Coffee break

I have to stop at some point for a coffee.

I used to drink more coffee than was good for me, but I'm down to just one or two decaffs a day. Possibly better for me, but then I read how they take the caffeine out of the coffee!

Apparently they used to boil the coffee beans and then remove the caffeine by soaking them in benzene. I reckon that if I can avoid eating or drinking anything with a 'z' in it, I may live longer:)

Nowadays, they use dichloromethane or ethyl acetate instead of the benzene.

Some producers use the supercritical fluid extraction method, which involves CO2 at high pressure, but the nicest sounding method is the Swiss Water Process which uses just plain old water to wash the nasty caffeine out of the beans.

The secret of using any of these methods is to make sure that the over 400 chemicals present in the coffee, remain in the same concentrate before the extraction, therefore preserving the taste.

Right now this blip is done, think I'll have a nice cup of tea:)