It's coffee without chemicals or caffeine

Local maker markets unique process

Michael McCullough
Vancouver Sun

Swiss Water's Frank Dennis is hoping an aggressive advertising campaign will prompt consumers to pressure major U.S. coffee roasters like Starbucks to start carrying his company's products.

Frank Dennis dips a silver spoon into a glass cup of Guatemalan coffee, takes a loud slurp, pauses and spits into a copper funnel.

Then he repeats the process with a second cup that looks, smells and -- to this layman, at least -- tastes identical to the first.

Dennis, however, knots his brow.

"A bit sour," he says, referring to the second cup. Both come from the same batch of beans, but only the second one has been decaffeinated at this north Burnaby plant.

For 15 years, coffee has been decaffeinated here by a unique, patented and chemical-free process. Now, in advance of a million-dollar marketing push, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Co. Inc. is coming out of the kitchen cabinet and into the cup you carry with you to work.

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