Decaffeination Of Coffee Beans

What is Caffeine ?.

- Caffeine is a mild stimulant that may cause nervousness, irritability and insomnia.

How much contain of caffeine in a cup of coffee ?.

- In 1 cup (237gram) contain 95mg of caffeine. Caffeine has a bitter taste, so
decaffeination of coffee should not spoil its flavour.

Method of decaffeinating coffee ?.

-Decaffeination processes basically involve treating the green coffee beans with a
solvent, then removing the caffeine-laden solvent from the beans.

There are 2 method in decaffeinating coffee commercially use today :

1) chemical solvents
2) supercritical gases

How its work ?
1. chemical solvent

Firstly, the green beans are treated with steam, under pressure. This treatment swells
the beans, increasing their surface area and making the caffeine easier to remove.
The next stage is extraction of the caffeine by a solvent, again under pressure, at a
temperature close to the boiling point of the solvent. Ideally, the solvent should
remove caffeine selectively, without affecting the coffee in any other way. Solvents in
current use which are methylene chloride (dichloromethane) and ethyl acetate.
2. supercritical gases

At temperatures above their 'critical point' under pressure, gases behave rather like
liquids and can be used as solvents. Supercritical carbon dioxide is used as a
selective solvent for caffeine. It is applied to previously steamed green coffee at
temperatures about 70 C and at high pressure. The caffeine is separated from the
gas by rinsing or by adsorption and the gas recirculated. In this method the wax
layer of the coffee bean is retained and nothing but the caffeine is removed