Coffee is an immensely popular beverage that naturally contains high levels of caffeine. While many drink it as part of their morning wake-up and energy boost rituals, others may wish to limit their caffeine consumption for health or personal reasons. As such, many opt for decaf coffee; though most brands contain 99.7%-99% caffeine-free options; it may still contain trace amounts.

Organic decaf coffee production involves three main methods to strip caffeine from green, unroasted coffee beans: chemical solvents, liquid carbon dioxide, and plain water. Solvent-based methods use chemicals such as methylene chloride or ethyl acetate to soak coffee beans before binding with caffeine molecules and then evaporating off them; then the beans must be steamed again to remove any residual chemical solvent. Finally, decaf beans are ready for further steps.

The Swiss Water Process uses water alone to remove caffeine. This laborious and time-consuming method involves boiling beans in water until an extract rich in flavor compounds but free from caffeine (the unflavourful beans are discarded) is produced. After being passed through activated charcoal filters to capture caffeine molecules, this water is reused by soaking new coffee beans – producing some of the world’s finest decaf coffee!