Legend has it that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia in the 9th century. By the 15th century, coffee was being grown in Yemen. From there the coffee trade spread to the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. The first known coffee shop opened in Constantinople around 1475. In the 1600s coffee houses opened in England, Austria, France, Germany, and Holland. Coffee came to America in the 18th century. In 1903, German merchant Ludwig Roselius and his co-workers invented the first commercially successful decaffeination process and patented it in 1906. Back then, benzene was used as a solvent to make decaffeinated coffee, however, that’s no longer the case as benzene has been classified as a carcinogen.
Currently, several methods are used to decaffeinate coffee. The direct method involves steaming unroasted coffee beans and then rinsing the beans in an organic solvent such as dichloromethane or ethyl acetate to extract the caffeine. This process is repeated several times until the caffeine content reaches the required standard. In the United States, 97% of the caffeine has to be removed. In the European Union, 99.9% has to be removed by volume in order for the coffee to be called decaffeinated.
In the indirect method, coffee beans are soaked in hot water for several hours, then the beans are removed from the water and either dichloromethane or ethyl acetate is used to extract the caffeine from the water. The caffeine is then extracted from the solvent. The same water is recycled through the process with new batches of beans until an equilibrium is reached where the beans and the water have a similar composition except for the caffeine so no coffee strength or flavorings are lost.
In the Supercritical CO2 process, unroasted coffee beans are steamed then added to a high-pressure container. A mixture of water and CO2 is circulated through the container. The caffeine dissolves into the CO2 while the compounds contributing to the flavor in the coffee remain in the bean. In a separate container, the caffeine is extracted from the CO2 and then the CO2 is recirculated to the high-pressure container.
The Swiss Water process uses Green Coffee Extract (GCE), a solution containing water-soluble components of green (unroasted) coffee except for the caffeine. The caffeine from the unroasted coffee beans is drawn to the GCE. Once the GCE is caffeine-rich, it’s filtered to remove the caffeine and reused to remove additional caffeine from the unroasted coffee beans.
The Triglyceride process involves soaking unroasted coffee beans in a hot water/coffee solution to draw the caffeine to the surface of the beans. The beans are then transferred to another container and immersed in coffee oils and left to soak. After several hours of exposure to high heat, the triglycerides in the oils extract the caffeine. The beans are separated from the oils and dried. Then, the caffeine is removed from the oils. The oils are reused to decaffeinate another batch of coffee beans.
Today’s market size shows the revenues for decaffeinated coffee in 2019 and projected for 2027. The decaffeinated market is a very small segment of the $424.7 billion global coffee market. Traditionally, decaffeinated coffee drinkers are older and/or have health conditions in which doctors recommend limiting caffeine intake. As populations age, the size of the decaffeinated coffee market is expected to grow. Growth is also expected to come from millennials who constitute more than 31% of the world’s population. Millennial coffee drinkers prefer organically and sustainably-grown, decaffeinated, and lightly roasted coffee beans. In the United States, 19% of decaffeinated coffee drinkers are millennials. Overall, demand for decaffeinated coffee is also expected to rise among health-conscious individuals who want to cut back or eliminate their caffeine consumption due to caffeine’s negative effects on health, including jitteriness, restlessness, insomnia, and elevated blood pressure. In a 2017 report by the National Coffee Association, 68% of consumers in the United States thought it was necessary to reduce their caffeine intake.
Arabica beans comprised the majority of the global decaf coffee market in 2019, followed by Robusta beans. Arabica beans have naturally less caffeine than other varieties and are regarded as providing a superior coffee flavor, aroma, and body. The natural fruity and sweet flavor makes coffee made with these beans suitable for drinking without added sweeteners. Robusta beans are more bitter but easier to tend on the farm and less expensive than Arabica beans. The lower cost is driving demand in this segment. This demand is expected to grow the fastest, at a compound annual growth rate of 8.1% through 2027.
In 2019, Europe was the largest market for decaffeinated coffee due to the popularity of coffee in the region along with consumers’ growing awareness of caffeine’s side effects. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to experience the fastest growth as health-consciousness and demand for other decaffeinated beverages rises. North America is the largest importing region, followed by Europe. Some leading global decaffeinated coffee processors include Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc., LifeBoost Decaf, Cafe Don Pablo Colombia Supremo Decaf, No Fun Jo Decaf; Fresh Roasted; and Volcanica Coffee Costa Rica Tarrazu Decaf.
Geographic reference: World
Year: 2019 and 2027
Market size: $1.65 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively
Sources: “Decaffeinated Coffee Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Product (Roasted, Raw), by Bean Species (Arabica, Robusta), by Distribution Channel, by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2020 – 2027,” Grand View Research Report Summary, April 2020 available online here; “Decaffeinated Coffee Market Size Worth $2.8 Billion by 2027 | CAGR: 7.0%: Grand View Research, Inc.,” CISION PR Newswire, April 15, 2020 available online here; “Decaffeination,” Wikipedia, April 17, 2020 available online here; “The Caffeine Fix: Coffee Consumption, History, Trends & Industry Statistics,” Much Needed, February 22, 2020, updated April 23, 2020 available online here; “Global Markets for Decaffeinated Coffee Brochure,” LMC International, April 2019 available online here; “Coffee Worldwide,” Statista available online here; Tasmin Grant, “Exploring Millennial Trends in Specialty Coffee,” Perfect Daily Grind, February 3, 2020 available online here; Lee J. Miller and Wei Lu, “Gen Z Is Set to Outnumber Millennials Within a Year, Bloomberg, August 20, 2018 available online here; “The History of Coffee,” National Coffee Association available online here; “10 Differences Between Robusta and Arabica Coffee,” The Roasters Pack, September 19, 2014 available online here.
Image source: emilie767, “smoky-mountains-coffee-nature-3021394,” Pixabay, December 19, 2017 available online here.