99.7% caffeine free: what does it mean?

[ralphgonz]

I've been drinking Folger's Simply Smooth decaf at night. It claims to be 99.7% caffeine free. Sounds great, but does this mean (1) it has 0.003 times as much caffeine as regular coffee or (2) it is composed of 0.003 caffeine by weight?

Assuming it's (1) then if a cup of regular coffee has 95mg of caffeine, this decaf has about 0.3mg caffeine per cup, about the same as 1/6 of a teaspoon of regular coffee. If it's (2) then a 10g (2 Tablespoon) serving will have 30mg of caffeine, or about the same as 1/3 cup of regular coffee.

I've read that decaf normally has between 2mg and 15mg caffeine per cup, which doesn't agree with either of the numbers above.

 

[roblenon]

Good Luck!

 

[ralphgonz]

I got this response from Consumer Relations at Folgers' parent company JM Smucker, indicating that indeed their Simply Smooth decaf has only 2-4 mg caffeine: about 5% of the caffeine of their regular coffee. This still doesn't explain what "99.7% caffeine free" means, but it suggests that their decaf is in line with other decafs.

Our Folgers® Simply Smooth® Decaf Coffee contains approximately 2-4 mg of caffeine per 6 oz. cup. Typically, our regular ground coffee contains approximately 60-80 mg of caffeine.