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Directive 1999/4/EC relating to coffee extracts and chicory extracts

European Parliament and Council · 1999 · eur-lex.europa.eu

Sets what may legally be sold as decaffeinated in the EU. The threshold is looser than most people assume, which is the single most useful thing to know when comparing a legal claim against a supplier claim.

How much weight this carries

Well established. Safe to rely on as stated.

What it says

  • Decaffeinated coffee must not exceed 0.1% caffeine by dry weight — For roasted coffee. Extracts carry a separate, higher threshold.

What it does not say

  • It does not require any particular removal rate. A coffee that started low in caffeine and a coffee stripped by 99.9% can both sit under the same ceiling and carry the same word on the bag.
  • It sets no process requirement whatsoever. "Decaf" on an EU bag tells you about a number, not about a method.

Recorded because the errors in this subject all point one way: toward claims more confident and more flattering to decaf than the evidence supports.

The gap between this threshold and the supplier claims printed on bags is where most decaf confusion lives. 0.1% of dry weight is the law; 99.9% removal is a company’s guarantee about its own process. They are not the same kind of claim and they do not imply each other.

Cited on

For measurement, see