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 around 2mg of caffeine, compared to around 100mg in a typical caffeinated cup.
How is Coffee Decaffeinated?
Green beans are warmed and soaked in a liquid to dissolve and remove the caffeine in one of four ways:
- Water process - uses only water and carbon filters. Clean and chemical-free.
- Methylene chloride (MC) process - highly effective; residue levels are well within safe limits after roasting.
- Ethyl acetate (EA/sugarcane process) - uses a naturally derived solvent. Often marketed as "natural decaf".
- CO₂ process - uses supercritical carbon dioxide. Expensive but preserves flavour compounds well.
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 pre-ground 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 (due to lower oil content). For this reason, all of our decaf is frozen immediately after roasting.
We recommend:
- Keep your decaf frozen and grind directly from your freezer
- Always look for a roast date - if the roaster can't or won't tell you, don't buy it
- Look for decafs processed via water or CO₂ methods if you prefer to avoid chemical solvents
- Buy in smaller quantities - freshness matters more with decaf than any other coffee
Our Decaf
We source and roast single-origin decafs from quality growing regions. The Swiss Water Process version we carry is, in our opinion, the best affordable decaf currently available in Australia. It drinks like a proper coffee - not a compromise.
Ask us about our current decaf offering. We're happy to discuss origins, process and flavour profile.