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In modern society, coffee is not only used to refresh yourself, but also a way of life. Decaffeinated coffee has begun to appear on the market to satisfy people who have trouble sleeping due to caffeine intake or who like coffee and do not want to consume caffeine. It is undoubtedly a very good choice.
After the emergence of decaffeinated coffee, many people questionedDecaf coffeeWhether it will affect health, etc., Front Street thinks that it is nonsense to question the intake of everything. Whether it is caffeinated coffee or decaffeinated coffee, the daily intake exceeds the range that the human body can bear. Even drinking water will cause corresponding problems. Therefore, Front Street would like to remind all friends who like coffee, coffee is delicious, so remember not to be greedy. Okay, back to the topic, what is decaf coffee and how is decaf coffee made? For this reason, Front Street has purchased a decaf coffee bean from Colombia and put it on the shelves for everyone to find out.
What is decaf coffee?Decaf coffeeIs it really zero caffeine?
Typically, the caffeine content of coffee beans is measured using a weight ratio. The caffeine content of Arabica coffee beans is 0.9%-1.4% (average 1.2%), while that of Robusta is 1.8%-4% (average 2.2%). Decaffeinated coffee is divided into natural decaffeinated coffee and artificially processed decaffeinated (decaffeinated) coffee. The more common natural decaffeinated coffee is Coffea Laurina, which has half the caffeine (0.6%) of ordinary Arabica.
Unlike other artificially processed decaffeinated coffee, Pointed Bourbon is due to genetic degradation, resulting in lower caffeine content and better flavor than ordinary Arabica coffee trees. As for artificially decaffeinated coffee, the EU standard for this type of decaf coffee is that the caffeine content after processing should not exceed 0.1% of the green beans, while the US Food and Drug Administration FDA standard is to reduce the caffeine content to less than 3% of the original caffeine content.
Does decaf coffee mean no caffeine at all? Not really. FrontStreet Coffee believes that although decaf coffee extracts a large amount of caffeine, there will still be 2% to 3% caffeine remaining, that is, each cup of decaf espresso will still contain about 0-7 mg of caffeine. Although caffeine will still be present, compared to ordinary espresso, the caffeine of decaf coffee will not have any impact on most people.
How is caffeine extracted from decaf coffee?
With the development of the coffee market, there are many treatment methods for removing caffeine, which can be roughly divided into direct/indirect solvent treatment, supercritical carbon dioxide treatment, Swiss water treatment and mountain spring water treatment.
Direct solvent treatment method (direct contact method)
The direct solvent treatment method uses chemical solutions such as methylene chloride and ethyl acetate to dissolve caffeine. First, steam is used to open the pores of the green coffee beans, and the methylene chloride solvent is added directly to the coffee beans. After the solvent and caffeine are fused, the caffeine-filled solvent is washed away, and the coffee beans are steamed again to remove all remaining solvents. There are concerns about using methylene chloride as a solvent because it is suspected of increasing the risk of cancer through long-term exposure. But in fact, the FDA limits the dichloromethane content of decaffeinated products to 0.001%, which is actually lower than this, and the side effects are minimal.
The same process uses ethyl acetate as the solvent, which is usually obtained from sugar cane, so when used, the direct solvent method is sometimes called the sugar cane decaffeinated method. This is the method usually used for decaffeination in Colombia. However, ethyl acetate is a highly flammable substance and therefore more dangerous.
Swiss Water Treatment Act
This is one of the most traditional methods of extracting caffeine, using a commercially developed, highly efficient processing method.
The steps of the Swiss water treatment method: soak the green coffee beans in hot water. This hot water is called "flavor-charged water" in the Swiss water treatment method. This water contains saturated, all the flavor factors that should be found in green coffee beans, except for caffeine. This special water is the most important medium in the subsequent decaffeination process. The formed flavor-loaded water is then filtered out of the coffee beans. The flavor-loaded water uses an activated carbon filter to filter out the caffeine. The remainder is hot water full of pure flavor factors. The filtered coffee beans are then re-soaked in hot water with pure flavor factors to allow the coffee beans to reabsorb the coffee flavor.
Supercritical carbon dioxide treatment method
This processing method is to first let the coffee beans absorb water and swell, so that the caffeine molecules become loose in the coffee beans. Add liquefied carbon dioxide and create greater than 100 atmospheres of pressure in the water. Carbon dioxide is highly selective and will not "damage" the carbohydrates and proteins in the coffee beans while dissolving the caffeine, ensuring that the flavor of the coffee beans is not destroyed. The liquid carbon dioxide that has taken away the caffeine can also be recycled after removing the caffeine.
Coffee made by using carbon dioxide to decaffeinate is less burdensome to the human body, and according to research, this method extracts more caffeine than the direct solvent method. At the same time, the cost of this method is much higher than the direct solvent method.
Mountain spring water treatment method
Much like Swiss water treatment, this uses another special kind of water, water from glaciers, to extract the caffeine. The company Descamex states that they use a special filtration device to remove caffeine. The result is a caffeine-free water-based solution that also dissolves coffee solids and can be reused in the decaffeination process.
Is decaffeinated coffee bad to drink?
Based on the above decaffeinated coffee processing methods, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the bad taste of decaffeinated coffee is not caused by the processing. Because most decaf coffee uses cheap, commercial-grade coffee beans as raw materials. Modern decaffeination technology is quite complicated. In most cases, companies that produce decaffeinated coffee will naturally prefer some high-caffeine content coffee bean varieties (such as robusta beans) when selecting raw materials. Before decaffeinated coffee beans are decaffeinated, the coffee beans have always tasted bad. Like other coffee beans sold in coffee shops, if decaf coffee beans are made from high-quality Arabica coffee beans from the beginning, then decaf coffee can still perform very well even after decaffeination.
FrontStreet Coffee's representative coffee beans - Colombian Cymbidium, Swiss water treatment, decaffeinated coffee
Country of origin: Colombia
Production area: Cymbidium
Altitude: 1750 meters
Variety: Typica, Caturra, Castillo
Treatment method: Swiss water treatment
Grade: Supremo
Season: 2020
Colombian Cymbidium Producing Area
colombian coffee beansIt is very well-known in the world, and the high-quality washed beans it produces have always been the representative of high-quality coffee. The coffee beans exported from Colombia undergo specific gravity inspection and manual selection of defective beans, and are bagged after strict inspection at all levels.colombian coffeeThe quality can be guaranteed.
Colombian cymbidium (Colombia huila) belongs to the specially selected alpine coffee beans of the Colombian state-owned company and is known as the national treasure of Colombia. With superior geographical and climatic conditions, Colombian coffee has always maintained a high quality. Colombian coffee beans, which usually do not have special market names, come from the national federation of colombia coffee growers, which has always been known for its strict quality control and active promotion.
Colombian Decaf CoffeeBean varieties
This batch of decaffeinated coffee contains three coffee varieties: Typica, Caturra and Castillo. As one of the oldest Arabica species in the world, Typica is deeply loved for its delicious and sweet flavor. However, due to its low unit yield, it has been replaced by many high-yielding coffee varieties in Colombia. Cadura is a natural mutation of bourbon. Its flavor is comparable to or slightly worse than bourbon beans. More importantly, it is highly adaptable. It does not require shade trees and can flourish under direct exposure to the sun. It is commonly known as Sun Coffee and can adapt to high-density planting.
Castillo is based on Colombian varieties and was cross-bred with Caturra. It was not completed until the tenth generation. Although it was not favored by industry practitioners when it first appeared on the market, in recent years there are also batches with elegant and delicate flavors on the market.
Green bean grade
The grade of this batch of green coffee beans is Supremo. In the Colombian coffee bean system, Supremo is the highest grade, while Excelso, the premium grade, has smaller and more common beans. Colombian coffee beans have a balanced flavor, rich taste, unique flavor characteristics, and a relatively full body. When roasted to medium, the flavor has a hint of vanilla and dark chocolate sweetness.
How to bake on Front StreetColombian Decaffeinated Coffee Beans
The Front Street baker used medium baking power and then steadily increased it to the yellow point at about 6 minutes and 15 seconds. Then he lowered the fire and opened the air door to enter the Menard reaction. During the first crack, he opened the high air door and maintained the fire power. The temperature was about 183.2°C. It came out of the oven 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the first crack.
Preheat the furnace temperature to 200 degrees and put the pot into the pot. Open the damper to 3. Turn on the fire after 30 seconds. Adjust the firepower to 130. The temperature recovery point is 1'32'. Keep the firepower. At 6'15', it turns yellow and the grass smell disappears. It enters the dehydration stage. The firepower is increased to 140. The damper is opened to 4. When it reaches 151 degrees, the firepower is reduced to 110 again.
After 8 minutes of dehydration, wrinkles and black streaks appear on the surface of the beans, and the smell of toast turns to coffee, which is the prelude to the first crack. At this time, the firepower remains unchanged, the damper is opened to 5, and the sound of the first crack is listened carefully. At 9'57'' it started to explode and the damper was fully opened 5. The development time after the first explosion was 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and it was released at 194.2°C.
Front Street Cupping Report
Front Street Brewing Suggestions
Filter cup: Kono filter cup
Water temperature: 90℃
Powder amount: 15g
Pink to water ratio: 1:15
Grinding degree: medium-coarse grinding (Chinese standard No. 20 screen pass rate 70%)
Brewing method: three-stage extraction. Use 30 grams of water to steam for 30 seconds. When the water level drops and the powder bed is exposed, continue to pour water to 225 grams. When the water level drops and the powder bed is exposed, remove the filter cup. The brewing time is 3 minutes.
Brewing flavor: dark chocolate, caramel, nuts, mellow taste.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
