Why Swiss Water® Process Decaf?
The uplifting rush of caffeinated coffee is widely known and appreciated, but there is more to coffee than just caffeine. There are legions of coffee fans out there who appreciate its invigorating scent, unique flavors and hearty warmth on a cold day. At Raven’s Brew Coffee, Inc.® we feel the sensory impact of quality coffee is just as important as its physical boost, perhaps even more so. This sentiment is becoming more and more prevalent amongst consumers in the US as they trend towards the higher quality coffee of the specialty industry.
Coffee lovers who want to appreciate distinctive flavor while cutting caffeine turn to decaf coffee. For more than a century, commercial decaffeination has provided an alternative for those who avoid caffeine. Early decaffeination methods relied on solvent chemicals like Benzene to dissolve the caffeine, and a large quantity of decaf coffee produced today still uses solvents like Ethyl Acetate or Methylene Chloride that have been determined by the US Food and Drug Administration to have no health risk for consumers.
But for fans of rich, full-bodied and flavorful coffee, the use of solvent chemicals comes at the cost of flavor and aroma at the darker end of the spectrum. As specialists in producing complex, dark-roasted coffee full of nuance, Raven’s Brew® needs a decaffeination method that complements our coffee selection and roasting style. Enter Swiss Water® Process Decaf Coffee.
Well regarded as a natural, healthy and environmentally friendly way to decaffeinate coffee, Swiss Water® Process uses water, temperature and time to create coffee that is 99.9% caffeine free.
Avoiding the environmental impact from the production of solvents used in other decaffeination processes is a small decision that Raven’s Brew Coffee® can make that contributes to a better future for our planet.
Developed in Switzerland in the 1930s, the Swiss Water® Process name comes from where the Process was created rather than the origins of the water used. Swiss Water® Process companies use local water to process the green coffee: after washing the beans in water to clean and hydrate them, green coffee extract is introduced to the beans to begin caffeine removal. Caffeine moves by osmosis from the beans into the extract until they reach a point of equilibrium. The extract is then filtered using carbon until the caffeine is removed, so that it can be used again to remove more caffeine.
The Process is continuously monitored for caffeine levels, temperature and the flow of the green coffee extract over 10 hours as the caffeine is slowly and gently separated from the beans while the sugars, oils and other elements in coffee that create the flavor and aroma remain. The processed, now decaffeinated, green coffee is sent on to specialty roasters like us.
We value the Swiss Water® Process as a clean, natural process, but also for the full flavor it retains when processing our carefully selected green coffee.
The Swiss Water® Process, combined with our special air-roasting process, creates a rich and delicious cup of coffee with great body, balanced acidity and subtle flavors—just what you’ve come to expect from Raven’s Brew® coffees. You will be amazed that it’s Decaf!
You can find our entire line of Raven's Brew Coffee® Decaf Coffees here!
