Half caff.
Ah, the middle ground of caffeine.
I’m actually a fan of the half caff, and sure there are pre-made blends around.
The problem with that is that you can’t use those beans for either a full decaf or regular cup.
So here’s my half-caff strategy.
For my half caffs, which are generally my first cup in the morning, I keep a tin of decaf ground next to the machine.
Then, the regular beans that I’m using at the moment are fresh in the hopper.
This way I can make a full decaf if desired, or pull a regular espresso shot if needed to!
I generally make my half-caff as an americano – a shot of half-caff with water.
But I find that this has been a great way to just slow the caffeine intake in the morning – spreading it over a couple of cups, and a couple of hours – instead of just mainlining caffeine first thing in the morning.
I also find that this works pretty well if my second cup is a full-caff in a coffee shop later in the day. I just haven’t had as much, and I can keep my head clear to work.
Just the other day, I sat down in a cafe to write and ended up having a couple cups of full-caff drip coffee. I was worked! I just forget sometimes that my half-caff habit has made a real cup hit me pretty hard.
My Current Half Caff
Right now I’m mixing our Chicama Swiss-Water decaf from Peru with either the Costa Rican coffee, Pavones, or Nicaraguan coffee, The Boom.
I just love these Central American medium roast coffees, and find that they work really well as half-caffs too.
Using the Breville Barista Express espresso machine as my go to makes this all work pretty easily. I like being able to mix it up with either full decaf, or sometimes full caff.
Plus I can make drinks for guests to suit their needs.
This is one reason I like mixing my own half-caff instead of pre-mixing the beans in the hopper.
