Ethyl acetate

Ethyl acetate (EA) decaffeination uses ethyl acetate, a solvent derived from fruits or sugarcane. EA is a naturally occurring compound. The process involves steaming beans to open pores, soaking them in an EA/water solution to bond with caffeine, then steaming again to remove the solvent. This results in decaffeinated beans with often more of the coffee’s original flavor compared to some other methods.