Decaffeinated coffee

In this category you will find loads of decaffeinated coffee that could soon drive your coffee beans out of the kitchen cupboard. Caffeine is one of the psychoactive drugs, has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system and increases the heart rate. Coffee is therefore not harmful in small quantities, but there are still some who would never give up their delicious morning coffee cup, but would like to forego the (side) effects of caffeine. For all those who feel the same way or for whom the right coffee is perhaps too bitter, there are a variety of decaffeinated coffee varieties. Caro coffee is probably the most famous decaffeinated coffee, is also called "substitute coffee" and contains barley, chicory, rye and malt. You can drink this decaffeinated coffee during pregnancy without hesitation, if you feel like coffee and you can no longer see the fruit tea.

Decaffeinated coffee - you should know that

The morning coffee serves as a classic "wake-up" for most people. But if you can't tolerate the caffeine in your beloved hot drink, decaffeinated coffee can help so that nobody has to do without coffee.

Coffee without caffeine? And whether! But not always doing without the stimulant caffeine is voluntary.

Older people in particular swear by decaffeinated coffee because they assume that they can no longer tolerate caffeine as well as they get older. After consuming caffeinated coffee, they often complain of high blood pressure and heart problems. However, the bitter substances could also be a reason why the coffee is perceived as incompatible. If older people were actually so sensitive to caffeine, they would probably also have problems with or after consuming chocolate and cocoa, because these foods also contain caffeine - albeit in lower doses. But decaffeinated coffee is also popular in other phases of life, for example during pregnancy.

Beginning of the 20th century: a man from Bremen invents decaffeinated coffee

Ludwig Roselius, the founder of the well-known coffee brand “Kaffee HAG”, produced decaffeinated coffee for the first time in 1903. The reason was very sad: shortly before that, his father had died and Roselius attributed this not least to his father's immense coffee and therefore also caffeine consumption. The first decaffeinated coffee wasn't necessarily good for your health. Because after the coffee beans were swollen in salt water, Roselius extracted the caffeine from them with the help of benzene. However, benzene is a substance that is now considered carcinogenic, so the so-called Roselius method is no longer used today.

The Swiss Water Process: A process without chemicals

The Swiss water process works without any harmful chemicals, but it has other disadvantages. This process works on the principle of saturation: First, the coffee beans are placed in water - until all soluble components have passed into the water. This water mixture is then passed through a special filter to separate the caffeine dissolved in the water from the rest. The decaffeinated water is now used again. In the next step, coffee beans are again added to the water, which now contains all the coffee components apart from the caffeine, and allowed to swell in it. Now the principle of saturation comes into play: Since the water contains all the components of the bean, except the caffeine, only the caffeine can be released into the water. So the caffeine is removed from the beans by the water and they are decaffeinated in this way. However, this method is very complex and also extremely wasteful, since you need a lot of coffee beans to saturate the water, which you then simply discard. This is why this method is rarely used today.

Decaffeinated coffee thanks to solvents

One of the most common methods of decaffeinating coffee today uses solvents. To do this, the first step is to let the coffee beans swell in order to make them ready for the solvents. If these are then used, patience is required: the coffee beans usually have to be treated with solvents for at least ten hours in order to release their caffeine. But the use of solvents is not entirely undisputed. To date, it has not been conclusively clarified whether the substances that are used are dangerous to health or not. There seems to be evidence that at least one solvent, namely dichloromethane, is potentially carcinogenic.

Does decaffeinated coffee make sense during pregnancy?

For many expectant mothers, pregnancy means doing without a number of things that could harm the child. The same applies to caffeine - but is the fear justified?

In fact, studies on the subject of "caffeine and pregnancy" do not come to a clear conclusion. Some believe that there is a statistical connection between impairments in the newborn and the mother's caffeine consumption; others do not see this connection. The question has not yet been finally clarified. However, if you don't want to take any risks, you can use decaffeinated coffee.

For those who cannot or do not want to do without caffeinated coffee completely, doctors have given a rough guideline up to which caffeinated coffee should also be harmless to the newborn child. Because there is one thing women should know during pregnancy: The caffeine always reaches the baby via the placenta - whether the caffeine causes damage here or whether the baby can break down the caffeine very well has not been conclusively clarified. So if you want to be on the safe side despite caffeine, you should not consume more than 200 milligrams of caffeine a day. The specified amount is to be understood as the total amount. This means that other foods that contain caffeine must also be included in the bill. These include, for example, chocolate, black and green tea and cocoa. Some medications can also contain caffeine. Therefore, if possible, pregnant women should keep a precise plan of what foods they consume every day and discuss this with their doctor.