Welcome to February’s Blog. We are dedicating this month’s blog to decaf coffee, short for decaffeinated coffee.

Millions of people around the world enjoy drinking coffee every day and you can see why. It’s certainly a special moment when the first sip of coffee hits your soul every morning, you are left feeling bright eyed, bushy tailed and with the confidence to conquer the world.

Decaf coffee frequently causes a stir in the coffee world. You will often see negative comments and associations - How can you drink coffee without caffeine? It is flavourless!  Why has decaf coffee got such a bad reputation? Here are some reasons why:

  • If coffee roasters are unable to sell their coffee, desperation sinks in and unfortunately, they will use these old beans for decaf. The result is poor, limp tasting coffee and what frustrates us more than anything, is consumers spending their hard-earned money on this. 
  • The coffee beans have been sitting in a coffee roastery or warehouse for several months before finally being decaffeinated. At Broomfield Coffee Company we immediately send our beans for decaffeination, and therefore it has the same great taste as regular caffeinated coffee. 
  • Using ground decaf coffee that has been sitting on a supermarket shelf or café for an exceptionally long time will almost certainly be dull and tasteless. 
  • It can be difficult to roast decaf due to several reasons. The beans are lighter and dense once the caffeine compounds have been removed, so this could impact how the coffee reacts to heat. Decaffeination also changes the colour of the beans so extra care needs to be taken with the temperature of the roast. Our Broomfield Roastmaster is continuously experimenting with factors such as temperature and moisture in order to achieve perfection. 
  • The process used to remove the caffeine was sub-optimal and as a result the important flavours of the coffee were also removed. The decaffeination process has significantly improved over the years coupled with the fact we are now in the third wave of coffee hence there is greater emphasis on quality, sustainability, roasting and brewing techniques.

We cannot stress this enough; freshness is key for a great tasting coffee, irrespective of whether it’s decaf or not. If you are unable to taste the delicious, bright, and complex flavours, there is a strong possibility one of the above factors has taken place!

We have two delicious decafs in our collection, Brazilian decaf and Swiss Water decaf (Honduran). Our Brazilian decaf is a blend of the finest Brazilian arabica beans taken to a medium-dark roast. A well-balanced coffee with notes of cocoa and praline. Our Honduran Swiss Water is Organic, Fairtrade and rated as one of the best decafs in the market. The Swiss Water process is a chemical-free decaffeination process (99.9% caffeine free) that uses pure water as the means to be extracting the caffeine in a sustainable manner. This coffee is rich and nutty with notes of praline and milk chocolate.

If you are looking to reduce your caffeine consumption, then decaf coffee is the way forward. You will be delighted to hear that we take the same love, care and attention with both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffees. You can now enjoy our delicious Broomfield decaf coffee all day long where taste has not been compromised.