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I love decaf but the main problem is how fragile the stability of the beans are. They go bad quickly. To get the same cup of decaf coffee every day requires mor

by jb1991 2y ago

I love decaf but the main problem is how fragile the stability of the beans are. They go bad quickly. To get the same cup of decaf coffee every day requires more work if you are grinding your own and making espresso. Still, I love them. Personally, I've found the CO2 method to have a lot more flavor than the Swiss Water. I also found the CO2 beans don't deteriorate as quickly as the Swiss Water beans.

haswell 2y ago
How quickly is quickly? I literally yesterday bought my first bag of decaf and mixed them with my regular beans. I need to sleep more, and reducing caffeine intake is the low hanging fruit. Decades of habits around buying and using normal beans are about to be replaced, and this comment is already helpful.
- jb1991 2y ago
  I think it depends how you brew it. Filter, for example, is a lot more forgiving on flavor than espresso. My decaf beans start to go bad for espresso after a few days of buying them, but for filter they will last much longer. One recommendation by coffee aficionados is to freeze your decaf beans as soon as you get them and then grind them frozen. I haven't tried that yet, I just buy in small batches so they are usually rather fresh. Mixing half decaf with regular beans is a great idea, I've been doing that for years. The mix of flavors is good too, if you are brewing filter. You can get away with a lot more when you do filter.
  - haswell 2y ago
    This is really helpful. I’m doing pour over, and I tend to use lower temperature water, so it sounds like I’ve got some leeway.
whitehexagon 2y ago
I hunted around for good decaf espresso beans for a couple years and then someone recommended local own-brand supermarket beans, 9.50e/kg and I've had some better tasting extractions than a lot of artisan expensive regular beans I've bought. No roast date, so who knows how old, but a good consistent cup until bag empty. What I also then noticed was that a lot of the coffee houses here use an inferior grinder for their decaf, smaller burrs, and/or the older hopper based grinder vs on-demand for their regular beans. No wonder it gets a bad rep. Anyway I was quite amazed to suddenly find myself enjoying decaf so much.
cryptonector 2y ago
I keep my decaf beans frozen. That seems to help a lot.

by jb1991 2y ago

haswell 2y ago

How quickly is quickly? I literally yesterday bought my first bag of decaf and mixed them with my regular beans. I need to sleep more, and reducing caffeine intake is the low hanging fruit. Decades of habits around buying and using normal beans are about to be replaced, and this comment is already helpful.

jb1991 2y ago
I think it depends how you brew it. Filter, for example, is a lot more forgiving on flavor than espresso. My decaf beans start to go bad for espresso after a few days of buying them, but for filter they will last much longer. One recommendation by coffee aficionados is to freeze your decaf beans as soon as you get them and then grind them frozen. I haven't tried that yet, I just buy in small batches so they are usually rather fresh. Mixing half decaf with regular beans is a great idea, I've been doing that for years. The mix of flavors is good too, if you are brewing filter. You can get away with a lot more when you do filter.
- haswell 2y ago
  This is really helpful. I’m doing pour over, and I tend to use lower temperature water, so it sounds like I’ve got some leeway.

whitehexagon 2y ago

I hunted around for good decaf espresso beans for a couple years and then someone recommended local own-brand supermarket beans, 9.50e/kg and I've had some better tasting extractions than a lot of artisan expensive regular beans I've bought. No roast date, so who knows how old, but a good consistent cup until bag empty. What I also then noticed was that a lot of the coffee houses here use an inferior grinder for their decaf, smaller burrs, and/or the older hopper based grinder vs on-demand for their regular beans. No wonder it gets a bad rep. Anyway I was quite amazed to suddenly find myself enjoying decaf so much.

cryptonector 2y ago

I keep my decaf beans frozen. That seems to help a lot.