There are 2 leading brands of chemical-free decaf available on the Australian market. I won't discuss the EA options as we have not used them for over 4 years. 1. Mountain Water from a Mexico plant. and 2. Swiss Water from a Canadian plant. Both are quality products and tend to source premium grade greens for conversion. Yes, that's right........the converters actually have professional buyers who evaluate and procure high quality greens. Decafs from MW and SWP are available as SO's and in pre-mix blends. My personal opinion is the Mexican Chipas in the Mountain Water is pretty good (nice, even screen size) and the Colombian in the Swiss Water is good (rich, smooth, creamy). Have used the SWP Premium Espresso blend for a while (it contains beans from up to 4 or 5 origins at times, including Kenya, PNG, Indonesia, etc.) I find the nature of the Premium Espresso mix SWP just that little more difficult to roast due to the large variations in screen size (some of the beans are dreadfully small/tiny) - however, saying that the PE does come up superb in the cup when roasted well - as you would expect given the significant investment by SWP in sourcing the best beans. Most of the MW and SWP decafs are good - the key is in the roasting..........not the bean.
