How do they get the caffeine out of the coffee? The greatest argument against drinking decaffeinated coffee is the fact that decaffeination involves an indirect treatment of the beans with chemical substances. In March 1974, the Flemish consumers’ organisation Test-Aankoop reviewed 16 brands of decaffeinated coffee. Their thorough analysis revealed, among other things, that, in all these brands, the solvent used to extract the caffeine had been removed completely. Moreover, in recent decades, numerous scientific studies have been done into the residual value of solvents, and none of these studies has found a trace of solvent in decaffeinated coffee. In fact, ever since 1968, Belgian law has prescribed that no other solvent may be used for this purpose than organic methylene chloride, and even then only in limited quantities. All the rumours about the harmful effects of decaffeinated coffee date back to before that year. Meanwhile, new decaffeination techniques have been developed: extraction by means of water and solvents and a treatment with ‘supercritical’ carbon dioxide. Because Koffie Kàn observes the very highest standards with regard to the coffee quality in the cup, Koffie Kàn opts for the method that yields the best taste for its regular decaffeinated coffee and for the CO2 method for its organic decaffeinated coffee. Our Advice: If you have difficulty digesting coffee (heartburn, a heavy stomach, nervousness), and you are otherwise a healthy person, then perhaps it is time you checked the quality of the coffee you drink. In other words: is the blend you usually drink made up exclusively of high-grown Arabica, with a naturally low caffeine content, is the coffee lightly roasted (not burnt black), and do you have the guarantee that no fat, sugar, water, aromatic substances, or other chemicals have been added to your coffee? if you drink honest, good quality coffee, you will not find it at all hard to digest. If you are still sensitive to caffeine, then drink only decaffeinated coffee after 4 p.m. But in the morning and the early afternoon, a few cups of low-caffeine coffee will only do you good. Believe us: there really is a coffee that is good for you! However, you should never drink coffee as a health drink. Rather, it should be enjoyed the way a wine connoisseur enjoys a good wine: as a natural product that brightens up your day from time to time.