The r/espresso Decaf Shortlist: Four Bags, Two Processes, $5–6 per 100 g

5 sourcesAI-written, may contain mistakes.

u/Shines22Trying out decaf — r/espresso Hoppenworth & PlochDECAF Sertao - Brasilien Black & White Coffee RoastersSugarcane Decaf Kaladi Brothers CoffeeDecaf Trieste Rogue Wave CoffeeColombia - El Vergel Condor Decaf 2026

The r/espresso Decaf Shortlist: Four Bags, Two Processes, $5–6 per 100 g — image 1

The r/espresso Decaf Shortlist: Four Bags, Two Processes, $5–6 per 100 g — image 2

The r/espresso Decaf Shortlist: Four Bags, Two Processes, $5–6 per 100 g — image 3

The r/espresso Decaf Shortlist: Four Bags, Two Processes, $5–6 per 100 g — image 4

A decaf recommendation thread on r/espresso turned into a priced shortlist: a Brazilian carbonic-natural espresso from Frankfurt, an Ethiopian sugarcane-EA decaf, a Colombian seasonal from El Vergel. The four verified bags land between US$5.06 and US$6.18 per 100 g. The caveat is the label, not the cup.

Quotes

“Turned out really nicely, and tastes great (the beans were a bit oily though, and i got a lot of static when grinding). Pretty full body, not that much difference from regular.”
@Shines22

“17g of decaf, 1g of a Guji - tastes a lot like 18g of Guji.”
@ferrets_bueller

“Took 3 weeks of rest before it started tasting good though.”
@3ric843

“Keep in mind that some roasters will still call it water-based decaf even if it involves chemical solvents along with water, so verifying directly whether they mean Swiss Water in these cases makes sense.”
@b1os_x

“I tried and tried at the time (including 1/2 caff), but I couldn't get anything to taste good.”
@bbeeebb

Related beans

Hoppenworth & Ploch

DECAF Sertao - Brazil

Dark Chocolate · Hazelnut

250g · 14.5

Black & White

Sugarcane Decaf

Caramel · Milk Chocolate · Balanced

340g · 21

Kaladi Brothers Coffee

Decaf Trieste

454g · 22.95

Rogue Wave

Colombia - El Vergel Condor Decaf 2026

clean · smooth · balanced

340g · 21

Facts

Frankfurt house espresso, decaffeinated — Hoppenworth & Ploch's Sertão decaf is the same Red Bourbon the roaster serves as its house espresso in Frankfurt, grown in Carmo de Minas, Brazil and decaffeinated by a carbonic natural process: 250 g for €12.90 (product page).
Sugarcane EA, not Swiss Water — The two most-repeated picks are ethyl-acetate decafs: Black & White's Sugarcane Decaf is a medium-dark Guji, Ethiopia, decaffeinated inside the producing country (12 oz, US$21 — product page), and Kaladi's Decaf Trieste rebuilds their flagship espresso from sugarcane-EA lots (1 lb, US$22.95 — product page).
$5.06 to $6.18 per 100 g — Converted at 2026-10-18 rates, the four bags with published prices sit in one narrow band: Kaladi US$5.06, Rogue Wave US$5.41, Hoppenworth & Ploch US$5.80, Black & White US$6.18 per 100 g (Kaladi, Rogue Wave, H&Pl, B&W).
Decaf wants three weeks — The thread's newest pick is Rogue Wave's El Vergel Condor Decaf 2026, from the Bayter family's El Vergel Estate in Colombia (CA$26/340 g — product page), and the buyer's own note is that it needed three weeks of rest before it tasted good (comment).

Voices

Reaction · Reddit · r/espresso — The supermarket bag held up — The thread's author started with Lavazza's Decaf Classico and reported it "turned out really nicely, and tastes great", full-bodied and not far off regular — oily beans and grinding static aside (thread).
Advice · Reddit · r/espresso — One gram of the real thing — A 5-point reply fixes a flat decaf by blending: 17 g of decaf plus 1 g of a good caffeinated Guji "tastes a lot like 18g of Guji" (thread).
Claim · Reddit · r/espresso — CO₂ keeps the most, check "water" — The thread's top comment picks CO₂ as the process that keeps most of the original bean's qualities, while another warns that roasters can still call a solvent process "water-based", and that Swiss Water leaves a little caffeine behind (thread).
Objection · Reddit · r/espresso — "Never had one that wasn't awful" — The taste holdouts are the minority: one commenter says years of trying decaf got him nothing good, another reports 40 years of failed attempts, against a thread of people drinking decaf daily (thread).