Decaf has often been viewed, by coffee drinkers and industry alike, as something obsolete and unworthy. For the majority of us, coffee is a drink best consumed in the morning as it wakes us up. So coffee without the caffeine? What's the point, right?
Historically, roasteries haven't given much thought to their decaf offering, and baristas haven't put much care into it either. The result: decaf served with little care in the sourcing, processing or brewing, and a bitter, weak, watery cup at the end of it. I've worked in the coffee industry for twelve years and am not too proud to say that I too used to think decaf was a little dreary. Thankfully though, I've spent a bit of time understanding the truth behind decaf, and have come to appreciate that, first, caffeine isn't for everyone and second, there's real value in decent decaf.
Let's get schooled:
The process of decaffeination has changed rapidly throughout recent years. This is largely due to people's increased interest in coffee: its sourcing, processing, and how it gets to our favourite coffee shops. To properly understand decaf, a good place to start is at its inception in 1903 with the two most popular methods of decaffeination: direct and indirect processing.
Direct processing involves a gas, chemical or liquid being placed in direct contact with the coffee seeds in order to remove the caffeine. The seeds are steamed or soaked to open their pores, then placed inside a large airtight tank which is pressurised using chemicals. These chemicals attach themselves to the caffeine molecules and strip away the caffeine when depressurised. The seeds are then rinsed and dried.
Indirect processing involves the coffee seeds being placed in direct contact with pressurised water, which dissolves everything soluble from the seeds, including the flavours and caffeine. This water is removed from the tank and chemically treated. These chemicals then latch onto the caffeine, strip it out, and leave the water full of coffee flavour but with no caffeine. The seeds are then soaked in the flavoured water, and the majority of the flavour is absorbed back into the seeds, which are then dried.
Both of these processing methods typically used methylene chloride as the caffeine-stripping chemical. In the 1960s, the use of methylene chloride in the decaffeination process came under scrutiny, as this chemical can be toxic when used in large quantities. Though the chemical levels left in decaffeinated coffee were found to be so low they were deemed insignificant, the public remained concerned. Decaf had to evolve quickly to remain a viable option.
The Swiss Water Process
In 1979, Coffex entered the decaf market after identifying demand for a commercial decaffeination method that didn't use a solvent, creating the Swiss Water Process, so-called because it was created in Switzerland. Quickly becoming the preferred method of decaf globally, the Swiss Water Process built on both of its predecessors, placing coffee seeds in a tank full of water flavoured from the previous batch. The coffee-flavoured water would only absorb what it didn't already have: caffeine. The water would then be passed through a charcoal filter and, given that caffeine molecules are larger than flavour molecules, the caffeine would be removed, and the flavour-charged water reused. The Swiss Water Process changed the industry and is widely perceived to be the first example of natural decaffeinated coffee.
At around the same time, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) was formed as the first worldwide organisation with coffee quality at its core. It's thanks to the SCA and other organisations like the Cup of Excellence that we're able to better understand what affects the taste of coffee, and grade it to a consistent standard across the industry. For years, it was simply accepted that lower quality coffee was used for decaf, because of the extra costs involved in the process. Using better, more expensive coffee would push the final price too high, so it wasn't seen as worth it. After the SCA was formed, people in coffee felt better able to analyse cup quality and consistency, and started wondering what would happen if good quality coffee was decaffeinated.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the experiments showed that well-sourced coffee makes very good decaf.
Despite the additional cost involved in processing, the fact that a comparable cup of coffee could be achieved with decaf was a real breakthrough. This experimentation led to the commercialisation of the CO2 method: using pressurised CO2 gas to remove the caffeine instead of chemicals. Since 1990, the Swiss Water Process and the CO2 method have been the most popular ways to produce decaf, thanks to their strong results and their lack of chemical use.
As awareness around global commerce, climate change and sustainability increases, the coffee industry needs new ways to move forward. As a product that travels across the world, coffee's carbon footprint matters, and that includes the process of decaffeination. Because the Swiss Water Process and the CO2 method were so popular, most of the world's coffee was being shipped from its country of origin to either Canada or Germany to be decaffeinated, then shipped again to roasteries around the world. That added thousands of miles to the journey and significantly increased the coffee's carbon footprint.
The Natural Sugarcane Decaf Process (also known as EA Decaf)
To help combat this, DESCAFECOL, a Colombian decaffeination plant established in 1990, partnered with Caravela to offer modern decaffeination at origin with a new method: natural sugarcane fermentation, a modern version of the indirect ethyl acetate method. Traditionally, chemicals like ethyl acetate and even CO2 are usually made artificially, but the team in Colombia realised that ethyl acetate is naturally produced by fermenting sugarcane, of which there's plenty, since it's a byproduct of the Colombian sugar industry. DESCAFECOL ferments the sugarcane and captures the ethyl acetate gas, which is then used to decaffeinate coffee, all at the same facility. With their decaffeination plant located in Colombia's coffee-producing region, transport distances are minimal. Add in the benefits of using a waste product and natural production methods, and you get a more environmentally friendly cup of decaf, and a better-tasting one too.
When the opportunity came up a couple of years ago to have some of our El Yalcon coffee decaffeinated with DESCAFECOL, we jumped at it. The El Yalcon Sugarcane Decaf has been a welcome treat for our community and a source of pride for us. From the 36 farmers with Caravela and their families, to the DESCAFECOL facility itself, this coffee reflects what matters to us: sustaining the planet and this industry, without ever sacrificing quality.
Baristas care more about decaf now than they ever have, and industry professionals put just as much effort into producing it as they do any other coffee.
So the question is a personal one: why do we drink coffee? Is it purely to wake us up, or because we like the experience and the way it tastes? If it's the latter, there's a whole world of flavour, without the caffeine, ready and waiting for you.
Want to try our decaf or low-caffeine coffees? They're available here.