We’ve become a bit of a staple in the low caf business, or maybe it’s more true that low caf has become a staple in our business. In the first 2 weeks we took the low caf offline our inbox was inundated with requests for low caf, questions about where the low caf is, and calls to bring the low caf back. People yearn for low caf.

Laurina, the naturally low in caffeine variety is great, it feels like a response to the bad days of decaf and the days we all know and associate with it; cafes with pre-dosed decaf that runs too fast and tastes like shit are lacking the quality we expect from specialty coffee.
The problem is that it’s been like that for so long we’ve really come to disrespect it; when I tell those yearnful customers that we have a super interesting decaf in the works they almost think we’re lying. Now obviously, low caf will come back at some point, but it’s important to remember that we work with an organic material. The reason we’ve not received sufficient low caf this year is because of a much lower harvest than was predicted, mostly due to climate change and the effect that’s having on farms in Brazil (and elsewhere for that matter). We should have low caf again in November, but the amounts will still be low – the low caf is no longer a guaranteed mainstay, which is exactly why we’ve turned our sights to some of the new, and honestly really good, decafs.

There’s a few decaffeination processes, and James Hoffman can explain them more succinctly for you, but let’s say the top 3 are Swiss Water Decaf, ethyl acetate (or sugarcane), and methylene chloride, and then lurking in the background is carbon dioxide. They all follow similar practices, wherein the coffee is submerged in liquid and through this submersion the coffee’s chemical makeup is changed. The pores are opened within the bean allowing the caffeine to exit; the problem with this however is you’ve irreversibly changed the make-up of the bean and not only can you remove the caffeine but you can also remove the flavour.
We’ve opted for ethyl acetate as our decaffeination method as it’s the closest you can get to maintaining the flavour of the coffee. Ethyl acetate is a natural chemical that’s produced by all fruits and many vegetables; it’s harmless, and can decaffeinate coffee leaving a trace amount of caffeine below 0.3%.

The exciting thing for us about the future of decaf is that we’re seeing different offerings being decaffeinated now by one of our importers, Osito, as opposed to the standard Brazil’s that are usually first in line for decaffing. This first decaf offering we have, the Tokuma, is an Ethiopian coffee which retains its sweetness and fruit flavours; which once we’ve struggled to pick out on the cupping table.

There’s benefits to decaf too. There are health benefits to drinking coffee and those are sometimes subdued by the fact that caffeine can make you anxious and drinking too much can make you cross into another plane of existence (just me?). Decaf rids the coffee of caffeine but keeps the chlorogenic acid which is good for your gut, regulating glucose levels, improving insulin resistance, and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Maybe it’s true that the true coffee lovers are the decaf drinkers. The ones who aren’t drinking it to wake up, or finish that task, but just for the pure taste of coffee. Well, now we’ve got a coffee for that.

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