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Best Decaf Coffee Brands
Looking to level up your decaf coffee game? These best decaf coffee brands and tips will be essential.
Published March 17, 2022
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Chandra Melo
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
When people profess their love of coffee the assumption is often that it’s fully caffeinated coffee. People look to that cup of Joe in the morning to help get them started, give them a much-needed energy and focus. But that’s not the case for every coffee lover, as decaf coffee certainly has its role to play and has an impressively loyal following as well. Many people like a combination of the two, choosing to switch to decaf in the late afternoon/early evening to ensure it doesn’t mess with their sleep habits.
So if you’re a lover of decaf coffee and you want to open the door to better quality offerings with the best decaf possible – we’ve got you covered. Not only will this blog cover the best-tasting decaf coffee but it will also look at such things as whole vs ground coffee beans, espresso beans, information on how to prepare the best cup of coffee, storage tips and plenty more.
What are the Best Caffeine Free Coffee Options?
The next time you’re strolling through your favorite supermarket and you head to the coffee aisle, try taking a look at the many caffeine-free coffee options available today. Where it used to be you only had a couple of brands to choose from, today’s shoppers have a massive variety at their fingertips.
While you can certainly go with instant decaf coffee, you’re not going to get the best quality or taste from this option. Instant coffee will not level up your decaf coffee game in the least bit, instead, it can bring it down.
Instead, when shopping for the best-decaffeinated coffee it's worth doing a little research, reading some reviews and potentially trying a few brands before you find your favorite. All you have to do is type in “best decaf coffee reviews” online and you’ll be given page after page of decaf coffee ratings. At the very least these reviews can help you to narrow down the list of brands you’re willing to try. Don’t forget, everyone has their idea of what the best decaf coffee brands should taste like, so it’s worth reading what people have to say and see if it matches up with your preferences.
Some of the decaffeinated coffee brands that are trending right now and could be worth picking up include:
- Green Mountain
- Kicking Horse
- Seattle's Best
- Peet's Coffee
- Eight O’Clock the original decaf ground coffee
- The Original Donut Shop
- Don Pablo decaf coffee
- Don Francisco decaf coffee
If you are looking for cheap decaf coffee beans, you'll find that many of these listed are priced reasonably and you can watch for sales on decaf espresso beans.
What Is the Best Dark Roast Decaf Coffee?
One of the more popular options when searching for the best decaf coffee beans is a dark roast, which can sometimes be referred to as espresso. So if you are wondering "can espresso be decaf", the simple answer is yes, it can. The best decaf espresso or dark roast should have a bold yet smooth flavor, which isn’t always easy to come by.
Dark roast and espresso can sometimes have a bitter taste to it or an unpleasant after-taste. If this happens then you know the quality of the coffee isn't up to par, or perhaps you've stored it incorrectly and it has gone rancid. Dark roast still needs to go down in the same smooth manner as a light roast. So if you’re unhappy with it, it’s time to try something else.
A good way to get an idea of what dark roast or espresso "should" taste like is to try one at a coffee shop. The best decaf coffee at Starbucks in the dark roast category will be bold without making you turn your nose up at it. It’s a great way to train your palette of what to expect and what to look for in dark roast and espresso.
As for what the best decaf espresso beans are, again there are a few brands that are trending right now and offer excellent flavor profiles. These include:
- Kicking Horse Decaf Coffee
- No Fun Jo Decaf Coffee (this is a medium-dark roast)
- Peets Decaf Mocca-Java
- Koa Coffee Decaf Coffee Beans
- Volcanica Espresso Dark Roast Decaf Coffee
Can You Purchase Decaf Coffee Beans?
This leads us right into the question of how to best purchase your decaf coffee. As you can see from the brands listed above, purchasing coffee in whole bean form is typically the best way to go. It doesn’t matter if you like a light roast or the extra dark roast options, whole bean coffee will provide you with the truest most exceptional flavor. And again, the best decaf coffee whole bean option will be personal, as everyone has different elements they are looking for.
Informed consumers use a few basic tips and rules when shopping for the best whole bean decaf coffee, so these are important guidelines to use. These include:
- Check what the roast is to ensure you pick one that matches your flavor preferences.
- Check the date on the coffee, when it was roasted. You want beans that are as fresh as possible. Anything that was roasted more than two weeks ago will be losing flavor quickly.
- Does the bag say where the coffee was grown and roasted? All high-quality brands will list this information.
What Is the Best Way to Store Decaf Coffee Beans - Whole and Ground?
Because we’ve established the fact that purchasing decaf coffee in whole bean form is the best option, the next question should be what the best way to store the beans is. What many don’t realize is coffee beans are porous, which means they will absorb flavors that are stored with them. You want to be sure you don't have any strong flavors next to them so this doesn't happen. Storing them in a proper container can also prevent this from happening.
Here are some other useful storage tips that will ensure your coffee beans stay fresh and true to their flavor:
- When choosing a storage container look for something that has a good seal so it is airtight and doesn't let the light in.
- Choose a container that will whole a full bag of coffee beans (whole or ground) at one time.
- Keep the coffee beans in a cool, dry spot that doesn't get much light (artificial or natural).
- Never store your coffee beans in the fridge or freezer, they need to be at room temperature.
- Do not store your coffee beans in a humid location.
While not exactly a storage tip, it does factor into ensuring the quality stays fresh. Experts suggest you never pre-grind your beans. At most, grind enough for a couple of days. Once you grind the beans, they start to lose their flavor quickly. By the time you end up getting to the end of a full storage container or the bag of ground beans, the flavor will be different and not in a good way.
So what that means is that the best decaf ground coffee is the one you have freshly ground yourself, right before brewing. This also means that investing in a good quality coffee bean grinder will be necessary. Look for one that has plenty of power, is compact and easy to store, and is simple and quick to clean.
How to Dress Up Your Decaf Coffee – Make It Coffee-Shop Worthy
After covering all the basics of decaf coffee/decaf espresso coffee, how to purchase the best quality out there, how to properly store decaf espresso grind, and some other basic tips, why not examine ways you can elevate it and make a gourmet decaf coffee at home. Just because you want a decaffeinated espresso doesn’t mean it can’t be as fancy as the fully-caffeinated coffee shop drinks are.
Here are some simple and tasty ways you can level up your decaf coffee making it perfect for an after-dinner beverage, the ideal drink to serve guests or just to treat yourself with on a lazy Sunday morning.
Add toppings to your decaf coffee, which can include:
- Chocolate flakes or shavings
- Whipped cream – fresh or canned
- Ground cinnamon
- Cookie crumbles
- Chocolate syrup
- Strawberry syrup
- Caramel sauce
- Pumpkin pie spice – ground
- Flavored cream
And that’s not all you can add. You can elevate to an adult drink by spiking the decaf coffee with alcohol. Several different ones work beautifully in coffee, which includes:
- Brandy
- Whiskey
- Amaretto
- Rum
- Cream liqueurs (Bailey’s, RumChata, Maple Cream, Vodkow Cream and Amarula Cream)
- Butterscotch schnapps
- Chocolate liqueur
- Hazelnut liqueur
- Grand Marnier
- Kahlúa
The final tip is to try an iced decaf coffee, which is ideal for those hot summer days. You can enjoy it black, with cream, flavored cream and add any of the above-mentioned toppings. To help prevent the coffee from becoming too watered down, you can make your own decaf coffee iced cubes to use instead of regular iced cubes.
Everything You Need to Know About the Best Decaf Coffee
So, if you’re ready to wade your toes into the world of the best decaf coffees, then this blog will act as your helpful go-to guide of all the most useful tips you need.
And if you are the ones that avoid the kick of caffeine you can check here the Best Organic Coffee Brands.
About the author
Chandra Melo
Marketing as job, barista as passion. An authentic coffee lover, looking for the next fantastic cup of coffee that I will fall in love with. Coffee, for me, is more than a beverage. It's about community and connection - how can all the world consume the same fruit? And differently? How can we have so many different tastes? I also don't know. And because of this, I feel in love each day more for this world. Happy to share and make a change in the coffee community.
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