Decaf Coffee

Decaf has stopped being a compromise. Modern processing removes the caffeine while leaving most of the sweetness and body intact, which makes these the cups for evenings and for people cutting back rather than cutting out.

How to brew it

Treat decaf as slightly more fragile than regular coffee: decaffeinated beans are more porous, so they extract faster. Grind a touch coarser and taste earlier than you normally would.

Questions

Is decaf completely caffeine-free? No — it typically retains 2–5 mg per cup against 95 mg in regular coffee, but it is far below any functional dose.

Does it taste worse? Not any more. Poor decaf is a sourcing problem, not a decaf problem.