Decaf coffee; the swiss water process
For those of you who were wondering, we use the Swiss water method for decaffeination which is organic and 100% chemical free. This is a more natural process than using chemicals, where caffeine is stripped from the coffee beans and clean water is the only added ingredient so all of the natural flavour is retained in the bean.
If you want to know more just check out www.swisswater.com, however we’ve also taken the liberty to summarise their process below...
The Swiss Water® Process
Step 1- The Green Coffee Extract (GCE) is created only once, by soaking the beans in pure water so the GCE is made out of fresh water and all the soluble solids within coffee, minus the caffeine.
Step 2 – Coffee is prepared for the Swiss water process. Before decaffeination the green coffee is rehydrated to prepare the target moisture level that is ideal for caffeine removal, and also removes dirt, dust and silverskin.
Step 3 – The GCE is continuously circulated around the green coffee for 8-10 hours, until there is no more that 0.1% of caffeine remaining in the green coffee. Caffeine is removed from the GCE through a proprietary carbon filter system and the carbon is sent to a regeneration furnace to burn away the caffeine, so it can be reused.
Step 4 - During decaffeination the GCE is constantly being refreshed and renewed and is also being continually monitored so it will operate at its best. This way a new batch of GCE isn’t required for every new batch of green coffee.
Step 5- Once the coffee is decaffeinated and 99.9% of the caffeine has been removed, its ready to be dried, bags and shipped to the customer so get your Swiss Water decaf coffee here.
Enjoy