Jun 07 2010
Coffee Decaf
Standing in line at the local coffee shop and hearing someone order a coffee decaf is enough to make some coffee lovers cringe. There are coffee drinkers who wouldn’t go near a cup of decaffeinated coffee and argue that it is simply a coffee flavored beverage. On the other hand, there are coffee drinkers who had to switch to decaf or quit drinking coffee altogether for health reasons. After years of drinking coffee, these people wanted to be able to have their morning java without the side effects of caffeine. Decaffeinated coffee was the answer.
The direct process of removing the caffeine from coffee starts with the green bean, before it is roasted. The key to decaffeination is removing the caffeine without removing the 400 or so chemical that together creates the flavor and aroma of coffee. The first step is steaming the coffee beans and rinsing them with a chemical that removes the caffeine without damaging the chemical makeup of the bean. This process is repeated anywhere from seven to twelve times to remove as much of the caffeine as possible.
The indirect method of decaffeinating coffee starts by soaking the green coffee beans in hot water to create what amounts to a huge pot of extremely strong coffee. Once this has occurred the beans are removed from the liquid and a solvent is used to pull the caffeine from the water. The resulting liquid can then be broken further down to remove the solvent using dehydration. This step is continually repeated using fresh beans. This continues until the water has a similar composition as the beans without the caffeine that is found in the beans.
The Swiss Water Process is a similar to the indirect method in that the beans are soaked in hot water to release the caffeine and then discarded. The water is then filtered through a carbon filter that traps the caffeine but allows solids from the coffee to go through. This process continues until the beans are 99.9% caffeine free.
Once the caffeine is removed from the coffee beans they can be roasted and processed just like any other coffee bean. Gourmet decaffeinated coffee is created after the decaffeination process by the addition of flavors or other processing steps to enhance the flavor.
Decaffeinated coffee is often made from the Coffee Arabic bean, which naturally contains only half of the caffeine that the Robusta bean contains. There has also been a coffee Arabica bean discovered in Ethiopia that contained only a small amount of caffeine.
Decaffeinated coffee is a necessary ingredient in the world of coffee. It allows many people who would not otherwise be able to enjoy the taste of their favorite coffee drink to continue enjoying them. As people age and their health changes they often have to change their lifestyles and their diets. Decaffeinated coffee is a close substitute for their coffee every morning and can help them adjust to some of the changes by offering a familiar taste without the familiar jolt of caffeine.
-Sharon Chapman