Saturday, May 9, 2009

All Decafs are not Created Equal

I had discussed this on my first blog, but this was such a great discovery for us, that I wanted to share it with everyone. (I'm like Oprah that way :oP )

DH has to drink decaf, due to a scary incident with atrial flutter a couple of years ago. When he made the switch, he found that decaf upset his stomach, so he quit coffee altogether, but he really missed it.

Now, that just didn't make sense to me - if all you do is take the caffeine out of coffee, why should what is left upset your stomach if it didn't before? After I did a little research, I found that all decaffeination processeses are not created equal - many companies use chemicals to extract the caffeine from the coffee beans.

However, there is a process called the Swiss Water Process, that uses water and a carbon filtration system to remove caffeine. At the time that I did my research, there was one facility in the world that did this process (it's in Canada), and I think there are a number of different brands who market coffee with beans decaffeinated this way. You can check the can or bag labeling to see if it has the Swiss Water Process trademark.

DH's brand is Cafe Altura Dark Roast Decaf, which we buy locally at the Whole Foods store. It is so yummy - more pricey than regular coffee, but it is one of our few indulgences and we can make one can go a long way! Check out http://www.cafealtura.com/SpecialtyCoffees.html#swp

2 comments:

  1. Great info. It's so important to know what we eat these days, and how it's made. Thanks for some great info!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for your kind words on our blog.We will continue our efforts.
    Let's be friends.We hope we can keep in touch.
    Happy Mother's Day.

    ReplyDelete