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Old Sep 7th, 2009, 09:01 PM       
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tadao View Post
Someone told me that what they do to a coffee bean to remove the caffeine is really disgusting, as in you wouldn't want the chemicals they use in your system. I forget what it was as he is also a nut job.
Actually, there are two commonly used processes. One is the Swiss water process, which uses only a few mostly benign chemicals. You can usually only claim 97% caffeine-free coffee with this process (though I've seen claims above 99%, so I may be hedging a bit here), so this isn't for people with an intolerance to the substance. To "completely" decaffeinate coffee, methylene chloride or ethyl acetate are generally solvents of choice.

You may not have wanted to know this, but if you don't drink decaf, then you're pretty much OK.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitsa View Post
I remember the piles of caffeine that were removed as being some sort of awful wet gray powder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Otto View Post
I've seen that article! It's more like a horrifying waxy sludge.
You're both right. But that's what caffeine looks like, in impure form, like it would right after the decaffeination process. In pure form, it's a white powder. I believe the caffeine obtained in this process is purified and resold to soda manufacturers like Coca Cola, Pepsi and RC. But that may just be a rumor.
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