Dekáf Coffee Roasters products. All images courtesy of Dekáf.
Two key figures behind 20-year-old Salem, Massachusetts-based Jaho Coffee recently launched a new direct-to-consumer coffee brand called Dekáf Coffee Roasters.
Marketing and design specialist Khanh Nguyen and Jaho Coffee Founder Anil Mezini launched online sales last month, offering nine single-origin decaf coffees plus six blends.
“The foundation of the Dekáf brand is that decaffeinated coffee is not subpar. It actually has great potential,” Khanh Nguyen told Daily Coffee News. “The market just lacks the finesse and love that it shows to its caffeinated counterpart.”
In addition to fully decaffeinated options, the brand is also offering some low-caffeine blends.
Caffeinated beans for the light-caffeine blends are roasted in the same Loring S35 Mezini uses for roasting Jaho coffees. Decaffeinated beans, meanwhile, are sample-roasted in a dedicated Ikawa Pro100 machine before production roasting in a Coffee-Tech Engineering Ghibli R15.
“At Dekáf we make sure we are isolating our decaffeinated coffees at all stages,” Mezini told DCN. “Similar to cross-contamination with any kitchen equipment, shared roasters and grinders will end up contaminating decaffeinated coffees — caffeinated coffee beans stuck in the hopper, drum, cooling tray, etc. This ends up affecting the caffeine content of the finished product in unpredictable ways.”
Nguyen noted the use of separate equipment for decaf is also a matter of principle.
“On a philosophical level, we also want our customers to know that we’re dedicated to providing them with a truly full-decaffeinated experience,” said Nguyen. “If it’s important to the customer, it’s important to us.”
Mezini and Nguyen first conceived of the new brand about five years ago, then began researching decaffeination methods, roasting techniques, sourcing priorities and brand development. All but one of the coffee products currently listed on the Dekáf website are marked as decaffeinated by Swiss Water Process. An outlier is a Mexican single-origin coffee marked as Mountain Water Process.
“The selection of decaffeinated coffees in the market has really expanded, but we have also been selecting [new] candidates for decaffeination,” said Mezini. “The mission of Dekáf is to source and roast the best coffees in the world. We want you to drink our coffee and not realize that this is a decaf version of your favorite.”
In response to customer interest, Mezini said blends with “functional” additives — such as mushrooms, gingko or ginseng — are also in development. The company is also working on ready-to-mix coffee concentrates and a line of caffeine-controlled and herbal teas.
“There are always new, fun and innovative ways to enjoy coffee being introduced,” said Nguyen. “My takeaway from the coffee industry over the years is that there’s always room to push the boundaries.”
Dekáf Founders Khanh Nguyen and Anil Mezini.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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