Decaf Detox

Well by now your New Year diet should be well and truly under control, you will have given up smoking, drinking, eating, snacking, laughing and can complete a fitness DVD without feeling as if you have died ....... ha! yeah right! 
If you are anything like me your good intentions lasted until Jan 3rd and you decided that you couldn't afford new clothes so best to chill out a bit.   


Of course well done to all of you however who have changed your lives for the better and have excellent will power - you are stronger people than me, so well done! Keep up the good work!


What is easy to change though is your caffeine intake.
Year ago asking for 'decaf' was frowned upon, you were treated like some kind of loony and told "Oh I can't drink that muck, I need my caffeine to survive!".  

Did you know though how bad caffeine actually is for your body?
According to: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Caffeine-Can-Affect-Your-Health&id=101557


On average In a regular cup of coffee there are about 170 mg of caffeine and in decaffeinated coffee there are about 30/40 mg of caffeine. 

These are a number of health conditions for which doctors advise their patients to eliminate coffee and all caffeine from their diet.

Acid indigestion
Anxiety, irritability and nervousness
Candida or yeast problems
Colitis, diverticulitis, diarrhea and other irritable bowel symptoms
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other auto-immune disorders
Diabetes or hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
Dizziness, Meniere's syndrome or tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
Gout (Elevated Uric Acid levels)
Heart disease or heart palpitations
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
Insomnia and interrupted or poor quality sleep
Liver disease and gallbladder problems such as gallstones
Kidney or bladder problems including kidney stones
Migraines or other vascular headaches
Osteoporosis
Skin irritations, rashes and dryness
Ulcers, heartburn, and stomach problems such as hiatal hernias
Urinary tract irritation

 So anyway, that's some info I have resourced from the Internet .... now back to the taste test :)
I was sent 4 different dedecaffeinated coffee's to try, I had to score them out of 5 in different categories.


Tesco Decaffeinated Original Roast   & Ground (227g)
Taylors Decaffeinated Ground Coffee   (227g)
Douwe Egberts Decaffeinated Medium Roast Coffee (250g)
Lavazza Caffe Decaffeinated Ground Coffee (250g)

Now my Dad likes his coffee, he also drinks decaf when he can ... so I asked him to conduct the test for me (talk about thrilled! off he skipped with his box of coffee vowing to 'give it his best shot').  Now some of these coffee's are 'ground roast' and others are 'medium roast' so they will taste different - so rather than compare the tastes he tried each one on a different day.

And the results are in *drum roll*

Good = 5 Poor = 1	Tesco Decaffeinated Original Roast & Ground (227g)	Taylors Decaffeinated Ground Coffee (227g)	Douwe Egberts Decaffeinated Medium Roast Coffee (250g)	Lavazza Caffe Decaffeinated Ground Coffee (250g)
Aroma	3	2	3	3
Strength intensity	3	2	3	3
Coffee taste	4	3	3	3
Sweet taste	3	2	2	2
Smooth taste	3	2	3	2
Artificial taste	2	3	2	2
Aesthetic appearance	3	2	2	2
Acidity	2	2	2	2
Body	3	2	3	3
Aftertaste	3	1	2	3
Total	29	21	25	25

My Dad was surprised, he thought that one of the more 'posher' brands would have came out on top - but for him it was Tesco's Decaffeinated Original Roast & Ground that topped the leader board.  Coming close (joint) second was Douwe Egberts and Lavazza Caffe, then third was Taylors.

All coffees were brewed in the same way using a cafetiere - and left for the same amount of time to brew (around 3-4 minutes).

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' or blogger's families own.