There are many reasons why you might turn to decaffeinated coffee. From lifestyle choices, to a quest for better quality sleep, medical reasons, or just to avoid caffeine overload. It's clear that the increase in demand for quality decaf coffee is a lifestyle choice that's here to stay.
A truly delicious decaf remains a rarity; even rarer is a decaf with 100% traceability.
Our Water EA Decaf espresso is one of the best we've tried and proof that you can be just as fierce without the caffeine.
Our new-season decaf coffee is ethically sourced from a family-run farm in Brazil and naturally decaffeinated using the Water EA method. You're going to love it.
Visit our online shop to buy Decaf and Low-Caffeine coffees or keep scrolling to read more about our fierce house Decaf.
Our delicious decaf coffee is made using a natural decaffeination method known as Water EA.
EA decaffeination methods such Sugarcane EA and Water EA are natural decaffeination methods.
These natural methods are favoured by speciality roasters like Extract Coffee Roasters because they preserve the integrity, flavour and quality of the coffee. When roasted, they result in a decaf coffee which is almost unrecognisable from its fully caffeinated counterparts. (Our own team even struggle to pick them out of a coffee lineup - and that's really saying something!)
The Water EA decaffeination process starts by soaking green coffee beans in water, then steaming it for about 30 minutes. This process expands the coffee cells and opens the pores of the coffee bean, making it possible to extract the caffeine.
Next, the beans are soaked and washed in an ethyl acetate solution to remove the caffeine. The ethyl acetate used for decaffeination is a natural compound derived from fermented fruits and sugarcane.
Over multiple washing and soaking cycles, the caffeine molecules leave the coffee beans through the cell membranes and bond to the ethyl acetate molecules. Leaving behind coffee beans without the caffeine.
The coffee is then steamed to remove any remaining EA solution, then dried, cooled and put through a final quality control check before coming to us for roasting.
"EA processing is much gentler to the coffee compared with other processes. The result is that the coffee beans' structural integrity is preserved. Because more of the good stuff is kept intact, the beans are more stable in the roaster and as a result we can get sweet, clean-tasting cups.
In other methods, Swiss Water for example, the decaffeination process is more intesive and this impacts roasting and flavour. The extensive soaking means the beans get soft and they break. You'll often get lots of beans with broken edges. These are a nightmare to roast evenly because those small edges will take the heat a lot more than a plump round bean."
Extract Head Roaster, Tommy
Our Water EA decaf is ethically sourced from a family-run farm in Alto Paranaíba, Minas Geiras, Brazil.
Leandro César Natal took on his family farm, Fazenda São Judas Tadeu in the late 2000s. Leandro manages the farm with respect for the environment and biodiversity of the local area.
Mineral rather than chemical fertilisers are used exclusively on the farm. The rows between the coffee plants are left as natural as possible, leaving leaf litter to decompose, for example. These practices not only support biodiversity, but also bring numerous benefits to the soil.
As well as tasting better than any decaf we've tried, our Water EA Decaf had far fewer food-miles than other natural decaf coffees such as Swiss Water decaf.
This is because it is decaffeinated in the country where the coffee is grown, Brazil, instead of being transported around the world for decaffeination.
When we made the change from Swiss Water to EA Decaffeination a few years ago, we estimated that we saved 6000 food miles per coffee shipment. This means your your cup of decaf coffee has a smaller carbon footprint and also directs more funds to the country of origin. A win-win!
Ever noticed that your decaf beans look darker and oilier than regular coffee beans? Here's why that happens.
Decaffeinating changes the molecular structure of the coffee resulting in bean that is lower in density.
They take the colour on more because there is less mass. If you rattle them around in your hand, they will feel very different to a regular espresso, like Original - almost brittle.
The beans are also quite porous so they oil up more easily which can affect the appearance. Often you'd see this from something that’s had a really heavy roast, but our decaf is actually the same sort of roast profile as our Rocket Espresso or Organic Espresso.
We are super excited to introduce a new decaf coffee for 2023. This tasty new coffee is ethically sourced from Brazil and decaffeinated using the Water EA method, very similar to the Sugarcane EA method of our previous decaf coffee.
GROWER: Leandro César Natal, Serra do Salitre, Alto Paranaíba, Minas Geiras, Brazil
PROCESS: WATER EA
IN THE CUP: COCOA, CARAMEL & FRUIT LOAF
After the huge success of our new, Sugarcane Decaf, we made our house decaf even better by moving to a 100% traceable supply chain in 2019.
We connected one of our longest standing growers, La Marinaela with the local sugarcane processing mill in nearby Pitalito.
Now we can offer an epic decaf with complete traceability back to farm and lot. Fierce!
FARM: La Marianela, Cauca, Colombia
PROCESS: WASHED, SUGARCANE EA DECAFFEINATION
IN THE CUP: BLACKCURRANT JAM, BROWN SUGAR & COCOA
In 2018 we upgraded our decaf from a pussycat to a light-footed, but 100% more badass, jaguar.
We changed the process from Swiss Water Decaf to Sugarcane Decaf, a decaf which was so good our sourcing team could barely taste the difference!
This change also saved us about 6000 food miles, as instead of being transported from Brazil to Canada for decaffeination, our new coffee was grown and decaffeinated in Colombia using locally grown Colombian sugarcane.
FARM: Pitalito smallholders, Colombia
PROCESS: Sugarcane EA
IN THE CUP: BLACKCURRANT JAM, BROWN SUGAR & COCOA
The sugarcane process uses compounds from fermented sugarcane called Ethyl Acetate (EA). Despite their rather harsh name, these are an entirely natural by-product from fermenting sugarcane.
Once harvested and processed, the green (unroasted) coffee is steamed and soaked in water with the EAs to extract the caffeine from the coffee beans.
Finally, the water is drained and the coffee is rinsed and re-steamed (to remove any traces of the EAs).
The Swiss Water process was chemical-free and the only plant of its kind to be certified organic, making it a great choice for the next evolution of our house decaf. A nutty, chocolatey Brazilian decaf.
The green coffee (raw beans) are washed, then soaked in a series of containers with a GCE (Green Coffee Extract) to remove soluble caffeine and reintroduce other coffee solubles, like oils and sugars that make the coffee taste good. The process is repeated until 99.9% of caffeine is removed.
The coffee was selected from the Cerrado region in Brazil, the richest and most biologically diverse savannah in the world, before being transported to British Colombia in Canada for decaffeination.
FARMS: Cerrado, Brazil
PROCESS: Swiss Water
IN THE CUP: COCOA, CHESTNUT
In the CO2 decaffeination process, green, unroasted coffee beans are soaked in water with compressed carbon dioxide. This attracts and removes the caffeine molecules from the beans. Carbon filters then remove the caffeine from the water.
Finca La Joya growers, the Pacas family, are growers on several small estates around El Salvador’s fertile Apaneca Ilamatepec mountain. Their CO2 decaf was the first coffee we used as our house decaf. No sock in the jaw here, so we stuck a lazy cat on the bag. Miaow!
FARM: Finca La Joya, El Salvador
PROCESS: CO2 DECAFFEINATION
Take a look at our latest coffees, freshly roasted and available to buy online now.