Contrary to popular belief, decaffeinated coffee is not grown from a decaffeinated coffee plant. Rather the caffeine is extracted from the green coffee bean using one of just a few processes.
Swiss Water Process uses a Green Coffee Extract (GCE) and carbon filters to extract up to 99.9% of the caffeine from the green bean. GCE is created only once soaking green coffee beans in pure water. Green coffee beans are rehydrated then the GCE is continually recirculated around the beans until 99.9% of the caffeine is extracted.
The other processes are: Methylene Chloride. In 2019 the FDA banned MC in paint thinners and other industrial chemicals for its toxicity. So if you can't remove paint with it, why would you want it to be used for removing caffeine from coffee that you are going to ingest? There is a large amount of cheap decaf coffee that is processed this way.
Ethyle Acetate is another chemical solvent process that is often marketed as "naturally decaffeinated". However, when used to decaffeinate coffee a synthetic production is often used and leaves a fruity taste in the coffee bean.
Another process is Carbon Dioxide (Co2). Co2 is used under pressure to improve its extractive properties. The beans are soaked in warm water, then Co2 is forced into the beans at a pressure of 1,000ppi. Caffeine has a low solubility in supercritical Co2 so a co-solvent of either water or ethanol has to be used to accelerate the extraction.
The only 2 process that are actually considered safe for decaffeinating green beans are Swiss Water Process and Carbon Dioxide.
We only roast Swiss Water Processed Decaf coffee because it is the only process that is able to attain a Certified Organic rating making it easily traceable.