China Coffee Network caffeine and decaf raw bean label interpretation: EP,SWP and decaf

Caffeine and decaffeinated coffee

Caffeine, caffeine, is a natural ingredient in coffee. In addition to coffee, many foods we come into contact with in our daily life also contain this ingredient, such as tea, chocolate, cola, cold medicine and so on.

In order to cater to a variety of tastes, coffee beans are sometimes decontaminated to get the familiar decaf, decaffeinated coffee.

Usually, depending on the type of coffee, raw coffee beans contain about 1-3% caffeine, and the presence of caffeine is basically unaffected during roasting. Robusta has twice as much caffeine as Arabica.

Decaffeinated coffee actually eliminates about 97% of the caffeine, not a complete cause.

There are two main ways to eliminate causes that are widely used in business:

EP,European Process, European treatment method; SWP,Swiss Water Process, Swiss Water treatment method.

EP: chemical beans?

In EP treatment, raw coffee beans are soaked in water, absorbed caffeine with dichloromethane (methylene chloride, an organic solvent) solution, then rinsed clean, dried, and entered the baking process. Except for the caffeine process, it only absorbs caffeine and has no effect on other ingredients in coffee beans. It is generally believed that there is no preparation residue in the coffee beans treated by EP after roasting. However, people will probably still mind emotionally the involvement of chemical composition.

SWP: steam beans?

The biggest advantage of SWP, the Swiss water treatment method, is that only hot water and steam are used except for the absence of any chemical agents in the process. The raw coffee beans are soaked in water, and all the soluble ingredients in the raw beans, including caffeine, are absorbed by the water, and the coffee beans that have been "sucked" are set aside, while the water that dissolves and turns into an "essence" goes through an activated carbon filter, which absorbs caffeine from the water. The decaffeinated water meets the raw coffee beans again, and the raw beans are bathed in water to reabsorb the lost essence. Then, the raw beans are dried and baked.

The biggest advantage of SWP is that there are no chemical solvents involved in the whole process, but the disadvantage is that while the water absorbs caffeine, it also dissolves other ingredients of coffee beans, including some natural coffee oils, some of which cannot be reabsorbed by raw beans. The raw beans treated with SWP will lose part of their flavor.

The Gospel of decaf lovers

The good news is that in 2004, scientists discovered a natural decaf tree in Ethiopia, belonging to Arabica, which lacks the enzymes needed to synthesize caffeine. Coffee drinkers may soon be able to enjoy delicious natural decaf.