Why drink decaf
Decaf has been a mystery to me. I’ve been exposed to good decaf since I discovered this wonderful world of coffee. However I’ve seem to have written it off as something for other people. A drink that I didn’t need or want as a part of my daily routine. That might have been because I grew up drinking coffee and learning about coffee as a common means to the end of staying awake. Through the transition to a coffee professional that perspective never quite left my side. That meant decaf wasn’t going to accomplish what I was expecting coffee to deliver. I developed a bias that decaf was never going to be as good as its regular counterpart. Due to its lack of a stimulant but also because it was never going to taste as complex. If you have tried specialty decaf before, you might be familiar with its classic taste. My first impressions were damped down flavors that reminded me of a distant fruity or sweet coffee that has faded. Better versions of that have very nice sweetness to them but they still tend to lack a complexity and intrigue that a fresh regular coffee delivers. Decaf can be good but I was looking for something more. Something interesting as something different to something good. I drink coffee because it’s exciting and that wasn’t coming from my decaf.
The flip side to all the exciting flavor is the stuff that makes me too excited, caffeine! Something else new to me this year is being mindful of how much caffeine I’m drinking in a day. Working in coffee can be hard when you’re always overstimulated from the days tastings and your own personal cups. Instead of decaf, I initially tried the supplement rutacarpine which did a good job at reducing caffeines stimulating effect. I found it made me less “on edge” after about two hours. However it also had some inverse side effects. Due to its rapid reversal of the effect caffeine was having on my awareness, I found I tended to get depressed after taking it. This could be related to my personal interaction with the supplement and not inherent to its universal application however it led me to try other remedies because of it. The other supplement was L-theanine. A naturally occurring substance in green tea that takes away caffeines gittery aspects. Taken with a cup of coffee tends to cause better cognitive focus due to reducing that intense feeling. While this felt better during the day, it still failed to fix the late night consequences of too much caffeine. I tended to still feel more awake and focused late into the day. So, that was about it for me with trying the supplements route.
On a trip to the US Coffee Championships in Houston Texas, my eyes were opened. Interesting decaf exists! What a revelation. On bar was an ethyl acetate washed coffee from Cauca Colombia roasted by Amaya Coffee Roasters. This was not the first time I had tried an ethyl acetate (also referred to as sugar cane process) decaf coffee. Brio Coffeeworks (my employer) carried one a few years ago but since then I had not had much exposure. This experience sparked a new found love for coffee in my life. Its a feeling akin to losing something in the house that had been hiding under a hat on the table. For whatever reason led me to write off decaf in the first place I’m glad I have a new story to tell. This article is my initial foray into the world of decaf coffees. I went on a search for different origins, processing methods, and decaffeinating processes to find something that excited me. I recommend you give different decaf coffees a try as well if you are in a similar situation or are just curious as to what this side of the coffee industry has to offer.
What Is Mountain Water Process
There are three popular decaffination methods in specialty coffee. Moutain Water Process decaf has been what I have brewed and roasted for the most part while working in coffee. Mountain Water Process decafs come from Descamex, which uses pure water from Pico de Orizaba—the highest mountain in Mexico. The process begins with a chemical analysis to determine an optimal profile for the water based solution that acts as the decaffeinating agent. Then the beans are steamed and prepared for extraction. The extraction process uses the custom water-based saturated solution that removes the caffeine while keeping the coffee's flavor compounds in place.
What Is SWiss water Process
Similar to the Mountain Water Process, Swiss Water uses a water based solution to decaffeinate coffee. They use a proprietary Green coffee extract (GCE) in a system that soaks re hydrated green coffee to remove the caffeine. These methods utilize the saturation of the water to inhibit the loss of non-caffeine compounds that benefit the coffees flavor profile. The water is full of everything soluble in a green coffee bean except the caffeine. This acts as a puzzle piece in the water that only caffeine fits into while the other compounds remain in the bean. The caffeine on both of these methods is removed using carbon rods enabling the solution to be reused. That caffeine is then used in commercial products in the market.
What Is Ethyl Acetate
Ethyl Acetate or Sugarcane decaffeination utilizes a naturally occurring compound, ethyl acetate (EA) to decaffeinate coffee. The EA process is relatively simple. The coffee beans are moistened with water and EA is circulated throughout the solution. EA bonds with chlorogenic acids found in caffeine. As opposed to the solution only having room for caffeine to dissolve into, this method uses an active reaction to specifically remove the caffeine. After the desired caffeine level is reached, the EA residue on the beans is removed by steaming them.
Similarities
These three methods all use a re-hydration and heat process that alters the cellular structure of the beans. The green coffee beans are steamed to open up the pores to allow the solutions to enter and absorb the caffeine. Although they are all using natural compounds that are not harmful, they still change how the green coffee will subsequently react in the roasting and brewing stages. This vital step in the decaf process is also a major hurdle to overcome when trying to preserve complex flavor developed at origin. This is why it is important what green coffee is chosen to be decaffeinated, how that coffee is stored, and the roast profiles used to ensure the results in the cup are the best they can be.
The Coffee
My favorite from the group above was the EA Washed Colombian from Amaya. The flavor profile on the cupping table was the sweetest and in terms of overall complexity the most well rounded. This coffee on espresso brews bright fruit notes that even cut through milk! Its that kind of coffee that sparks an intrest about how it could taste this beautiful. Right behind the coffee from Amaya was the coffee I roast, the Decaf Ethiopia from Brio Coffeeworks. Trying to set aside my bias, I found this coffee to have a fruit loops like character that stood up in both hot and cold temperatures. It doesn’t have the same amount of sweetness that the Cauca delivered but was still fun to drink. The difference in processing method between these two coffee might explain their overall separation in regards to sweetness. However since they have many other variable separating them I cant say for sure. What is clear between these coffees was a similar sharpness that the two EA Processed coffees have in comparison too the water process coffees. The Decaf Anaerobic Diego Bermudez from Verb had a similar high level of sweetness and sharp acidity. The flavor profile for this coffee was not my favorite. While it had a lot of different flavors, and by far the most vibrant on the table, i did not like how those flavors blended together. I experiences a ripe ginger note followed by a chicken broth savoriness. These were paired with a sweet caramel that on their own are interesting but together were not pleasant. An outlier in the group was the Decaf Burundi from Kuma Coffee. This coffee was not unpleasant but it also did not bring something to the table that i found interesting. This decaf fit into my previous experiences with the processing method being underwhelming. The primary profile on the cupping table was in the umami flavor family. This flavor is reminiscent of the effect that cellular change during the rehydration step has on the coffee.
I’m excited to keep searching around the industry for interesting decaf coffee. My main takeaway from this initial round of tasting is that i have a clear preference for the sweet profile of EA decafs. However due to the lack of sample size of the water process coffees I don’t have a clear consensus as to whether this is inherent to the process or these coffees specifically. If you want to try a decaf that will have the potential to wow you I would recommend finding a EA decaf from a local roaster or try the washed Cauca from Amaya because it will be different from what you have had normally. On the other hand if you want to try something in the outfield, pick up an anaerobic decaf. This might not have the most comforting flavor profile but it will open your eyes to a side of decaf coffee that is on the edge of being explored. Overall, in the specialty coffee industry, any of these decaf processes will be delivering a quality cup of coffee. If the actors shepherding the coffee along in the supply chain take care of the process then quality will shine through. Establishing a routine of buying and brewing decaf as a alternative to late in the day regular cups of coffee or alternative beverages can expand our collective coffee experience past just the morning caffeine culture. When we isolate the flavor experience in a coffee we can appreciate how those complexities are developed and the hard work that goes into this lovely drink.