WEBVTT - How do you decaffeinate coffee and tea?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart happens. Hi Am Marshal Brain with today's question, how

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<v Speaker 1>do you decaffeinate coffee and tea? Caffeine occurs naturally and

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<v Speaker 1>more than sixty plants, and you can find it in

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<v Speaker 1>things like coffee beans, cola nuts, and tea leaves. But

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<v Speaker 1>some people don't like the effects of caffeine, so these

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<v Speaker 1>different plant products need to be decaffeinated. When separated from

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<v Speaker 1>its source, caffeine is a white, bitter tasting powder. Several

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<v Speaker 1>different methods are used to remove this bitter tasting powder

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<v Speaker 1>from its natural sources. They include methylene chloride processing, ethyl

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<v Speaker 1>acetate processing, carbon dioxide processing, and water processing. Methylene Chloride

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<v Speaker 1>is a chemical used as a solvent to extract caffeine

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<v Speaker 1>from many raw materials. Moll alecules of caffeine bond molecules

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<v Speaker 1>of methylene chloride. The materials are softened in a water

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<v Speaker 1>bath or in steam. The next step is to process

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<v Speaker 1>the materials with methylene chloride, either by directly soaking the

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<v Speaker 1>materials in methylene chloride or by an indirect method. Caffeine,

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<v Speaker 1>which is water soluble, is extracted by soaking the materials

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<v Speaker 1>in water. Many of the flavors and oils are extracted

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<v Speaker 1>during this process, so the solution is treated with methylene

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<v Speaker 1>chloride to remove the caffeine from it, and then it's

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<v Speaker 1>returned to the material for reabsorption of the flavorings. Ethyl

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<v Speaker 1>Acetate process products are referred to as naturally decaffeated because

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<v Speaker 1>ethyl acetate is a chemical found naturally many fruits. Caffeine

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<v Speaker 1>is extracted in the exact same way you do it

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<v Speaker 1>with methylene chloride, but ethyl acetate is the solvent. To

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<v Speaker 1>decaffeinate something using carbon dioxide, water softened materials are pressure

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<v Speaker 1>are cooked with the carbon dioxide gas. At high pressures

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<v Speaker 1>and high temperatures. Carbon dioxide is in a supercritical state,

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<v Speaker 1>acting as both a gas and a liquid. It becomes

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<v Speaker 1>a solvent with its small, nonpolar molecules attracting the small

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<v Speaker 1>caffeine molecules. Since flavor molecules are larger, they remain intact

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<v Speaker 1>in the materials, which is why this process retains the

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<v Speaker 1>flavor of the natural materials better. Caffeine extraction with water

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<v Speaker 1>is used primarily for coffee. The process is similar to

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<v Speaker 1>the indirect method used in methylene chloride processing, but no

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<v Speaker 1>chemicals are used after the caffeine is leached out of

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<v Speaker 1>the material by soaking it in hot water for some

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<v Speaker 1>period of time. The solution is then passed through a

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<v Speaker 1>carbon filter, which grabs ahold of the caffeine molecules and

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<v Speaker 1>holds them. The water is then returned to the beans

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<v Speaker 1>for reabsorption of the flavors and the oils. In the

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<v Speaker 1>Swiss water process, the same method is used, but instead

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<v Speaker 1>of soaking in water, the beans are soaked in a

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<v Speaker 1>coffee flavored solution. This results in the caffeine being extracted

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<v Speaker 1>without removing any of the flavors from the coffee. Caffeine

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<v Speaker 1>is not removed completely using any of these methods, but

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<v Speaker 1>under federal regulations in the United States, caffeine levels must

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<v Speaker 1>not be above two and a half percent of the

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<v Speaker 1>product in order for the product to be labeled decaffeinated.

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<v Speaker 1>Most of the caffeine removed in processing is manufactured for

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<v Speaker 1>use in other products, such as medicines and soft drinks.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, less than five percent of the caffeine found

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<v Speaker 1>in cola drinks is actually from the cola nut, and

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<v Speaker 1>many of the popular high caffeine soft drinks don't contain

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<v Speaker 1>cola nut extracts at all. The caffeine content of soft

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<v Speaker 1>drinks is primarily and sometimes completely from the addition of

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<v Speaker 1>caffeine extracted from these other decaffeination processes for moralness and

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics, because it how stuff works. Dot

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