I have a problem with coffee.
You see, I love the stuff. But it makes me quite sick.
A couple of espressos a day will give me heart palpitations, raise my blood pressure, cause my hands to tremble, and interrupt my sleep. Even just one full strength coffee a day will make my joints ache. Apparently it’s an uncommon but not unheard of reaction to caffeine.
So for the past year or so, I’ve been on a quest to find a really good decaf coffee. EcoCaffe’s Decaffeinato Supreme is excellent and works well in our Nespresso machine. The completely biodegradable pod is easy on my conscience as well…
Chris at Single Rosetta in Haberfield makes a very nice brew using Campos beans…
But hands down the best decaf I’ve found in Sydney is crafted by Coffee Alchemy in Marrickville. These guys take coffee very seriously – owner Hazel has a finely honed palate, and her blends are all interesting and diverse (Big Boy loves the Golden Galileo). I’ve written about them a couple of times before…
A couple of weeks ago, I thought it might be fun to try making chocolate coated coffee beans. I used to love these, but have avoided them for the past decade or so.
The combination needed to be quite dark, so I paired Hazel’s whole decaf beans with Amedei 9 – an exquisite 75% blend of cacao from nine different plantations which I buy from my mate Tania at Lario International…
I chopped up 500g of the chocolate and tempered it (there’s a loooong tutorial on how to do this here), then stirred in 100g of the beans and ladled the mix into flat bar moulds, flattening it out as much as possible. I’d toyed with the idea of dipping each one individually, but soon realised how difficult this would be – in commercial situations, a tumbling machine is used to coat beans (or nuts) evenly in chocolate.
The bars were a huge hit – crunchy, dark and very grown-up. I subsequently made a ginger and coffee bean version which was also very popular…
So…if, like me, you have problems with caffeine, don’t give up. There are some excellent decaf options out there!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
How nice you have an alternative. If I had to give up my black (strong) tea I’d have a total fit :)
Yes interesting read My Wife couldn’t do without her daily Coffee breaks
Like Susan I could Never Never Never give up my Black Tea and I religiously
drink Nerada tea but we all have our favorites
thank you for the blog
Very interesting! I love choc covered coffee beans but have been unable to tolerate them for quite a few years now, nor can I have more than one espresso in the morning. Funny, I never thought of decaf beans, in fact I always thought that the decaffeination process took place after the beans were ground. I’ll have to try and track down some decaf beans next time I go to Canberra.
Mmmm. Chocolate coated coffee beans. Your version looks delicious. I love dark chocolate. I often wish I lived closer to you! I still haven’t overcome my fear of burning the chocolate while tempering it or making an irreversable mistake. One day I will have to try it though!
Sorry about the coffee reaction Celia. Sounds like you have found some lovely ways around it.
When I used to work in the theatre (directing – God help us all) I would CHEW bags of chocolate covered coffee beans – not decaf – try as I might they could not keep me awake! Nowadays I might be trying the decaf!! c
I had to stop drinking coffee years a go as it was giving me palpitations and often made me feel nauseous too.
To be honest, I don’t miss it at all – I’m in love with tea.
Shame that regular coffee doesn’t agree with you but I notice that you haven’t let that stand in your way. Well done. Carry on.
Yuuuuuuuummm!
I switched to decaf over a year ago, Celia. Caffeine was keeping me awake and, for an insomniac, that’s a recipe for disaster. I was never much of a fan of chocolate covered beans but, then again, I’ve never tried yours. I’ve a feeling that yours would be so very much better than the ones I sampled. :)
Dark choc coated decaf coffee beans has my name written all over it. I love coffee too but have to limit myself to stay well. Can you overdose on decaf?
Celia I have a similar problem , I am only allowed 1 cup
a day and it can only be 1/4 strength decaf coffee, for me that is better than none at all
I too have this problem, ended up in hospital a few years ago thinking I was about to die and it was a caffeine reaction. Still nervous about ordering decaf unless I trust the place. I occasionally crave a coffee but not often, might try a few of your suggestions.
Oh yum, yum, yum. How delicious your chocolate looks. I’m glad you’ve found a decaf that you really like – a really nice coffee always seems so luxurious to me – and Golden Galileo sounds wonderful.
Decafe beans is such a great idea. I get heart palpitations too and anxiety from too many coffees so now I only have one a day or two at the most one in the morning and one afternoon if the kids have after school activities.
Coffee always seems to smell so much better than it tastes. Your chocolate bars look wonderful.
Such a shame about not being able to drink coffee but fantastic that you have tracked down some great decaffs to replace it. Love the idea of the chocolate coated beans!
I find regular coffee makes me too jittery which is not a good attribute for a food stylist! We’ve been using a US national brand decaf espresso because it is the best we could find, but I hate using it for so many reasons. I’m going to check out your recos and see if they are available in Canada, we are only limited by beans because our Jura grinds the beans for us.
The chocolate looks exquisit, so dark and delicious.
The chocolate bars look fantastic. I myself can’t stand drinking coffee, only with quite a bit of Bailey’s in it! Give me anything chocolate and coffee though and I love it! I drink decaf tea mostly since the caffeine gives me horrible heartburn ever since my first pregnancy. Caffeine has never given me any big of energy though, I never understood why people always “had” to have their morning coffee to wake up!
Love the photos and your solution to the chocolate coffee bean problem! It’s always best to stay away from foods and drinks that make you feel ill, alcohol makes me so sick that I rarely drink at all, bit like you and coffee I think, I get palpitations, sleeplessness, and can get mean too ! I don’t need any of that so I just avoid it.
Tea contains caffeine too doesn’t it – but presume it doesn’t have the same effect? If I have coffee in the morning I need an afternoon nap – it releases all that instant energy but then have to make it up again!
Celia, I have serious consequences from the caffeine in coffee, even just one cup, but for some reason the caffeine in my strong black tea does not bother me at all. Your bars looks great, and I had no idea you could chew up and eat a coffee bean!
I love coffee too and it makes me sick as well… but decaf is a good thing… love you chocolate bars darling, sadly too many of those would be bad for me too xx