Who writes this
Rowin, in Belgium. I drink decaf most days. I got interested because roasters stopped keeping one decaf at the bottom of the menu and started putting real coffee through it, and because finding a good one — or finding anything reliable written about one — is still harder than it ought to be.
“Drinks both regular coffee and decaf, brews at home, not a professional taster. Every tasting note lists the recipe so you can calibrate against your own palate.”
That is the whole qualification, and it is early days: 2 coffees written up so far, alongside the 4 processes and a piece on how much caffeine is actually left in the cup. I write these when I have drunk something worth writing about, so the gaps will be uneven.
The name
0.1%
By dry weight, that is the most caffeine roasted coffee can hold and still be sold as decaffeinated. Almost everything written on the subject quotes 0.3% instead, which comes from EU Directive 1999/4/EC. That directive governs coffee extracts. Instant. It sets no limit for roasted beans at all.
The real figure is national law, around 0.1%, and 0.08% in Germany.
How this works
- No numeric scores. Every note prints the recipe it was brewed to, down to the grinder setting, so you can work out how far my palate sits from yours.
- Every review says how the coffee was obtained, above the notes.
- The roaster page carries the date I last checked itagainst their own site. Where something could not be confirmed it says so instead of guessing.
Getting in touch
Corrections, roasters worth trying, or an argument about the chemistry — rowin@pointone.coffee.