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Not a lot of Decaf!

I had a question from a customer the other day asking why we don’t ever hold a lot of stock of decaffeinated. Just a few weeks ago we had 5 decafs and now we have just two. Well you know were obsessed about freshness (and rightly so). The decaf process poses its own problems. Green beans will keep fresh for around 12-18months and roasted beans will keep fresh for around 2 weeks or so. But decaf is another variable that’s harder to nail. When coffee goes through the decaf process it opens up the coffee so the caffeine can be removed. You cant just close it up after you have done this so it is more unstable than a normal caffeineated coffee. Its also true those greens that get decafed can be old crop that the green bean seller wants to move on (ours rarely are but I don’t want to get caught out with fading greens). Our main import partners go looking for coffee that will solely be used for decaf coffees so this tends not to be a problem but you need to be on your toes.So we wont buy more than a bag at a time as we know just a matter of weeks can change the coffee. A good example of this was we recently had a very good Colombian organic decaf that was very popular and we enjoyed very much, but we had to let it go as it just was falling away. So where am I going with all of this? Well what reminded me of this is we recently cupped the new crop sample and we are very pleased to say it’s on its way back. So the old saying of good things come to those who wait could never be truer. We wont stock something just because we think the range needs it, its always on quality in the cup.

About the author Just Steve Leighton

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