Back in January, I wrote on facebook:

At first, people think coffee is about the caffeine, and they focus on that. Then, after a while, they realize it is really about flavor, and they focus on that instead. Then, after a while, they realize it is really about making people happy, and they focus on that instead. Then, after a while, they realize it is really about making people’s lives better, and nobody ever gets tired of focusing on that.

Today, I opened my browser to see that the internet freakout du jour was over the opening of Swiss Water’s popup in NY city dedicated to the sensory appreciation of decaffeinated coffee. Bloggers chose to go the pearl-clutching route, using terms like ‘horrified’ to describe the existence of the popup and declaring the shop an advent of the apocalypse. The sentiment of many of these internet writers is that the idea of coffee without caffeine is so pointless it verges on sickening to even think about. This reaction reminds me that most of the world is stuck in the conception of coffee as solely a caffeine delivery vehicle. These people are missing the point.



First, full disclosure: Swiss Water, who is doing the popup, has been a steadfast supporter of the SCAA Symposium and Re:co Symposium projects that I direct. They have demonstrated a commitment to supporting the kind of thought leadership, community building, and education that we do at our symposiums. For the past two years, they’ve driven and supported the creation of sensory experience rooms at our symposiums, which allow our attendees to have sensory experiences to complement and underscore the intellectual experience of the symposium. This past year, we tasted elements of World Coffee Research’s new flavor lexicon, had a coffee varietal cherry tasting, tasted exotic fruits like caviar limes, surinam cherries and cherimoya, had flavor complementarity tastings (fruit/chocolate/coffee), etc etc etc. We’ve done sensory isolation, wine identification, and many other things. In this way, SW has demonstrated their commitment to flavor, as well as education. So, I am biased towards them; they have made a commitment to the community and our events have been richer for it.

And now they are doing it again. They are showing that even without the drug that attracts us to coffee in the first place, the experience of the coffeehouse can still aspire to greatness. I love the sincere way that they are approaching this in their popup: unapologetically talking about flavor and experience and enjoyment.



When Temsy was pregnant with Suzy, I quit caffeine in solidarity. I figured it was good for a coffee person to live without caffeine for a few months. This experience taught me that decaffeinated coffee can be great, and that there is so much to love about coffee besides the thrill of the alkaloid stimulant. As a barista, I learned to respect the decaf drinker: they were the only ones who were there strictly for the flavor experience, and the conviviality of the coffee shop, and the connection that drinking coffee together brings. The deeper in coffee you go, the more trivial the caffeine feeling seems, and although it is always central to the experience of coffee, it is ultimately only one facet of its greatness.

I’m sad for the bloggerati who don’t get that.