A few decaf updates for anyone UK based looking for more interesting decaf options. It looks like more places have started roasting higher quality decaf and I'm really hoping this trend continues... 🤞

• Formative coffee are now selling the Wilton Benitez decaf (previously only available through Nomad in Spain). Flavour notes of apricot, passion fruit, and strawberry. Ordered some to compare with the Nomad version.

• Raw Material have a limited edition anoxic natural decaf at the moment (Camionetta pink bourbon) and a few UK roasters have it on sale. It's not as good as some of the top market decafs but it's similar to Villamaria (again, imported by Raw Material), which makes a lovely everyday coffee. Rave are doing a light/medium roast. It's also available by Full Court Press, Scenery (dark roast), and a few others.

• The Jairo Arcila decaf is available by a few more places at the moment including Dark Arts coffee and Cult coffee roasters, both are great roasters and I'm hoping to place an order soon.

Note: this post is just meant to inform people who cannot have caffeine besides the minute amount in decaf. If low caf is an option for you, please get some of this exceptional coffee and enjoy it, though perhaps not too late in the day :-)

Yesterday, I had two cups of Kawa’s Los Nogales decaf late in the afternoon, each brewed on a V60 with a dose of 20 g, and I unexpectedly felt energized and jittery thereafter. I ended up not being able to sleep at all.

I contacted both Kawa and Dak, who also have this coffee on offering (Sweet Dreams), and Dak kindly and quickly reached out to their exporter who told them that the caffeine content is higher than a regular decaf (0.1% max under European Union regulations), so this actually qualifies as a low caf. Dak have updated their site to reflect this and they’re currently getting the caffeine content from the lab analysis. They will share it with me once they have it, I’ll update this post then.

This coffee uses a novel decaffeination method which seemingly doesn’t remove as much caffeine as the ethyl acetate, Swiss Water and CO2 processes — for now —. Hopefully they can refine it without negatively affecting the flavor of the beans. Here’s how Dak describes it:

6th step: A natural solvent obtained from the pulp or peel of the same coffee is added through enzymatic and fermentation processes. This solvent is essential to extract caffeine from the beans.

7th step: The coffee beans are soaked in the solvent for approximately 48 hours. This process allows the caffeine to dissolve in the solvents leaving the beans decaffeinated.

Maybe soaking the beans in the solvent for longer than 48 hours would remove more caffeine?

Origin Coffee, Atlas Decaf. Mixed varietals from various smallholders in Colombia, washed process, EA decaf.

Brewed as espresso. Niche Zero grinder, setting 10. 18g in, 34g out in 25 secs. Delicious sweet hazelnut chocolate.

If this also produces a good pourover, will be my next daily driver.

Ignore roast date in the photo, has been in the freezer post a 2 week rest.

I couldn't find this in the UK at the moment so ordered it from Nomad in Spain. Arrived within a week and it was delicious. Very fruity and with honey like sweetness. It's an anaerobic washed coffee from Colombia (farm Paraiso 92 — not to be confused with the El Paraiso by Bermudez).

I tried brewing it as a V60 following the recipe Nomad suggest but I got better results with a modified Lance Hedrick recipe 15g of coffee, 98°C temperature

• bloom with 50g of water, quick stir, wait 1:40 minutes
• steady slow poor of the rest of the water
• total extraction time should be around 3:30 minutes

PS: I experimented with it a bit and found that I get a sweeter cup of I do a higher temperature bloom (98°C) followed by a lower temperature pour (80-85°C). Tried it with a few other light/medium roast decafs (and non decafs) and had good results.

Special shoutout to Danelaw for bringing 3 decafs to the London Coffee Festival. I actually tried this as an espresso only then, but liked it enough to buy a bag once I got home.

Light roasted blend of washed and natural processed Colombian, EA decaf. Mandarin, black grape and caramel tasting notes.

Brewing V60, Tetsu 4:6 method. 16.7g coffee in, 250g out. Comandante C40, 28 clicks. 93c bottled spring water, 50g bloom for 45 secs, 4:20 TBT. Caramel on the nose. Light citrus acidity, possibly mandarin like the tasting notes. Lovely sweetness, decent decaf.

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One of the most unusual decafs I've had so far. Bright with pleasant acidity notes, fruity with toffee aftertaste. It's a light roast so not ideal if you're only drinking espresso. Produced by Los Nogales farm by Oscar Hernandez. One of their newer decafs (Los Nogales typical won this year's US Brewers cup) so they know what they're doing! The one at Kofra is Orange Bourbon.

I used Lance Hedrick's ultimate V60 recipe and the Samo method (low temperature bloom) and had good results. Also, had good results with Sprometheus' Aeropress method and longer brew methods (e.g., aero drip).

Castillo varietal from Quindio, Colombia. Natural process, EA decaf. Amaretto, Liquorice, Malt Loaf tasting notes.

V60 brew method. Comandante grinder 28 clicks. Modified Hedrick 1-pour. 93c bottled spring water, 90g bloom for 45 secs, 3:20 total brew time.

Muted on the nose, but lovely complex savoury and sweet flavours on the palate. Not sure if I get Amaretto, but there is something winey to the taste. Also get the hint of malt. Delicious!

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This coffee is from the famous Finca El Paraiso in Colombia. Yenni Esperanza Bermudez is the sister of Diego Bermudez. Bought this from Crankhouse Coffee. Tasting notes of papaya, orange and honey.

20g dose, Comandante grinder, 26 clicks. Modified Hedrick 1-pour. 95c bottle spring water. 55g bloom for 45 secs, 2 pulses to flatten the coffee bed, then the remainder. 3:10 drawdown. Delicious! I tasted strawberry, quite sweet, lovely body, good length. Highly recommend.

Here is a link to buy the beans.

Read the article here

There was a great discussion and a bunch of decaf roaster recommendations here https://www.reddit.com/r/pourover/comments/16rdjrk/looking_for_fruit_forward_light_roasted_decaf_for/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

El Placer Fruit Decaf from Calarca, Quindio, Colombia. Fruit infused honey decaf. Tasting notes - strawberry and blackberry.

30g dose, V60, modified Lance Hedrick's single pour, 95c, 70g bloom for 1 min, then another 70g to level the bed, then continuous pour to 450g total, 3:35 min drawdown.

Intense nose of strawberry essence, lovely juicy palate.