Swiss Water Decaf Quality Testing - A Guide

One thing we hear a lot about the Swiss Water Decaf coffee that we roast is that it's so good and that people can't even tell it's decaf...

There's a reason for this and it's twofold:

1. The Swiss Water Decaf process of decaffeination is a chemical free process and is so gentle and non-invasive that it allows coffee to retain its natural characteristics, unique origin flavours, and terroir of the coffee origin.
2. The rigorous quality control by Swiss Water Decaf that is put into each one of their Swiss Water coffees. By monitoring every stage of the Swiss Water Decaf process, they make sure it’s working to bring the best out of each and every Swiss Water Decaf coffee origin.

How is Swiss Water Decaf coffee lab tested?

To ensure the Swiss Water Decaf origin tastes as good as "regular" caffeinated coffee, they cup taste each batch of decaffeinated coffee alongside a sample of the same coffee that still has caffeine. In short, they cup test the same coffee before and after it has been decaffeinated.

Since the Swiss Water Decaf team is so specialized, they even use their own custom cupping form, which expand on the industry-standard Speciality Coffee Association forms—to perform this integral part of their quality control.

The Swiss Water Decaf  internal metrics include more in-depth assessments of body - one of the characteristics of coffee that changes most during the decaffeination process.

They also score the similarity between the pre- and post-decaffeination coffee because hitting as close to the original mark is, of course, top priority.

"One of the big advantages we have over other decaffeinators is our range of products, which means we are familiar with a tremendous number of origins, regions, coffee varietals and processing methods," says Mike Strumpf, Swiss Water’s Director of Coffee. "So, it's worth noting that part of our cupping procedure is making sure that those coffees taste unique and distinct."

The end result?

A daily commitment to making sure the Swiss Water Decaf Process decaffeinated coffee meets the high standards not only of the roasters they work with, but also Swiss Water Decaf’s world-class coffee lab team.