The Effects of Decaf Coffee on the Body: Differences Between Long-Term Decaf and Regular Coffee Consumption

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account cafe_style)

Introduction

One of the benefits of coffee is its caffeine content, which provides a refreshing effect. Supplementing caffeine is also one of the reasons many people drink coffee daily. However, everyone has different sensitivity to caffeine. Some people are very sensitive to caffeine but still want to drink coffee. Are there coffees with less caffeine content? Decaf coffee might be the best choice for those who don't want to consume too much caffeine.

What is Decaf Coffee?

Under normal circumstances, the caffeine content of coffee beans is measured by weight ratio. Arabica coffee beans contain 0.9%-1.4% caffeine (average 1.2%), while Robusta contains 1.8%-4% (average 2.2%). Decaf coffee is divided into naturally low-caffeine coffee and artificially processed decaffeinated (low-caffeine) coffee.

The most common naturally low-caffeine coffee is Laurina (Coffea Laurina), which has half the caffeine content of regular Arabica (0.6%). Unlike other artificially processed decaf coffees, Laurina has genetically reduced degradation, resulting in lower caffeine content compared to general Arabica coffee trees and better flavor.

For artificially processed decaf coffee, the European Union standard for such decaf coffee is that the caffeine content after processing does not exceed 0.1% of green beans, while the US FDA standard is reduction to less than 3% of the original caffeine content.

What are the Decaf Coffee Processing Methods?

There are many methods for removing caffeine today, which can be roughly divided into direct/indirect solvent processing, supercritical carbon dioxide processing, Swiss water processing, and mountain spring water processing.

Direct Solvent Processing

Direct solvent processing uses chemical solutions such as dichloromethane and ethyl acetate to dissolve caffeine. First, steam opens the pores of green coffee beans, then dichloromethane solvent is added directly to the coffee beans. After the solvent fuses with caffeine, the caffeine-filled solvent is washed away, and the coffee beans are steamed again to remove all residual solvent.

Since dichloromethane is suspected to increase cancer risk with long-term exposure, there are concerns about using it as a solvent. However, the FDA limits dichloromethane content in decaffeinated coffee to 0.001%, which is actually much lower than this, with minimal side effects.

The process using ethyl acetate as solvent is the same. Ethyl acetate usually comes from sugarcane, so when used, the direct solvent method is sometimes called the sugarcane decaffeination method. Typically, Colombian decaffeination processing uses this method. However, ethyl acetate is a highly flammable substance, making it more dangerous.

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Processing

This processing method first allows coffee beans to absorb water and expand, with caffeine molecules becoming loose within the coffee beans. Liquefied carbon dioxide is added and pressure greater than 100 atmospheres is created in water. Carbon dioxide is highly selective, dissolving caffeine without "harming" carbohydrates and proteins in the coffee beans, ensuring the coffee bean flavor is not damaged. The liquid carbon dioxide that carries away caffeine can also be reused after removing caffeine.

Coffee decaffeinated using carbon dioxide places less burden on the human body, and according to research, this method extracts more caffeine than the direct solvent method, while this method costs much more than the direct solvent method.

Swiss Water Processing

Swiss Water processing was developed by Swiss company Coffex in the late 1970s, and SWISS WATER® is now a registered trademark. This processing method soaks green coffee beans in hot water. During the soaking stage, caffeine is already partially removed. Then the soaked solution is filtered through activated carbon, and finally the solution is poured back into the coffee beans. This series of steps more effectively removes caffeine. Besides not needing chemical solvents, the soaked solution can be reused in different batch processing programs, but the coffee still loses flavor during the filtering process.

This method can achieve a caffeine removal rate of 99.9%, making it the method with the highest caffeine removal rate. FrontStreet Coffee conducted cupping tests on multiple decaf coffee beans and selected a Colombian Swiss water-processed one last year. This coffee bean comes from Colombia's Huila region, with varieties including Typica, Caturra, and Castillo. Combined with Swiss water processing, this decaf coffee bean showed obvious black cocoa, caramel, nuts, and rich, mellow taste during cupping.

Mountain Spring Water Processing

Very similar to Swiss water processing, this uses another special water - glacier water to extract caffeine. The company Descamex states they use a special filtration device to remove caffeine. After processing, a water-based solution without caffeine is obtained, which also dissolves coffee solids and can be reused in the decaffeination processing program.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add private WeChat FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473