Is it OK? · 5 guides · 11 sources
Decaf, explained
How much caffeine is really in a cup, whether the low-caffeine varietals are worth chasing, and how to brew the stuff without inheriting someone else's assumptions. Every claim carries its source.
No. A cup of decaf carries roughly 2–15 mg of caffeine against about 95 mg in a regular cup. Here is what the measured figures actually say, and why the legal thresholds are looser than most people assume.
Answer · 14 August 2026
Who does decaf properly in Europe: which roasters are decaf-only, which ones actually ship across the EU, and what processes they use. Kept up to date, with the date on every entry.
Explainer · 14 August 2026
Four processes account for essentially every decaf on a European specialty bag. How they actually differ in the cup, which label claims survive contact with the regulation, and why the process matters less than you have been told.
Comparison · Updated 14 August 2026
Naturally low-caffeine coffee is not decaf. Laurina runs around 0.6% caffeine and Aramosa around 0.7–0.8%, against roughly 1.2% for standard arabica — what that means in the cup, and why you can barely buy either.
Explainer · 14 August 2026
Most decaf brewing advice is shop-floor lore, and the one controlled study contradicts it. What the evidence actually supports, what is folklore, and how to dial in a decaf without inheriting someone else's assumption.
Brewing · 14 August 2026
The processes
Four words cover basically every decaf you will meet in Europe. Each has its own page, with the claims on the bag and how they hold up.
A water-only process run at a single plant in British Columbia, using coffee extract already saturated with everything except caffeine. The best known name in decaf, and the most misunderstood — it is a company guarantee, not a certification.
Ethyl acetate fermented from sugarcane molasses, used as an extraction solvent in Colombia. The sweetest-cupping process and the one whose marketing is furthest from its chemistry.
Caffeine dissolved out under pressure by carbon dioxide above its critical point. The most selective process and the best for body and mouthfeel — and the most expensive to run, which is why you see so little of it.
A water process run in Veracruz using glacier-fed watershed water. Mechanically a close cousin of Swiss Water — and the process most often described with a number its own plant does not claim.
The sources
Studies, regulations and supplier documents as entities, so they can be cited from anywhere and corrected once.