Many cannot do without it, but some prefer the decaffeinated version of coffee. But where did the idea come from and how is decaffeinated coffee made?

For some it is also possible without a caffeine kick in the morning – but not without coffee. But how does the caffeine get out of coffee?

Since the discovery of the coffee drink, it has been constantly evolving: the first coffee houses came into being, then tools that made it easier to prepare coffee, right up to machines that ultimately took over the entire preparation process. The large number of inventions is accompanied by a variety of coffee types and methods of preparation, which is constantly increasing. This allows many tastes to be covered. The same goes for decaffeinated coffee.

Decaffeinated coffee has only been around for about a century. Coffee decaffeination began in 1903. At that time, coffee dealers and the founder of “Kaffee HAG” from Bremen, Ludwig Roselius, developed the Roselius process, which was named after him. The reason for his experiments was the death of his father, which he saw as being due to excessive coffee consumption. In this process, he soaked the whole coffee bean in salt water and then used benzene to extract the caffeine from the bean. In this way, the caffeine was almost completely removed from the coffee beans and decaffeinated coffee was produced. Nowadays, however, this type of production of decaffeinated coffee is no longer permitted because benzene is considered to be carcinogenic. Since then, the production of decaffeinated coffee has developed rapidly.

Manufacturing process for decaffeinated coffee

In order to be able to partially or almost completely remove the caffeine contained in the coffee beans, either chemicals are required or a very complex process is required. The latter is the so-called Swiss water process. However, on the one hand, this method requires a large amount of water and, on the other hand, large amounts of green coffee waste are produced which cannot be reused after use for this method.

For these reasons, the manufacturing process for decaffeinated coffee is no longer used today. Instead, solvents can help. First, the coffee beans are left to swell in hot water or steam before being treated with solvents for around ten hours. However, even these solvents cannot be used without hesitation. Dichloromethane, for example, is suspected of being carcinogenic. However, it is still used to make decaffeinated coffee. The alternative is a “natural solvent called ethyl acetate. It can also be obtained from fruits and vegetables and is therefore considered natural. After processing the coffee beans with the solvent, the beans are dried. The solvents are released from the coffee beans. Nevertheless, a small proportion of solvents can remain in the beans. It is not yet known whether the solvent dichloromethane increases the risk of cancer or whether there are other negative effects on health. Other processes are the carbon dioxide process and the triglyceride process.