Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g
Decaffeinated is not caffeine free. The process takes most of it out and a trace always stays behind, which matters if you are avoiding it strictly rather than simply winding down. It comes ground rather than whole, cut for a cafetiere or a filter rather than for espresso, and that is the right home for a decaf: treated beans give up their flavour faster than untreated ones, so a slow, gentle brew is more forgiving than water forced through under pressure. Medium and sweet-leaning rather than roasted dark to cover the process.
Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, in brief.
Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf is a 200g pack of decaffeinated ground coffee sold without apology: coffee that has had the caffeine taken out rather than a lesser option for people giving something up. Medium in intensity, rounder in body than decaf is usually accused of, low in bitterness and gentle in acidity.
Decaffeinated beans extract faster and go bitter sooner, so dose slightly heavier and stop at four minutes. About 25 mugs from the pack. Picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the evening ground coffee for a household that still wants a cafetiere on the table after dinner.
Decaffeination happens to green coffee, before roasting. That single fact explains most of what people notice about decaf. The process softens the bean structure and strips some of the precursors that the roast would otherwise turn into flavour, so a decaf needs a careful roast and a decent green coffee underneath it to end up anywhere. Where it goes wrong, and it often does, the result is the thin, papery, faintly sour cup that gives the category its reputation. Where it goes right, you get most of the body and most of the sweetness, and almost nobody at the table can tell.
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. Dose, timing and storage notes are covered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
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The story behind the pack
Raw Bean is a small British coffee brand, and the Proper Coffee range is the everyday end of what it sells: recognisable names, straightforward packs, and a house style that leans on plain language rather than on origin romance. Definitely Decaf is the decaffeinated entry in that range, and the name is doing the same job the rest of the packaging does, which is to say what is in the bag without dressing it up.
If the decaffeination process matters to you, and for some people it genuinely does, read the bag when it arrives. What we can tell you is what the format and the roast style mean for how you brew it, which is the part that changes your cup tomorrow morning.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
How Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g compares
- Against a caffeinated pack from the same shelf: honestly, a well-made decaf is close but not identical. Expect slightly less aromatic lift and a marginally shorter finish. What you will not get, if you brew it properly, is the thin sour cup the category is accused of.
Getting the best out of it
There is one rule that matters more with decaf than with anything else on this site: decaffeinated beans are structurally softer, so they extract faster and go bitter sooner. Every instruction below follows from that.
The cafetiere
Dose: Go slightly heavier than you would with a caffeinated pack, around 8 to 9g per 200ml. A little more coffee costs you nothing and puts back most of the body the process took out.
Water: Boil, then wait thirty seconds or so, around 94 degrees. Water straight off a rolling boil is harsher on a decaf than on anything else.
Time: five is where a decaf starts turning papery, and that is the cup that convinces people the category is hopeless.
Decant: Pour the whole jug out. Coffee left standing on the grounds keeps extracting, which matters more here for the same reason.
Filter, moka and cold
Filter machine: same dose, same logic. A paper filter strips the oils and lightens the body, which a decaf can least afford, so a metal mesh basket suits it better if your machine takes one.
Moka pot: fill the basket level, do not tamp, use hot water in the base and take it off the heat as it starts to gurgle. It will work but check the grind on the bag first.
Cold brew: a very good use for this pack, and an evening drink you can have as much of as you like. 60g in a litre of cold water, twelve to sixteen hours in the fridge, then strain.
With milk: it takes milk well. Dose a touch heavier before you add it, because there is less roast weight here to carry through dairy.
Practical notes on the pack
- Yield: 200g at 8g per 200ml gives about 25 mugs. That is our arithmetic and not a pack claim; dose heavier, as we suggest, and you will get slightly fewer.
- Caffeine: decaffeinated, which means most of the caffeine has been removed rather than all of it. A trace remains in any decaf. If you need a genuinely caffeine-free drink, a herbal infusion is the honest answer.
- Grind: the cut is printed on the bag. Our brewing guidance here assumes a cafetiere or filter; check the pack before using it in an espresso machine.
- Storage: airtight, cool and dark, and not in the fridge, where ground coffee picks up smells and condensation.
- Freshness: ground coffee stales faster than beans, and a decaf has less aromatic reserve to lose in the first place. Finish a 200g pack within a month of opening.
Ingredients, allergens and storage
What is in it: decaffeinated roast and ground coffee. Nothing else is added.
Ingredients and dietary suitability: Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Caffeine: decaffeinated coffee is not caffeine free. A small residual amount remains, which is set by the process and by the pack. If you are avoiding caffeine entirely on medical advice, this is worth knowing before you order.
Hot liquid: a cafetiere plunged too fast can spit. Press slowly and keep the spout turned away from you.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Raw Bean
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components 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
Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g is the pack that lets you keep drinking after the point in the day when a caffeinated one would cost you your sleep. Five builds below, from the evening cafetiere to a cold brew for the fridge and a coffee-soaked pudding you can serve at ten.
Made with this tea
The Evening Cafetiere
A slightly heavier dose and a timer. Those two things are the whole difference with a decaf.
- 17g Definitely Decaf ground coffee
- 400ml water at about 94 degrees
- A 3 cup cafetiere
- Warm the jug with hot water and tip it out.
- Add the coffee, boil the kettle, then wait about thirty seconds before pouring.
- Steep for four minutes with a timer running, stirring the crust once at the start.
- Plunge slowly and pour the whole jug out rather than leaving it on the grounds.
What you'll end up with: A round, nutty, low-bitterness mug with real body. Five minutes instead of four is what turns a decaf papery.
Cold Brew For The Fridge
The build where a decaf beats its caffeinated equivalent outright.
- 60g Definitely Decaf ground coffee
- 1 litre cold water
- Ice, to serve
- Milk, optional
- Stir the coffee into the cold water in a large sealed jar.
- Refrigerate for twelve to sixteen hours.
- Strain through a fine sieve lined with a paper filter and keep in the fridge for up to five days.
- Serve over a full glass of ice, neat or cut half and half with milk.
What you'll end up with: A smooth cold coffee you can drink at nine in the evening. Cold water never dissolves the harsh compounds, so a decaf has nothing to hide behind and does not need to.
Late Milky Mug
Brew it stronger before the milk goes in, not after.
- 12g Definitely Decaf ground coffee
- 180ml water at about 94 degrees
- 100ml whole or oat milk
- Brew the coffee in a small cafetiere for four minutes, then plunge.
- Heat the milk to steaming but not boiling and froth it with a hand whisk or a jar and a hard shake.
- Pour the coffee into a warmed mug first, then the milk.
What you'll end up with: A milky evening cup that still reads as coffee. Dosing heavier before the milk is what stops a decaf disappearing into it.
Coffee and Walnut Traybake
Baking is where decaf earns its place: a cake nobody has to turn down at teatime.
- 100ml strong brewed Definitely Decaf, cooled
- 225g self raising flour
- 200g soft brown sugar
- 200g soft butter and 3 eggs
- 100g chopped walnuts
- Brew 100ml at double strength and let it cool completely.
- Beat the butter and sugar until pale, then add the eggs one at a time.
- Fold in the flour, the walnuts and half the cold coffee.
- Bake in a lined tin at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes, then brush the rest of the coffee over the warm cake.
What you'll end up with: A coffee cake with a proper coffee flavour that children and late-evening guests can both have. That is the argument for keeping a decaf in the cupboard.
Affogato After Ten
The pudding that usually costs you an hour of sleep, made so it does not.
- 14g Definitely Decaf ground coffee
- 120ml water at about 94 degrees
- 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Grated dark chocolate, optional
- Brew the coffee at double strength in a small cafetiere for four minutes.
- Scoop the ice cream into two cold glasses and carry them to the table first.
- Pour the hot coffee over at the table rather than in the kitchen.
- Grate dark chocolate over the top if you like.
What you'll end up with: Hot against cold at the end of an evening, with nothing to pay for it at two in the morning.
Brewing the perfect cup
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Decaffeinated roast and ground coffee | The whole pack | Everything in the cup. Decaffeination happens to the green bean before roasting, which is why it changes the body and the brewing behaviour as well as the caffeine. |
| Roast level | Medium | The sensible place for a decaf. Pushed darker it loses the little acidity the process left behind and starts reading hollow rather than deep. |
| Residual caffeine | A trace remains | Decaffeination removes most of the caffeine, not all of it. No decaf on any shelf is caffeine free. |
| Additives | None | No sugar, no flavouring, no chicory or bulking agents. Decaffeinated roasted coffee and nothing else. |
Pack: Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g; GTIN 5060334480348; decaffeinated roast and ground coffee. About 25 mugs at 8g per 200ml, which is our arithmetic rather than a pack claim. Best before date printed on the pack.
Characterising components shown. Nutrition figures for black coffee are negligible before anything is added, but the panel on the pack you receive is the reference.
Sourcing & blend. Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g is roasted and packed by Raw Bean, a small British coffee brand whose Proper Coffee range is its everyday tier: recognisable names, straightforward packs and plain language rather than origin romance. Definitely Decaf is the decaffeinated entry in that range, and the name does the same job as the rest of the packaging, which is to say what is in the bag without dressing it up. For origins, the decaffeination process and any certification marks, read the pack you receive.
What is in Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g, and what is not:
- In: decaffeinated roast and ground coffee, and nothing else.
- No added sugar, flavouring or chicory: any sweetness in the cup is roast sweetness.
- Not caffeine free: a trace of caffeine remains, as it does in every decaffeinated coffee.
- Naturally gluten free and dairy free as an ingredient list: roasted coffee carries neither.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Raw Bean Proper Coffee Definitely Decaf Ground Coffee, 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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