you can get decaf coffee, rich in flavour and crafted without the need of added chemical solvents.

Caffeine can also be removed from coffee beans through highly compressed carbon dioxide, instead of chemical solvents. It’s a clever process that only targets the caffeine in the bean:

1. Milled green coffee beans are placed in a stainless-steel vessel and sealed, creating a pressurised environment for the decaffeination process.

2. The green coffee beans are soaked in a compressed carbon dioxide (called supercritical carbon dioxide) an extremely high-pressure fluid – 73 to 100 atmospheres - which acts as a solvent to extract the caffeine.

3. This is left for about 10 hours and out comes decaffeinated coffee beans, maintaining their original flavour and aroma.

Methylene chloride is a method of direct decaffeination that uses a chemical solvent to remove caffeine from coffee beans. How it works is pretty simple:

1. The green coffee beans are soaked in hot water or steamed to draw out the caffeine from the beans, opening up their pores and allowing the caffeine to dissolve into the water.

2. These soaked beans are removed from the water and the methylene chloride solvent is added to this water to soak up the caffeine.

3. The methylene chloride and caffeine are skimmed from the surface of the water mixture, removing the caffeine from the process.

4. Finally, the beans are readded to the water or steamed again to reabsorb the mixture and all the coffee goodness.

Some coffee companies choose to use this method as it maintains the coffee flavour better. However, others avoid this method due to the use of chemical solvents and opt for the indirect methods like the Swiss Water process or the carbon dioxide process instead.

In decaf coffee, 97% of caffeine is removed but there’s still a small amount. It’s said that there is up to 7mg (milligrams) of caffeine in a 235ml cup of decaf. The EU regulates that there needs to be no more than 0.3% of caffeine to be considered decaf.

There are conflicting ideas as to whether decaf coffee is better than caffeinated coffee. We’ve listed the pros of drinking decaf coffee for you below so you can see if decaf might be a good fit for your lifestyle.

Decaf coffee means you can escape the usual side effects of caffeine. People who are sensitive to caffeine can experience heart palpitations, restlessness and insomnia, so decaf provides a welcome alternative for those individuals who want to avoid these unpleasant symptoms.

Some people may feel more anxious after drinking coffee with caffeine. Although caffeine doesn’t cause anxiety, it can worsen the symptoms. People who experience this might want to stick to decaf.