2011-10-09

Decaf Debunked

A couple of weeks ago, much to my disappointment, my boyfriend decided to give up caffeine. My efforts to coerce him back to the dark side weren't successful  and I've been a lonely caffeine hound ever since. My last resort Decaf...

Well actually I've been curious about roasting a decaf coffee for while now. The decaffeination process in itself has always intrigued me. I know decaf always comes with a lot of negative connotations, so seeing I've never tried it myself I thought I'd put it to the test.

For my first decaf roast I chose a Mexican Mountain Water RFA Organic coffee from Ministry Grounds. I started with gentle heat with a slow ramp up towards 1st crack, finishing the roast just into 2nd. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this bean but I was quite surprised at how evenly it roasted, 1st crack was clear and defined with a nice even crackle from 2nd crack.

Now, how did it taste? It tasted good, it was smooth and rounded like a good coffee should be. It was very enjoyable. However, without the caffeine, I felt the cup was left a little deflated. That extra pep you get from a good cup of coffee just wasn't there.

This experiment really showed me the effect that caffeine has on the body. And though I enjoyed this little experiment, after two days drinking decaf I was glad to get the roaster out again and get that caffeine back into my system.

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