Decaf: the what, the why and the how

Caffeine is the part of coffee that contributes to its reputation as a drink that will keep you awake, the night before a big exam or presentation, or will kick-start your day by making you feel awake.

However, caffeine is also a substance that is addictive in the long-term, and has side effects associated with regular consumption. Fortunately, coffee beans contain very small amounts of caffeine, so you shouldn't be unduly worried. Some people though, in the interest of being able to drink coffee and fall asleep at a decent time of the night, choose to drink decaffeinated coffee, also known as decaf.

If you're a coffee aficionado, you probably know that the two main types of coffee beans are Arabica and Robusta. Arabica coffee beans contain only half of the amount of caffeine found in Robusta beans.

Caffeine is removed from coffee beans by two processes: the European process and the Swiss Water process. The European process is generally thought to provide more flavourful coffee, since the process involves soaking the beans in water, washing them in methylene chloride to remove the caffeine and finally, after the due removal of chemical residue, the normal drying and roasting processes that coffee beans go through. The Swiss water process, on the other hand, eliminates the chemical washing, but it does remove some of the essential oils of the coffee bean and therefore yields a lower grade of coffee at the end.

The thought that decaf is better for you than normal coffee often prompts people to drink far more cups of decaf than they would of normal coffee. The problem is that five or seven cups of decaf contain as much caffeine as three cups of normal coffee: almost all decaf contains a small amount of caffeine, since they usually claim to have removed 97pc of the beans' coffee content.

The good news is that, since the demand for decaf is on the rise, coffee growers have been experimenting and the first completely caffeine free bean was grown in 2004. We could well be on our way to world where we get coffee with no caffeine in it!

In the mean time, if caffeine really does bother you so very much, there are coffee substitutes available on the market. These make use of various other organic foods, such as almond, acorn, asparagus, malted barley, beechnut, beetroot, carrot, chicory root, corn, cottonseed, dandelion root (see dandelion coffee), fig, molasses, okra seed, pea, persimmon seed, potato peel, rye, sassafras pits, sweet potato, wheat bran.