You bought a bag of decaf beans. They looked nice. They smelled kind of okay. You brewed them. And then—you drank sadness.
If your decaf tastes flat, dusty, or like someone steeped it in a well-worn sock, it might not be you. It might be the beans. Here’s how to tell if they’ve gone from fresh roast to flavour ghost.
1. The roast date is missing—or ancient
If your bag doesn’t include a roast date, that’s a red flag. If it has one but it’s more than three months old? Your beans are fading faster than a supermarket pineapple.
Fresh roast = full flavour. That’s why at I Love Decaf, we roast our beans in small batches, constantly, and ship them fresh—so they arrive in their flavour prime, not their twilight years.
2. They smell like cardboard instead of coffee
Take a good sniff. Proper decaf beans should smell rich, nutty, chocolatey, citrusy—something. If all you get is air and regret, your beans are stale.
The aroma is one of the first things to go once beans oxidise. Keep them sealed, airtight, and ideally not next to your garlic powder.
3. They grind unevenly or feel too dry
Old beans go brittle. When you grind them, they fall apart unevenly or create powdery dust instead of a proper medium grind. That makes for uneven extraction and bitter brews.
A good grinder helps. But fresh beans help more.
4. You get zero crema
No crema doesn’t always mean bad beans, but it’s often a hint. Fresh beans (even decaf!) can produce crema. If yours brew flat, dull espresso with no texture or pop, chances are they’ve gone stale.
Check out our best decaf espresso grounds with crema if you want proof that decaf can look and taste like the real thing.
5. The flavour has gone MIA
If your brew tastes like brown water, your beans are either ancient or rubbish. Possibly both. Good decaf beans should still give you body, richness, balance, and finish.
Especially ours. We use Swiss Water and EA natural decaffeination methods that protect flavour. If it doesn’t taste like coffee, what’s the point?
Final sip
Your decaf shouldn’t taste like compromise. It should taste like coffee.
If it doesn’t, the beans are past their prime—or they were never any good to begin with. Start with beans that are actually treated like they matter.
Grab a bag of our freshest, award-winning decaf beans and taste the difference before your next brew betrays you.