You Look Like You Could Use A Coffee

Whether you enjoy a cup of coffee to relax with or whether you simply can’t start your day without it, it is important to know what coffee can be used on Pesach.

Is it Kitniyos?

Ashkenazic Jews have a custom to refrain from eating beans, legumes or corn because they can be confused with grain. When coffee was first introduced into the Western world, there were opinions that coffee beans were included in this custom. Others held that while coffee beans were clearly not in the same category as legumes, confusion could result and stringency was in order. However, the majority opinion overwhelmingly holds that coffee is not a form of Kitniyos and can be used on Pesach.¹

Flavored coffee

Many coffees have flavoring added. Almost all of these flavoring are not Kosher for Pesach. Therefore, flavored coffee should not be purchased without Pesach certification

Unflavored coffee

Unflavored coffee is a natural ingredient. However there are several concerns that need to be taken to into account:

Cross-contamination

Most often, unflavored coffee is produced in the same factory as flavored Therefore, it must be ascertained that there is no cross-contamination between the two due to shared equipment.

The good news is that flavoring is added after the roasting process, because the roasting would burn up all the flavoring Flavoring is also generally added after the coffee is ground because the residue from the flavoring can cause the grinder blades to jam.

Even if coffee is ground while already flavored, this is generally not done in the same grinder as flavored coffee, because the flavoring would adhere to the flavored coffee and change the taste noticeably. Therefore, the earliest point of contact between flavored and unflavored coffee will be in storage and/or packing equipment.

The storage problem can be solved if the manufacturer has dedicated sacks and bins for unflavored coffee. (Some even have dedicated sacks for each flavor.)

There are some coffee manufacturers that have dedicated equipment used for packing unflavored coffee. However, many will simply inject the flavoring right before it is packed. When they are packing unflavored coffee, they will simply not inject flavor. Some will clean the equipment in between flavored and unflavored coffees. Nonetheless, there is a risk of residue in the equipment which will adhere to the unflavored coffee as it passes through.

While it is generally in a manufacturer’s best interest to make sure that there is no residue of flavoring in an unflavored product, or even in a product of a different flavor, it is hard to ascertain that a Mashehu – a miniscule amount – does not remain in the flavored coffee.

While decaffeinated beans are roasted in the same roasters as regular coffee, the risk of cross-contamination is insignificant, since the trace amount of problematic substances (see below) will not be physically present at the time the regular beans are roasted, and it is not nosein ta’am (infusing flavor) into the walls of the roaster.

Decaf coffee

While the coffee bean is an all-natural ingredient, the decaffeination process raises some potential issues.

There are four methods of decaffienation:

Swiss Water Process This process involves running the beans through water and naturally removing the caffeine. This is the most natural of all the processes and presents no risk to the coffee’s Kosher for Pesach status. Unfortunately, this method is expensive and not that efficient.

Liquid CO2 In a similar way, the beans may be exposed to liquid carbon dioxide, leaving no chemical residue and creating no Pesach questions.

Methylene Chloride More efficient than the natural processes described above is using methylene chloride. Derived from methane and chlorine, this chemical is used in lacquer, shellac and paint remover. Nonetheless, the coffee is considered safe for consumption because only trace amounts remain in the coffee beans.² Since this is a purely chemical substance, there would not seem to be any risk regarding Pesach.

Ethyl Acetate This process has an efficiency similar to that of the methylene chloride, but can be produced naturally.³ Ethyl is produced from ethanol, which is commonly extracted from corn⁴, and hence a problem of Kitniyos. Moreover, acetate comes from acetic acid, which can be found in vinegar, including grain vinegar.⁵ This would not only be a problem of Kitniyos; it would actually be Chometz. While it is true that only trace amounts of these substances remain on the beans, on Pesach itself even a miniscule amount of Chometz is prohibited.

Because of the prevalence and possibility of use of ethyl acetate, one cannot buy decaffeinated coffee without a proper Pesach certification.

If unflavored coffee is not available with Passover certification, one should buy it before Pesach.

 

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