Types of Coffee Bean Processing Methods - Is Swiss Water Process Coffee Sweeter When Using Swiss Water?

FrontStreet Coffee - Introducing the Swiss Water Process

Decaffeinated Coffee - Swiss Water Process

No chemical solvents are needed, and 99% of the caffeine is removed from the beans—ideal for people who want to drink coffee but cannot take caffeine at certain stages of life.

First Stage: Extracting the Caffeine-Free Solution

First, a large quantity of green coffee beans is washed and soaked to extract soluble substances, caffeine included.

After the beans are removed, the solution is filtered through activated carbon filters to strip out the caffeine, producing a caffeine-free solution. This step is called GCE, or Green Coffee Extraction.

Second Stage: Caffeine Removal

New, pre-soaked green beans are poured into the caffeine-free solution from the first stage. Under specific conditions of time, temperature, and flow rate, caffeine continuously leaves the new beans while the soluble substances in the solution reach equilibrium. The solution in the tank is then passed through a special activated-carbon filtration system that removes 99.9% of the caffeine (a process taking 8-10 hours).

Third Stage: Removing the Coffee Beans

The beans are removed and dried, either in the sun or in an oven, then roasted before use.

Overview

Compared with the "direct solvent method" (using dichloromethane or ethyl acetate to dissolve caffeine) and the "carbon dioxide processing method," the Swiss Water Process needs no chemical solvents, and the soak solution can be reused across different batches.

The drawback is that its production cost is much higher than the two solvent methods above, and the extracted caffeine is simply filtered out rather than sold for other commercial uses.

Worth knowing: depending on how much pectin is retained, honey processing is also divided into yellow honey, black honey, and others.

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a dedicated coffee research house, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation just to help more friends fall in love with coffee, and we are always glad to help you explore every corner of coffee processing.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Processing makes the coffee, and if you enjoy tasting how method shapes flavor, FrontStreet Coffee's natural-process lots are a rewarding study. The natural Yirgacheffe Red Cherry, picked from fully ripe red cherries and dried on raised beds for 27-30 days, is medium-light roasted and shows elegant florals, bright acidity, tropical fruit, and a full fermented sweetness.

For a bolder take, FrontStreet Coffee's Huakui, a natural Sidamo, is medium-light roasted for a light ferment, florals, citrus, and mango, rounded by honey sweetness, a cocoa note, and a thick, lasting finish.

And if you want to see anaerobic fermentation at work, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Sidra is a double anaerobic natural that pours with passion fruit, apricot, dried fruit, and grape, plus an almond-like finish.