Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g
Judge a decaf on its last mouthful. That is where the poor ones give themselves away, thinning out and turning faintly sour exactly as the cup should be closing. This one does not. It stays warm and mildly nutty on the way through and finishes clean, a harder thing to get right than depth. It is a lighter cup than a caffeinated jar, that being the price of taking caffeine out of a green bean, and it is true of every decaf ever made. What this one is really for is the habit rather than the lift: the mug in your hand at half past nine because half past nine is when you have one.
Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, in brief.
Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf is the evening jar in the Douwe Egberts instant range, the same smooth, low-bitterness house style as the caffeinated Pure jars with the caffeine taken out of the green beans before roasting, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as a decaf that does not taste hollow.
A 190g jar, around 95 mugs at a rounded teaspoon each. Lighter in body than the gold jar, which is the honest trade every decaf makes, and worth a slightly generous spoon because of it. Decaffeinated is not caffeine free; a trace remains.
Decaf has spent decades with a poor reputation in this country, most of it earned by jars from the 1980s. That reputation is out of date. Modern decaffeination removes the caffeine from green beans and leaves most of the flavour compounds where they are, and the gap between a good decaf and its caffeinated sibling is now a matter of degree rather than of kind. This one is noticeably lighter and a little softer than the gold jar, but it is recognisably the same family, and it does not taste hollow. A 190g jar gives you around 95 mugs at a rounded teaspoon each.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Common questions are answered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Douwe Egberts
Douwe Egberts began as a Dutch grocer's shop in the eighteenth century and became one of Europe's best-known coffee houses; it now sits inside the Jacobs Douwe Egberts group. The Pure range is its core UK instant line and this is the decaffeinated member of it. The roast description, the decaffeination method and the brand's own strength number are printed on the current jar.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the jar, the lid and the seal can require different disposal routes.
How Decaffeination Actually Works
The caffeine comes out of the green bean, before roasting, and every commercial method follows the same three steps: soften the bean with water or steam, wash the caffeine out with water, a solvent or pressurised carbon dioxide, then dry the bean and send it for roasting. The flavour compounds are far less soluble than caffeine, which is why a well-run decaf keeps most of its character. What it cannot keep is quite all of the body, which is why almost every decaf reads slightly lighter than its caffeinated equivalent. Anyone promising you an identical cup is not being straight with you.
Getting The Most Out Of Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g
- Water temperature: 90 to 95°C. A lighter cup shows a scalding more plainly.
- Measure: One rounded teaspoon, about 2g, per 200ml mug. A 190g jar gives around 95 mugs at that rate.
- Dose up slightly: If it reads thin to you, add a little more coffee before you blame the decaffeination.
- Stir: Paste first, then fill. Ten seconds and no grit at the bottom.
- Storage: Lid on tight, in a cupboard, dry spoon every time.
- Caffeine note: Decaffeinated is not caffeine free. The great majority has been removed, but a trace remains, which is worth knowing if you are extremely sensitive.
- Best with: A biscuit after supper, a slice of cake, or the last hour of the evening.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Douwe Egberts
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the jar, lid and seal can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
Water temperature matters more with decafthan with anything else on the shelf, because there is less body in the cup to absorb a mistake. Water straight off a rolling boil scorches the aromatics and leaves you with the thin, papery cup that gave decaf its bad name in the first place. Let the kettle stand for thirty to sixty seconds. If you have written decaf off before, try it once made properly before you decide again.
The Evening Mug
The Bedtime Milky Cup
Made with this tea
The Evening Mug
How to make The Evening Mug with Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf.
- 1 generous teaspoon Pure Decaf
- 200ml water, off the boil
- A splash of milk
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for 30 to 60 seconds. This matters more with decaf than with anything else.
- Spoon one generous rounded teaspoon into the mug with a splash of the hot water.
- Stir to a paste, then fill to 200ml.
- Add a splash of milk. If the cup reads thin, use more coffee next time rather than less water.
What you'll end up with: A soft evening coffee that still tastes of coffee. Most disappointing decaf is under-dosed and scalded, not badly made.
Bedtime Milky Cup
How to make Bedtime Milky Cup with Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf.
- 2 level teaspoons Pure Decaf
- 60ml water, off the boil
- 180ml whole or oat milk
- A little honey, optional
- Dissolve 2 level teaspoons in 60ml of hot water, paste first, for a short strong base.
- Heat 180ml of milk to steaming but not boiling.
- Pour it in, whisking through with a hand frother if you want a head on it.
- Sweeten with a little honey if this is your replacement for a pudding.
What you'll end up with: A warm milky coffee at an hour when the caffeinated version would be a mistake. Doubling the dose is what stops milk swallowing a light-bodied decaf whole.
After-Dinner Affogato
How to make After-Dinner Affogato with Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf.
- 2 teaspoons Pure Decaf
- 50ml hot water
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons in only 50ml of hot water, so the concentrate is short and strong.
- Scoop two balls of vanilla ice cream into a small glass.
- Pour the hot coffee over and serve immediately.
What you'll end up with: The pudding you can serve at half past nine to a table that has to drive home. Use the full two spoons; ice cream dilutes a light coffee fast.
Coffee Hot Chocolate
How to make Coffee Hot Chocolate with Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf.
- 1 teaspoon Pure Decaf
- 25g dark chocolate, chopped
- 250ml hot milk
- Melt 25g of chopped dark chocolate in the mug with a splash of hot milk.
- Stir in 1 teaspoon of Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g until dissolved.
- Top with the rest of the hot milk, 250ml in total, and stir well.
What you'll end up with: A hot chocolate with a coffee edge and no caffeine hit at bedtime. One teaspoon is plenty; the coffee is here to deepen the chocolate, not to lead.
Evening Tiramisu
How to make Evening Tiramisu with Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf.
- 5 teaspoons Pure Decaf
- 250ml hot water
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- Cocoa to dust
- Dissolve 5 teaspoons of decaf in 250ml of hot water with 1 tablespoon of caster sugar. Use more than you would with a caffeinated jar.
- Cool the soak completely.
- Dip sponge fingers for one second each and layer with your mascarpone mixture.
- Chill for at least four hours, then dust with cocoa before serving.
What you'll end up with: A tiramisu nobody has to refuse at ten o'clock. The extra spoon of coffee compensates for the lighter body, and nobody can tell.
Decaf Iced Coffee for the Afternoon
How to make Decaf Iced Coffee for the Afternoon with Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf.
- 3 teaspoons Pure Decaf
- 80ml hot water
- 150ml cold milk
- A tall glass of ice
- Dissolve 3 teaspoons in 80ml of hot water. Cold and ice both mute flavour, and a decaf has less to spare.
- Cool the concentrate for five minutes.
- Fill a tall glass with ice and 150ml of cold milk.
- Pour the concentrate over the back of a spoon to layer it.
What you'll end up with: A late-afternoon iced coffee with no four o'clock caffeine problem. Three spoons rather than two is the adjustment that makes decaf work cold.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Decaffeinated soluble coffee | 100% | The whole of the jar. Decaffeinated green coffee is roasted, brewed and dried back to granules, so what you spoon out is coffee and nothing else. |
| Bean blend | See current pack | The arabica and robusta balance sets the weight and the bitterness of the cup. It is declared on the jar and we do not restate it here, because blends are reformulated from time to time. |
| Residual caffeine | Trace | Decaffeinated is not caffeine free. The great majority has been removed and a trace remains, which is only relevant to the very sensitive or to anyone avoiding caffeine on medical advice. |
| Added sugar, flavouring or milk powder | None | A plain coffee jar, not a latte or cappuccino mix. Anything sweet or milky in the mug is what you put there. |
Pack: Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g; decaffeinated soluble coffee in a jar. Around 95 mugs at a rounded 2g teaspoon each. Best before date is printed on the pack.
Characterising components shown. A black mug built from a 2g dose contributes a negligible amount of energy, and there is no sugar, fat or dairy in the jar; anything you add to the mug is yours to count.
Sourcing & blend. Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g comes from Douwe Egberts, the Dutch coffee house that grew out of an eighteenth-century grocer's shop and now sits inside the Jacobs Douwe Egberts group. Green coffee is bought to a fixed specification and decaffeinated before roasting, then brewed, dried to granules and cup tested batch to batch, which is what keeps a decaf consistent when the margin for error is smaller. Country of origin for the beans, the decaffeination method and any certification mark appear on the current UK pack; read the jar rather than a listing, because sourcing programmes and pack claims are updated more often than product pages are.
What is in Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g, and what is not:
- In: decaffeinated soluble coffee, granulated, with nothing else in the jar.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: there is no sweetener and no flavouring in a plain instant jar of this kind.
- No dairy in the jar: this is not a latte or cappuccino sachet mix; milk is whatever you add.
- Not caffeine free: the great majority of the caffeine has been removed, but a trace remains. Check the pack if you are avoiding caffeine on medical advice.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Douwe Egberts Pure Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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