The ozonation of caffeine in water was performed at different pH values, including acidic conditions. Kinetic experiments were conducted by adding pulses of a concentrated caffeine solution to ozone saturated water. The results showed a rapid decrease of ozone concentration during the first 15s after injection, followed by a gradual decline at a much slower rate. The data were fitted to a second order kinetic model with rate constants increasing from 0.25 to 1.05 M(-1)s(-1) for pH in the 3-10 range. The initial ozone consumption per mol of ozonated caffeine was greater at high pH values, reflecting a higher ozone decomposition rate. The decomposition of ozone was positively affected by the concentration of caffeine, an effect that could be attributed to the presence of a reaction intermediate from the ozonation of caffeine that behaved as a strong promoter of ozone decomposition. A study of the transformation products identified by liquid chromatography in combination with time-of-flight mass spectrometry was carried out, which permitted a tentative degradation pathway to be proposed and several persistent by-products to be identified at both pH 3 and 8. Most transformation products were the result of the opening of the imidazole ring after breaking caffeine's N9C8 double bond.