A really good, strong decaf coffee?

[CathyA]

Looks like my favorite decaf coffee has been removed from Kroger's selection (Kroger brand French Roast decaf).
Anyone else have a favorite strong, decaf coffee brand?

[chord_ata]

Starbucks Verona Decaf. Cheapest I can find lately without grinding my own beans.

[Gregg]

We just blend some Folgers decaf with other, more flavorful coffee in order to cut our caffeine. It's ok, but definitely lacks the punch of more robust coffee. One trick we found that really pulls a lot more flavor out of the grind is to put boiling water into our drip coffee maker. Kind of a pain and we don't do it every day, but our coffee maker only gets up to around 130* which isn't hot enough to extract all the flavor from ground coffee. We caught Alton Brown doing a "Good Eats" episode on coffee and he said that 190* to 205* is ideal. I figured boiling water will cool to that range in the coffee maker. There really is a big difference in the finished product.

[CathyA]

Thanks chord_ata and Gregg,
Gregg....so you just pour boiling water into the back of your drip coffee maker? I know you're supposed to use really cold water, so I didn't think that would work...........but I guess it does!
Isn't it funny how weak decaf tastes? Does that mean its the caffeine that adds the robustness to coffees?
I am now adding about 1/3 caffeinated coffee to 2/3's decaf, which helps.
When I was drinking plain decaf, I would add just a little bit of hazelnut decaf and it would help alot.
I don't know why they can't make a generic strong decaf. Just using more grounds doesn't seem to help.
Thanks.

[redfox]

Cold brewing also does a really good job of extraction. It needs to it brew for 24 hours. Look up proportions if coarse grounds to water. (ask The Google!)

I am biased towards really high quality coffee, as it tastes better and I use less than the cheap stuff.

[chord_ata]

Given that decaffination is done by soaking the beans in water, I would expect some flavor components also flow with the caffine.

[Gregg]

Yes CathyA, boiling water right in the back of the Mr. Coffee. It's amazing how much more robust it comes out. We also add a touch of hazelnut, or some similar flavor, to our mixes. I'll be curious to see if anyone else gets the same results from the boiling water as I do. I would think that all drip coffee makers work about the same.

[puglogic]

I use Starbucks (or another quality local brand) and buy Decaf Italian Roast or Decaf French Roast. I use the grinder at the grocery store, as the flavor difference is substantial (or if I'm feeling ambitious, grind my own, but there's been no time lately)

[freein05]

We have a local coffee roasting company. It is located in Jamestown in the Motherload of central California. They distribute to stores in central California. I buy it at our local market. I was buying some today and an employee of Motherload was stocking the shelf. I told him how much I liked his coffee. He than told me the coffee I was buying was roasted yesterday from a high quality Honduran bean. You don't get that info from a large corporation. You can buy it online but it is not cheep. I buy the Fair-Trade Organic decaf. Here is a link to buy it online. http://shop.mlcrc.com/Fair-Trade-Certified-Organic_c6.htm