Sorry to burst your bubble…but…..decaffeinated coffee still contains some caffeine, meaning your morning regular sized cup of designer decaf still has 9.5mg of caffeine! Perhaps it should more aptly be called ‘Mostly Decaffeinated‘? Aha! That explains why I get the shakes after a very occasional cup of decaf!
Ready for some more bad news?
Most of the ‘decaffeinated’ coffee sold commercially is decaffeinated chemically. It may no longer be treated with Benzene like its original predecessor, but don’t be fooled, a bath in ethyl acetate or methylene chloride and water isn’t much better. Here’s a shocker (insert sarcastic voice here) in the US, ethyl acetate is considered a natural method because it is naturally found in the skin of fruits! YAY!
Good News
Organic coffee as well as some conventional coffee (less than 35%) use a natural process called ‘the Swiss Water Method‘ to decaffeinate their beans. Not only is this method safer, it also decaffeinates coffee to 99%! Instead of chemicals, the beans are steamed, soaked in spring water then the solution is run through giant charcoal filters to remove the caffeine.
Although conventional coffee decaffeinated the Swiss Water way is better than the chemical alternative, it is still SO important to buy organic to avoid all the heavy sprays that coffee plantations do receive. For example, Starbucks no longer offers its Swiss Water decaf thus, choosing the chemical route to decaffeinate their beans = heavily sprayed beans + chemical decaf process! Double Whammy.
My inquiry to Starbucks as to why they don’t support more organic and natural methods has gone unanswered to date.
Also posted on Fight Back Friday, Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, Nap Time Creations, This Chick Cooks, Intoxicated on Life, Tessa Domestic Diva