Over the past year, I have been journeying through the winding roads of niche decaf coffee.
I used to hate anything labeled “decaf” because, well, I didn’t like burnt beans. In my experience at that time, the the only way roasters knew how to decaffeinate was by ruthlessly scorching it.
You’d get this extremely dark, bitter result. You couldn’t really do anything with it except drowning it in milk and sugar. You certainly couldn’t enjoy the fruitiness and nuance of lighter or medium-light roasts.
But thanks to the modernization of decaffeination techniques – CO2 processing, sugarcane or ethyl acetate, Swiss Water Process – finding great decaf is now a whole different world. Each method involves different chemical reactions and philosophies about the best way to extract caffeine without harming the flavor.
It also has slowly changed how I define the habit of drinking coffee.
I tend to enjoy a cup of hot, black coffee maybe four or five times a week. Usually early-ish in the morning, with or right after breakfast. Even growing up, I remember my dad making coffee every morning. That smell meant the day was starting.
For a decade of my adult life, I worked at various jobs where coffee was ubiquitous with being at work. You’d walk in, there would be (at least) one pot going, and you’d return to that dark well multiple times throughout the day. Sometimes I’d have a cup at four in the afternoon – the nasty stuff that had been sitting there all day, super strong and super dark – which I would load it up with cream and sugar just to get through it.
Nowadays, I don’t really need the caffeine. I don’t even want the caffeine. Especially right at the start of a day, I don’t enjoy juicing up and experiencing those uncomfortable jitters.
Decaf has allowed me the freedom to enjoy a cup of coffee…whenever I like! I can have one with an evening meal or late dessert. Any time slot is valid, so long as it pairs well and tastes delicious.
That feels oddly satisfying to me. It reenforces the sustainable practice of simply enjoying something as the habit. Enjoying the cup for its essence more than its effect.
Yes, there are times when an upper or downer can be helpful in life. But the main reason that I drink anything is first and foremost because of how it tastes.
I owe James Hoffman a debt of gratitude for all of this. He orchestrated a massive decaf project where roasters all over the world were able to try their hands at each of the three different decaffeination processes. They were able to prepare each roast in the best manner possible. I hopped on board and purchased a tasting kit from a nearby participating roaster…my whole world opened up after that experience.
The availability of good decaf coffee has finally reached a point where I can dabble and explore flavor profiles I genuinely enjoy. That’s exciting to me! Discovering new flavor profiles from different regions that I already loved in non-decaf coffee has been a real treat.
One additional side effect that I’ve noticed: Now that I can derive these wonderful flavors from decaf, it makes having a non-decaf cup of coffee doubly energizing. For someone more socially reserved, leaning into a social situation with a non-decaf brew genuinely lights up my morning. The contrast of experiencing my first full-strength cup in a week or more makes the world feel alive in a way that it doesn’t for daily drinkers.
I was already deep down the rabbit hole of specialty coffee before all of this. But I had a problem with the amount of caffeine a regular cup would put into my system. Learning about how the caffeine gets drawn out while preserving the compounds that carry the all-important flavor has made all of the difference.
And I think that’s a wonderful thing. Making a habit of enjoying coffee should have always been the goal. I find this far more valuable than the habit consisting of putting coffee into my system. It makes for a far more delightful little journey.