Decaffeinate coffee: how it works

If you cannot tolerate certain components of coffee or want to avoid the usual "caffeine surge", decaffeinated coffee can be something for you. In this article, we explain methods for decaffeinating coffee.

Decaffeinated coffee using a chemical process

While benzene was previously used for this procedure, other substances are used today because benzene is carcinogenic.

• The raw coffee beans are placed in a chemical bath made of the extractants dichloromethane and ethyl acetate.
• The extractants separate most of the caffeine from the beans.
• The beans are washed and dried before they can be processed further.
• No process can remove all of your caffeine from the coffee beans. There is always a maximum of 0.1%.

Decaffeinate using the carbon dioxide process

The advantage of the carbon dioxide process is that no chemicals are used during the process.

• Only water is heated and added to the coffee beans so that they can soak.
• CO2 then acts on the soaked beans with high pressure.
• The caffeine is absorbed by the carbon dioxide and transported outside. There it can then be recovered.
• The recovered caffeine is often processed for medicine. It often flows in caffeine tablets.

In the next article we will clarify whether drinking coffee in the morning is healthy.