March 7th, 2008 | General, Green Byte, News
Ever give any thought to how decaf coffee beans get “decaffed? Me neither. But recently I discovered that most decaffeinated coffee goes through a chemical process - yuck.
In all processes the beans are either soaked, steamed or boiled in water for 30 minutes to several hours. In conventional methods, the beans are then rinsed repeatedly in chemicals (either methylene chloride or ethyl acetate) for hours. There is now an organic, chemical-free method that is gaining popularity. It is called the Swiss Water Process, developed by the Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company. After the initial steaming, a carbon filter traps the caffeine molecules, but allows the coffee solids and water to pass through. The process is repeated until 99.9% of the caffeine is removed.
Seattle’s Best Coffee Roasters are among those that offer the Swiss Water Process in our area. See this Swiss Water link for local retailers.
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