Organic Ethiopian Sidamo Swiss Water Decaf

I drink a lot of coffee. I started drinking it in my pre-teen years, and progressed to the typical American caffeine addiction into my early-adulthood, before weaning back to decaf-only for the past decade or two. At this point, my coffee habit is just that - a habit - yet one that is so familiar and ingrained in my daily routines that my consumption now rivals that of my peak caffeine period. As most any coffee drinker will tell you, though, decaf doesn't taste as good as caffeinated coffee (to put it politely). In my experience, decaf is almost universally disgusting. I've tried different beans, different roasts, different grinds, different water, hot brewing and cold brewing, drips and presses and percolators... the results have been varying degrees of terrible. So, a few months ago I set out (again) to try to find a decent decaf. Long story short, some coffee website recommended this brand/bean/roast, citing it as the only decaf they'd found that was even worth reviewing. Intrigued, I decided to buy a bag - and the results were every bit as good as the review stated. I was, and am, *amazed* at how good of a cup of coffee this Ethiopian Sidamo makes. I drink this coffee every day that I'm home, and am delighted anew each time I return at just how... coffee-like... this brew is compared to the swill that I drink on-the-road. The roast is medium, and actually tastes like coffee, not just brown-colored water (apologies to every decaf in my local grocery store) or a bitter soup of water filtered through charred organic matter (apologies to Starbucks). Perhaps the Ethiopian Sidamo decaf doesn't rival a good cup of caffeinated coffee; honestly, I can't remember back far enough to recall what a good cup of caffeinated coffee tastes like. Of the myriad decafs I've tried, however, this brew is truly in a class of it's own. If you're a decaf drinker, do yourself the favor of trying a bag; if the style suits your tastes, you'll be rewarded by the quality.

Great strong coffee flavor. Love that it's organic and water processed decaf.

This is a nicely drinkable coffee. Not too dark; not too light. Not too bitter; not too bland. Not too strong; not too weak. It's an "average" coffee, in the sense of being something that almost any coffee drinker could like. But it is on the mild side, so if a robust, strong, dark roast is what you're after, this is not it. On a 1-10 scale where 1 = mild/weak and 10 is a really dark french roast. I would rate this a 4. My wife likes mild coffees so this one works out really well for shared pots, but when I'm brewing for myself, I prefer something stronger, such as this company's Peruvian offering. It's attractively priced, but I've found it does take a lot of beans to produce a robust cup of coffee. I usually use 80 grams of coffee for my 60 ounce pot, but with this one I have to use 90+ to get just the right consistency. So I do end up using about 10 % more beans, which I guess is a 10 % hidden cost. The 5 pound bags come out to $8 / pound, or $0.50 an ounce, which is much closer to the price of, say, Maxwell House decaf than to a typical high-end bean. Since it tastes about a billion times better than Maxwell House or any other supermarket brand, it's really a no-brainer, in terms of price performance ratio. The notion that you could have a cup of this instead of Folgers or Maxwell House for about the same price, give or take some pocket change, makes it one of the better offerings out there.

I wish there were more stars to give this coffee. It hard to find good decaf, and since I love a cup at night, I’ve looked and looked for whole bean decaf that’s also affordable. This is IT! I usually buy Yirgacheffe, and tbh, that’s what I’ve looked for, but can’t find in whole bean decaf in my area, and it’s too pricey online. I saw this, did a little internetting about the Sidamo bean/area, found out it’s also Ethiopian, and decided to try it! Wow! The chocolate and cherry notes come through all the way, from nose to aftertaste, yet it’s subtle and lovely. It’s a medium roast, so it won’t give that charred taste some dark roasts have, especially in a French press. The Swiss water decaffing process doesn’t diminish the flavor at all, surprisingly. I do love it. There was a hitch in the delivery, and I contacted the seller, who got back to me immediately. The hitch, it turns out, had nothing to do with them, in fact, they got the delivery out days before it was due. The prob was where the carrier put it, or rather, didn’t. It showed delivered Wednesday, but it wasn’t. It hit my mailbox today, on Friday afternoon. Again, this wasn’t the seller. They are wonderful!

So my Doctor told me to quite coffee because of elevated blood pressure. Quit Coffee??? Why don't you just rip out my Heart. Well, sigh, Ok. So I went out a bought a decaf blend that met every expectation of what decaf would taste like, Bland, Acidic, Yuk. I knew that there had to be great decaf out there and so I began my search. After checking out several brands, descriptions, and prices, I chose the Fresh Roast Coffee brand. I purchased two pounds each of the Sumatra, Ethiopian, and Colombian. I took equal parts of the three and made a blend. Wow. Now this is some Awesome Decaf Coffee. Rich and Flavorful. I take mine black with sugar and I am not missing out on anything. I will be tasting the individual coffees as I go along but given what I taste now, they will all be great by themselves. I have been decaffeinated now for about a month and now that I have these products, going decaf will not be a problem. Also, now that I have retired, I really don't need that daily caffeine "Liftoff" to launch me through the day. And a definite side benefit, I am sleeping much better through the night. Sounds like a Win - Win to me.

When I make my coffee, I always froth the cream, first; and with it being thick, it can take a few sips before coffee comes through. Usually, the cream is rather decadent — and once the flavor of the coffee comes through, it amps up the decadence. I am on my first cup of this coffee; I received my package in the mail, this morning. I prepared by my French press, as someone said this specific coffee worked well in such, and that is my go-to method of preparation. There wasn’t much of a smell when I opened the bag. Which, I found rather disappointing With first sips, my cream tasted watered down. I was a bit confused, as I didn’t do anything different. I didn’t taste really any deliberate coffee-flavor coming through. I took a few more sips, to see if I was only drinking cream.. Nope. Drinking the coffee and the cream. Took a bigger drink.. Definitely tasted like watered down coffee and bland cream. And to think I was concerned I used too much coffee grounds. Obviously, with this kind of product, there are no returns. I am waiting to see if I have any sort of allergic reaction to this coffee; so, I knew there was a risk with this purchase, regardless. If I do not have an allergic reaction, I’ll attempt to remake the coffee, and see how much I’ll need to use to get a decent cup of coffee, with flavor.. I mean, at this point, I’m out the money, anyways — so, I might as well do whatever with it. If I can’t manage to get even some semblance of decent tasting coffee out of this, with excessive use of grounds, I intend to slowly mix this coffee in with my future decaf coffee purchases — as it’s most certainly not gonna affect the flavor, in the slightest. Bummer much of the most flavorful coffee causes allergic reactions, in me. Oh well. I’m keeping the faith I’ll find something that’s flavorful and allows me to drink it, without issues. EDIT: Coffee upset my stomach, quite a bit. I know it was due this coffee, specifically, as I didn’t do anything else differently, except this coffee; and I haven’t had an upset stomach like this, in a good while. In the trash bin it goes. 2ND EDIT: I ended up giving my mother the coffee, instead of throwing it away. Simply because I wasn’t impressed doesn’t mean others won’t find it enjoyable. I don’t think she has made a cup, yet. Though, she said she thought it smelled really good, when she opened the bag. To which, I didn’t find the smell unpleasant. It, simply, wasn’t as strong as I would have preferred.

I am extremely picky about my coffee. A bit of a coffee snob, perhaps. I don't even really care for the coffee from Starbucks. I usually order Matcha Lattes from there. Their coffee is terrible. Burnt and acidic. This coffee is the complete opposite. The beans are very fresh and have a fantastic rich and bold flavor. It tastes very much like the organic whole beans (non decaf) I used to buy from Trader Joes. These beans do have a bit of a shine to them, which, from my understanding, is the oil that contains the caffeine. I can tell these beans do have some caffeine. I typically don't drink anything but water, so I am very sensitive to caffeine. However, it's much less than the coffee I used to drink, so not necessarily a deal breaker. I have only found one brand on Amazon so far that is completely decaf, but they are nowhere near as good as this one!! I have definitely found a brand I'm going to stick with! I can't wait to try the Sumatra!

I've had this coffee so I know it's delicious. However, I never received this order. It was a gift, and I was emailed twice regarding delays to ask if I still wanted it. I answered yes with the first delay, but cancelef after asking permission for the 2nd delay. There was an initial delivery date of a few days out which turned into weeks and more weeks with no specific delivery date. Supply chain was the reason given.. I understand, but again, never received. The product though (purchased elsewhere with zero delay) is very smooth and delicious!