Swiss Water Process Decaf
Our newest member of the Green Bridge Organics coffee family is our Swiss Water Process Honduras Decaf. But what exactly does Swiss Water Process mean? The Swiss Water Process is a water-based decaffeination method that was first discovered in Switzerland in the 1930s. Swiss Water Process is regarded as the pinnacle of the decaffeination method because it extracts caffeine from raw coffee beans as naturally as possible without compromising their distinctive flavour.
Decaffeinated Coffee
The demand for decaffeinated coffee beans continues to grow. Decaffeinated coffee is just coffee that has had nearly all the caffeine content removed from the beans before roasting and grinding. In the best forms of this process, it retains all the flavour and aroma you would expect to find in a regular cup of caffeinated coffee. As we become more health and environmentally conscious, we are increasingly concerned about the provenance and safety of foods – we want to know where our food comes from and how it is processed. Other popular methods of decaffeination use harmful chemical solvents such as methylene chloride or ethyl acetate (which are the main constituents in paint strippers and nail varnish removers) to extract the caffeine from the green coffee bean. These methods damage the body and flavour of the beans. But it’s not only the taste that’s impacted. Coffee beans have around 1,000 chemicals that are essential to its taste and aroma, and the extraction of caffeine with solvents also tends to strip away the precious natural oils and essential antioxidants with it. This results in drier coffee beans with less flavour and fewer health benefits. The Swiss Water Decaf Process is environmentally friendly, chemical-free, 99.9% caffeine-free and all the while having great taste at the same time.
How does it work?
The Swiss Water Process is an organic, entirely chemical free process, which is 100% natural, and removes caffeine in four simple steps: separate, filter, soak, and dry.
Step 1: Separate
To prepare the beans for caffeine removal, they are first cleaned and hydrated with pure, local water to expand the bean. A batch of raw green coffee beans is then soaked in scalding hot water to separate the beans from their caffeine content.
Step 2: Filter
Next, the water is filtered through a series of special charcoal filters. Since charcoal is naturally extremely porous, it is able to trap the caffeine molecules but allow coffee oils and flavour molecules to pass through. After the filtering process, a caffeine-free, flavourless extract remains – known as Green Coffee Extract (GCE). This liquid – rich in coffee oils and flavour molecules is kept and used to wash a new batch of beans.
Step 3: Soak
As a new batch of beans passes through the GCE they can’t lose their oils or flavour molecules as the liquid is already totally saturated and can’t absorb any more. At this point, the remaining extract is filtered through charcoal once again to remove the caffeine and is then set aside for future batches of decaf coffee. The result is beans that have been decaffeinated but remain rich in flavour and coffee oils.
Step 4: Dry
The soaked raw coffee beans are then dried, after which they are roasted and ground ready to be brewed as a cup of delicious decaf coffee.
Green Bridge Organics Honduras Decaf
Not only is our certified-organic Swiss Water Honduras Decaf coffee 99.9% caffeine-free, it also retains all the coffee bean’s precious flavour and the beneficial antioxidants that makes a brew good for you! The lack of chemicals involved in growing, decaffeination and roasting our coffee makes it one of the healthiest on the market – helping us nourish people and planet! We hope you like it as much as we do!