• count_dongulus@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    But decaf is like…the same price or more because of additional manufacturing costs to remove the caffeine content from the beans.

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Can regular coffee drinkers notice the difference taste-wise? I’m the opposite of a coffee connoisseur and I drink any kind of brewed and instant coffee (including decaf) and can’t tell the difference.

    • bigoljim@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      Side by side, trying one after the other. I can tell they taste different. But walking into a place blind, and only getting one. I think it might be hard to tell.

    • bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 months ago

      Taste-wise? Probably not. But I’d know by 11am because the caffeine withdrawal would start and I’d get headaches.

    • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I’m a pretty avid coffee enjoyer, and I can’t tell the difference. The stuff that you can buy chemically decaffeinated are made by brands that generally sell lower quality coffee beans in the first place

      • thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Good roasters also usually have a decaf roast on the go. You can taste the difference, but if you’re just getting some random restaurant’s drip coffee, you’d probably just assume a bunch of things are off about it anyway, so “it’s secretly decaf” wouldn’t necessarily rank very high.

        • LittleBorat2@lemmy.ml
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          3 months ago

          Decaf needs to be fresh and in bean form. I freeze them because they get bad much quicker due to porosity after the treatment to pull out the caffeine.

          I also don’t think you would be able to tell the difference with good decaf.

    • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      Only if you’re sensitive to caffeine.

      My sister would feel the difference because her heart goes nuts if she has regular coffee. I wouldn’t since I’m an addict with high tolerance. Maybe the headache around noon would make me suspicious but probably not.

    • °˖✧ ipha ✧˖°@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Side by side I could pick out bad decaf, but I’d struggle to notice good decaf.

      On its own I’d just assume I was given a bad to average cup of coffee, which is what I would expect anywhere but home.

    • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      Anon says it was a restaurant that happens to serve coffee; not a dedicated coffee shop. So, honestly, probably not. Chances are the coffee would be stale, burned, or just plain poorly brewed regardless of what beans were actually used.

      A lot of whining is done about decaf, but it takes a pretty refined palate and a lot of experience consciously tasting the differences to be able to reliably tell the difference by taste alone.

      The biggest giveaway is the near total lack of a caffeine buzz, even after several cups. But the placebo effect will go a long way to mitigate that.

    • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Depends on the coffee.

      I developed a sensitivity to caffeine, it basically throws me into a weird heart racing thing at any but the smallest doses.

      But I freaking love coffee. So I buy decaf. If you shop around, find a few brands that do water process decaf, you’ll end up with something that’s good. Not just good enough, but good.

      But the chemical process decaf, yeah, I can tell a difference blindfolded. Literally, I won a bet doing it.

      The typical name brands, they usually have a fairly over processed taste to begin with. So it’s harder to detect, and I can’t tell the difference as clearly. It’s there, but you have to already have compared them before you can tell blind.

      Thing is, part of that is how you drink coffee. If you’re drinking it out of habit, or on the go, your brain is going to filter the taste out in favor of other sensory input. You have to be drinking it for the coffee itself, paying attention to the experience.

      Chemical process decaf has this layer of unpleasant metallic tang to me. Water process tastes like the same basic roast and bean, just slightly less intense. Things like floral notes get a little muted.

    • Artyom@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      At a cheap diner? You’d have a hard time telling cuz even when you use regular coffee, the caffeine content is pretty low.

    • general_kitten@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      At least the ones i have tasted decaf espresso does taste more weak but might have been because my decaf beans were noticeably older and the freshness seems to be one of the biggest factors. If i took decaf coffee somewhere based on my knowledge i would likely just assume that it is old/low quality/not brewed strong enough before i would assume its decaf

    • psud@aussie.zone
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      3 months ago

      You don’t expect good coffee in restaurants, and it’s hard to tell between bad coffee and bad decaff

    • Psythik@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I don’t drink coffee, but shouldn’t that be the case everywhere, cause of the extra steps you have to take to remove the caffeine from the beans?

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Also I’ve never been charged for a coffee refill.

      Coffee is usually free after you buy the first cup.

    • DragonTypeWyvern
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      3 months ago

      Just don’t say your coffee has caffeine in it!

      Honestly, you could probably argue in court that given no one complained and caffeine has proven ill effects on health no harm was done.

      • pigup@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It’s a clear violation of FDA regulations. They say an item must be labeled as what it actually is. They even have official definitions for specific items. Decaf coffee is definitely recognized by the FDA and there are regulations that limit the amount of solvent residue that they use to remove the caffeine. See: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=173.290

        It’s not the same product as coffee, and actually by giving people decaf, you are making people consume chemical residues that they did not sign up to consume. It’s illegal for serious reasons.

      • refalo@programming.dev
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        3 months ago

        to even get that far to have to say that, they would first have to prove negligence by showing proof that you knew it was happening and did nothing to try to stop it.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      My dad ran a similar business, he was an arborist. When requested to trim or fell a tree on private property, he would inform the owner that the species was protected by state law, and they would need to file an application for exemption. He helped them file it, and they paid him directly to fast track it, plus his quotation and consult fee. Unfortunately, so many of these applications were rejected, and dad could do nothing further to help the home owner, his hands were tied.

      There was no such protected species, dude didnt even own a chainsaw.

  • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    From my limited experience of drinking decaf, it usually tastes more watery. Probably wouldn’t visit that coffee shop again if their coffee was watery

    • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I don’t think it was a coffee shop. Actually a lot of restaurants do this. Some people can’t have caffeine and they’d rather not risk accidentally serving them the wrong thing when they order decaf.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        3 months ago

        I’m mostly fine with caffeine but if I drink those energy drinks I get really ill, it’s weird. I can down espressos wouldn’t have a problem, but there’s something in the energy drinks that make me ill.

        • alnitak@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          They generally have quite a few other things in them that could make you feel sick. Like a ton of b vitamins and various herbs. It could also be you react badly to the sweeteners in it.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I’ve never heard of a Café doing this, but I know a lot of wedding caterers will, especially toward the end of an event. It’s safer to have people who’ve been drinking just get tired and leave rather than get some caffeine in them and get a second wind. Plus, it’s easier to just brew one type of coffee, and while caffeine could be dangerous for someone with a heart condition, no one ever dropped dead from decaf.