Union Hand-Roasted Coffee has launched Half Caff, a new specialty blend “designed for today’s more mindful coffee drinker”.
Half Caff combined “carefully selected” caffeinated specialty beans from Columbia and decaffeinated speciality beans from Peru to deliver “a balanced cup with depth, sweetness and clarity, but with significantly less caffeine”, the London-based roaster said.
It was developed so consumers could “enjoy specialty quality coffee in the afternoon or evening, or to moderate their intake without sacrificing taste”, it added.
The NPD has rolled out in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s stores, and will land on Ocado in March (rsp: £7.50/200g).
The decaffeinated coffee in Union’s Half Caff blend is processed using the Carbonic Natural method, a chemical-free technique that uses naturally sourced carbon dioxide to remove caffeine while preserving flavour.
Each coffee was roasted separately “to maximise quality” before blending, resulting in a coffee with tasting notes of “rich chocolate, smooth toffee and a bright hint of tangerine”, Union said.
“We’re seeing more people think differently about when and how they drink coffee – not less coffee, but more considered coffee,” said Union MD Violeta Stevens. “Half Caff is crafted for this moment. It’s about balance without compromise: the flavour and quality you expect from Union, with a caffeine level that works across the day.”
It comes after new research from Nespresso in December showed over a quarter of UK consumers (26%) had increased their consumption of decaffeinated coffee in the past year.
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