Decaf coffee often gets a bad rap – for starters, it doesn’t have caffeine, which is a bummer for a lot of people. On top of this, to remove the caffeine, producers of decaf coffee sometimes soak unroasted coffee beans in a chemical mixture which can include benzene and methylene chloride (a paint stripper that was recently banned by the EPA).
So what do you do if you love the flavor and aroma of coffee, but don’t want to ingest the caffeine? One option is to try to find decaf coffee that uses the Swiss Water Process, which is safer than alternative methods of removing caffeine. Or, you can give Velty Coffee, a new woman-founded company, a try.
At Future Foodie, we were a little skeptical of Velty Coffee when they sent us samples. For starters, not only is it a decaf coffee, it’s instant coffee, which can certainly have a weak flavor compared to freshly ground beans. We received to pouches of Velty, and the instant coffee powder was nowhere near the deep dark brown color of regular ground coffee.
This is because Velty is not just freeze-dried instant coffee, it comes with what the company calls “benefits”. Instead of just providing a caffeine-free alternative for coffee, Velty also wants to provide health benefits, such as supporting gut and immune health with the addition of ingredients including inulin, mesquite, lion’s mane mushroom, and reishi mushroom.
Here’s what we thought of Velty’s decaf coffee:
