Swiss Water Processing

Swiss water processing is a process, which is 100% chemical free coffee decaffeination. In this process it only uses water to remove the caffeine from coffee. Most of the other commonly used processes use chemical solvents in their process such as Methylene Chloride. Theses processes are Roselius process, CO2/O2 process and Triglyceride process.

First off, lets start out what the coffee beans are composed of. A typical green bean is composed of 26% soluble flavor components that are susceptible of being dissolved in a fluid, 1.20% caffeine, and 74% soluble components.

How Swiss water processing came about is the scientists took some grown coffee beans that were full of flavor and immersed them into water. With the beans in the water, both the coffee flavor solids and caffeine were extracted from the beans. The beans were then discarded and the caffeine was removed using a carbon filter, which in essence only left the water and coffee flavor solids.

How chemical free decaffeination works is the coffee beans are soaked in water, which partially contains coffee flavor solids to get the beans ready for caffeine extraction. After the beans have soaked in the water, they are then immersed into the flavor-charged water. The water is caffeine free so when the beans are in the water, the caffeine in the beans separate into the water. In the flavor charged water, only the caffeine is removed due to the fact that the coffee flavor solids in the bean and the water itself are equal. After the caffeine is removed from the beans and into the water, the water passes through a carbon filter, which then traps the caffeine. The flavor-charged caffeine free water then flows back to the beans to remove more caffeine. This process continues until the beans are 99.9% caffeine free that approximately takes 8 hours.

After the decaffeination process is complete, the trapped caffeine is then removed from the carbon filter. The flavor-charged water is then recycled to start the process over again for the next batch of beans. After decaffeination, the typical green coffee bean consists of 24% soluble flavor components, 0.03% caffeine, and 76% insoluble components.

About 80% of all decaffeinated coffee is decaffeinated with a chemical decaffeination method that uses chemicals like Methylene Chloride or Ethyl Acetate. How the chemical decaffeination processes work is the beans are first soaked into a caffeine absorbing solvent. After the beans have been soaked, the solvent, which now contains the caffeine, is separated from the beans. The caffeine is then removed from the solvent. Lastly the first three steps are repeated over and over until sufficient caffeine is removed from the beans.

Caffeine is a natural substance that is present in the leaves, seeds, and fruits of more then 60 different species of plants worldwide. The caffeine content of decaffeinated coffee can alter based on blend composition, brewing extraction rates, grind, roast color, and water temperature. Other elements that result in a higher caffeine content is higher extraction rates, warmer water, a finer grind, and a lighter roast.
According to the US Food and drug administration and National Soft Drink Association, regular coffee (drip method, 5oz) contains 60-180mg of caffeine, regular coffee (percolated, 5oz) contains 40-170mg of caffeine, regular coffee (instant, 5oz) contains 30-120mg of caffeine, decaffeinated coffee (drip method, 5oz) contains 2-5mg of caffeine, and decaffeinated coffee (instant, 5oz) contains 1-5mg of caffeine.