{
    "id": 1073163,
    "title": "Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf, 90g",
    "slug": "grind-smooth-barista-blend-craft-instant-decaf-90g",
    "type": "product",
    "url": "https://teas.co.uk/product/grind-smooth-barista-blend-craft-instant-decaf-90g/",
    "modified": "2026-09-25T23:28:18+01:00",
    "excerpt": "Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf is the decaffeinated half of the London roaster's soluble pair, in a 90g pack. Same smooth medium-roast brief, a little lighter in body, and built for the cup you want at nine in the evening rather than at seven in the morning.Ingredients and dietary suitability: The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes. Decaffeinated is not caffeine-free: a trace always remains, so if you have been told to cut caffeine out entirely, a herbal infusion is the better answer.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.",
    "content_text": "Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf is the decaffeinated version of the London roaster's soluble coffee, in a 90g pack. It exists to solve a specific and very common problem: it is nine in the evening, you want a coffee, and you do not want to be awake at two. That is a narrower job than a morning coffee has, and it is worth judging the pack against that job rather than against a breakfast cup. The first thing to be straight about is the word. Decaffeinated does not mean caffeine-free. The caffeine is removed from the green beans before roasting, down to a level set by regulation rather than by the brand, and a trace always remains. For almost everyone that trace is irrelevant. For anyone who has been told to cut caffeine out entirely rather than cut it down, it is not, and a herbal infusion is the honest answer instead of a decaf coffee. The second thing is that decaffeination costs the cup something. Removing one compound from a green bean without disturbing the several hundred others is genuinely difficult, and even done well it tends to leave a coffee slightly flatter in aroma and lighter in body than its caffeinated twin. Good decaf is therefore not decaf that tastes identical, it is decaf that loses the least. Starting from a smooth medium roast helps, because a smooth blend was never relying on sharpness in the first place, so there is less obvious thing to miss. The Taste Profile\n\nSmoothness: \u25cf\u25cf\u25cf\u25cf\u25cb (4/5) The house character survives the process, which is most of why this blend was the one to decaffeinate.\nRoast depth: \u25cf\u25cf\u25cf\u25cb\u25cb (3/5) Medium. Decaf beans colour up quickly in a roaster, so a restrained roast keeps the cup from reading burnt.\nBody: \u25cf\u25cf\u25cb\u25cb\u25cb (2/5) Lighter than the caffeinated version. Dose up a little and most of that gap closes.\nBitterness: \u25cf\u25cf\u25cb\u25cb\u25cb (2/5) Low, which is exactly what you want in a cup you are drinking after dinner.\n\n4.6 / 5 - Our expert verdict from the curators at Teas.co.uk How decaffeination works, in plain terms\nAll the commercial methods share one structure. Green, unroasted beans are swollen with water so the caffeine can move, the caffeine is drawn out into something that will carry it away, and the beans are dried again before roasting. What differs is the carrier. Some processes use water and a carbon filter, some use pressurised carbon dioxide, and some use a solvent that is washed and driven off before roasting. All of them are regulated, and all of them take something out of the bean besides caffeine, which is why the method a roaster chooses is a real decision rather than a marketing one.\nWhich process sits behind this pack is a matter for the pack. Brands that use a water or carbon dioxide process generally say so on the front, because it is a selling point.\nWhat follows from all of this is practical. A decaffeinated bean is slightly more fragile than an untreated one and tends to darken faster under heat, which is why decaf often looks darker than it tastes. In a soluble coffee you never see the bean, but you do taste the consequence: a cup that is a touch lighter and a touch less aromatic than the caffeinated blend, and one that repays a slightly more generous spoon. How Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf, 90g compares\n Against the caffeinated version of the same blend: the same brief, the same smooth medium-roast character, a little less body and a little less aroma. If you keep both, the decaf is the evening pack and the caffeinated one is the morning pack, and nobody has to compromise. Against decaf ground coffee in a cafetiere: the cafetiere gives you a better cup and commits you to a pot and a wash-up at the exact point in the evening when you want neither. For one cup at ten o'clock, instant wins on the thing that actually decides whether you make it. Against a herbal infusion: if what you want is genuinely no caffeine at all, a rooibos or a chamomile is the correct answer and we would rather say so. This is for the person who wants the taste and the ritual of coffee and is happy with a trace.\n Getting the best out of it\nDecaf punishes carelessness slightly more than ordinary coffee does, because it starts with less in reserve. The fixes are the same as for any instant, just applied with a bit more attention. The evening mug\n\nDose: A rounded 2g measure in a 200ml mug gives roughly 45 mugs from the pack. With decaf, err on the generous side of rounded.\nWater: Let the kettle stand about thirty seconds after it clicks off. Scalding water costs any instant aroma, and decaf has less to spare.\nOrder: Granules first, a splash of hot water, stir to a smooth paste, then fill. It removes the undissolved specks entirely.\nMilk: After the coffee has dissolved, never onto dry granules, and warm rather than fridge-cold if you are drinking it late.\n The fuller cup\n\nGo up a spoon: A heaped measure closes most of the body gap between this and the caffeinated blend.\nUnder milk: Heaped measure, every time. A decaf at a level spoon disappears under milk completely.\nSweeten last: If you want it sweeter, add it after tasting. Decaf reads flatter, and people over-sugar it on reflex rather than on taste.\n Practical notes on the pack\n\nPack: 90g, a small premium pack rather than a household jar. At a 2g measure that is roughly 45 mugs.\nDecaffeinated, not caffeine-free: a trace of caffeine always remains. If you have been told to avoid caffeine entirely, this is not the right product.\n\nStorage: Cool, dry, dark and closed. Soluble coffee pulls moisture out of the air and cakes.\nDry spoon only: A wet teaspoon is the fastest way to ruin a pack of instant, decaf or otherwise.\nNo machine needed: A kettle and a mug, which is the whole reason a decaf instant gets drunk while a decaf bag of beans sits in the cupboard.\n Ingredients, allergens and storage\nWhat is in it: Decaffeinated soluble coffee. The full declared ingredient list, the allergen statement, the decaffeination method and the nutrition panel are printed on the pack you receive.\nIngredients and dietary suitability: The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.\nPackaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.\nCertifications: any marks the blend carries are printed on the front of the pack.\nCaffeine and sensitivity: Decaffeinated coffee still contains a trace of caffeine. If you are pregnant, sensitive to caffeine, or following medical advice on your intake, follow the guidance you have been given rather than assuming a decaf is automatically within it.\nKeep out of reach of small children: and keep the pack closed between uses, for the coffee's sake as much as anything.",
    "purchase_intent_url": "https://teas.co.uk/buy/grind-smooth-barista-blend-craft-instant-decaf-90g/",
    "purchase_intent_policy": "Human-confirmed purchase intent only. Do not fetch, prefetch, crawl, iframe, or open autonomously.",
    "payment_methods": [
        "apple_pay",
        "google_pay",
        "paypal",
        "klarna",
        "card"
    ],
    "free_uk_delivery_over_gbp": 35,
    "product": {
        "sku": "grind-smooth-barista-blend-craft-instant-decaf-90g",
        "price_gbp": 6.8,
        "regular_price": 8.5,
        "servings": null,
        "serving_unit": null,
        "price_per_cup": null,
        "price_per_cup_gbp": null,
        "price_per_cup_pence": null,
        "caffeine": "Decaffeinated",
        "brew_temp": null,
        "brew_time": null,
        "gtin": "5060574956825",
        "tea_family": "coffee",
        "on_sale": true,
        "stock_status": "instock",
        "brand": [
            "Grind"
        ],
        "categories": [
            "Decaffeinated Coffee",
            "Instant Coffee",
            "Coffee"
        ],
        "urls": {
            "canonical": "https://teas.co.uk/product/grind-smooth-barista-blend-craft-instant-decaf-90g/",
            "purchase_intent": "https://teas.co.uk/buy/grind-smooth-barista-blend-craft-instant-decaf-90g/",
            "markdown": "https://teas.co.uk/product/grind-smooth-barista-blend-craft-instant-decaf-90g.md"
        },
        "tabs": [
            {
                "title": "Product Questions",
                "content": "Is decaf the same as caffeine-free?No, and the distinction matters. Caffeine is removed from the green beans before roasting down to a level set by regulation, and a trace always remains. For most people that trace is irrelevant. If you have been told to avoid caffeine entirely rather than reduce it, a herbal infusion is the honest answer instead. How many mugs will I get from a 90g pack?Roughly 45 mugs at a rounded 2g measure in a 200ml cup. That figure is worked out at a stated dose rather than printed on the pack. With decaf we would lean to the generous side of rounded, which brings the practical number down a little. How is the caffeine taken out?Green beans are swollen with water, the caffeine is drawn out into a carrier, and the beans are dried again before roasting. The carrier is either water and a carbon filter, pressurised carbon dioxide, or a regulated solvent. Does decaf taste different?A little, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. Decaffeination takes more than caffeine out of the bean, so the cup usually reads slightly flatter in aroma and lighter in body. Starting from a smooth medium roast limits the damage, because a smooth blend was never leaning on sharpness to begin with. How do I make it taste fuller?Use more coffee. A heaped measure rather than a level one closes most of the gap between this and the caffeinated version, and with instant that costs you nothing but granules. Reducing the water does not help; it only gives you a smaller drink at the same strength. What water temperature should I use?Just off the boil, about thirty seconds after the kettle clicks off. Water at a rolling boil scalds soluble coffee and strips out aroma, and a decaf has less aroma in reserve than a caffeinated blend does. Is it any good with milk?Yes, with one adjustment: use a heaped measure before the milk goes in. A decaf dosed at a level spoon disappears under milk entirely, which is the usual reason people conclude that decaf lattes taste of nothing. Can I drink it late in the evening?That is what it is for. It is a decaffeinated coffee, so the stimulant load is a small fraction of an ordinary cup, and most people find it sits fine after dinner. If caffeine affects you unusually strongly, a trace is still a trace and only you know how you respond to it. Why does my decaf taste like it needs more sugar?Because it reads flatter, and people reach for sugar on reflex rather than on taste. Taste it first, and if it is thin, add coffee rather than sugar. Sweetening a weak cup makes a sweet weak cup. Does it work iced?Yes, with the same rule as any instant. Dissolve the granules in a small amount of hot water first, then pour over a glass filled to the top with ice. Granules stirred into cold water never fully dissolve and the drink ends up gritty and weak at once. How should I store it?Cool, dry, dark and tightly closed, with a dry spoon every time. Soluble coffee takes moisture straight out of the air, and a damp pack cakes into a block and goes stale much faster than a sealed one. Can I cook with decaf?It is an underrated use for it. A teaspoon dissolved in a spoonful of boiling water gives a chocolate cake or a ganache real coffee depth without adding caffeine to something children will eat, which is a genuine advantage over using brewed coffee."
            },
            {
                "title": "Ingredients & Nutrition",
                "content": "Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.Ingredients, as published for this product: Decaffeinated Arabica Instant Coffee, Decaffeinated Arabica Ground Coffee (15%).Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The pack in your hands is the final word.IngredientProportionWhat it bringsDecaffeinated soluble coffeeThe whole packCoffee brewed and dried back to a solid, from beans that had the caffeine removed while they were still green and unroasted.Residual caffeineA trace, set by regulationDecaffeinated does not mean caffeine-free. The remaining level is regulated rather than chosen by the brand, and it is a small fraction of an ordinary cup.Roast levelMediumDecaffeinated beans colour up faster under heat, so a restrained roast is what keeps the cup from reading burnt when it is only medium in flavour.Water (added by you)The bulk of the finished mugAbout 200ml a mug at just off the boil. Temperature and dose are the only two variables a soluble coffee leaves you, and decaf is less forgiving of both.Full declared ingredientsPrinted on the packThe pack you receive carries the complete ingredient list, the decaffeination method, the allergen declaration and the nutrition panel.Pack: Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf, 90g; GTIN 5060574956825; 90g of decaffeinated soluble coffee, roughly 45 mugs at a rounded 2g measure in a 200ml cup. Decaffeinated, not caffeine-free. Best before date printed on the pack.The 45-mug figure is worked out at a stated 2g dose, not a claim printed on the pack, and with a decaf most people dose a little heavier than that.Sourcing & blend. Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf, 90g is the decaffeinated version of the same house brief as the caffeinated pack: a barista blend, meaning one built to drink black and to survive milk rather than to do only one of those. Grind is a London coffee business that grew out of a cafe, which is heritage rather than a claim about where this pack was filled, and the company does not publish an origin split for this blend in a form we can verify. The part of the process worth understanding is the decaffeination, which happens to green beans before any roasting: the beans are swollen with water, the caffeine is drawn into a carrier that is then removed, and the beans are dried and roasted afterwards. Every commercial route takes a little more than caffeine with it, which is why a good decaf is judged on how little it loses rather than on tasting identical. The method used here, and any certification marks, are printed on the current UK pack rather than restated by us.What is in Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf, 90g, and what is not:In: decaffeinated soluble coffee, as a medium-roast blend for drinking black or with milk.Not caffeine-free: a trace of caffeine remains, as it does in every decaffeinated coffee. A herbal infusion is the answer if you need none at all.No added flavouring: this is a plain decaffeinated coffee, not a flavoured or sweetened one.Certification note: we make no organic, Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance claim for this blend; any marks it carries are printed on the pack.Storage note: keep it closed and use a dry spoon. Soluble coffee takes moisture out of the air and cakes."
            },
            {
                "title": "Flavour Science",
                "content": "The flavour of Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf, 90g is built in three layers, and with a decaffeinated soluble coffee two things have already happened to those layers before you open the pack: the beans were processed to remove caffeine, and the brewed coffee was dried. Reading the layers in order explains what the cup has lost, what it has kept, and what you can do about the difference.The outer layer is aromatic and it is the layer decaffeination costs the most. Aroma compounds are volatile and fragile, and a green bean that has been swollen with water, stripped and dried again has been through a great deal before it ever meets a roaster. Add the drying step that every soluble coffee goes through and you have a coffee that smells warm and biscuity rather than vivid. That is not a fault in this pack, it is the honest state of the category, and it is why a decaf rewards being drunk promptly more than an ordinary coffee does: what aroma there is goes early.The flavour spike arrives mid palate, and in a smooth decaf it is gentle by design and by circumstance. The blend was chosen for roundness rather than brightness, and the process has taken a little more of the edge off, so what you get is roast sweetness with very little acidity behind it. This is the layer that responds to your dose, and in a decaf it responds more visibly than in a caffeinated coffee, because there is less inherent intensity to start from. A level spoon reads thin and slightly hollow. A heaped one reads like a proper cup. Nothing else you do moves this layer at all.The base structure is a short, soft finish with low bitterness and almost no drying tail. That is largely why this works as an evening drink: a coffee that finishes dry and bitter is hard to enjoy at ten at night, and this one clears quickly and leaves the mouth comfortable. It is also why the cup takes milk well when dosed properly, since there is roast sweetness left for the milk to carry rather than bitterness for it to mask.Getting it right in the cup. Start at a rounded 2g measure in a 200ml mug and be ready to go up rather than down, because decaf starts with less in hand. Let the kettle stand about thirty seconds after it clicks off; scalded soluble coffee loses aroma it cannot spare. Put the granules in first, add a splash of hot water, stir them to a smooth paste, then fill the mug, which removes the specks that make instant taste gritty. Add milk only after the coffee has dissolved, and use a heaped measure if milk is going in at all. If the cup reads flat, add coffee before you add sugar; sweetening a thin cup gives you a sweet thin cup and nothing more.How water and temperature change it. Water does two competing jobs in a mug of instant. It has to dissolve the granules fully, which wants heat, and it has to leave the aromatics alone, which wants restraint. In a decaf the balance matters more, because the margin is smaller. Water straight off a rolling boil dissolves everything in a second and scalds the aroma in the same second, which is why a mug poured the instant the kettle clicks often smells of almost nothing. Water that is merely warm leaves granules undissolved, which tastes gritty and weak at the same time. About thirty seconds off the boil is the window, and it is more forgiving than it sounds. Hard water is the other variable people never think of: heavy mineral content mutes aroma and flattens the finish, and it will do that to a decaf more obviously than to a strong caffeinated cup. If your coffee tastes noticeably better somewhere else, the water is usually the reason rather than the coffee. And cup temperature matters at the end of the day more than at the start, because a mug made at ten in the evening tends to be drunk slowly, and a decaf that has gone lukewarm has very little left to offer."
            },
            {
                "title": "Recipe Ideas",
                "content": "Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Decaf, 90g has already been brewed once, so the builds below are about dose, water and what goes in afterwards. Five serves built around the evening rather than the morning, including two that are better made with decaf than with ordinary coffee.\nWays to serve it, born here first\n\n \n The Evening Mug\n \n The cup this pack exists for, made so it does not read thin.\n \n 2 min\n 1 mug\n Easy\n \n \n \n You'll need\n \n A generously rounded 2g measure\n 200ml water, just off the boil\n A warmed mug\n \n \n \n Method\n \n Boil the kettle and let it stand for about thirty seconds.\n Put the granules in the mug on their own and add a splash of hot water.\n Stir to a smooth paste with no specks, then fill the mug.\n Taste before adding anything. If it reads thin, the answer is more coffee.\n \n \n \n What you'll end up with: A rounded, low-bitterness black coffee at ten at night that does not cost you the morning.\n\n \n The Decaf Flat White\n \n Where most decaf milk drinks go wrong, and the one change that fixes them.\n \n 4 min\n 1 mug\n Easy\n \n \n \n You'll need\n \n A heaped measure of granules\n 50ml hot water\n 150ml hot milk, or an oat drink\n \n \n \n Method\n \n Dissolve the heaped measure in 50ml of hot water, stirred smooth.\n Heat the milk until steaming but not boiling.\n Froth it with a hand whisk or a jar with a lid.\n Pour the milk into the concentrate rather than the other way round.\n \n \n \n What you'll end up with: A decaf milk coffee you can still taste the coffee in, which a level spoon will never give you.\n\n \n The After-Dinner Mocha\n \n Cocoa and a decaf carry each other, which is why this works better than a caffeinated version.\n \n 5 min\n 1 mug\n Easy\n \n \n \n You'll need\n \n A heaped measure of granules\n 2 teaspoons cocoa powder\n 1 teaspoon sugar\n 200ml hot milk\n \n \n \n Method\n \n Mix the granules, cocoa and sugar dry in the mug first.\n Add two tablespoons of hot water and work it to a smooth paste.\n Pour in the hot milk slowly, stirring as you go.\n Top with a grating of dark chocolate if you have some.\n \n \n \n What you'll end up with: A proper after-dinner chocolate coffee with no reason to regret it at two in the morning.\n\n \n The Iced Decaf\n \n Cold coffee without the caffeine, and the rule that keeps it from being gritty.\n \n 3 min\n 1 tall glass\n Easy\n \n \n \n You'll need\n \n A heaped measure of granules\n 60ml hot water\n A glass filled to the top with ice\n Cold milk, optional\n \n \n \n Method\n \n Dissolve the granules fully in the hot water. Never stir them into cold.\n Fill the glass right to the top with ice.\n Pour the hot concentrate straight over it.\n Top with cold milk or water and stir once.\n \n \n \n What you'll end up with: A cold coffee that is properly dissolved and properly cold, and one you can have at six in the evening.\n\n \n Coffee For Baking, Without The Caffeine\n \n Real coffee depth in something children will also eat, which is a genuine advantage of decaf.\n \n 1 min\n Any recipe\n Easy\n \n \n \n You'll need\n \n 1 to 2 teaspoons of granules\n 1 tablespoon boiling water\n Your cake, ganache or icing\n \n \n \n Method\n \n Dissolve the granules in one tablespoon of boiling water.\n Stir until completely smooth with no specks left.\n Add it to the batter, the ganache or the buttercream.\n Taste before adding more. Coffee deepens chocolate long before it tastes of coffee.\n \n \n \n What you'll end up with: The flavour of a coffee cake without adding caffeine to a family pudding."
            }
        ]
    },
    "contentSignals": "ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes",
    "links": {
        "apiCatalog": "https://teas.co.uk/.well-known/api-catalog",
        "llmsTxt": "https://teas.co.uk/llms.txt",
        "mcpCard": "https://teas.co.uk/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json",
        "primaryAgenticRouteAuthority": "https://teas.co.uk/.well-known/teas-primary-agentic-route-authority.json"
    }
}