Dr. Rhonda Patrick

But if you do prefer to avoid chemical solvents entirely, there are excellent alternatives.

The Swiss water process, for instance, uses only water and activated carbon, no chemicals involved.

Another popular solvent-free approach is the carbon dioxide decaffeination, which uses pressurized carbon dioxide gas to gently remove caffeine without affecting flavor or leaving residues.

Both methods reliably eliminate caffeine while keeping beneficial polyphenols, antioxidants, vitamins, and coffee oils intact.

in them largely intact.

Nutritionally, decaf coffee remains virtually identical to regular coffee, just minus the caffeine.

And modern solvent-free methods also preserve the flavor remarkably well.

So the science does show that decaf coffee, no matter how it's produced, even with solvents, is safe and has beneficial effects overall.

If you look at most of these studies that have been done showing the beneficial effects of decaffeinated coffee,

Most people are just drinking standard decaffeinated coffee that is not using a solvent-free method.

But if even trace amounts of chemical solvents do make you uncomfortable, choosing the Swiss water method or carbon dioxide decaffeination coffee is probably your best bet.

There's a lot of discussion out there about whether coffee is contaminated by mold toxins called mycotoxins and if these pose real health risks.

Let's cut through the noise and look at what the science actually says and then talk about practical steps to ensure your coffee remains safe.

First, what exactly are mycotoxins?

They're natural toxins produced by certain molds.

In coffee, the primary mycotoxin of concern is called ocrotoxin A or OTA.

At high chronic doses, far above what you'd ever encounter in coffee, OTA can damage kidneys and is considered a probable carcinogen.

Occasionally, you might hear about aflatoxins too, but they're mostly never detected in coffee.

Now, how common are these mycotoxins actually?

Large-scale global surveys involving thousands of coffee samples show that more than 95% are well below international safety limits for OTA.