Why Great Decaf Still Doesn't Sell

In this episode, I explore the often-overlooked world of specialty decaf coffee and why it deserves more attention from coffee enthusiasts. I start by brewing and tasting a decaf coffee I roasted four to five days ago, comparing it through both cone-shaped and flat-bed filters to understand how this misunderstood category of coffee performs. I share my honest thoughts about the lingering stigma around decaffeinated coffee—how most people's early experiences with terrible decaf have turned them away forever—and why that's a shame when modern specialty decaf can be genuinely delicious.

Throughout the episode, I reflect on my own journey from being a caffeine-chasing coffee drinker to someone who values flavor above all else. I discuss the subtle hints of processing that remain in decaf, compare it to other highly processed coffees like anaerobics, and question why so few people actually purchase decaf even when it tastes good. I also reveal my decision about whether to keep offering decaf on my website and challenge listeners to reconsider their relationship with decaffeinated coffee. By listening to this episode, you'll gain a roaster's perspective on the commercial realities of specialty decaf and learn why flavor-focused coffee drinkers might be missing out on a whole category of coffee that's better than alternative beverages like mushroom coffee. You'll also discover what to actually expect from quality decaf and whether the taste versus caffeine debate matters as much as we think it does.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:39 The Journey From Caffeine to Flavor
• 2:38 The Reality of Decaf Processing
• 3:28 Why Decaf Doesn't Sell
• 4:38 The Aftertaste Question
• 6:42 Tasting Notes & Filter Comparison
• 7:46 The Decision About Decaf
• 8:35 Better Than Mushroom Coffee

Transcript

[00:00:30] Filter one with a flat bed filter.

[00:00:37] I roasted this coffee about four or five days ago. They taste great, they really do.

[00:00:50] Sometimes I have to think about if I'm really drinking decaf versus regular coffee.

[00:00:57] I don't know when the first time I ever had decaf that tasted good, but most of the time they tasted like crap. They didn't taste like anything. They tasted like a muted version of caffeinated coffee. Me in particular, I don't know if you're the same way too, but for the very longest my real first love of understanding coffee was of course caffeinated coffee. You need that caffeine fix, something that we kind of gravitated to because you wanted to wake up and feel alive for the day.

[01:41] But as time kept going and I kept going down this rabbit hole of understanding and enjoying coffee, it became the biggest dominator of them all—taste, the flavor, how they're all different and everything.

[01:56] And that's been the way that I've enjoyed coffee for a very long time. I mean, you could find a coffee that's magical, that's tasty, that ticks all the boxes that you care about when you're drinking your cup of coffee.

[02:19] And it's not the full caffeinated version of it. You tend to wonder and pick up on things that you start to think about, like wow, this is why I like this in particular and this is the reason why.

[02:38] I'm not saying that these coffees are perfect. I'm not saying that I'm the best roaster in the world.

[02:45] But no matter which decaf that you do, you're going to get a hint of decaffeination. Whichever process, mountain water or whatever it may be, is still there, still evident. You still kind of taste it to an extent.

[03:04] But the reason why I want to talk about this topic in particular is because we don't drink it enough. And I think that's perfectly fine.

[03:17] Me for instance, I actually have this on my website. I'm not saying this so you can go buy it. No, I'm saying this because nobody's really bought it. A few people here and there.

[03:33] And I am a very small microcosm of this whole coffee universe. So I would assume that that's going to be pretty much the same type of percentage throughout the whole chain, meaning that it's probably a loss leader. It's probably something that somebody doesn't really care about just because people tend to not want to get it.

[04:04] And it could be the whole stigma of them actually drinking their cup of coffee when they were younger and then realizing that decaf coffee tastes like shit, and you don't ever want to touch it again. It could be that.

[04:22] I don't know. It's one of those things where we think and wonder, wow, what could be?

[04:30] So what are we missing here in this decaf? It's tasty.

[04:38] I really don't have any fault. Like I said, the aftertaste of the coffee is not the best. You do taste a hint of processing on the tail end of it.

[04:51] But then I wonder, how did this coffee taste without the processing? Just the same thing I go through with when it comes to actually drinking an anaerobic, these highly processed coffees. What did that coffee taste like before it was bastardized?

[05:16] That's what I wonder about. I think coffee on its own can survive.

[05:31] But do you drink the caffeinated coffee? Do you like it? Do you enjoy it? Do you care more about the taste than anything, or you know that you have to have a little bit of that caffeine kick because it does have a little bit of caffeine in it and you can't have all that caffeine?

[05:52] What is it? Me again, I just wonder and ponder because normally I wouldn't drink decaffeinated coffee at this time of day, early in the morning.

[06:05] I'll be drinking regular coffee because of what it does for me, how it excites me in the day.

[06:16] And probably how it pisses me off because all coffees are different. They're all different. They talk to you differently. And when you keep drinking it and wondering what are you really missing in this whole thing?

[06:30] That's the thing that I think about constantly. That's the thing that I wonder if that's what we're really doing here.

[06:42] This one is layered, has legs, is tasty. It's acidic but it's not offensive. It goes down really easily and you kind of just want to keep drinking it and drinking it and seeing what else it will do as it cools down.

[07:08] This one's similar, about the same. Yeah, it's a little bit more muddy in this case. I would say that it's probably a little bit more balanced because the flavors kind of gelled together a little bit more compared to the cone-shaped filter.

[07:30] But it's decaf. It's decaffeinated coffee, it's specialty coffee, decaffeinated. And I don't know if I like it anymore.

[07:46] Meaning that just because it's not something that people will get and want, I think I'm going to pull it from my website. I think that's the best thing to do.

[08:02] I think from time to time I'll drink some decaf. I'll finish this decaf. Enjoy it black. I think that's the best thing to do because I like to drink it with creamer at nighttime and kind of just sit there and wonder why more people are not drinking decaffeinated coffee. It's different, it's unique.

[08:22] But it's still coffee.

[08:23] And I think that's the thing that we have to realize. This stuff right here is a lot better than all that mushroom coffee and stuff like that. That's complete crap that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's something that is actually a better representation of what you want if you want coffee.

[08:45] It tastes like coffee, it is coffee, it is what it is. But do you really drink it enough?

[08:54] Because I really don't know what else to say about decaffeinated coffee. I think that's the thing that I'm lost for words with just because it's just there. It doesn't do much for anybody, for you, for me. And I'm wondering where its true place is in this whole gamut of things. I know people want it because it's decaffeinated, there's not a lot of caffeine in it. But I wish they would just kind of let us know what they like about it.

[09:32] But I'm still trying to figure that out for others.

[09:55] I don't know really what place it has for me.