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How much caffeine is in decaf coffee?
In the United States federal regulations require that in order to label coffee as "decaffeinated" that coffee must have had its caffeine level reduced by no less than 97.5 percent.
Example: Panamanian coffee is about 1.36% caffeine by weight normally. This and many other arabica coffees are about 98.64% caffeine free even before anything is done to lower the caffeine content..
When 97% of the caffeine has been removed only .0408 % of the coffee weight is caffeine. About 4/100ths of 1%. At this level it is labeled "decaffeinated. How roasters label their products is another matter. Suppose two roasters roast Panama coffee that originally came from the same lot, and were decaffeinated together in the same vat. One roaster labels his decaf. "97.5% Caffeine Removed." The other says his is "99+% Caffeine Free." Which roaster is not telling the truth?
The answer is: They are both right. They are both essentially saying the same thing.
Decaf should range somewhere in the 2-4 milligrams of caffeine per cup range.
Currently used solvents for decaffeinating coffee include, H2O (water), CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), Meth. Chloride, Ethyl Acetate. Note: A relatively new method called Swiss Water Decaffeinated uses "flavor-charged" water in the decaffeinating process.
Comments
Although I love coffee and
Although I love coffee and caffeinated drinks, I recently discoverd that by drinking coffee in the morning, it was reason for excessive my tiredness and lethargy later in the day. If you get bouts of tiredness through the day, consider quitting coffee for 30 days - You'll be pleasantly surprised!
I quite drinking my two cups
I quite drinking my two cups of regular coffee every morning and drink two cups of decaf instead, because I had high blood pressure. I also stopped eating salt, that was the hard part. But now my blood pressure is low and I am happy that I don't have to take medicine for it, yet. Decaf smells and tastes almost as good.
i have always drank coffee
i have always drank coffee and never smoked, recently though, i have switched to all decaf coffee in order to prepare for pregnacy, (during which no caffeine is allowed) it took four days of excrutiating migrain to quit caffeine for me, despite the fact that i was only at one cup a day, but now that i am free i am quite happy, just wanted to see if decaf was safe for me. But because of the migrain, i must disagree with people who say that caffeine is not addictive, and that there is no withdrawl, maybe not for some people but most i know suffer a headache at least.
Caffeine is a very addictive
Caffeine is a very addictive drug. We're in the same boat right now, I'm trying to get pregnant as well, and I quit drinking coffee 6 days ago. I had horrible headaches for the first 3 days and still don't feel like myself after almost a week. It's all for a good cause, though! Doctors say it is perfectly safe to have 60-65 milligrams of caffeine per day when you are pregnant, but I'm still going to avoid drinking caffeine. I will have a cup of decaf in the morning, though! And at 2-3 milligrams of caffeine per cup, I think it's absolutely justifyable! Good luck getting pregnant!
So i assume the level of
So i assume the level of caffeine in decaf is low enough not to keep you out of sleep?
Caffeine and Sleep
I understand that the half life of caffeine in the body is 5 hours, therefore whatever caffeine amount one consumes half of that is in the body five hours later. If the original amount was, say 2 milligrams, 1 miligram remains after the 5 hours, five hours later the amount is .5 milligrams, and so on. How much this effects sleep is probably a function of a lot of factors, including age. Older people are more effected by caffeine as they generally don't sleep as well Probably body weight and other factors also make a difference. Personally at 69 I have more difficulty sleeping, and stay away from caffeine after noon whenever possible, dammit! When I was nineteen we used to get together for coffee after our Saturday night dates....no more! If you're sleeping OK its' probably not an issue...otherwise cutting back makes sense!
Arabica Caffeine Content
I am very interested in the comment about, "Panamanian coffee is about 1.36% caffeine by weight normally. This and many other arabica coffees are about 98.64% caffeine free "
Perhaps you could go into more detail about an Arabica coffee being almost caffiene free, as this would be news to me? Of all the research and study I've done over the last 5 years, that is the first time I have read anything like that.
I don't know if you are referring specifically to Arabica coffees from Panama, Central America in general, or Arabica coffees in general.
Re:Arabica Caffeine Content
1.36% caffeine by weight is not almost caffeine free. It's 1.36% by weight. A number of compounds make up coffee. Caffeine is only one. The point tis that 97.5% caffeine removed and 99+% caffeine free are the same thing because caffeint is naturaly only about 1.4% of coffee.
Arabica has less caffeine than robusta by about 50% but that is it. I suppose since US government regulations look at what percentage of caffeine is removed and not how much is left a coffee starting with robusta could have more caffeine left but realistically it's all very small amounts.
better with or without coffee ?
I think it's better to just skip coffee if you are planning to live a healthy life because coffee implies cigarettes and so on so what's there to benefit ?
coffee was a stumbling block when I gave up cigarettes
I agree with one of your repliers who says that not all coffee drinkers are also smokers, however I also have to agree with your statement. When I was first giving up smoking, coffee was a stumbling block because I'd always associated my cup of coffee with having a smoke. Same with having a beer. The cup/glass felt uncomfortable in my hands without the smoke. Now that I've given up smoking for over 20 years, I don't have the same associate with smoking, so it's not a problem any more.
But if you're trying to live a healthier life (assuming you think caffeine is unhealthy), surely having decaf is better than non-decaf coffee. Just as having no caffeine at all would be better than decaf. It's all a matter of degree. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Decaf might be a good first step for some people....so there IS a benefit to decaf.