Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

4 Cool Cafés to Try Out in Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian capital is often visited in a hurry, but visitors who take the time to explore will discover a welcoming city, thanks in part to its friendly specialty cafés. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos by Tanya Nanetti Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, is often a stopover on vacations, quickly left behind […]


Understanding the Process: Carbonic Maceration

Continuing our series on coffee processing, we learn about carbonic maceration—a unique, newer processing method. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Cafe Imports Editor’s note: Check out more entries in our “Understanding the Process“ series here. The rise of the specialty-coffee scene has helped many people understand that talking about coffee as something […]


Understanding the Process: Carbonic Maceration

Continuing our series on coffee processing, we learn about carbonic maceration—a unique, newer processing method. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Cafe Imports Editor’s note: Check out more entries in our “Understanding the Process“ series here. The rise of the specialty-coffee scene has helped many people understand that talking about coffee as something […]


Brewing at Home and on the Road With Diego Campos

We talk to the first Colombian World Barista Champion and Diamante Coffee Farm founder Diego Campos about his brewing habits. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Diego Campos The focal point of a coffee worker’s professional life is, obviously, coffee. Whether for a customer, to check a specific production batch, or to verify the […]

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

Miami-Made Panther Coffee is Popping Up in Manhattan

Beloved Miami specialty coffee company Panther Coffee is making its first major New York City showing with the opening of a popup shop in Soho. With a soft opening scheduled…


The First Women-Only Coffee Championships Held in Costa Rica

Feria del Café Frailes seeks to increase the gender diversity of coffee competitions. BY SUNGHEE TARKSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Cover photo by Sunghee Tark The coffee industry has come a long way in the past 20 years, with innovations happening in many parts of the world and in different links of the supply chain. […]


The First Women-Only Coffee Championships Held in Costa Rica

Feria del Café Frailes seeks to increase the gender diversity of coffee competitions. BY SUNGHEE TARKSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Cover photo by Sunghee Tark The coffee industry has come a long way in the past 20 years, with innovations happening in many parts of the world and in different links of the supply chain. […]


4 Cool Cafés to Try Out in Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian capital is often visited in a hurry, but visitors who take the time to explore will discover a welcoming city, thanks in part to its friendly specialty cafés. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos by Tanya Nanetti Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, is often a stopover on vacations, quickly left behind […]

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

Design Details: A Petit Le Café Coffee in Midtown Manhattan

Welcome to Design Details, an ongoing editorial feature in Daily Coffee News focused on individual examples of coffee shop architecture, interior design, packaging design or branding. If you are a coffee…


Brewing at Home and on the Road with Justin Pierce

In this series, we ask coffee professionals how they like to drink their coffee while at home and when traveling. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Feature photo courtesy of Justin Pierce Coffee professionals tend to spend most of their days brewing coffee. Baristas brew coffee behind the bar for their customers. Roasters brew it to […]


Toronto’s Pilot Coffee Roasters Acquiring Bridgehead Coffee for $3.6 Million

Toronto, Ontario-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer Pilot Coffee Roasters is acquiring Ottawa-based Bridgehead Coffee in a deal worth approximately US$3.6 million.  Bridgehead, which has 21 coffee shop locations throughout…


Florencia y Fortunata: A Café Empowering Women in Peru

The Cusco café, founded by Carolina Peralta Minaya, sells coffee from women producers and features women demonstrating their skills behind the bar. BY JORDAN BUCHANANBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Photos courtesy of Carolina Peralta Minaya Traceability, sustainability, and conscientiousness are key values pervading the specialty-coffee trade. For many consumers and traders, these values inform their decision to […]

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

minimum dose size?

Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

Ready to build your seasonal menu? Don’t forget caffeine-free options! Here are some fun and easy ways to spice things up, sans caffeine.

BY EMILY MENESES
SENIOR ONLINE CONTRIBUTOR

Cover photo by lisa870 via Pixabay 

Anyone who has worked at a coffee establishment knows the familiar question: Do you have any caffeine-free options? Though there’s sometimes a stigma against decaf in the specialty-coffee world (ever heard the phrase “Death before decaf”?), having caffeine-free drinks is essential. Whether it’s a child, someone with a medical condition, or a person who just prefers to go without caffeine, they matter too. Today, we’ll look at how you can create a seasonal menu that considers their needs.

When it comes to holiday drinks, our minds naturally gravitate toward pumpkin spice lattes, mochas, and the other typical luxurious seasonal bevs. When faced with the challenge of avoiding caffeine, though, it becomes a little more complicated. Never fear—besides the simple solution of using decaf espresso, there are tons of ways to create caffeine-free café drinks. Check out our top tips: 

Work with seasonal ingredients.

When creating caffeine-free beverages for your holiday menu, start by making a list of your favorite seasonal ingredients. What comes to mind when you think of the holidays? Peppermint, apples, pomegranate, cinnamon, pumpkin, chocolate, ginger … the list goes on and on. All of these ingredients are great recipe starters—and a lot of them make great garnishes, too. Reflect on your own holiday traditions, and see your recipes as opportunities to tell your personal story. 

A festive red and green seasonal display of drinks on a wood table with cranberries, flowers, greenery, apple slices on skewers, rosemary sprigs and pomegranate. Adorning the table is a decorative cardinal figurine, fake snow, flowers, and ribbon.
What ingredients come to mind when you think of the holidays? Use those as starting points for your recipes and garnishes. Photo by Brooke Lark via Unsplash.

Get creative with herbal tea.

Herbal tea is an underused asset in the café world! Don’t limit yourself to the usual suspects like chamomile or mint; try playing around with other festive types of tea such as cinnamon, clove, star anise, or even citrus tea with a hint of spice. When it comes to herbal tea, the possibilities are endless. 

Play with texture.

Make any non-caffeinated beverage a little more luxurious by adding some texture; whipped cream, cold foam, or unique garnishes will do the trick. Another great way to make a drink more festive is to incorporate something bubbly. Try making a tonic with your favorite seasonal syrups and herbs, or even a house-made sparkling cider. 

Play around with spices like star anise, cinnamon, clove, and even cayenne. A little goes a long way when dressing up typical holiday drinks like hot chocolate. Photo by Blandine Joannic via Pixabay.

Embrace spice.

Don’t be afraid to make things a little spicy! A simple hot chocolate becomes so much more exciting with a hint of spice. Try adding a little sea salt and cayenne to your usual recipe to create a little bit of dimension and heat.  

Don’t forget presentation!

Just because a drink doesn’t have caffeine or coffee in it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t get equal attention when it comes to presentation. We love this tea setup by Los Angeles’ Constellation Coffee for their hot ginger and guava tea. 

Los Angeles-based Constellation Coffee serves up hot ginger and guava tea. Photo courtesy of Kevin Kim of Constellation Coffee.

Why no caffeine?

Beyond catering to the needs of those who can’t have caffeine, offering caffeine-free drinks is also great for business. It provides an option for those who stop in during the afternoon or late evening. It can also entice customers who are staying in the shop for a few hours and want a second drink. Don’t let the thought of being caffeine-free restrict you. Get creative and have fun with it! 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Based in Los Angeles, Emily Joy Meneses (she/her) is a writer and musician passionate about culture and collective care. You can regularly find her at Echo Park Lake, drinking a cortado and journaling about astrology, art, Animal Crossing, and her dreams. Explore her poetry, short stories, and soundscapes on her website.

The post Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu appeared first on Barista Magazine Online.

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

Creating Caffeine-Free Options for Your Seasonal Menu

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