Reduced caffeine and caffeine free coffee - help please

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philamac

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I love coffee, and enjoy five or six cups a day. But I want to cut down caffeine intake as following a recent spell of not drinking coffee I found myself sleeping better and one or two other changes for the better that I won't mention here. I still need my cup in hand those five or six times so switching to herbal tea, juice etc is an option I want to avoid.

I make coffee in a french press, and prefer it mild and aromatic. I take my coffee black. My grinder is broke so I am looking for the ground stuff.

So any recommendations for caffeine free or low caffeine coffee that fits these requirements, available in supermarkets and not too expensive?

Thanking you in advance :D
 
The Cafe Direct stuff is Fairtrade, which personally I think is important and their decaf seems pretty decent to me (but I'm no coffee expert). I blend it 2:1 with the regular stuff (strong/dark if poss) to give a milder caffeine content.

Doubtless the lads on here know more/better than I but that works for me.
 
My favourite Supermarket coffee is Waitrose Columbian, which is available both "caffed" and decaf.
Why not try Ollie's excellent suggestion - get both and mix your own cocktail, gradually increasing the amount of decaf as you do .
Good luck!
 
I have a rather draconian view Phil...don't bother.

Like low or 0% alcohol beer and low fat anything it is the devils work, just drink less.

I agree with avoiding fruit & herbal teas although chamomile works if you have been hitting the press a bit too hard.

Enjoy your'e coffee but don't drink any proper stuff past lunch time, that is what works for me.
 
antdad said:
I have a rather draconian view Phil...don't bother.

Like low or 0% alcohol beer and low fat anything it is the devils work, just drink less.
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I agree - but make sure that what you do drink is the best you can lay hands on.... better to have one or two proper cups of your favoured beverage than ten of tasteless micturation.

Make sure that you love what you cut back to - because a lifetime of purgatory is not worth it. There are no medals for arriving at the (hypothetical) pearly gates having suffered the slings and arrows of outrageously poor beverages.
 
As mentioned above, focus on 'quality not quantity'. Look at some single origin beans from independent coffee roasters and stay away from supermarket blends that contain robusta which
has much higher caffeine levels than arabica.

Couple of suppliers I can recommend:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/">http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hasbean.co.uk/">http://www.hasbean.co.uk/</a><!-- m -->


I don't do de-caff, I'd rather 2-3 decent coffees a day and just drink tea after 8 pm.
 
antdad said:
Like low or 0% alcohol beer and low fat anything it is the devils work, just drink less.
Click to expand...

I agree. These alternatives aren't as nice as the proper stuff (and actually often less healthy what with all the nasties that replace the natural sugars and fats), so why don't people just eat less of the tasty stuff instead of replacing it with loads of the less-tasty stuff? Oops, getting OT.
 
Thank you for all the suggestions chaps, has given me a bit to think about. The blending sounds sensible, and a friend told me that Sainsbury's do a blend that he enjoys. May try the Farmers Market on Sat morning (SD Bell and the Upperlands Coffee CO), usually enjoy their coffee but dont knmow if either vendor does de-caff or low-caff.

I think I'll reduce the intake of my fave stuff, and keep the low caff for use after 7 pm, like when I have guests. I read somewhere that some tea has higher caff content than coffee! Also that espresso is relatively low in caff content compared to french press because the beans spend such a short time in contact with the water, so the water takes up flovour and aroma, but not as much caffeine, now that surprised me.

I tried some caffeine free tea type stuff that my brother is on and yuck, he told me it is as aquired taste..........well Guinness is an acquired taste too but I'll leave bro's tea alone!
 
Phil...like yourself I've been through a bucket load of beans in my coffee quest some of them have been 5 to 10 times the price of the beans I am going to recommend. The Super sheds get a bad wrap sometimes but I keep returning to this one and its Fair Trade too if you are concerned about that.

Sainsbury's Continental Style Beans. (Purple Pack) 80% Arabica 20% Robusta: Taste: Dark Chocolate and Cinnamon. Delicious. Comes in bean or ground form but I haven't tried the ground stuff.

Everybody who has tried it in Expresso/Cappo form has loved it and can't believe it's a Supermarket standard.
 
Philamac, I forgot to mention these guys based in Banbridge:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://shop.ristrettocoffee.com/index.php?cat=Filter">http://shop.ristrettocoffee.com/index.php?cat=Filter</a><!-- m -->
 
Antdad....yeah, I used to think you needed to spend money, but one day I ran out of beans and all that I could get was the Tesco Original for £1.47. Was not expecting much, but it was perfectly reasonable and as good as stuff that cost four times as much. It made me think, and I then started to question my prejudice about low caff and decaff too :D

Sweeney, I had heard of Ristretto but assumed they were England based, thanks for the link.

Shopping this evening so I'll keep you posted as to what happens
 
philamac said:
I then started to question my prejudice about low caff and decaff too :D
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:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: You are clearly in need of a caffeine fix.


Thanks for the Ristretto link...I bought some lovely expresso blend from them before but the web site change threw me.
 
Fella's, whilst following up on the caffeine content of Robusta and so on. I came across espresso shot measurements that one U.S site was using and they recommended 1.5 oz per shot! Can this be right? 42g of coffee per shot. I use about 8g per 30ml shot or are they using floor sweepings?
 
I've been using the Lavazza qualita d'oro (already ground) in a stovetop espresso maker. I will have to give the Sainsbury's a try when I need some more.
 
antdad said:
Fella's, whilst following up on the caffeine content of Robusta and so on. I came across espresso shot measurements that one U.S site was using and they recommended 1.5 oz per shot! Can this be right? 42g of coffee per shot. I use about 8g per 30ml shot or are they using floor sweepings?
Click to expand...

I think the site you're referring to might be mentioning the size of an espresso shot in fluid ounces as a typical double espresso is between 1.25 and 1.75 fluid ozs.

For a double espresso I grind 16g of beans, same as you using 8g in a single shot.
For French Press I'll use approx 70g for 1 litre.
 
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