What is decaf?
Decaffeinated coffee is literally coffee minus the caffeine. It doesn’t have to be coffee minus the flavour
Some coffee drinkers find that they are sensitive to caffeine and need to drink a decaffeinated coffee. Others prefer to restrict caffeine consumption to the morning. Whatever your reasons might be, decaffeinated coffee offers an option to those wishing to limit caffeine intake.
Decaffeination removes 97% – 99.9% of the caffeine from coffee beans. A cup of decaf coffee may contain 2 mg or so of caffeine as compared to around 100mg in a typical caffeinated cup.
To decaffeinate coffee, green beans are warmed and soaked in a liquid to dissolve and remove the caffeine in one of four ways: using water, using a mixture of water and a solvent (most commonly methylene chloride or ethyl acetate (EA- aka sugarcane process) or using water and carbon dioxide. All four methods are safe. After the caffeine is removed, the beans are washed, steamed and finally roasted at temperatures that evaporate all decaffeination liquids.
How to choose decaf coffee beans?
Sadly, much of the decaf sold and served in Australia is utter garbage. There are still cafes with a canister of preground decaf of unknown roast date under their bench. They either don’t know or don’t care about what’s in your cup.
Decaf typically ages far more rapidly than caffeinated coffee (in general, due to lower oil content) and for this reason, all of our decaf is frozen immediately after roasting.
We recommend that you keep your decaf frozen and grind directly from your freezer. As with all coffee, if the roaster can’t or won’t provide you with a roast date, don’t purchase their coffee. They clearly have something to hide!
These days, decafs can originate from many different origins and may be decaffeinated via different processes. Talk Coffee typically sells Swiss Water® process and Sugarcane Decaf depending on availability. We do not sell methylene chloride decaf. Carbon Dioxide decafs are rarely available in Australia.
Decaf coffee origins vary. You can choose a decaf coffee as you choose a regular coffee. Have a read over the descriptors and if it sounds right for you, it probably will be!
What is Swiss Water® Process decaf?
The Swiss Water® Process uses water and natural compounds in green coffee to gently remove caffeine without leaving any residues. It helps to preserve the inherent characteristics of the coffee and is truly chemical-free. Unfortunately in Australia, it’s rare that we have access to very high quality specialty examples. The coffees we are offered typically receive cup scores in the very low to low-mid 80s.
How does the Swiss Water® Process work?
Green coffee beans are cleaned, rehydrated, and then immersed in Swiss Water’s proprietary Green Coffee Extract (GCE) for the removal of caffeine. Created using only green coffee and water, GCE contains all the same water-soluble compounds found in green coffee, except for caffeine. Central to the process is the principle of diffusion: molecules naturally move from an area of high concentration to one of low concentration.
Water-soluble compounds are held at equilibrium between the green coffee and the GCE minus the caffeine, which only exists in the coffee. Diffusion now takes place, with caffeine molecules migrating out of the coffee beans and into the liquid GCE, but leaving everything else intact.
After becoming saturated with caffeine, the GCE flows through proprietary carbon filters that trap only caffeine, so that the GCE may be used once again. Refreshed, caffeine-free GCE continues to flow until the coffee reaches its target of 99.9% caffeine free. Coffee then moves from processing to drying, where moisture in the coffee is converted to vapour, and removed through the air exhaust stream.
Is Swiss Water Decaf Healthy?
For those that are highly caffeine sensitive or wish to limit their intake of caffeine, Swiss Water® Process decaf is 99.9% (on average) caffeine free.
What is Sugarcane (EA) Decaf?
Sugarcane Ethyl Acetate (E.A.) Decaffeination is a natural process that not only maintains the integrity of green-coffee flavour, but also allows us to offer higher scoring decaffeinated coffee. Our EA decaf is currently sourced from Colombia. Around 97% of the caffeine is removed via the EA process and these coffees can often score into the high 80 point cup score region. The (superior in our opinion) results are in the cup.
How does the Sugarcane decaffeination process work?
Green coffee is is steamed for 30 minutes via a low-pressure steaming process. This opens the pores of the coffee allowing for caffeine extraction. The green beans are then added to a solution of water and Ethyl Acetate (E.A.), a naturally occurring byproduct of the fermentation of sugarcane. Once submerged in the solvent the EA naturally bonds to the salts of chlorogenic acids within the coffee allowing for the extraction of caffeine. Once the coffee is saturated, the tank is drained and a fresh solution is introduced.
This process continues for about 8 hours. After the caffeine has been extracted, the coffee receives another steaming which removes the almost all remaining traces of Ethyl Acetate. EA Decaffeinated coffee is then dried and then polished to ensure cleanliness. Finally the coffee is packaged for export
Is Sugarcane E.A. decaffeination safe?
The Sugarcane E.A. Decaffeination Process removes a minimum of 97% of all caffeine originally present within green coffee. During the coffee roasting process, the overwhelming majority of the Ethyl Acetate evaporates at about 70 deg. C on its way to temperatures above 200 deg. C, so roasted coffee will contain- at maximum, minute traces of E.A (to 10 ppm). A ripe banana naturally contains about 200 ppm of Ethyl Acetate- so the process is safe!
Is decaf coffee healthy or Is it bad for you?
Like all coffee, decaffeinated coffee is safe for consumption and can be part of your healthy diet.