One of the things I see frequently both online and in person is the sentiment that decaf is sub-par or only consumed as a last resort out of sheer desperation. I think the common phrase “death before decaf” conveys this common feeling pretty well. However, that’s just not true - decaf is not inherently bad or second rate BUT there are a couple reasons why it has this reputation that, in some places, is accurate.  

So, let's answer the title question ‘Why does some decaf taste so bad?’ Good news: there are reasons that decaf has had that reputation for so long, AND as it turns out, decaf can be really good! There are three main reasons that decaf stereotypically hasn’t tasted as good as regular coffee. First: Decaffeination methodology has come a long way in the last twenty plus years. Second: decaf needs to be roasted slightly differently than regular coffee. And third: quality of the raw decaf beans makes a difference.

As far as the first reason goes, decaffeination methods didn’t used to be nearly as good as they are now, both in how clean they are (i.e. lack of harsh chemicals or chemicals at all) and in how they retain structure and flavor compounds in the coffee bean itself. (You can read more about that here) Back in the day the only option for decaf were methods that introduce harsh chemicals that were carcinogens. Fortunately that’s not the case anymore! Modern decaffeination methods are really clean, using either a safe solvent derived from sugar cane processing, or nothing but water and filtration to remove the caffeine. This means not only is modern specialty decaf safe, but it retains so much more flavor and bean structure. In my opinion, I’ve found that the newer EA/Sugarcane tends to have the most cup clarity after roasting, but the CO2 Process and Swiss Water/Mountain Water Processes are also so good. 

Secondly, a lot of roasters have had decaf as an option just because they have to. They might not be as passionate about putting a lot of time into developing a decaf as they are with their other specialty offerings. Roasting a decaf without equally as much intentionality as other high quality specialty coffees can yield an overly roasty/bitter coffee. Decaf coffee can be roasted really well, however it does need a slightly different approach than most other coffee. Post decaffeination process, decaf coffee tends to lose a little bit of bean structure. No matter how good the process is, that’s just the reality. And that does not mean that it loses flavor, but it does mean that you have to be more careful in the roasting process. If you roast it just like you would one of your regular coffees, you’ll likely end up over-roasting it. You have to be a little bit more delicate with decaf and really make sure that you’re testing, tasting, and developing a roast profile specifically for that specific decaf. When you do that, you have decaf that somebody couldn’t tell apart from another specialty coffee in a blind taste test. 

Third, the quality of the decaf you buy, like any other coffee, makes a HUGE difference in the final product. We went over specialty grade coffee in our last post, and decaf is no different. If you buy high quality specialty grade green decaf, you’re just going to have a better end product. Decaf has in the past been hard to source, and when decaf is an option that a lot of cafes offer solely out of necessity, there’s not a lot of motivation to buy high quality coffee. That’s changing now, and you can find really high quality, proper specialty grade decaf. When you get that and treat it like you would any other nice specialty coffee, all of a sudden you have something that rivals your prize single origin, just lacking the caffeine. 

One of our main goals at Promenade is to have decafs that rival any of our other coffees. Something that you can drink any time of day and it never feels sub-par, it never feels like ‘decaf’. Good decafs are lacking in caffeine, and nothing else. :)