SWISS WATERŪ Process 101

The SWISS WATERŪ Process is a 100% chemical free coffee decaffeination process that results in great-tasting decaf. Most other processes use chemical solvents, like methylene chloride, to decaffeinate coffee beans. Conversely, the SWISS WATERŪ Process uses only water when removing caffeine, producing water processed decaf coffee.

Bean Composition

A typical green bean is composed of 26% soluble flavor components, 1.2% caffeine and 74% insoluble components.

Flavor Charged Water

Green coffee beans are immersed them in pure water. The water extracts both the coffee flavor solids and the caffeine from the beans.

These beans are then discarded and the caffeine is removed using a carbon filter, leaving just the water, super-saturated with coffee solids.

Flavor-charged water is integral to the SWISS WATERŪ Process, which starts with top quality green beans and works as follows.

First, the beans are cleaned and soaked water, partially saturated with coffee flavor solids, in preparation for caffeine extraction.

Next, the beans are immersed in the flavor-charged water. Initially the water is caffeine-free, and as a result the caffeine diffuses from the beans into the water. Since the concentration of flavor components in the bean and in the water are equal, only the caffeine is removed, leaving the flavor intact. The water then passes through a carbon filter that traps the caffeine. The now caffeine-free, flavor-charged water flows back to the beans to remove more caffeine. This process continues for approximately 8 hours, until the beans are 99.9% caffeine-free.

Following decaffeination, the trapped caffeine is removed from the carbon filter. The flavor-charged water is then recycled to the start of the process for the next batch of beans.

A typical green bean, after SWISS WATERŪ Process decaffeination, is composed of 24% soluble flavor components, 0.03% caffeine and 76% insoluble components.

Chemical Decaffeination Processes

What chemicals do other decaffeination processes use?

The majority of decaf coffee, about 80%, is decaffeinated with a chemical decaffeination method using chemicals like methylene chloride or ethyl acetate.

How do the chemical decaffeination processes work?

1. Beans are soaked in a caffeine absorbing solvent.
2. The solvent, now containing the caffeine, is separated from the beans.
3. The caffeine is removed from the solvent.
4. Steps 1-3 are repeated until sufficient caffeine is removed from the beans.

How are chemicals used in these processes?

There are two types of chemical caffeine removal processes: direct and indirect.

Direct process: The chemicals are used in steps 1 and 2 as the caffeine absorbing solvent.

Indirect process: The chemicals are used in step 3 to remove the caffeine from the solvent (a liquid composed primarily of water).