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Addendum: The Decaffeination ProcessThis is an update to the original article by Ryan Jacobs entitled Caffeine And the Bean: The Decaffeination Process. It is provided to clarify several issues which were left murky in the original article. More on Swiss Water ProcessThe original article may leave the impression thatSwiss Water is a process generally available from many decaffeinator sources when in fact it is the patented and branded product of Kraft, manufactured in their Nabob plant in Vancouver, BC. No other decaffeinated product is made the same way, nor is any other product Swiss Water only theirs. Water is a ChemicalWater is a chemical, H2O. It is no more or less a chemical than Carbon Dioxide, CO2. They are both chemicals and they both are found in nature, and decaffeinated coffee made from either can be called natural. This is not clear in the article, as theNabob item is listed separately and CO2 is listed with chemical decaffeination. By the way, the only CO2 decaf available to specialty roasters in the US is that made byHermsen in Germany and imported by Excelco Trading LLP, New York. Ethyl Acetate Not Always NaturalEthyl Acetate can be found in nature, or can be synthetically produced. It too is a chemical compound and may, when used to decaffeinate, be labeled natural should it be from natural sources. The problem is that everybody labels this decaf natural and there is almost no way of knowing whether the source of the solvent is natural or synthetic. Methylene ChlorideMethylene Chloride is a synthetic chemical solvent. It is not naturally found but must be created by chlorinating methane gas. It sounds terrible but it makes very good tasting decaf. About The AuthorDonald N. Schoenholt can be reached at: Tags: decaf |
