Is there flavor difference between caffeinated and de-caffeinated coffees?

[BIC]

I was bit reading about dejavu's posting about decaffeinated coffee vs caffeinated coffee... whether there is any trace of caffeine in decaf coffees...

what about the flavors/taste?
I never drink de-caffeinated coffee, never, so I would not know. But I am just guessing that there is difference..
does anyone know whether there are big differences and the reason?

thanks and Happy 4th of July !

[shadow745]

I once offered some quite good decaf espresso commercially. Taste/texture was definitely there, but can certainly tell you it lost that flavor/texture about twice as fast as what I was using for standard espresso. Post roast the decaf was great from day 3-8 post roast, the dropped off quickly. Don't know about using decaf for drip, press, etc., but surely some nice options out there. I've never roasted decaf, but have thought about it just to consume even more espresso without reaching 'the danger zone'...

[BIC]

If decaf is roasted in CO2 (I heard), then it should be less oxidized therefore more flavorful, right? I understand it will lose flavor faster in this case.

here is a short vid on swiss water decaf process. simple and easy to understand.
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ioxide+Methods

and as for CO2 method, it is almost like swiss water process, but the flavor components stay in the bean in the process, rather than removed from the beans (soaked out) and then put back into the beans again. Since the flavors always stay in the beans during the process, it "might be" more flavorful....

[BIC]

Post roast the decaf was great from day 3-8 post roast, the dropped off quickly.

if it drops off from 3 - 8 days roast, commercially speaking, it is absolutely useless because when it gets to consumers, there won't be any flavors left to enjoy.

[shadow745]

Might be fine for lesser brew methods as it ages, but for quality decaf espresso the window is quite narrow.