Not all decaf is created equal! To many coffee enthusiasts, decaf has long struggled with a less than stellar reputation thanks to harsh chemical processes and less than ideal results. Would it surprise you to learn that the Swiss Water Process® is a clean, solvent free method of decaffeination that removes 99.9% of the caffeine while leaving everything else you love about coffee intact?

We use the Swiss Water Process at Hawaii Coffee Company because even though it can be more costly than other decaffeination methods, we believe in protecting the integrity of our beans. Whether for our Lion Gold Roast or our Royal Kona 100% Kona Private Reserve... When you buy our Swiss Water Decaf, your coffee has been treated with same care as our regular coffee, from farm to cup!

How does it work?

First, the green beans are cleaned then hydrated with pure water in order to prepare them for caffeine removal. The beans are not blended with any others varieties - the beans that go in, are the same ones that come out - only the caffeine is left behind!

Then, Green Coffee Extract - water with soluble coffee compounds and no caffeine or flavor of its own, is introduced to the beans. The beans are immersed in this solution and the caffeine then begins to soak out of the green beans and into the GCE until the ratio of compounds in the GCE and beans reach the point of equilibrium.

Now that the extract is saturated with caffeine molecules, it is passed through proprietary carbon filters specifically designed to remove the caffeine. Once the extract is again caffeine free, it is passed back through to the green beans, and the cycle continues for roughly 10 hours per batch of coffee - with regular checks on GCE flow, time, temperature and more to ensure a 99.9% caffeine free batch of coffee is the result.