Reading this makes my pulse quicken... better go have a cafe to sooth my palpitating ticker.

i heard that lifesavers are bad for you...

Decaf coffee is such an absurd and hilarious idea anyway. Coffee would not exist today if it didn't contain caffeine -- period. The only folks I ever see drinking that junk are the ones spending $7 on the 99.9% ice cream mocha-lattes at Starbucks anyway (in other words, they're buying cow fat, not coffee). And if the Starbucks charred drip didn't have caffeine, people might as well be drinking mud. (Can anyone think of a more disgusting drink than a decaf Starbucks black drip coffee?)

Apparently around 17% of U.S. coffee buyers take decaf. Probably the same Mormons buying non-alcoholic beer.

Not to mention, they soak your beans in (any combo of) methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, ethyl acetate and carbon dioxide for hours on end (multiple times) to get rid of that pesky coffee in your coffee. How tasty! (No, marinating a natural plant in powerful chemicals could never be bad for you...) In the process, a lot of the flavor is sucked off the beans too. Like drinking a cup of coal.

Coffee exists in the human diet as a natural drug to be consumed in a hot liquid form. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in denial. Let's get real about why we drink the stuff. Decaf coffee is not just ridiculous, but also pretty vile when you consider how it's made.

If you think that's bad, check out this bad news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051116/hlafp/swedenhealthresearch;ylt=As8QPXjltiiaBVkiYz0ZeyJOrgF;ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Al, you're an ass. I drink loads of decaf because I absolutely love the flavor, but caffeine makes me irritable, hyper, and unable to sleep. I love the flavor of coffee and can't stand what caffeine does to me.

In other news: scientists also recently discovered that saliva causes stomach cancer. But only when swallowed in small quantities over a long time.

What gets me is that I find no reference to the method for decaffeinating. Did they use nasty chemicals or the swiss water method? If they used nasty chemicals, what do they have to say about the swiss water method?

I drink (swiss water) decaf when it's too late to drink regular coffee. So, I want to know.

I saw on a news magazine a few weeks ago that most places that claim to offer decaf actually don't and starbucks was included in this study. They went to random coffee shops and gas stations, got decaf and took it to a lab to test it. the results were enourmously skewed in favor of deception. Most people who thought they were drinking decaf weren't. If I remember correctly the only co. to pass on every test was Dunkin Donuts. So enjoy that decaf Flavor Lover but I'd bet it isn't free of caffeine!!!

Decaf's never truly free of caffeine anyway. The rule is companies need to remove at least 97% of the caffeine to be able to label it decaf, but it's still pretty damn lax and nobody really follows it (not to mention it's HARD to really pull it off -- trying to take coffee out of coffee isn't easy. And the Swiss Water method is EXPENSIVE. You won't ever find that outside a hip roasting plant).

Redstateliberal -- I've seen numerous other studies like that, and it's true, most people are actually getting a little caffeine. It's what makes 'em come back, whether they'd like to admit it or not. It's telling when the decaffers get so offended... some don't like to accept drug dependency! I know why I brew a pot in the morning... not just for the crema, folks.

Flavor Lover -- you're in denial! I bet you a dollar you're getting at least a little shot of caffeine in your decaf. You call it "flavor" -- fine. Call me an ass; I think anyone who drinks decaf is an annoying ass (so there!), but I'd bet you're gettin' a little jolt from your "caffeine-free" java anyway.

I can get sick after just one hard drink, but I love a couple of glasses of wine. Maybe not the greatest analogy, but there's a difference between moderation and overdose. There's a little caffeine in chocolate, too (which is one factor for people obsessing over it), but it's very subtle, and you still love the feeling, if only subconsciously. A couple squares off a Hershey's bar doesn't make you "irritable, hyper, and unable to sleep", but there's something there... :)

Beside all that, the decaffeination process really sucks the flavor out the bean by tearing off the outer shell, so it really baffles me further why anyone would want to drink that junk. Most people find the flavor of coffee pretty disagreeable on first taste, but something draws them back to it. I'm not arguing that coffee can't taste great (I use a vac pot, for christ's sake), but I cringe when people try to tell me that they drink coffee solely because of flavor. Yeah right. Like a smoker saying he just likes the flavor of tobacco. Yep.

Fine, Mormons don't buy ALL the decaf... the other 5% are the "connoisseurs"-in-denial.

It should be noted that it's near impossible to remove all the caffeine from coffee. It's a fact that all decaf has some level of caffeine in it. (There are also almost always trace amounts of the chemicals used in the decaffeination process too.) You're going to get some amount of caffeine in your cup, no matter what you're buying -- don't fool yourself. Besides, as was already hinted above, most of these companies rely on the fact that people are unwitting, so even if you label a regular coffee "decaf" - few will know it. It's actually pretty clever, getting people to think the flavor is what's drawing them back!

This is just stupid!!I love the flavor of decaf and my morning quick english muffina and cream cheese. The caffine makes me cranky and anxious but I love the flavor of the coffe with my muffin. I eve drink it black, thats how much I like it. Caffine is worse than not. Anyone calling people an ass for liking it is the real ass, sorry. When I get up in the morning Ill have a cup of decaf and my cream cheese muffin like always and be happy.