Comments on: Swiss Water Process

By: Ep 114: The Science of Coffee

Ep 114: The Science of Coffee — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:31:45 +0000

[...] the process does not seem very energy efficient. Presumably, a lot of water is also used. There are various online debates as to whether this is the most sustainable process for coffee [...]

By: sweaterarms

sweaterarms — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:00:21 +0000

I think Puer is caffeine free, but there might be a little. It's green tea which is caffeinated, but it's steamed before it's aged and I think the steaming takes the caffeine out of it (much like making decaf coffee). I saw an episode of Alton Brown about decaf coffee and he said good decaf should be a lot more expensive than regular coffee because if they want to make it taste good they have to use the very best beans since they're basically pre-brewed.

This post was timely because this morning I drank a cup of coffee out of big mug and I finished it (which I almost never do) and I had the absolute worst caffeine overdose for 4 hours this morning – it was horrible. I was vomiting and had an awful headache and my vision was totally messed up. It was crazy. I think I need to lay off the caffeine too. I also make coffee in a french press so I think it's stronger than drip.

By: Kelly Arthur

Kelly Arthur — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:11:09 +0000

Basically super critical CO2 is highly selective for caffeine (no proteins or carbohydrates, which give coffee its flavor, are extracted). The caffeine is absorbed into the CO2, removed from the bean and passed out of the reactor. Best of all the CO2 (and caffeine) can be recycled.
As to Amy's point about the volume of water that must be used for the Swiss Water Process, my guess is that it is HUGE. The process sounds like it is just a batch dialysis with water as your dialysis buffer. Usually for dialysis you will uses 50-100x excess dialysis buffer compared to the volume of sample, which in the case of the Swiss Water Process is coffee.
So my 2cents is go with super critical CO2 decaf coffee, my guess is that it is the "greener" option.

By: Jeremy Dillingham

Jeremy Dillingham — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:54:57 +0000

Woah, you just went too smart on me . What's the super critical C02 process?

I'm sure they are promoting it as green as positioning, just like Monsanto is green according to their ads, but appreciate that there might be another process that's just as green.

By: Jeremy Dillingham

Jeremy Dillingham — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:53:22 +0000

Angie, totally agree, I think that the water is reused based on the video. They use a carbon filter to grab the caffeine and then cycle the water through it. I'm sure a large amount of water is used for the entire decaf process which definitely makes it less green, but I'm not sure what the numbers are on that.