Decaf Coffee Market Report

Decaf coffee is the short form of decaffeinated coffee. After being developed in Europe well over half a century ago, it only found a wide market in the US around the 1950s. It is the name given to coffee that has had almost all of its caffeine content removed leaving just about 2% to 3%. Water, different organic solvents, and carbon dioxide are some of the solvents used to remove the caffeine content. The beans are washed in the solvent until it contains most of the caffeine from the beans after which the solvent is removed. The Swiss Water Process is one of the methods used for this purpose which employs a charcoal filter to extract the caffeine. These processes retain the nutritional content of coffee while resulting in the taste becoming slightly milder, which depends on the decaffeination method. It contains nearly as much antioxidants as the regular coffee comprising mainly of chlorogenic acid and other polyphenols. Certain studies have found decaf coffee possesses the ability to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Decaf Coffee Market Outlook

• The novelty factor surrounding decaf coffee would drive the bulk of the growth given the high initial consumption that would take effect over the forecast period. The relative newness of the beverage would be responsible for initial uptake across segments and geographies. 
• The ongoing expansion of the food & beverage industry would prove advantageous to the decaf coffee market. A greater awareness regarding beverage products across the spectrum would result in incremental growth opportunities for the decaf coffee market.
• The millennial population is the most open to trying out new products and trends prevalent across products. Given decaf coffee’s emergence as a novel product, it would witness the highest uptake by the millennials who form the bulk of the world’s population currently.

Decaf Coffee Market Regional Highlights

• Asia Pacific’s industrial scenario is in the midst of an uptick driven by large scale expansion across diverse geographies. This has led to the emergence of opportunities for growth in the consumption of decaf coffee as a direct positive consequence of increased income from the economic growth.
• The youth or millennials now comprise a majority of the population in the Asia Pacific region. This segment is emerging as the key growth driver across markets especially ones in the food & beverage domain like decaf coffee. Given the high proportion of the working age population, the segment most likely to spend on decaf coffee, the region presents the most attractive growth geography owing to the fastest growth over the forecast period.

Decaf Coffee Market Segmental Overview

• The preference for organic products is on a rise across categories, especially in the food & beverage segment. This trend is expected to intensify over the forecast period and benefit the decaf coffee market.
• Arabica coffee beans have a milder taste as compared to the Robusta variety. The former also has a much higher sugar content, almost twice as much as Robusta. This makes it palatable to a wider population.
• Ground coffee scores higher on convenience as it can be had almost instantly. However, only a certain section of the coffee drinkers would prefer the whole bean variety given that it results in a superior flavored beverage. This segment would exhibit the fastest growth over the forecast period.
• The online distribution channel gives the consumers access to and information about a much wider range of products at a single destination as compared to offline stores. This is among the key factors that would drive the growth of the decaf coffee market by distribution channel over the forecast period.

Decaf Coffee Market Key Players

The major companies operating in the decaf coffee market include CAFEDIRECT, Colombian Brew, DD IP HOLDER LLC, Don Pablo Coffee, Eight O'Clock Coffee Company, Fresh Roasted Coffee, Grindhouse Coffee, Kicking Horse Coffee, Koffee Kult, Corp, KRAFT Foods, Lifeboost Coffee, LUIGI LAVAZZA SPA, NESTLÉ, and Volcanica Coffee Company among others.

Industry focus would be trained on rapid innovation towards product enhancement towards greater diversity of application. Industry focus would also be trained on increasing product visibility and building awareness about the product which would ultimately be the key driving factor for increased consumption over the forecast period. Therefore, greater awareness and cost reduction would be the main focus areas of the key players over the coming years.