UKC

Being advised to avoid caffeine. Can anyone recommend a brand of decaff tea that actually tastes like tea? Or a decaff coffee with a good taste?

For instant coffee I use Kenco millicano (caf and decaf, they taste the same).

They are much better than any americao you would get from Starbucks. Probably about the same as Costa.

Obviously if you normally drink coffee using decent beans the instant won't be as good. So it depends what your starting point is.

Yorkshire decaff tea is nice.

My wife is a big fan of Redbush (Rooibos)  tea - it's naturally decaf.

She prefers it black, but you can add milk. Can be an acquired taste initially.

Be warned that decaf coffee (particularly espresso/filter) and black/green tea is not completely caffeine free.  My Dad has Menieres which he found to be triggered by caffeine, and decaf was enough - he's had to switch to herbal and rooibos tea which are totally caffeine free.

Obviously whether you have to worry about that depends on the reason why you need to avoid it, but it was enough to be a problem for him (as was the small amount in chocolate).  The day he stopped even decaf was the day the attacks stopped, and if he had any after that they returned.

But on the original question I quite like Kenco Millicano decaf, but be aware that as it's a micro grind one it'll probably be on the high-caffeine side for a decaf.

Tick tock decaf tea. 

Curiously I find a good decaf instant to be nicer than decaf filter.  I guess they add stuff to it to give it the bitterness - decaf filter always tastes really bland to me even if made strong.

Decaf black tea I find to be utterly rank with the exception of Yorkshire - I guess that's just really strong so you still get a decent flavour.

I'd say Yorkshire is the only nice decaf black tea.  It is probably because it is so strong so you don't notice the absence of the bitterness caffeine usually adds.

You could ignore the advice? (caffeine addict here)

I love things like camomile and vervaine. I used to have the camomile in the garden, but it did tend to take over. Friends like the rooibos (red bush) tea, but I don't.

Bean Brothers do some an amazing no-caffeine coffee, I have this when I fancy a coffee in the afternoon:
https://www.beanbrothers.co.uk/coffee-shop/decaffeinated-dream-jeanie

Great, with 3 recommendations for Yorkshire decaf, that sounds half the problem sorted. Thanks.

Yes, a 4th for Yorkshire decaf, and I also will get panned for saying this - tbh, I also drink PG Tips decaf - tastes alright..

I can't really taste the difference between decaf and caffeinated tea, and as it never had any effect of me (keeping me up), I thought I would make the change!

Yorkshire decaf tea and illy decaf coffee. Doubt I would pass a blind taste test with caffeinated alternatives tbh. 

Think I might even have a pot now!

It's not as obvious as coffee, but I do find most decaf tea bar Yorkshire tastes bland.  But it might depend how strong you like your tea - I like to be able to stand the spoon up in it.  I sometimes do a pot with 2 Yorkshire red bags and 2 decaf for a nice strong brew but that won't keep me awake for a week.

I'm yet to find a decaf filter coffee I actually like, and I've tried quite a few fancy ones (e.g. Decadent Decaf) - the instants seem genuinely nicer presumably because other ingredients can be added to replicate the bitter taste lacking from the caffeine.

Well as a Menieres sufferer myself I’ll give that a go. I swapped to decaf when the disease started but will try decaf completely.

Would definitely recommend giving it a go.  It wasn't nice to see the impact of it on him (which for him was basically the same as epilepsy - different mechanism obviously but it knackered his independence completely) and this seemed to completely resolve it, he hasn't had an attack since.  I hope it works for you too.

Tea = Yorkshire 

Coffee Chain = Cafe Nero, the rest taste horrible 

Depending on how much you want to spend then something like this tastes as good as the caffeinated equivalent.

https://www.theclubhousecc.co.uk/product-page/the-clubhouse-colombia-decaf

But obviously with this you’re going into the “specialty” coffee market rather than anything instant.

That’s my local roasters but any good roasters normally has a decaf option these days.

Taylor's (of Harrogate, sold in Morrisons) Decaffeinated ground coffee is OK. I can't really tell much difference between it and the Lazy Sunday coffee.

not coffee but Barley Cup is palatable as a warm drink

I've been drinking decaf coffee for about 15 years now. 

I've tried loads in that time, but have settled on Illy for my taste and what I drink. It's also consistent and ready to buy (if relatively expensive). Including some local roasters around the country. Different ones worked in different drinks by roast , bean origin etc. A decaff oat latte suits one, but not another. A long black may be totally different in terms of beans that work.

There are also differences in how it tastes based on the decaffeination method. I did a taste test of different methods at Christmas. For the bean and roast involved I found that the sugar cane method had the most bitterness and sourness, and the co2 produced something at the other end of the spectrum I seem to recall. 

I use an aeropress or mokka pot to make my coffee. 

Decaff tea... No idea. Not really got into it. Not all caffeine is the same, and tea is nowhere near a bad for me as coffee.

I quite like Rave's decaff coffee:

https://ravecoffee.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwy46_BhDOARIsAIvmcw...

Illy Decaf is bloody lovely. Think its my favourite coffee right now!!!

What other ingredients are there in decaf instant? 

Artificial aroma is certainly added - that's what you get a noseful of when you open it, the coffee doesn't really smell of that.  Otherwise I don't know, but it certainly tastes less bland than decaf filter.

Tea has a lot less caffeine than coffee, even instant.

Interesting about the aroma. I thought I'd Google it. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1sie7b/til_coffee_company_n...

Was interesting. 

Looks like while tea has more caffeine in per mg of raw product, less usually ends up in the drink. 

It looks like at some point I read some odd article about caffeine drinks having different chemicals in it, but I can't find it again. Looks like it wasn't entirely accurate. 

Cheers

Second vote for Rave, I have had really decent decaf from them. James Gourmet used to get held up as a very decent speciality decaf too.

As it happens today was food shopping day. Bought some Yorkshire decaf. On first tasting I thought the taste much like normal Yorkshire tea, so good advice. 

Just the coffee to fix now.

Sainsbury's House Blend Decaf is okay, too.

Yet another vote for Yorkshire decaf tea. It's about the only one that I've found that isn't insipidly weak. And I say that as someone who doesn't buy into the idea that Yorkshire tea is the greatest tea around, I rate it as ok, but nothing more. 

If you like earl grey, Twinings decaf earl grey isn't bad. The bergamot flavour comes through more strongly than in their caffeinated earl grey, because the decaf tea is a weaker flavour. 

But I drink a lot more herbal/fruit/floral teas and green/white yellow (i.e. lower caffeine, not decaf) than I do decaf black teas. One of my favourites is https://cardewoxford.co.uk/products/pitta-dosha (ignore the Ayurvedic nonsense, and just enjoy the flavour).

When it comes to coffee, I like really light roasted fruity specialty coffees, so ignore the recommendations below if you like the darker, roastier flavours that most people associate with coffee. 

https://decafbeforedeath.co.uk is not cheap, but she sells some incredible coffees and is doing a lot to put out more information about great quality decaf coffees. She did a decaf only takeover of a Sheffield coffee shop recently to showcase how interesting decaf coffee can be. I think she's looking to do similar events again in the future. 

A number of her coffees are produced by Wilton Benitez. He is doing some incredible work using top quality beans and experimental anaerobic processes that lead to some banging tasting coffees. His coffees are being picked up by more and more UK roasters as a number of specialty roasters look to up their game with decaf coffees. I've had 6 or 7 different coffees of his, from 3 different rosters, and they've all been fantastic so definitely worth buying if you see his coffee anywhere. Well worth it for me as a treat.

What sort of coffee do you like? I'm a double espresso user and I had to go cold turkey on caffeine for a couple of months. I found Black Sheep do a decaf that was good enough to provide me with a psychological hit. It's actually better than a lot of proper caffeinated coffee.

I thought they were a brewery

Does anyone know if there are any decent decaffeinated cappuccinos or lattes around - yes I know this will be coffee heresy to some

There is also a Black Sheep brewery. I don't think they are connected to the coffee chain.

A cappuccino or latte is made by adding milk to an espresso, so if you make a decaf espresso you can have a decaf cappuccino or latte.

Yeah I know. I think what I'm really griping about is that I've had a cheapo Dolce Gusto thingy for a few years and the Cappuccino is my drink on there (afraid I was corrupted as a youth to milky coffee). Now I'm trying to cut down the caffeine and the only milky decaff they do is an Americano - which is no better than a bit of instant freeze dried.

Guess it's back to my pseudo-lattes by boiling up (and hopefully not over - keen eye required) in the microwave.

Dolce Gusto is crap.  Anything made properly will beat it - powdered milk - yuck!

I tried a Dolce Gusto once. If you like that then I don't think cappuccino or latte is what you're after. Some kind of milkshake maybe?

Isn't expensive milkshakes basically what Starbucks sells?

But Dolce Gusto isn't even that, it's rank.  I'd rather Nescafe.

Isn't it just that instants are typically a dark roasted robusta blend so you're less likely to notice any difference, rather than anything being added in?

There is obviously a whole world of coffee out there that I was totally oblivious to. The joy of UKC!

Quite possible.  If the coffee is very strong you're less likely to notice the absence of the bitterness - see Starbucks decaf for an example.

At the moment I’m drinking the Ueshima Fuji Mountain coffee (with caffeine) and I like it with breakfast. I add oat milk. It gives me that oo, that’s nice feeling.

Thompsons Scottish blend decaf is my current decaf of choice. Its blended for soft water so may not taste so good if you live in a hard water area.

I'm not familiar with that, but their website says it's their darkest roast, so along the same lines as my taste. I reckon you should give this a go: https://leavetheherdbehind.com/products/rebel-decaf

The world of specialty coffee can be a very expensive rabbit hole!

But it doesn't need to be. You can get started with a filter coffee setup (hand grinder, scales, pouring kettle, V60 filter) for less than £100 and that is capable of beating what almost all coffee shops produce.

For espresso, you can now get a reasonable machine for £100 that is again capable of beating what many specially coffee shops will serve. A few years ago, espresso machines and espresso capable grinders started at much more expensive prices.

Or, you can spend thousands on an espresso machine, thousands on a grinder, many hundreds on puck preparation equipment etc etc. Upgradeitis for coffee equipment can be even worse than in trad climbing or winter climbing!

There's a hack for making cappuccino-like drinks at home by putting a little bit of hot milk (approx 60 degrees is as hot as you want it IIRC) in a cafetiere and then pumping the filter up and down to froth it. Add that to decent aeropress or moka pot coffee and you've got something which is surprisingly satisfying, even if it's not going to win any awards for authenticity...

There's a hack for making cappuccino-like drinks at home by putting a little bit of hot milk (approx 60 degrees is as hot as you want it IIRC) in a cafetiere and then pumping the filter up and down to froth it. Add that to decent aeropress or moka pot coffee and you've got something which is surprisingly satisfying, even if it's not going to win any awards for authenticity...

Get our beans from Drury, including this decaf....well, 99.9% it says ..my wife drinks gallons of it....

https://www.shopdrury.com/drury-roasted-coffee/decaffeinated-coffees/mexica...

If you put the milk in a jar and give it a good shake it comes out quite well and is even less faff.

My own spin on that is to microwave milk for around a minute and attack it with a milk frother (Aerolatte or similar). Then add either the contents of a '6-cup' Moka pot (in actually, it makes half a mug) or an Aeropress.