Decaffeinated Coffee: what Is It And How Do They Do It?

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s the cup quality of decaffeinated inferior to that of regular coffee? Absolutely not.

In fact, all the many different varieties, origins, flavors and type of coffee available retain their specific properties and are available to enjoy as decaf.

What is the preferred way to decaffeinate?
There are differing opinions on this, of course.
Some of us believe the European water process is the best way to decaffeinate.
Why? Discerning specialty coffee providers go to great lengths to ensure their roasting process is chemical free.
This emphasis on quality helps maintain the flavor, aroma and other qualities of specialty coffee. The result is decaffeinated coffee drinkers have a wide selection of gourmet coffees available for their enjoyment.
Such single origin coffees come from the top growing areas with names such as Sumatra Estate, Costa Rican SHB, Colombian Supremo and Kenya AA.
Decaffeinated gourmet coffee blends include private blends such as Custom House Blend (5 Star Chefs Choice) and Classic Mocha Java (or Moka Java/Mocca Java).
Others are Classic Espresso, and more than 69 flavored decaffeinated coffees, and more!

What decaffeination processes are used for caffeine extraction?
European water method:
This method utilizes the immersion of green coffee beans in water where the caffeine content is extracted and then removed. To prevent loss of the coffee's aromatic character, the process first saturates the water with the coffee's water soluble components. To remove the extracted caffeine from the aqueous solution, the processor passes the solution through activated carbon or other absorbents which retain the caffeine. The solution, now caffeine free, can be used again (recycled).
Ethyl Acetate method:
Ethyl acetate is a naturally occurring product that contributes to the characteristic aroma of many types of fruit. Coffee cherries are fruit. Water and ethyl acetate are combined and used in the decaffeination process. Ethyl acetate is circulated around the water soaked beans. This extracts caffeine. The mixture of water, ethyl-acetate and caffeine is drained from the extracting container several times until it reaches the level necessary to label the coffee as decaffeinated.
Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and Liquid Carbon Dioxide method:
CO2 is a naturally occurring substance in the air that we breathe and in sparkling water we drink. CO2 can be used for selective caffeine extraction that leaves most of the coffee beans unaltered but with reduced caffeine. This process requires specialized equipment, large production capacity and sufficiently high supply/demand metrics to be profitable.
Methylene Chloride method (Dichloromethane or DCM):
This method extracts caffeine selectively at a low boiling point. In the extracting container the DCM is circulated around the water soaked coffee beans to extract the caffeine. The mixture of DCM and caffeine is then drained. This process is repeated several times until the residual caffeine content has reached the desired level of decaffeination.

C offee is one of the most popular beverages in the world.
It is the second most traded physical commodity worldwide, ranking second only to petroleum.

That is amazing and a good indication of the billions of beans harvested, processed, traded, roasted and sold 24/7 around planet Earth.

There are many reasons why people enjoy drinking coffee:

• The brew complements the time spent reading a good book. Reading offers both pleasure and information. Reading offers a view into another world when you can escape the present and pretend to be in another dimension, time or space.
• Reading offers the opportunity to see the world through someone else's eyes and to broaden our understanding of the world around us.
• Drinking coffee provides a sensory experience that adds pleasure to the tongue and palate in addition to the mental enjoyment from reading.
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001), pioneering American aviatrix and author who was married to Charles Lindbergh, said about coffee"Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after."

The taste of coffee is simply delightful.

• Our taste buds are extremely sensitive organs and will "tingle" when stimulated.
• The four basic tastes are sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Learning where the tongue is stimulated enables the coffee drinker to learn how to taste the basic profile of the coffee.
• It is delightful to evaluate the taste sensation of the tongue. It takes practice to recognize the 'tingles." However, learning where the tingles are on the tongue indicates the primary taste profile of the coffee.
• For example, a sour coffee will give a "puckery feeling" like a good glass of wine. Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French writer and realist novelist said about coffee, "Coffee: Induces wit. Good only if it comes through Havre. After a big dinner party it is taken standing up. Take it without sugar-very swank; gives the impression you have lived in the East..."

Coffee makes you feel upbeat, enthusiastic, "sharper" and alert.

• It is not unusual to hear how people in the morning are not really ready to be part of the world until after drinking their daily morning coffee.
• Caffeine helps us become fully cognizant and to feel more alert. Clark Gable (1901-1960), American film actor nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday, said, "I never laugh until I've had my coffee."

Coffee is good for you. Research takes place daily on coffee, caffeine and health around the world.

• Scientists and research institutes worldwide release studies and research reports frequently that support the caffeine health claims, good news for coffee lovers.
• Basically, coffee has antioxidants and caffeine, two main ways of improving the health of your body. These substances have health and anti aging benefits.
Antioxidants help your body repair damage to cells caused by free radicals. These free radicals are produced as a by-product of cells through normal daily activities.

Coffee and caffeine are recognized for their positive health benefits and potential functional food attributes.

• A quote attributed to Alexander King (1909-2007), scientist and pioneer of the sustainable development movement, and co-founder of the Club of Rome, said, "Actually, this seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis - a good hot cup of coffee."

Coffee is a beverage you can keep on drinking throughout the day and never really have too much.
For example, the ever increasing availability of new flavored coffees offers more choices to coffee drinkers who want to taste and experience more flavors than nature can provide.

Looking back at history, we learn that people, hundreds of years ago, enjoyed blending coffee with nuts and spices to create special flavors. Thomas Stearns Eliot, also known as T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Anglo-American poet, playwright, and literary critic said about coffee, "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons!"

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H ow many people can relate to the daily morning sensation of waking up to a new day and not really being part of the world until after drinking their first cup of coffee?

The first order of business for millions of people includes drinking coffee.
This is how we become fully cognizant and ready for the day's activities.
You will likely be more alert, run faster, last longer and feel stronger after consuming caffeine.

This is true whether the caffeine is from coffee or from other sources.
Drinking coffee increases cognitive functions, physical stamina and wakefulness. The question is: how much coffee is enough?

Interestingly, one cup can offer some benefit although the real impact comes from two cups or more.

• Very heavy caffeine use, exceeding five to seven cups of coffee per day, can cause problems to some people such as anxiety, irritability, sleeplessness and headaches.
• Undoubtedly, other beverages such as milk and fruit juices, for example, contain important nutrients that coffee does not have.
• It is also true that coffee accompaniments such as cream, sugar and other goodies consumed with coffee add calories and fat to your diet.

"Everything in moderation" is good advice to remember and to put into practice for a healthy life.
There are many questions about coffee and health. For example, How does caffeine impact muscular activity?

• Caffeine stimulates the brain and nervous system to do things differently.
• Coffee drinkers know from experience that, after drinking coffee, they are able to ignore fatigue.
• Somehow, with caffeine, you get the extra energy to push yourself and deliver the extra effort at work, home or during athletic performance.
• Caffeine can have a direct effect on muscle contraction. This is particularly noticeable during intense athletic activity.
• Caffeine positively enhances athletic strength, sprinting and endurance. This all happens through a positive, natural process, instead of negative performance-enhancing manipulations.
• The harder you exercise, the more benefit you derive from coffee. And, of course, exercise is linked to good health.
• The benefits of muscle strength from caffeine are of great appeal to athletes or anyone considering consistent, intense athletic activity.
• Caffeine boosts athleticism, a known fact to the Olympic Games Committee, which monitors the amounts of caffeine in coffee or other forms consumed by competing athletes.

It is often argued that caffeine has a negative effect on sleep.

• The reality, however, is that many external factors, including noise, temperature, stress, personal lifestyle, family life and a whole host of other possible factors affect how long it takes someone to get to sleep.
• Many people drink caffeinated drinks during the evening hours and go to sleep right away.
• Others find the stimulation from caffeine a cause for sleeplessness.
• Frankly, common sense dictates that anyone sensitive to the stimulant effects of coffee simply should not drink the beverage during the evening.
• As an alternative, they can drink decaffeinated coffee, enjoy their cup and get some good sleep as well.

Caffeine in an Espresso

Has less caffeine than a cup of coffee.

One cup of drip brewed coffee

115 milligrams of caffeine.

One Espresso cup and percolated coffee

80 milligrams of caffeine.

Did you know ?

Coffee has more than 400 different chemicals including caffeine

Decaffeination Standards in the USA

Require removal of a minimum 90% of the cafeeine in the coffee beans.

In the European Union

The decaffeination standard is to remove 99% of the caffeine in the coffee beans.

Arabica coffee such as Colombian Supremo

Has approximately half the caffeine content of a robusta coffee.

Moderate amounts of caffeine per day

Less than 600 milligrams a day are not considered harmful to the average healthy adult person.

Decaffeinated coffees tend to cost more than regular coffee

This is due to the additional labor and other expenses required for caffeine removal.

Coffee beans are decaffeinated before they are roasted

When the process is done more cost effectively.

By decaffeinating coffee beans before roasting them

The roastmaster ensures having the least effect on the beans' flavor.

Decaffeinated choices are many

Unblended. Blended. Flavored coffees.

Coffee houses attracted all types of people during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Bohemians, slackers, snobs, politicians, luminaries, intellectuals, gentlemen and everyone else from all walks of life frequented the many coffee establishments opened for business in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is a great place to revisit, virtually, some of the most famous ones.


The London Coffee House was a very popular one where city business people and maritime merchants gathered to cut deals, bid on city auctions, read newspapers and talk politics.

• The London Coffee House was located at what was one of Philadelphia's busiest street corners: Front and High Streets, not far from the city's docks.
• This establishment was also used as a venue for public auctions of sundry merchandise and it was the scene of regular grain and meat selling.
• Such market selling was operated out of the sheds on High Street across from the coffee house usually at noon.
After the market bidding concluded, the crowds would fill this establishment to capacity and you can say it was a very noisy and animated place. Without a doubt, lots and lots of coffee sold each day!

Philadelphia's growth quickly justified the opening of more coffee gathering places, especially to meet the needs of ever more demanding social and mercantile aristocrats.
• The Merchant's Coffee House, later on known as City Tavern, opened for business and became a favorite gathering place.
City Tavern was located on Second Street and offered two front rooms for special meetings of merchants, captains of vessels and gentlemen.
• In addition, City Tavern also offered rooms for rent, a restaurant, a stable and beverages, including coffee, at reasonable rates.
• City Tavern remained, for more than 50 years, the hub of the business community in Philadelphia.
• Many other taverns, inns, coffee houses, markets and restaurants operated during this time.
• However, none could compare to the 'allure' that City Tavern offered. Perhaps such special attraction was due to famous personalities such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and others frequently meeting here.

Coffee houses were centers of revolutionary and intellectual inspiration as a result of the mixed patronage they attracted.
• Consequently, they became synonymous with sedition and independence.
• Coffee, like tea, was an expensive commodity and, at one time, had been a beverage for the "well to do" in the Colonies.
• However, after the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Tea Tax of 1767, there was a general American tea boycott.
• Coffee consumption benefited from greater social acceptance, higher demand and resulting lower prices that made it more affordable for people to consume this beverage.

Next time you are in Philadelphia, take the time to visit the streets where these famous coffee establishments were once located.

Fortunately, Philadelphia protects historical buildings very well. It is possible to relive, virtually speaking, some of the atmosphere and noise that was commonplace at The London Coffee House and at City Tavern.
All it really takes to do this is a good cup of gourmet coffee in the historical center of Philadelphia, reading some history and visualizing the way things were.


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