Page 91 - #60 English

The GCE is balanced to
extract mainly the caffeine
which allows the coffee’s best
characteristic to remain in the
bean. This process is certified
organic by OCIA and Aurora
Certified Organic. Also they are
certified kosher by the Kosher
Overseers Association.

Indirect Solvent Process

Water is the universal sol-
vent, therefore it is used to dis-
solve caffeine from the bean.
During this process the beans
are soaked in very hot water,
near boiling point, which is then
separated and transferred to
another tank. Here the chemical
solvent is added to the water
which selectively bond with the
caffeine. This is then heated to
remove the chemicals and the
caffeine from the water which is
afterwards added back to the
bean. As a result, coffee oils and
flavors are reabsorbed.
Since the solvent doesn’t There is also a the remaining solvent in the coffee
make direct contact with the cof- beans most likely will not survive
fee you can guess the reason be- large population, the roasting process due to the
hind the name. A common ques- high temperatures.
tion about decaf coffee is: “Is it about 12 percent,
safe?” This comes up due to the Direct Solvent Process
fact that through history, some that cannot stand
harmful chemicals such as ben- Now that we have learned
zene, trichloroethylene, and the jittery effects about the indirect process, it’s
chloroform were used. Today the easy to know what the direct
chemicals of choice are methy- that the caffeine solvent process is about. The first
lene chloride and ethyl acetate, step always begins with opening
even though they are still chemi- may cause. the pores to extract the caffeine,
cals, they are found to be safe and this time by steaming the beans
for about 30 minutes. After that,
the solvent is directly added to
the beans and rinsed for about 10
hours. The beans will be steamed
again to remove any residual
chemical.Both the direct and in-
direct solvent process can be
found under the name “Natural
Decaffeination Process” but if the
solvent used is ethyl acetate and
it was synthetically produced
instead of being found on ripe
fruits, there is not much of the
natural left.

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