Decaffeinated Coffee Review

The Roasterie Decaf Colombia Supremo Pitalito Estate
Origin: Colombia
Mid-toned but rich, deep aroma, with fresh leather, pear, peach and milk chocolate suggestions. Simplifies a bit in the cup, undercurrents of pipe tobacco and a tartly refreshing, sweet fruit, pie cherries perhaps or kiwi.
Overall Rating: 90 points

CC's Coffee Colombia Dark Roast Decaf
Origin: Colombia
Dominated by a low-toned but richly intense fruit complex that in the aroma clearly and pleasurably reads as semi-sweet chocolate. In the cup turns toward something less chocolate and more cherry perhaps, with a little pungent lean toward Mediterranean herbs. Full-bodied and deeply dimensioned throughout.
Overall Rating: 89 points

Flying Goat Coffee Organic Fair-Trade Decaf Mexico
Origin: Pluma growing region, southern Oaxaca State, Mexico
An intense, high-toned coffee with almost African character: distinct orange notes and hints of sweet spice, chocolate and flowers, lavender perhaps, in the aroma. The citrus, chocolate and lavender tones are sharper and simpler in the cup, though still intense. A tingle of astringency persists, not unpleasantly, into the finish.
Overall Rating: 88 points

Counter Culture Coffee Roasters Decaf Organic Peru Chanchamayo
Origin: Chanchamayo Valley, south-central Peru
Lively aroma, with fresh-cut cedar and cherry-chocolate notes. In the cup simple but deeply resonant, with hints of flowers, chocolate and cherry-leaning fruit shimmering through the gentle roastiness.
Overall Rating: 88 points

Intelligentsia Coffee Decaf Librarian's Blend
Origin: Not Disclosed
A light-bodied, sweetly crisp coffee. Suggestions of leather, spice and a dry, fruity chocolate in the aroma. Melodic in the cup, with sweet citrus top notes and a hint of chocolate balanced by a slight tart sharpness.
Overall Rating: 87 points

Orleans Coffee Exchange Decaf French Roast Blend
Origin: Not Disclosed
Pungent and smoky throughout the profile, with some suggestions of semi-sweet chocolate, cedar and rosemary. In the cup the mouthfeel is lightly and pleasantly astringent, bracing rather than bitter or heavy.
Overall Rating: 86 points

Allegro Coffee Indonesia Malacca Straights Pure Water Decaf
Origin: Indonesia, probably northern Sumatra or southwestern Sulawesi
A very heavy-bodied coffee, roasty but not burned, low-toned to the point of bluntness, with pungent cedar notes that approach semi-sweet chocolate and a hint of Mediterranean herb.
Overall Rating: 85 points

Daybreak Coffee Roasters Midnight Obsession
Origin: Not Disclosed
The aroma is rather flat, though complicated by an interesting walnut- or maple-toned caramel character, perhaps with a hint of anise. The maple-nut-caramel character carries into the simple but balanced cup.
Overall Rating: 85 points

Higher Grounds Trading Company Fair-Trade Mexican Decaf
Origin: Oaxaca State, Mexico
A profile so delicate it has difficulty asserting itself. Gentle and lyric in the aroma, with sweet nut and a cherryish fruit that carry into the cup but remain subdued and without authority, a charming but distant warble in the woods.
Overall Rating: 84 points

Caffe Botanica Wake Up Healthy Asian Ginseng-Infused Decaf
Origin: Not Disclosed
Richly smoky aroma, with some sweet chocolate- and apricot-toned fruit and wood tones that are just aromatic enough to escape smelling like burned old board. In the cup thin-bodied but smooth in mouthfeel, with pleasantly and delicately smoky wood tones and hints of cedar and semi-sweet chocolate. The finish is simple but clean, sweet and free of astringency, with some faint recollections of chocolate.
Overall Rating: 84 points

Cafe Sunrise Finca Buenos Aires Medium Roast Decaffeinated
Origin: Honduras
In the aroma shallow in sensation but pleasantly sweet with orange- and aromatic-wood notes. The cup is sweet, delicate, complicated by orange and a hint of milk chocolate but shadowed by flat, woody undertones. Sweet, clean short finish, but in the long the woody, flat undercurrents resurface.
Overall Rating: 84 points

The Supreme Bean Organic Decaf Espresso
Origin: Not Disclosed
Deep, sweetly pungent aroma with echoes of apricot or papaya. The mouthfeel is a bit rough but pleasantly so. The small cup is rich and sweet with a tightly-knit, deeply fruity complexity complicated by hints of cedar and toast. The sweet richness persists from short through long finish. Impressive range of sensation in milk: crisply sweet yet lushly chocolate.
Overall Rating: 92 points

Taylor Maid Farms Organic Occidental Decaf Espresso
Origin: Not Disclosed
Delicate but attractive aroma complicated by chocolate and low-acid tropical fruit notes. In the small cup medium body and a rather lean mouthfeel. The flavor is simple, cedar-toned, pungent-sweet, with a hint of semi-sweet chocolate. Rich in the short finish, a bit heavy in the long. In milk rather delicate, sweet-cedar-toned with a continuing hint of chocolate.
Overall Rating: 85 points

Snowy Mountain Coffee Wild Horses Sumatra Decaf
Origin: Northern provinces of Sumatra, Indonesia
Agreeably dominated by the roast. Deeply and gently charred cedar in aroma and cup, with hints of low-key fruit banana or papaya and chocolate. The astringency in the finish is nicely wrapped in a rich memory of fruit and chocolate.
Overall Rating: 87 points

Starbucks Coffee Decaf Sumatra
Origin: Northern provinces of Sumatra, Indonesia
Review Date: January 2005
Muted aroma with roasty pine and spice notes and a hint of low-key fruit. Delicate in the cup, with distinct and explicit spice notes of cinnamon, nutmeg perhaps, with a continuing hint of apricot-toned fruit.
Overall Rating: 84 points