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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Conley on December 9, 2009 at 7:56pm

As I understand it, the contemporary school of thought is of the mind that your best bet is to use unrested beans; however, this will only buy you a very small window, beyond the ±30 minutes alloted for the espresso ground coffee to degas, where quality wouldn't be noticeably compromised.

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Permalink Reply by Micah Metheny on December 9, 2009 at 9:45pm

I have worked in a shop that did this, and even if you grind the decaf and take it straight to the machine, you still can't dial it in to pull decent shots. It would be better to have a cheaper lower volume grinder to dedicate to decaf if you are worried about money. If you really want to space, I would say just not serve decaf espresso. Trust me, this was one of my biggest pains behind the bar.

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Permalink Reply by Jared Rutledge on December 9, 2009 at 10:01pm

keith pettigrew, an australian barista judge who trained me a bit in australia, told me to use espresso within 3 minutes of it being ground. that rule has never failed me. i dropped $1500 on an extra k-10 for decaf and it was worth every penny. to be able to tell customers "no, seriously, our decaf espresso is really good, i can't tell the difference" and mean it - that's priceless. as was the look on the roasters face when i pulled him a double decaf shot and it tasted really nice. we're using a water processed natural sidamo for decaf, and the decaffeination process really tones down the natural fruity tartness. it's juicy, and definitely fruity, but the mouthfeel is a lot smoother and sweeter than a normal SO sidamo.

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Permalink Reply by Mr. F on December 9, 2009 at 10:05pm

I've got just enough regular decaf drinkers that I can't really eliminate it (as much as I'd love to, but these are the kind of customers that have been coming in for 16 years, so...). Yeah, I'm looking at the schematics now, and I'm thinking I can probably squeeze that second grinder in there somewhere, maybe not right up front. I'd hate to punish my decaf drinkers with stale espresso, so I probably will wind up sacrificing a little space.
Seems like a no-brainer now.
Thanks for the input!

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Permalink Reply by Matt Swenson on December 9, 2009 at 11:16pm

I would reccomend a Baratza grinder (http://www.baratza.com/) instead of pre grinding. These are solid home grinders that can easily make the transition to a light commercial use decaf espresso grinder. You can get them from $150-450, but they i think they all have commercial grade burrs in them. The good thing about these is that they grind on demand for a decaf reducing the stale coffee and reducing the space used by not having a doser if space is a concern of yours. They also came out with a portafilter holder to make it easier for grinding espresso. In my opinion its a great recession-style-budget solution.

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Permalink Reply by Mr. F on December 10, 2009 at 1:28am

That's a great idea, Matt, thanks!

Matt Swenson said:

I would reccomend a Baratza grinder (http://www.baratza.com/) instead of pre grinding. These are solid home grinders that can easily make the transition to a light commercial use decaf espresso grinder. You can get them from $150-450, but they i think they all have commercial grade burrs in them. The good thing about these is that they grind on demand for a decaf reducing the stale coffee and reducing the space used by not having a doser if space is a concern of yours. They also came out with a portafilter holder to make it easier for grinding espresso. In my opinion its a great recession-style-budget solution.

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Permalink Reply by Mitch Buckner - Bella Caffe on January 7, 2010 at 6:40am

I've always preground my Decaf Espresso because I sell such a small amount of it & Have such a small amount of space that I could never even entertain the idea of having a 2nd Grinder for Decaf. In fact, most of the time I dont even keep Decaf Espresso anymore! Now Im not a traditional Coffee Shop so I can get away with not having a Decaf. I do a mobile coffee shop at special events. I've started selling Red Espresso which is a Rooibis based espresso (Red Tea ground & shot in the espresso machine). Rooibis is naturally decaf so now anytime someone asks for a Decaf cappuccino or the like I tell them about the Red Cappuccino. Most people go with it & most people love it. If I had more people asking for decaf & I was losing customers by not having it, I would get a smaller espresso grinder & put it somewhere else out of the way to grind decaf. But I just dont have enough need for it.

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