Hellobee Boards

OMG - there are healthier versions of decaf coffee??? I've just been drinking Dunkin's version - is that okay?

@adira I didn't know either.

I don't think you're crazy and weird, but I've just been drinking normal decaf - starbucks, dunkin, maxwell house.

my OB and my pedi told me that you are better off drinking a small amount of regular coffee than traditional decaf. Traditional decaf uses multiple chemical baths to remove the caffiene. So while the caffiene is eliminated, it leaves these chemicals behind which DO seep into the coffee when brewed.

If you want to drink more than a little, you want to go with Water Processed decaf, which uses water baths and brewing to remove caffeine.

I found this description of how it works online:
To decaffeinate the coffee bean by the Swiss Water method, a batch of green (unroasted) beans is soaked in hot water, releasing caffeine. When all the caffeine and coffee solids are released into the water, the beans are discarded. The water then passes through a carbon filter that traps caffeine but lets the coffee solids pass through. The resulting solution, called "green coffee extract (GCE)" by the company, is now available for decaffeinating coffee. New green coffee beans are introduced to the GCE. Since the GCE is coffee solids without caffeine, only the caffeine diffuses from the new beans. The GCE passes through proprietary carbon, which captures the caffeine. The process repeats, filtering out all the caffeine until the beans are 99.9% caffeine-free. These beans are removed and dried, and thus retain most if not all of their flavor.

yikes. I knew decaf was full of chemicals, but not to the extent! I'm going with the occasional regular cup.