Although HPLC is highly accurate, NIR spectroscopy is much faster, cheaper and overall easier to use. However, since HPLC can be quite costly, some coffee companies are beginning to use other methods such as near-infrared spectroscopy.
To do so, many coffee companies choose to employ high-performance liquid chromatography to quantitatively measure how much caffeine remains in the coffee beans. There is less than 0.1% caffeine in decaffeinated coffee and less than 0.3% in decaffeinated instant coffee in Canada. A caffeine content reduction of at least 97% is required under United States standards. To ensure product quality, manufacturers are required to test the newly decaffeinated coffee beans to make sure that caffeine concentration is relatively low. Its not uncommon for some enthusiasts to criticize the point of decaffeinating coffee, asking is decaf coffee really decaf if some remains? It can be difficult to measure the exact percentage of decaffeination, so always assume theres still a little caffeine left in the bean no matter what process is used. Most methods still use a solvent-based decaffeination process, though with food-grade, human-safe solvents. The earliest commercially viable decaffeination methods used solvents like benzene, which were later classified carcinogenic. Although most of the caffeine was leached from the beans, the flavor remain unchanged! Eureka! However, nobody set out to decaffeinate coffee from the start the experiments that led to the isolation of the caffeine compound in coffee beans were used to compare it to belladonna extract.Įven when decaffeination was finally achieved, it was done by pure accident a shipment of coffee beans became soaked with ocean water.
Similar item to consider How Does Coffee Become Decaffeinatedīefore scientists could understand how to decaffeinate coffee, they had to understand how to isolate it as a compound, first.
This is safer and produces a much higher-quality flavor. LifeBoost is a naturally decaffeinated coffe brand that uses the Swiss Water Process, which-once again-uses no chemicals. It’s also mountain shade grown and Certified Organic, so there was never any chemical fertilizers or pesticides used.
Purchased at Fair Trade prices (an extra $0.30 per pound directly to the farmers), this coffee’s ethically sourced. If you’re looking for a sustainable bean, this one’s hard to beat. In fact, when it comes to taste, you’d probably never realize this coffee doesn’t have caffeine because there’s no drop in flavor quality! We’re becoming big fans of LifeBoost Coffee as a company, and their organic decaf is just as impressive as their other beans.