You wake up in the morning and have important work to do. Or maybe it’s the late afternoon and you need that little push…
Regardless of which is your case, the best solution is undoubtedly Decaf Coffee.
In the simplest terms, decaf coffee is decaffeinated coffee. This means that it is coffee that has been deprived of its caffeine content. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant heavily found in coffee. Its existent and presence have led to the debate of whether or not coffee is a drug, more than it is a beverage.
I’m sure you’ve tried (and loved) caffeine free coffee before, but you may not know why it’s so amazing. Well, let me tell you something about it:
- It’s loaded with Antioxidants and Nutrients
- It reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes
- It lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
But most importantly: It helps you get the day started and finished. And you may be wondering: Woah… I never knew that. I’m getting the best Decaf Coffee immediately!
Only one last question remains though: How do you know which brand has the best-decaffeinated coffee?
That’s what we’ll read today.
Best Decaf Coffee Brands Reviews 2020:
Cafe Don Pablo — Colombian Gourmet Coffee Decaffeinated
Are you a fan of the awesome Colombian Supremo? That you’ll definitely enjoy this. It’s basically the same in the taste, just without the caffeine. The taste is never sour or bitter too.
Key Points:
- 100% Arabica Coffee Beans
- All natural water-processed decaffeinated Colombian Supremo
- Very rich and aromatic due to the roasting process
- All natural Swiss water-processed
- 100% Arabica coffee
- Special beans roasted in small batches
- Bags aren’t vacuum sealed
Jo Coffee—No Fun Jo Decaf
A brand that focuses a TON on quality. No Fun Jo is made from only the top 2% of all Arabica coffee worldwide.
Key Points:
- 100% Organic Arabica Coffee Beans
- Lower Acidity Level than most light roast coffee
- Mild Chocolate Underlying Flavor (No Flavoring Added)
- Made from only the top 2% of all Arabica
- USDA Certified Organic Decaf Coffee
- 100% Organic Arabica coffee
- Beans are on the lighter side
Fresh Roasted Coffee, LLC—Sumatra Decaf Organic
The only mountain-processed coffee on this list. And for a good reason, Sumatra is an incredible brand that definitely earns its place in the best-decaffeinated coffee brands list.
Key Points:
- The Roasting Process is conducted in an environmentally friendly coffee roaster
- One of the fewest Mountain water-processed decaf coffee brands
- 4 Bag Sizing Options, suitable for everyone
- Mountain water-processed
- Roasted in an environmentally-friendly coffee roaster
- USDA Organic
- A bit on the expensive side
Kicking Horse Coffee—Decaf Blend
An awesome Coffee brand with an incredible following. Kicking Horse is definitely one of the products with intense marketing. But don’t let their funny and witty nature sound unserious to you. It’s definitely the best decaf coffee.
Key Points:
- Lush and aromatic taste
- Rocky Mountain-Roasted
- Organic and Kosher Certified
- Swiss water-processed
- 100% Organic Arabica coffee
- Kosher certified
- A bit on the expensive side
Eight O’Clock Whole Bean Coffee—The Original Decaf
This is one of the oldest brands in the coffee industry. It’s a staple. Eight O’Clock is just purely awesome.
Key Points:
- 150 Years Of Experience
- Made by a well-established decaffeinating process
- Packed in Sealed Bags
- 100% Arabica coffee
- Packed in sealed bags
- Kosher certified
- The bags don’t have a zip lock for resealing
Why Drink Decaffeinated Coffee?
There are many reasons that people who love regular coffee choose to drink decaf. But for many people who drink decaf, it is because they don’t like the effects that so much caffeine can have on the human body.
Some of the side effects of caffeine are:
- Poor sleep or inability to fall asleep at night
- Increased heart rate
- Coffee “jitters”
- Anxiety
- Irritability if coffee isn’t available
- Needing coffee in the morning just to function
For people who have included caffeinated coffee in their daily routine, it can be difficult to switch to drinking decaf initially. But nearly all people who switch to decaf coffee report feeling much better after the initial caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms can include:
- Intense headaches
- Irritability
- Increased drowsiness
- Mood swings
- Rage
Once the initial caffeine withdrawal symptoms have worn off, most people who drink decaf find they fall asleep easier at night and sleep more soundly. Caffeine free coffee has also been found to reduce chances of men developing gout and lower risk for development of type 2 diabetes. Some studies have found that drinking decaf coffee may be related to a small decrease in mortality due to cardiovascular disease.
How Do Coffee Beans Become Decaffeinated?
Coffee beans must be decaffeinated while they are unroasted or in their green form. Coffee beans contain nearly one-thousand chemicals that contribute to the flavor of coffee so removing only the caffeine from the coffee beans is no easy task.
There are several different ways to create decaffeinated coffee beans, and all of them involve water. This is because caffeine is water-soluble. Unfortunately, water removes several other ingredients with the caffeine which means a decaffeinating agent must be used. These agents such as activated charcoal, ethyl acetate, methylene chloride, or CO2, help to counteract the effect using water has on the coffee flavor.
There are four main processes for decaffeinating coffee beans. Decaffeination can be a solvent based or non-solvent based process. Solvent-based processes use a chemical solvent in addition to water to remove the caffeine.
- The Direct Solvent process involves steaming the beans to open their pores and then rinsing the beans directly in the solvent.
- The Indirect-solvent process adds the solvent to the caffeine water rather than the beans.
Non-solvent based processes such as the Swiss Water Process and the CO2 process do not use solvents.
- The Swiss Water Process, more commonly used for organic coffee, soaks the bean in hot water and then filters the water using activated charcoal to filter out the caffeine molecules. The flavor-laden water is then used to remove caffeine from a new batch of beans.
- The CO2 process, more commonly used for commercial-grade coffee, is also non-solvent based and uses liquid CO2 to draw the caffeine molecules from the beans.
How Much Caffeine in Decaf Coffee:
Although many people choose decaffeinated coffee because they want to avoid caffeine, the truth is all decaffeinated coffee contains caffeine. The amount of caffeine in decaf coffee varies and can be dependent on the way the coffee beans were decaffeinated as well as how they were roasted, and ground.
The standard cup of coffee (8 ounces) can contain as few as 2mg and as much as 18 mg of caffeine. The process of decaffeinating coffee beans removes caffeine molecules but cannot possibly remove them all. The process of decaffeinating removes a significant portion of the caffeine but not all. And in fact, when it comes to labeling regulations, decaf coffee is only required to be 97% caffeine-free.
So, keep in mind that best decaf coffee could still contain as much as 3% caffeine, especially if you tend to indulge in a cup of coffee before bed. If you do your research on decaffeinated coffee, you will find that several factors can impact the amount of remaining caffeine in decaf coffee including:
- The type of coffee beans you begin with and how much caffeine they start with
- The type of process used to decaffeinate the coffee beans
- The length of the brewing time for the coffee beans
For those who really need to get as close to caffeine-free decaf as possible, the Swiss Water method for decaffeinating coffee beans is the one that consistently removes 99.9% of caffeine.