Don't sleep on the Decaf

I always planned to offer a decaf, but I thought it was mostly for me. I did not expect it to move the needle for anyone else. I just wanted a cup I could drink in the afternoon.

I love my morning coffee for many reasons. One is simply that I enjoy having a cup to sip while I work. It helps me get into the pocket, lock in, and stay there. I wanted something that could give me that same kind of satisfaction later in the day without leaving me wondering what it might do to my sleep.

I also thought decaf was something a coffee roaster should offer. I wanted mine to be good, but I expected it to round out the lineup and mostly meet my own need. I assumed the Brazil would be the crowd favorite from the start, and I still think it probably will be. Most people drink caffeinated coffee. That has not changed.

What changed was what I thought the decaf could become in my own hands.

For a long time, I could not roast decaf the way I wanted. On my old Behmor, I told myself I did not have enough control over the roast. That may have been true, but it also gave me a reason to avoid learning what makes decaf its own thing. I could roast it, but not especially well, so I never pursued it deeply. There is a difference between getting a coffee through the roaster and being able to shape what happens along the way.

When I moved to the Diedrich, I finally had the control I had been missing. That did not mean I immediately knew what to do with it. I still had to learn how to manage heat and airflow and how to respond to what the coffee was doing. The machine gave me more options, but it also made me responsible for those options. It required me to understand how decaf behaves differently in the roaster.

I believed there was a good way to roast this coffee. I believed the machine was capable of it, and I ought to be able to figure it out.

Eventually, with time, practice, and plenty of help thinking through the roast, I did.

The satisfying part was not simply having a decaf available. It was knowing I had solved something I had not been able to solve before. I could brew it in the afternoon and enjoy the cup rather than treating it as a substitute for the coffee I really wanted. I like using it to make a half-caff in the afternoon or drinking it on its own with an evening dessert.

I named it Deshojo rather than simply calling it “Decaf.” I did not give that decision much philosophical weight at the time, but I think it affected the way I saw the coffee. It had its own identity in the lineup. It was not just the version without most of the caffeine.

Then other people started noticing it.

One customer subscribed specifically because of the decaf. Others complimented it without being asked. It also caught the attention of someone considering Acer Coffee for her café.

That was the first time I realized the decaf might be doing more than filling a space in the lineup.

Then I sent a set of samples to someone whose opinion I respect. Ethiopian coffees are normally his favorites, so I expected those to get most of his attention. He told me all the coffees were good, but the decaf was the most impressive relative to what is usually available.

That comment stuck with me.

He was not saying the decaf was better than an Ethiopian coffee. He was considering it on its own terms, as a decaf. He knew what else was out there, and he thought this one stood apart.

That was especially gratifying after working to solve the puzzle.

I may have underestimated decaf at the beginning. Or perhaps I underestimated the role it could play.

For someone who wants caffeine, it will probably remain a secondary choice. For someone who is avoiding caffeine, however, it is not secondary at all. It may be their go-to coffee.

What I once thought of as part of the supporting cast may be the coffee someone else remembers—and sometimes is a door to something more.

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The Acer Coffee Journal is where I collect what I'm learning as I build Acer Coffee.

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If this article reminded you of something in your own work—or simply made you look at coffee a little differently—I’d love to hear from you.

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