Ever secretly served decaf?

Muscles

I have. Over the last 2 weeks I have served all my house guests decaf. Flat whites, caps, long blacks and espresso.
The bean I have been serving them is Mountain Water Mexican from Ministry Grounds. This bean has really surprised me. My latest roasting efforts with it were 400g 12:30 to first crack at 194 deg, and pulled 5 minutes later at 204 deg on first snaps of second crack...
Despite all of them "loving" coffee and being used to "my" coffee not one person noticed one bit. Funny part is that not only did no one notice it was decaf but I reveived more comments like "wow, this is great", "this is my favourite yet" etc etc especially from my sister who would point blank refuse to drink a decaf even if no other coffee were available.
So next time you get bored, serve your guests decaf and grin to yourself while watching them love it :coffee2:

Kelsey

I frequently do - mostly when it's an after-dinner thing and I'm pouring two singles and one of them will be mine. I don't sleep well as it is, so I tend to avoid coffee after about 4pm as a general rule. The decaf I roast for my wife (2/3 Natural low-caf, 1/3 Columbian decaf) is pretty nice, so I don't mind drinking it in the afternoon/evening. No-one's ever noticed.

Lacehim

I haven't tasted much in the way of decaf but I'm really interested to try it again. I have roasted it once. A Mocha Java blend 500gm from Di Bartoli I think (I was won at a CS meet a year or so ago) and I was pleasantly surprised. I too served it up to visitors and no one noticed! I think decaf has a stigma attached to it, but most people haven't tried it. They assume a "if there is no caffiene what's the point!" mentality. Are there any decaf's that you guys have tried that really stand out. If so where did you get them from. I'm trying to cut back on caffeine and alcohol a bit, and I don't want to give up my coffee. I thought if I roasted some decaf I might be be able to have my regular coffees while cutting back. I'm only doing it for a few weeks to see how I react, and to see if stress levels reduce! 🙂 Kelsey, maybe you could bring a small sample along on Saturday for me to try if you have some spare. If I start roasting decaf do I really need to bother with a temp probe again???

Brett_H

YEP... And Robusta >😃 People are so used to that oxymoron 'cafe quality' that when they have coffee with "flavor" prepared competently it usually opens their eyes. I enjoyed Neil's Mexican decaf very much and currently enjoy the Bean Green offerings frequently.

Koffee_Kosmo

I had to drink decaf on doctors orders last year The Colombia Mountain Water process was just as good as the non decaf I am not surprised that your guests cold not tell the difference KK