Decaf is a penitent coffee.
Whoever takes it always seeks absolution: "I have already had a well-loaded one this morning", "I never take it with caffeine after six o'clock", "I have high blood pressure and they won't let me take another one."
There must be a hell where decaffeinated coffee drinkers land;
as if no one was worthy of his calm embrace, as if the exceptional were alien to the simulacrum.
Is there no truth in decaffeinated coffee? "There is: it is coffee, in short," says Laura Cabrera,
Q Grader
, trainer, championship judge of the Specialty Coffee Association - the one in charge in this ambiguity - and owner of one of the first specialty coffee shops in Andalusia: Bertani Café (Malaga). "Historically it has not been the best coffee, but good or bad, it depends on each roaster", he clarifies.
The decaffeinated specialty coffee ran through Bertani's filters from the beginning in a few years in which the robust roast - that painful recollection - was the only one that roamed freely in these parts. The fact that the only decaffeination process that existed, or at least profitable, until a couple of decades ago was through chemical solvents did not help decaffeination to have a good press, and that “the grains were mistreated after the process because it was no longer expected of them great results ”, either. He was the last of the class, always under suspicion.
The most purists allude not to offer it to the fact that lower quality coffee beans are normally decaffeinated and that in the washing process they lose part of their organoleptic properties -something that has been considerably reduced thanks to new techniques capable of eliminating the chute of caffeine-.
We do not know if the Germans consecrated this broth as a national drink during the Third Reich has also had something to do with the burning.
Decaf is not sexy
In 2015, the Canadian company Swiss Water, mother of a natural decaffeination process from water, had the audacity to open a pop-up cafe in Manhattan specializing in decaffeinated coffee - something that, as always, in Japan they had been doing for quite some time. weather-.
There were not few media that predicted the apocalypse or the coffee troops that took their hands - tattooed - to their heads.
You only have to browse for five minutes through the
coffee
hashtags
on Instagram to realize that this millenary drink is capable of embracing the edges of a contemporary lifestyle.
Let's face it: in the middle of the bubble of can-be-what-you-want,
multitasking
and productivity, caffeine reigns supreme.
#DeathBeforeDecaf.
Life in a hurry.
However, it is possible to put the brakes on.
Those of the Madrid roaster Hola Coffee did not offer it in any of their coffee shops in Madrid until someone told them that "people who drink decaffeinated are true coffee lovers because they like it for its flavor and not for its effects."
Something has exploded in their heads and now they delight their customers with up to two origins.
Not surprisingly, Laura Cabrera recognizes that in a tasting of an excellent origin coffee with a good decaffeination and one with caffeine without much complexity, she could opt for the first and "even perceive that it is not decaffeinated".
The last of the class advances positions.
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Five decaf with sex appeal
Little is left to the impatient sigh, to the "darling, you have the wrong place" of who is behind the bar of the specialty cafeteria, to that "
No decaf, no bullshit
" of his entrance that threatens us, faithful to the sip and not wakefulness, we purr in the heat of a good decaf.
Perhaps we will even witness the extinction of that thunderous "put one of the envelope" of the national bars.
Imagine.
They are no longer a disappointment in the cup: the following are some of those decaffeinated coffees that you will not have to justify, those that, at last, you can take without detours.
The little early riser of NOMAD
From NOMAD, Jordi Mestre tells us that they do not serve decaffeinated in their stores in Barcelona because they close very soon and “it is not a product that has an outlet” although
sanka
- as the first decaffeinated, marketed in Bremen was called - has always been available in your online store.
As they say, theirs is a Colombia because it is where they have seen the decaffeination technique evolve the most.
Caffeine has been stolen from these grains bound for Barcelona through the
sugar cane
technique
, a natural process made from ethyl acetate present in cane sugar.
The result is a coffee with a chocolatey finish that they describe as "pleasant, balanced and clean on the palate".
We give faith.
Price
: 12 euros for 250 g.
Nomad's decaf.
NOMAD
Hello Coffee, twice
After the decaffeinated revelation, those of Hola Coffee serve up to two options of coffee without caffeine in their online store and in their premises in Madrid's Dr. Fourquet.
The one from Ethiopia is an acidic and floral organic coffee decaffeinated through the Swiss Water method (through water and activated carbon).
The Colombian, decaffeinated by the
sugar cane
method
and with its notes of cocoa and nuts, is one of those that hooks without addictive substances.
Price
: Ethiopia, 15.10 euros for 250 grams and Colombia 9.80 euros for 250 grams in its online store.
Here comes all the good things about Hola Coffee.
HELLO COFFEE
The end of the
Kaitxo
gaupasas
Raquel and Jon Mikel González, aunt and nephew, are the mouth and nose behind Kaitxo, a specialty coffee roaster and
bean to bar
chocolate
-from bean to tablet, controlling the entire process- who has been working in Vizcaya since 2017. Su Stop-Gaupasa -
gaupasa
it means (it meant, oh, the younger years) spending the night partying in Basque-, it is a sweet and honeyed Honduras with hints of nuts that does not miss caffeine -yes the sunrises in the squares-.
It is decaffeinated in water, because according to Raquel, "it is the method that best preserves the natural aroma and flavor of coffee."
They have been offering it since Kaitxo said “hol” 'because they understood that “it is not about being radical or leaving those who cannot or do not want to drink caffeine without being able to enjoy the closest thing to a good coffee”.
In fact, more than one of them has taken it without noticing that he is not one of those who takes away sleep.
Price
: 8.75 euros for 250 grams in your online store.
The decaffeination of this Basque company.
KAITXO
Puchero's candy
From the very center of the Valladolid countryside, Marco Bergero and Paloma Fuentes have become a capital roaster.
Its decaffeination is an Ethiopia from a small farmer who decaffeinates the beans with carbon dioxide, a natural process that, as they explain, ensures the permanence of all the organoleptic characteristics of coffee.
It is a tasty candy in which fruit and cinnamon appear and that is already a stimulus in itself.
Price
: 12 euros for 250 grams in your online store.
From Ethiopia to your house through Valladolid.
SOUP
Inneffable Coffee
Omar, José and Alejandro keep Seville awake from Innefable Coffee, a roaster that has always been clear that decaffeinated should also inhabit its hoppers.
His, a creamy Mexico with notes of spices, marzipan and chocolate, the caffeine has been eliminated through a natural process with water.
“We taste and select from a large number of coffees to offer the best of each place and each harvest.
Decaffeinated is no different, ”they say.
They also tell us that during the confinement of March sales of this type of coffee increased: "It seems that we did not want to give up having a good coffee, but we did not want to turn our room into an athletics track".
Price
: 9 euros for 250 grams in your online store.
Decaffeinated from Colombia and Seville.
INEFFABLE