Talk Coffee Blog — 2025-01-21

About decaf…

## 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 solven