While the idea of decaffeinating coffee may sound positively “chem lab,” the process behind it is more akin to taking a nice long bath. If you’ve ever thought of starting your own decaffeination processing facility closer to home, here’s a brief overview of the three procedures for each process to help get you rolling:

Swiss Water® Process:
Pre-selected green beans are immersed in “flavor-charged” water to extract the caffeine. This flavor-charged water contains soluble coffee compounds, which help maintain the green coffee’s flavor components as the caffeine is being extracted. The caffeinated water is then sent through a carbon filter to remove the caffeine; the beans are removed, dried and packaged. These coffees are certified to be 97-99.9% caffeine-free.

Mountain Water™ Process:
Pre-selected green coffee beans are immersed in a “coffee oils” water bath in order to extract the caffeine while maintaining the flavor components. To separate the caffeine from the water, the resulting solution is passed through a cellulose and activated charcoal filter, which removes the caffeine. The beans are then dried and packaged. As a result, the coffees are between 97-99% caffeine free.

Ethyl Acetate and Water Process:
Pre-selected green beans are steamed to prepare the beans for caffeine extraction. The swelled beans are then immersed in water and ethyl acetate wash, where the caffeine is extracted as it adheres to the ethyl acetate molecules. The beans are steamed to remove residual ethyl acetate, then dried and packaged. These coffees are certified to be at least 97% caffeine free. Ethyl acetate is a solvent naturally occurring in fruits and sugarcane.