Always thought I wouldn’t like it and didn’t see the point.
And then I got some nice decaf beans and holy shit. This is great. I can have coffee in the evening now as a beverage to enjoy.
I know this is obvious. But if you like speciality coffee, and you wish you could drink more without a panic attack, then I think trying some decaf roasts is a big brain move.
Now whipping out the Aeropress in the evening is my highlight.
I think when I last looked at decaf it was basically just the supermarket brands and the coffee sucked (cause it was supermarket coffee). Now that I’m looking around there is a decaf roast at almost all local roasters.
Unless you’re hanging in pretty snooty coffee circles, chances still are that anything someone is going to offer you is going to be quite bad. For decent decaf, you really need to seek out good Swiss water process beans that are roasted just right (on the slightly darker side of medium imo). For me speciality coffee is largely about the adventure and nuance that each new bag of beans brings, but with decaf it’s more like finding one or two that are pleasant - a familiar evening comfort treat rather than a tropical adventure in my mouth.