Decaf and Non-Alcoholic Beer

Yes, those are two things the coffee and beer elite will snub. “What’s the point?” one will ask sipping coffee at a cupping with pinky and eyebrow raised. “How dreadful,” the other will snub behind a monocle and stiff collar.

Well, they do have a point. Like non-alcoholic beer, the process for decaffeinating coffee affects flavor when compared to non-decaffeinated coffee. Purists will claim that more processing beyond the processing to remove mucilage and other organic flesh around the coffee bean risks either removing flavor or adding foreign flavors to coffees when roasted and brewed. See our prior blog on coffee processing for more on that topic, but there’s no question that any kind of processing of the bean affects flavor. And for those that want the caffeine for a little jolt, decaf entirely misses the point.

Of course, there’s the stereotype that makes matters worse. Ever see non-alcoholic beer at a downtown craft beer festival populated by hipsters in beanies and sleeve tattoos? Probably not. The coffee crowd runs the same. (Admittedly, though, we do love beer and coffee together—more on that later).

But when you’re on your sixth cup of coffee and your hands start to shake, or if you wake up in the morning a gruesome creature only to be tamed by your morning coffee, you might want to think about lowering the caffeine intake. For some, caffeine in the evening might affect healthy sleep, which is another reason to consider decaf.

Still, coffee should be enjoyed with every sip, not just as an itch for a caffeine scratch, but a sip for your soul! That’s why we’ve been on the quest to find a decaf we actually enjoy. We haven’t found it yet, which is why we don’t sell decaf. We get the question all the time and, sure, we can make more money if we start selling decaf. But that’s not what we do—we’ll only sell what we love. So' we’re looking.

In future posts, we’ll look into different decaffeination processes, like the Swiss Water method, and different solvent methods. In the meantime, we’re on the hunt. Drop us a line if you find anything you like!