Decaffeinated coffee
It's a philosophical assertion that the pace of life has accelerated significantly in recent decades. For many, coffee, due to its psychoactive properties, is not only a gustatory experience, but also a way to maintain the pace imposed by society. But what happens when we want to enjoy the gustatory experience of coffee without the resulting stimulation of our nervous system? In these cases, we can turn to decaffeinated coffee.
It's also an almost philosophical assertion that coffee purists consider decaffeination sacrilegious. And until now, they were right: the methods used to decaffeinate coffee caused it to lose many of its organoleptic qualities.
But things have changed and are changing. The application of new methods and technologies has made it possible to obtain quality decaffeinated coffees. These decaffeinated coffees are obtained using natural methods and without the use of chemicals.
Swiss Water is a water osmosis process that eliminates 99.9% of caffeine without using chemicals.
Caffeine
First, we need to establish what caffeine is. Caffeine is a chemical compound , an alkaloid antioxidant that acts as a psychoactive substance that stimulates the nervous system.
Caffeine can be found in various plants and fruits, such as coffee, tea, and guarana. In all cases, the chemical compound is the same, and the effects are similar. It goes by different names depending on the source and because it may be mixed with other substances specific to each plant or fruit in which it is found.
Caffeine has many beneficial properties for our bodies (you can check out this article , which lists ten science-backed benefits of coffee). However, given its psychoactive properties that stimulate the nervous system, there may be situations in which it's not advisable to consume it.
In these cases, and not wanting to give up the taste experience of coffee, we can turn to decaffeinated coffee.
Decaffeinated coffee
Decaffeinated coffee is the result of subjecting any coffee to a decaffeination process. Caffeine is naturally present in coffee. Decaffeination is a process by which this psychoactive component is eliminated.
Decaffeinated coffee is obtained from coffee that has been grown in the same way as any other coffee. It is then processed and dried using standard methods, resulting in what we know as green coffee.
For this reason, to obtain quality decaffeinated coffee, we must start with quality coffee. Factors such as the plantation location, altitude, soil quality, and climate will affect the quality of the coffee and must be taken into account.
The decaffeination process is performed on green coffee before roasting. Coffee roasters purchase decaffeinated green coffee and roast it, adjusting the roast profile to bring out its best qualities.
Coffee is decaffeinated when it is green (before being roasted)
Decaffeination processes
There are several methods for making decaffeinated coffee, but they all follow the same logic: Green coffee beans are soaked in water to dissolve the caffeine, which is a water-soluble compound, and then the resulting liquid with the caffeine is removed.
Although based on the same logic, traditional processes for making decaffeinated coffee used chemicals , generally methylene chloride and ethyl acetate, to dissolve the caffeine.
The method that uses chemicals is known as direct solvent. In this method, green coffee beans are soaked in water containing one of these chemicals—methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. These chemicals are acids that dissolve the caffeine. The water is then discarded, and the coffee, now caffeine-free, is dried again.
But this method has two main contraindications. First, these chemicals are harmful to your health . Second, the chemicals not only dissolve caffeine, but also other compounds in coffee that give it flavor, aroma, and body.
Research into the decaffeination process has led to new methods for making decaffeinated coffees without chemicals and that are respectful of the rest of the coffee's components. It's true that decaffeinating coffee—yet—can't be done without affecting, at least to a minor extent, its organoleptic profile, but current methods are much more respectful and produce coffees with excellent tasting profiles.
These methods are the carbon dioxide method and the osmosis method known as Swiss Water.
The Swiss Water Method for decaffeinated coffee
We're going to focus on the Swiss Water method since the decaffeinated coffees we work with at Ineffable Coffee have been treated using this method.
We'll only briefly mention the carbon dioxide method. The process is exactly the same as the direct solvent method, but carbon dioxide is used instead of a chemical. This method is less toxic than using methylene chloride or ethyl acetate, but it's much more expensive and rarely used.
The Swiss Water method, on the other hand, is more economical than the carbon dioxide method and does not introduce any chemicals or toxic elements. The Swiss Water method, also known as the osmosis method, is based precisely on this concept.
Simply put, this process involves immersing green coffee in water containing a caffeine-free green coffee solution . This solution is obtained using this same method and is also natural and 100% chemical-free.
Coffee has many soluble compounds that, when in contact with water, create the beverage we love. The logic is that if we immerse green coffee in water already saturated with all the soluble compounds in coffee except caffeine, the water will only absorb the caffeine from the green coffee, keeping the rest of its qualities intact.
This process extracts up to 99.9% of the caffeine , and while some organoleptic qualities are inevitably lost along the way, the result is a fantastic decaffeinated specialty coffee; which means we'll still find tasting notes, such as spices, marzipan, and chocolate.
This method is a little more expensive than the direct solvent method (which, yes, is still used in low-quality commercial coffees), but it is almost as effective, much healthier, and kinder to the coffee.
Video illustrating the decaffeination process using the Swiss Water method or osmosis
How much caffeine does decaf coffee have?
And you might be wondering, but does decaf coffee have caffeine? The answer is yes, but in minimal amounts . 99.9% of the caffeine has been removed. To date, no method has been developed that eliminates 100% of the caffeine. But this isn't something you should really worry about, as the amount of caffeine is minimal.
According to current European Union legislation, the caffeine content cannot exceed 0.1% of the total dry weight for a coffee to be considered decaffeinated. Let's try to make this more understandable and practical.
We don't know exactly how much caffeine a cup of coffee has, as it varies depending on many factors. Typically, a cup of coffee has between 70 and 140 mg of caffeine, and a cup of decaffeinated coffee has between 1 and 7 mg.
The psychoactive effects of this amount of caffeine aren't really significant . It's like drinking an alcohol-free beer, for example. All alcohol-free beers, even 0.0, have a very small amount of alcohol, but no matter how many beers we drink, we won't notice the effects of the alcohol.
Quality of decaffeinated coffee with water or by osmosis
The flavor and aroma of a coffee are composed of more than 400 different molecules . Caffeine is just one of these molecules, and it's also tasteless. In principle, if only caffeine were removed, it shouldn't affect the organoleptic qualities of a coffee, but there is still no method that eliminates caffeine alone.
The method for making decaffeinated coffee with water, by osmosis, also called natural decaffeination, is the most environmentally friendly . Even so, some of the 400 molecules that give coffee its characteristic aroma and flavor are inevitably altered.
This means that any coffee that undergoes a decaffeination process will be of lower quality than the same coffee that hasn't undergone this process. But that doesn't mean that decaffeinated coffee can't be of high quality.
If we start from a specialty coffee, well grown and processed, and then decaffeinated using the osmosis method or Swiss Water Process, the final coffee's exceptional quality is increasingly surprising to coffee lovers and professionals.
All of the decaffeinated coffees we work with at Ineffable Coffee have been treated exclusively using the Swiss Water method.
You can enjoy quality decaffeinated coffee anytime.
Buy decaffeinated coffee
When purchasing specialty decaffeinated coffee , the factors to consider are the same as those for other specialty coffees . The place of origin, altitude, type of crop, freshness and season, and proper roasting, among other factors, are important.
It's also important that it's packaged properly and, whenever possible, that you buy whole beans and grind them only before use. If you follow these guidelines and prepare it properly, you can obtain a delicious, caffeine-free specialty coffee beverage.
In our online specialty coffee shop, all our decaffeinated coffees meet these standards so you can enjoy your coffee anytime, but without the psychoactive effects of caffeine.
