Coffee can be decaffeinated in a variety of processes. Most of the ways to decaffeinate coffee soak the coffee beans, taking out the caffeine with a solvent or activated carbon, and then soaking the beans in the decaffeinated water to add any flavor that may have been removed back into the bean. The solvents that are used most often are ethyl acetate or methylene chloride. While these don't have an adverse effect on your system the chemistry of the bean is changed and so the flavor of the coffee has changed as well.

The three most common methods are CO2, swiss water process and sparkling water process.

The C02 method soaks the green beans in highly compressed C02. This removes the caffeine. The caffeine is then removed from the c02 using activated carbon. This allows the reuse of the compress c02 with more coffee extraction.

The sparkling water process is similar to the co2 process. However, instead of activated carbon, the secondary tank is water and then recycled again.

The swiss water process is a little more complex. The beans are soaked in hot water to remove the caffeine. The first batch of beans are thrown away. The water then goes through activated carbon to remove the caffeine and that water is used on the second batch of beans. The theory is the caffeine is removed but all the flavor removed from the first batch is added to the second.

Most of us who have a cup of decaf don't really worry about which method is used. If the flavor is good and the jitters go away all is well in our world.

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