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Decaffeinated Coffee
"Orphee, Paddington and Canteen, Balmain are voted by Vogue Entertaining and Travel as amongst 10 of Sydney's cafes with great coffee"
Vogue Entertaining and Travel, Spring 2000
Caffeine is present in the coffee bean as a low soluble complex, enabling it to stay in the cells protecting the plant from the caffeine's toxicity. Water is essential in the decaffeination process to split the complex and make the caffeine soluble. There are two major types of decaffeination - bean decaffeination at moisture levels under 40% and extract decaffeination at high moisture content.
Bean Decaffeination
The term 'natural decaffeination' refers to the use of supercritical carbon dioxide or coffee oil as solvents to remove caffeine. Due to the health concerns raised by the use of the compound trichlevoethylae in the 1960s, it was replaced by dichloromethane which is selective towards caffeine, is non-flammable and hasn't been proven to have negative health implications.
The procedure begins with swelling the coffee with steam and water to a moisture content of 25-40%. The coffee beans are then subject to CO2 and temperatures between 40-130°C and 140-350° for between five and 30 hours until the caffeine level has been reduced to 0.1% of the dry matter content. The gas is passed through activated carbon, which retains the caffeine. The bean is then deodorized and dried to the initial moisture content.
Water Extract Decaffeination
This process starts with soaking the green coffee bean for up to two hours in water heated between 70-100°C to remove the caffeine to the required 0.1%. The water extract is then treated with dichloromethane to remove the caffeine. This process takes 10 hours at 85°C and is followed by deodorisation with steam. The decaffeinated extract is then concentrated and reincorporated into the coffee once the beans have been redried to 20% moisture.
Swiss Water Decaffeination
This process follows the same basic process as above except that the water extract is decaffeinated with activated carbon. Therefore, no chemicals are used in this process.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DO NOT OFFER ESPRESSO GROUND COFFEE
Our philosophy is to produce the freshest, best tasting coffee possible and by providing pre-ground coffee we are compromising this belief. Coffee should be consumed within 2-4 weeks of roasting and ground on demand to ensure the full flavour is enjoyed in the cup, pre-grinding oxidises the beans and evaporates the true flavour. It is for this reason that we do not offer espresso ground coffee, with the exception of our Cascadia decaf blend.
We have one kind of pre-ground coffee available which can be ordered for any of our blends or origin coffees. This grind is suitable for any kind of filter, stovetop or plunger brewing process and is called MULTI- ST/DP/PLU.
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