Do you know the difference between caffeine free and decaffeinated? Even though these two terms are similar, they represent two ways that caffeine is added or taken out of foods.
Here is the difference between caffeine free and decaffeinated. When you see decaffeinated on a food product label, it's usually associated with coffee and tea companies. That's because decaffeinated means the caffeine has been removed from the coffee or tea.
To qualify as decaf coffee in the United States, coffee must have at least 97 percent of its caffeine removed. That still leaves about 5 milligrams of caffeine in a 6 ounce cup of decaf coffee. But compared to the 100 to 150 milligrams in 6 ounces of brewed coffee, that is significantly less.
Tea has much less caffeine than coffee to begin with, so most decaf tea will have even less caffeine than decaf coffee. Even though there is a slight amount of caffeine left after the decaffeination process of coffee and tea, it's usually too small to even notice.
You may be wondering what they do with all of that caffeine. The caffeine that is extracted is manufactured and used in medicines and soft drinks. The caffeine content in soft drinks mostly comes from the caffeine extracted from the coffee decaffeination processes.
When you see the word caffeine free on a food label, it means there is no added caffeine to the product. The most common product that carries the caffeine free label is soft drinks. Until a few years ago, most everyone did not know the soft drink makers were even adding caffeine to soft drinks.
But now soda manufacturers offer caffeine free choices for their traditional soft drink products. Soft drink makers offer caffeine free products to provide consumers the option to enjoy the products they love without the effects of caffeine in their systems.
So if you see decaffeinated it means that the caffeine has been removed where as caffeine free means no caffeine is added. That is the difference between caffeine free and decaffeinated.
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