The question has risen again of whether or not decaffeinated coffee is bad for you with an article in Consumer Reports. The first method used the chemical solvent benzene.

We now know that when inhaled, even in small amounts, benzene can cause drowsiness, dizziness, and headaches, as well as eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation. Over the long term and in high doses, benzene has been linked to cancer, blood disorders, and fetal development issues in pregnant women.

It’s no wonder the new type of brew-which later relied on other similarly toxic solvents-got a bad rap.

Today, coffee manufacturers have switched to safer decaffeination methods, though many still use potent chemicals to strip away caffeine. Meanwhile, researchers have wondered whether any of coffee’s healthful compounds are lost along with the caffeine.

The FDA says that the trace amount of chemical left over in decaf coffee after roasting are not a big risk to your health. But if you are a lover of healthy organic coffee why do you want to back up and put unwanted solvents in your Java?

A few years ago we wrote about decaf coffee risks.

Considering the number of impurities that one avoids by drinking certified organic coffee this may be a useful thing to do. There are as many as 130 unwanted chemical in regular coffee that are not found in organic coffee according to health authorities in Australia. Although high doses of pesticides are lethal and moderate doses of pesticides are known to produce a variety of bad results, there is no clear evidence of just how much damage is done by drinking regular coffee with pesticides added versus organic coffee.

The point is that organic coffee is free of lots of things you really do not want in your coffee. It turns out that if you stick with organic decaf you also avoid the solvents. How is organic coffee decaffeinated? The Swiss water process is the only decaffeination process that is certified as organic.

Coffee beans are soaked in hot water to remove caffeine. The water passes through an large-pore activated charcoal filter. The pore size is such that larger caffeine molecules are trapped and smaller molecules (oils, antioxidants) pass through. The remaining water contains flavor elements but not caffeine.

Then the first batch of beans is discarded! New beans are then soaked with the flavor rich but caffeine free water. Osmosis takes caffeine out of the beans to until its concentration is the same in the bean and in the water. But the flavor elements are already equally concentrated in bean and water so they are not removed. The company tests their product to guarantee that their coffee is 99.95% caffeine free. Decaf coffee made with this process is always labeled as Swiss Water decaf.

Which is the safest decaf coffee? That would have to be Swiss Water decaf although there is a carbon dioxide extraction process which also avoid solvents. It is however very expensive and only used with high end coffees.