Decaffeination Standards

The SWISS WATER® Process and Industry Guidelines

The SWISS WATER® Process meets the US Food and Drug Administration decaffeination guideline of 97% caffeine removed, as well as the Canadian/European decaffeination standard of 99.92% caffeine free. 

The US guideline is based on the required amount of caffeine to be removed from a green coffee bean. The international standard is based on the maximum allowable caffeine level remaining in a decaffeinated green coffee bean.

Both definitions result in a decaffeinated green bean that has about the same amount of caffeine remaining. Coffee decaffeinated using the SWISS WATER® Process undergoes regular caffeine level audits to ensure compliance with both removal definitions. A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is available for every coffee contract upon request.

Decaf Standards 101:  An Example Calculation

On average, green coffee beans contain 1.0% – 2.0% caffeine.  Referring to the chart below, we will calculate the residual caffeine following decaffeination of an arabica green bean

1. US FDA Guideline  -  97% caffeine removed

To calculate residual caffeine based on the US FDA guideline, we take the original caffeine level of the bean and multiply it by the percentage of caffeine not removed: 

-> 1.05% x (100.0% - 97%) / 100 = 0.032% residual caffeine in the bean

2. Canadian/European Standard – 99.92% caffeine free

The Canadian/European standard of 99.92% caffeine free is equivalent to 0.08% residual caffeine remaining in the green bean. 

-> 100.0% - 99.92% = 0.08% residual caffeine in the green bean

As you can see from this calculation and the values below, the US FDA guideline is more rigorous than the Canadian/European standard. 

 

 Source: NCA Report, 1999

  Print this page (91kb, pdf)