<p>According <a href="http://www.livestrong.com/article/543945-acid-levels-caffeinated-vs-decaf-coffee/" rel="noreferrer">this source</a>, a study by Dionex, a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, found that decaf coffee is <strong>less acidic</strong> than regular coffee.</p>

<p>That being said, all coffee causes the stomach to produce acid and the scientific results of the effect of both types of coffee on this are inconclusive. Some studies have found that patients drinking decaf have less stomach acid issues and vice versa.</p>

<p>According to <a href="http://teeccino.com/images/uploads/pages/File/DECAF.pdf" rel="noreferrer">this source</a>, the nature of the beans used to make decaf coffee are higher in acidity in any case, because these beans are used due to their ability to retain flavor after treatment.</p>

<p>All in all, decaffeinated coffee beans have less acid in them than their counterparts, but because the choice beans for decaffeination are already high in acid, this may make most decaf coffees have a higher acidic content in general when compared to other coffees.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-06T23:51:42.250Z
2015-02-06T23:51:42.250Z
Patrick Sebastien
<p>Apparently caffeine is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Chemical_properties" rel="noreferrer">weakly basic</a>. This means, presumably, that in coffee the caffeine actually neutralises some of the acids.</p>

<p>Is decaffeinated coffee more acidic than caffeinated coffee as a result, or does caffeine only have a negligible effect on the pH of the brew?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-06T15:54:03.477Z
It may depend of the decaffeination method as well.  I know there are varying degrees of "naturalness" among the methods as well as opinions on how much those methods "wash out" the flavor of the beans.  I would assume some of the acids get washed out as well and with some methods the net result for pH is...*ahem* a wash.
Suspended User
<decaffeinated><chemistry><acid>
Is decaffeinated coffee more acidic?
fredley
# Is decaffeinated coffee more acidic?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-02-06)

Apparently caffeine is [weakly basic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Chemical_properties). This means, presumably, that in coffee the caffeine actually neutralises some of the acids.

Is decaffeinated coffee more acidic than caffeinated coffee as a result, or does caffeine only have a negligible effect on the pH of the brew?

**Tags:** decaffeinated, chemistry, acid

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It may depend of the decaffeination method as well.  I know there are varying degrees of "naturalness" among the methods as well as opinions on how much those methods "wash out" the flavor of the beans.  I would assume some of the acids get washed out as well and with some methods the net result for pH is...*ahem* a wash.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-02-06. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

According [this source](http://www.livestrong.com/article/543945-acid-levels-caffeinated-vs-decaf-coffee/), a study by Dionex, a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, found that decaf coffee is **less acidic** than regular coffee.

That being said, all coffee causes the stomach to produce acid and the scientific results of the effect of both types of coffee on this are inconclusive. Some studies have found that patients drinking decaf have less stomach acid issues and vice versa.

According to [this source](http://teeccino.com/images/uploads/pages/File/DECAF.pdf), the nature of the beans used to make decaf coffee are higher in acidity in any case, because these beans are used due to their ability to retain flavor after treatment.

All in all, decaffeinated coffee beans have less acid in them than their counterparts, but because the choice beans for decaffeination are already high in acid, this may make most decaf coffees have a higher acidic content in general when compared to other coffees.


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