Shower or bath? Decaffeinating coffee

99.9% Caffeine-free

Decaffeinated coffee is not entirely caffeine-free. In European Community (EC) countries, roasted decaffeinated coffee may contain a caffeine residue of 0.1% and coffee extract 0.3%.

The Decaffeination Process

An Arabica coffee bean contains between 0.8 and 1.3% caffeine, a Robusta bean between 2.0 and 2.5%. The caffeine is removed from the raw green bean, before roasting.

The most commonly used processes are the water-carbon (H2O/C) method and the dichloromethane (commonly known as DCM) method. Both of these techniques extract the caffeine with a caffeine-selective solvent, therefore it's possible to find small traces of these substances in the bean after decaffeination.

Water-Carbon Method

This process uses water (H2O) as a solvent. The green beans are rinsed continuously with water, the caffeine dissolves out of the bean into the water. The water is then pumped through an active carbon (C) filter which absorbs the extracted caffeine. The decaffeinated beans are the dried using warm air and then cooled with cold air, they are then roasted, ground and packed in the usual way. The water is then re-cycled & used for the next batch of beans.

Dichloromethane Process

This method uses dichloromethane (DCM) as a solvent and has been developed to provide large scale decaffeination. The green beans are moistened with water to make the surface of the bean porous, they are then soaked in the solvent for 30 minutes. This is repeated several times until the maxiumum amount of caffeine has been removed. The beans are then steamed to remove any remaining solvent, dried using warm air, then cooled with cold air. The beans are finally roasted, ground & packed as usual.