What decaffeination process is used for Van Houtte’s decaf products?
The decaffeination process occurs before roasting, when the coffee is still green. Van Houtte purchases green coffee decaffeinated from two different methods. Both use the same basic technique which removes 96-98% of the caffeine from the bean. The beans are soaked and steamed to make them porous, and then a natural (water) or chemical solvent (water and ethyl acetate) is added to remove the caffeine. These two processes are recognized by Health Canada and the American FDA. Van Houtte’s decaffeinated coffees, part of the Classic collection, are decaffeinated using ethyl acetate. In the US, ethyl acetate is considered a natural method because it is naturally found in the skin of fruits. Of course, the Van Houtte Swiss Water Process Fair Trade Organic Decaf uses the Swiss Water process. This process only uses water to remove the caffeine. It involves a long soak in spring water, which is then stripped of its caffeine by percolation through activated charcoal. The beans are then soaked ag
