PROCESS FOR DECAFFINATING GREEN COFFEE BEANS

摘要

A simple, reliable process for decaffeinating green coffee beans to a high degree while avoiding denaturation of the green coffee beans includes wetting the green coffee beans to a high water content of 35-50%-wt.; compressing the beans in a pressure chamber for a period of a few minutes to several hours in an atmosphere comprised of a supercritical fluid which is a gas at STP, at a temperature ranging from 20 DEG to 80 DEG C. under a critical pressure ranging from 75 to 300 bar; decompressing the wetted beans from critical pressure pc to a pressure p for which pc