Emily White

Most decaf coffee is made with methylene chloride. It's the solvent that used to be in paint stripper. The green beans are steamed, then washed in methylene chloride, which pulls out the caffeine and not much else. The beans are steamed again to drive off the solvent and then roasted at over 400F. FDA allows up to 10 parts per million. When a lab tested 24 decaf brands in 2020 it found the solvent in 10 of them at about 0.05 to 0.1 ppm, around 100 times below the limit. The industry calls this the European method. There are 3 other ways to do it. Ethyl acetate, a solvent that can be made from sugarcane, which the trade calls the natural method. Carbon dioxide under pressure. And the Swiss Water process, which uses hot water and carbon filters and no solvent at all. Peet's says all of its decaf is water process. Starbucks has told reporters most of its decaf is the direct contact method, meaning solvent. EPA banned most uses of methylene chloride in 2024, but food is FDA's job, so decaf wasn't part of it. A petition to pull it from food has sat at FDA since December 2023. FDA reopened comments on it in May and hasn't decided. If the bag says Swiss Water or water process, no solvent touched it. If the bag says nothing, you don't know.