☕ Why decaffeinated coffee?
Sometimes in the evening, during pregnancy, or for health reasons – there are many reasons to drink decaffeinated coffee. But all too often, decaffeinated means a compromise: a worse taste, an “empty” aroma, and sometimes even a slight trace of chemicals.
➡️ But this only applies to commercial decaffeinated coffee.
➡️ The Specialty world offers something completely different.
📜 How did it all start?
The story goes back to 1905 , when Ludwig Roselius , a German merchant, accidentally received a shipment of coffee that had gotten wet during transport. He noticed that the caffeine was reduced – but the flavor (relatively) remained.
This led him to develop the first method of decaffeination – using benzene , now known as a harmful solvent.
This "industrial" logic has persisted to this day - using cheaper, faster methods in which taste is of secondary importance.
⚠️ Commercial decaffeination: fast and cheap
Most decaffeinated coffee on the market is treated with chemicals , such as:
Methylene chloride (dichloromethane)
Ethyl acetate
🧪 Procedure:
1️⃣ Soak green coffee beans in water.
2️⃣ They are then treated with the solvents mentioned above, which remove the caffeine.
3️⃣ Solvents "evaporate" - but traces may remain.
4️⃣ The grains are then dried again, roasted and sold.
➡️ Advantages: low costs, fast production.
➡️ Disadvantages: chemical residues, loss of aromas, lower grain quality.
🌄 Mountain Water® method
When we talk about decaffeination of coffee without compromise , we are talking about the Mountain Water® method – a water method that comes from Mexico, from under the mighty Pico de Orizaba volcano . Water from the mountains there is the basis for this process, which preserves the aroma of the coffee while removing almost all the caffeine – without the use of chemicals .
How does it work?
- Soaking the beans: Green coffee beans are soaked in clean, filtered mountain water, where caffeine and soluble coffee compounds (flavors, acids, sugars) are extracted.
- Activated carbon filtration: Water full of compounds is purified through carbon – this only retains the caffeine, leaving everything else in solution.
- Re-infusion: A new batch of beans is steeped in the same water – because it is already saturated with aromas, only the caffeine is extracted from the beans , but not the valuable aromas.
- Drying: After decaffeination is complete, the beans are gently dried and prepared for roasting.
✅ Solvent-free
✅ 99.9% caffeine removed
✅ Preserved aromas and complexity
✅ Coffee that is gentle on the body and rich for delicious palates
💧 Swiss Water® – an alternative with the same values
A similarly ethical and chemical-friendly method comes from Canada and is called Swiss Water® . The essence is the same: using filtered water and charcoal instead of chemical solvents . Swiss Water® works on the principle of Green Coffee Extract (GCE), which uses saturated coffee water to remove caffeine from the beans by osmosis – without losing flavor.
If we're going to drink decaffeinated coffee, at least it should have character.
Mountain Water® (and Swiss Water®) prove that natural processes can do more than chemistry.
Decaffeinated coffee is no longer a joke today – it's a pleasure. Try the difference. ☕💧