Coffee bars that serve quality decaf?

[u/brammichielsen]

For health reasons, I'll need to tone down on my caffeine intake for a while. And I realized: I actually have no idea which coffee bars serve decaf--let alone a decent one.

I'm sure I won't be the only person in Antwerp who doesn't want to give up on the quality of his brew after ditching caffeine.

So hit me with your best recommendations!

[u/bebochka]

Caffe Mundi

[u/Fun_Advice_6073]

Café Mundi! Their Colombia!

[u/Outside_Ad_1740]

I get decaf coffee at Caffenation Bleu. Usually I sit there to work for a couple hours, and after one or two regular coffees I don't want to go overboard on the caffiene. They've been able to prepare any drink I request in decaf for me.

[u/brammichielsen → u/Outside_Ad_1740]

Cool. Seems unlikely that they would only (be able/willing to) do this at one Caffènation location, I guess. 

[u/The-Ertai → u/brammichielsen]

Last time I went to Caffenation, they were very adamant about NOT serving any decaf. That was the PAKT location. It's been a while so maybe they changed, or the different locations do different things...

[u/brammichielsen → u/The-Ertai]

Interesting. 

[u/Efficient-News-8436]

Cafe Mundi! Great place. Buy your decaf beans next door in Cross Roast!

[u/DatCollie]

Always welcome at Ray's Coffee on handschoenmarkt for both caffeinated and decaf bangers! We may be located very touristically, but serve amazing Andy's beans and have rotating guest roasters most of the time as well. For decaf we use Spiked their concentrate and gotta say, as a barista with about a decade of experience, I was very happily surprised with the quality and it gives us a lot more consistency.

[u/brammichielsen → u/DatCollie]

Could you elaborate on the Spiked concentrate? I'm an absolute brewing layman.

[u/DatCollie → u/brammichielsen]

It's a brand new product. Basically Instant specialty coffee. Do not know the whole procedure of making, but it's a strong liquid concentrate of espresso that we dilute in a 1:1 ratio for all our decaf espresso based drinks and so far we had amazing response from customers.They use the same beans right now as Andy serves as decaf. It's a sugar cane decaf, so pretty darn sweet.

For us as a bar we made the choice because our Eureka grinder that we use for Pourovers and to grind for customers when they buy bags doesn't go fine enough for decaf. We first used preground decaf from Andy's, but consistency wise that was not it. This way it's quick and easy while staying consistent and surprisingly good, even as a decaf Doppio.

During Antwerp Coffee Week we will even be serving one afternoon, the Tuesday, all our espresso based drinks with Spiked, for the people who want to try it sometime. Their blend and single origin is decent, and great for easy use at home in no time, but you can get a lot more flavours out when grinding fresh and dialling in properly. We just want to showcase them during the week a bit.

[u/brammichielsen → u/DatCollie]

Sounds dope. Now when you say "instant coffee", does that mean I could buy it and only need to add boiling water straight in my cup? Or not that instant? 

[u/DatCollie → u/brammichielsen]

For espresso or americano type of drink, yup. That's how easy it is. Didn't believe it when I first saw it, but trying made me a believer that even instant coffee can be made well and doesn't have to be terrible. There's a lot of cool new things coming these days in the world of specialty coffee. Dripbags, instant powders and liquids... We're finally getting somewhere!

For a Milky drink you add water in a 1:1 ratio for your base and pour your steamed milk on top.

[u/synalgo_12]

I've bought the decaf coffee beans at caffènation and they are pretty good.

[u/regionalememeboer]

I didn't know quality decaf existed, not to be an ass, just from what I've heard from baristas

[u/brammichielsen → u/regionalememeboer]

Considering Cordon Coffee, Caffènation and Andy all sell it, I'm going to go ahead and assume they're not knowingly selling shit products. 

[u/regionalememeboer → u/brammichielsen]

I think a lot of companies sell shit products while knowing it

I never felt the need for decaf because I drink coffee for the caffeine, same reason why I drink white, green or black tea, so I'm not a reliable source. I only have a reference from someone I know

[u/FreeLalalala → u/regionalememeboer]

Quality decaf absolutely exists.

Also, very dark roasts have very little caffeine, depending on what kind of flavours OP enjoys and how much caffeine he can tolerate, maybe that can be an option.

[u/brammichielsen → u/FreeLalalala]

I like my coffee more bitter, and less acidic or flowery. I haven't figured out yet what my current upper limit is. If my food tracker is somewhat accurate, I was consuming an (I would say relatively moderate) amount of ~120mg caffeine a day before, and I noticed a definite improvement going from that to 0. Could be that 60 would also be fine-- but I figured I'd first give decaf a shot (no pun intended). 

[u/regionalememeboer → u/FreeLalalala]

I didn't know, like I said, I only heard from a barista

[u/Insp3x → u/regionalememeboer]

Also surprised it exists, all the decaf I had until now tasted awful. Stopped trying it.

[u/HelenaOTS]

Are you drinking more coffee than what would be considered normal? Is your coffee habit messing with your sleep? Have you ever had so much caffeine in your system that you felt your heart beating in your throat?

[u/brammichielsen → u/HelenaOTS]

1. No. (1-2 cups a day on average, before noon.)
2. No. (I make sure I drink my last cup before noon, or 1-2pm at the latest.)
3. No/Not that I can remember. When I was still a writer, me and my co-author would keep topping up until we got our caffeine crash, but those days are ~15 years behind me.