Flavor-charged water is integral to the SWISS WATER® Process, which starts with top quality green beans and works as follows.First, the beans are cleaned and soaked in water partially saturated with coffee flavor solids, in preparation for caffeine extraction.Next, the beans are immersed in the flavor-charged water. Initially the water is caffeine-free, and as a result the caffeine diffuses from the beans into the water. Since the concentration of flavor components in the bean and in the water are equal, only the caffeine is removed, leaving the flavor intact. The water then passes through a carbon filter that traps the caffeine. The now caffeine-free, flavor-charged water flows back to the beans to remove more caffeine. This process continues for approximately 8 hours, until the beans are 99.9% caffeine-free.

Following decaffeination, the trapped caffeine is removed from the carbon filter. The flavor-charged water is then recycled to the start of the process for the next batch of beans.
A typical green bean, after decaffeination, is composed of:

Discussion points
1 Why might a ‘chemical-free’ process of decaffeination be attractive to consumers?
2 What kinds of costs might you expect to find in a process cost statement for this decaffeination?