Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1013597
50 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 4, 2018 (August / September) A By Annelise Kelly preference for coffee decaffeinated using a water extraction process along with rising demand in Asia convinced Coffein Compagnie to both build and buy additional capacity this year. Coffein Compagnie, which operates the largest decaffeination plant in the world in Bremen, Germany, this spring acquired the Hiang Kie decaffeination plant in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam. Managing director Jens Eckhoff said the company will also build a new water process decaffeination plant in Bremen to boost capacity and diversify its offerings. According to Eckhoff, Coffein Compagnie is facing capacity issues that these two projects will help resolve. Its existing Bremen plant, described by National Public Ra- dio (NPR) in 2016 as the largest decaffeination plant in the world, processes 100,000- 120,000 metric tons annually using both methylene chloride and ethyl acetate caffeine extraction. The Hiang Kie plant processes about 30,000 metric tons annually with the methylene chloride process―a volume Coffein Compagnie intends to increase. The new Bremen plant will initially process 10,000 metric tons of coffee annually, with capacity for increased volume in coming years. Two large decaffeination plants have closed recently. Swiss-based ECOM Agroin- dustrial Corporation which owns Atlantic Coffee Solutions in Houston, Tex., closed its doors in June for economic reasons, and German brand Jacobs Douwe Egberts closed its Café Hag facility in Bremen in 2017. The Houston facility used supercritical (liquid) CO 2 to extract caffeine, a more energy intensive process than other extraction meth- ods. Because of these closures, Eckhoff anticipates an increased demand for Coffein Compagnie's product, regardless of whether decaf increases its market share. Eckhoff also anticipates that Coffein Compagnie will save freight and logistics costs by shipping product directly from the Vietnam plant, especially locally grown robusta. Coffee bean decaffeination is a growing industry in Vietnam. In 2015, Nestlé made news by constructing a large decaffeination plant in Dong Nai, in part to process Vietnamese-grown robusta beans for global distribution. The Nestlé plant relies on a water-based extraction process. Other businesses with coffee processing facilities in Vietnam include Neumann Gruppe, based in Hamburg, Intimex Import-Export Joint- Stock Company, and Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group (MZB Group). Decaf in Demand A preference for better tasting gourmet coffee and a desire to avoid caffeine by both older and young coffee drinkers is awakening global demand for decaffeinated roast The Coffein Compagnie coffee processing facility in Bremen, Germany Coffein Compagnie headquarters The Hiang Kie decaffeination plant in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam