A Comparison of Decaffeination Processes

Consumer preference for natural, organic, and minimally processed foods is growing dramatically, as we all recognize that a healthy lifestyle includes not only good exercise and nutrition but also the elimination of chemicals and artificial ingredients in our food. Over 70% of decaffeinated coffee is decaffeinated by applying chemical solvents to the beans. The purpose of this page is to relay information about how other decaffeination processes are different from ours.

Coffee is decaffeinated using one of four different processes: Methylene Chloride, Ethyl Acetate, Swiss Water, or Sparkling Water. These decaffeination processes remove caffeine effectively.
Methylene Chloride is a chemical solvent that is applied to the beans to eliminate caffeine. The FDA allows residual levels of the chemical to remain after roasting.

Ethyl Acetate is a chemical solvent that is applied to the beans in the same manner as Methylene Chloride. Ethyl Acetate is created through a chemical mixture of water, acetic acid and ethanol. The FDA allows residual levels of this chemical to remain after roasting.

Through the Swiss Water Process, coffee beans are soaked in water until a liquid solution is reached that contains the coffee flavor properties and the caffeine. A carbon filter removes the caffeine. The flavor-saturated liquid is then poured over a new batch of coffee beans (the old ones from the first soaking are discarded), and soaked until the caffeine is removed. The cycle of soaking and filtering out the caffeine from the liquid is repeated. No chemicals are used.

The chemical dependent processes do not produce as satisfying a cup of coffee as the processes dependent on water due to the residual chemicals impact on the flavor and aroma of the coffee. The decaffeination processes that employ chemicals to remove caffeine impact the environment negatively not only by their use but also by the challenge of disposing of the chemicals and wastewater.

In addition to not using any chemicals to decaffeinate our coffee, we reduce our impact on the environment by:

• Purchasing 1/3 of our energy for our entire facility from green energy resources - wind
• Selling the extracted caffeine to companies who add it to their products
• Reusing the carbon dioxide is in multiple decaffeination batches
• Recycling the water by using it for external equipment cleaning

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about our natural decaffeination process.