How does this community feel about decaf? And are there any really good decaf options at your local roaster or roaster of choice? I’m personally a big fan of decaf for a dessert latte in the evening. Unfortunately I’m still trying to find a really good decaf bean, but this one is good for a really dark roast, which is my preference for espresso.
I like Hoffmann’s stance on decaf personally. His thought is the “death before decaf” folks aren’t really into coffee as much, because they’re admitting they’re just into it for the caffeine, and those who drink decaf are willing to drink often times bad coffee (since most places don’t treat decaf with the same respect as regular) just to have a cup of coffee since they love it so much.
For medical reasons I can only drink decaf for years now.
TL;DR I have found Frequent Coffee to be a true "decaf specialty" coffee. Really amazing flavors. S&W Roasting also gets some great ones sometimes, though they're more hit and miss.
Hoffman did as much an apples to apples comparison of decaf processes as is possible. I did the same tasting blind and agree with his ranking: EA / Cane processed is best for flavor preservation, followed by CO2, with muddy dusty swiss water in dead last.
The biggest problem with EA is the available beans are nearly all the same Columbia/Huila beans. Very little variety. Sometimes they'll do a little bit of a Mexican bean, and sometimes they'll get "exotic" stuff like a fermentation batch (Frequent and S&W are really good about snapping these up quickly).
It is really disheartening to see Swiss water used by so many specialty roasters I love, but usually it's a choice their bean suppliers are making for them. The company that does Swiss water processing has the African and South American been suppliers cornered with partnership deals.
I'll also sometimes go with a local roaster or a big name like Ceremony or Merit using EA processes to liven things up.
Very informative, thank you! Frequent Coffee looks quite nice, but I don’t like buying from American companies so I’ll try to find a comparable one in Canada. My current favourite roaster, Hatch, does offer a decaf bean so I may try that first, but I’d like to find someone that specifically does decaf in Canada.
If you find a Canadian alternative, I'd love to hear more about it!
Oh Hatch is fabulous! I used to order from them often before all the tariff bullshit. You'll be happy with them.
I only recently discovered them but I’m sorta hooked on them now. I definitely want to try all their offerings. Unfortunately they’re just a bit too far away for me to drive to them, so I have to get them shipped, which is not my preference, but from what I’ve tasted it seems to be worth it. My local grocery store does also sell their beans for about $2 cheaper, but they’re not as fresh usually. I did get lucky once though and found some that were less than two weeks old, but since then everything’s been at least two months old. I do still keep an eye out though every time I get groceries.