Talitha Decaf Espresso Wins Gold at 2026 Global Coffee Awards
Despite the perception that decaf alternatives aren’t beloved, we’ve developed a roast that tastes so good, it’s now award-winning.
Sunset Serenade took the “Gold” award for decaf espresso at the 2026 Global Coffee Awards, the highest honor for drinks of its kind!
At the Global Coffee Awards, one medal is awarded per category, and judges score without knowing whose coffee is in the cup. Here’s what goes into a decaf coffee worth their highest honor, as well as how to find a decaf blend you actually would love.
Decaf Espresso is the Hardest Coffee to Roast Well
The decaffeination process happens before roasting, and it literally changes the beans.
It opens up the bean's structure, stripping out the compounds once heat is applied, which means decaf browns sooner, absorbs heat faster and develops less sweetness on its own.
That narrows the proper roasting window to mere seconds. Thirty seconds too long, and the sugars scorch into something ashy. Thirty seconds too short, and the cup arrives thin and papery, which is the flavor most people are describing when they say decaf tastes like nothing!
The espresso portion is similarly difficult, putting every decision under a magnifying glass.
Put all together, decaf espresso needs a specialty roast profile. Building one for the smallest-volume product on the menu is work most roasters decline to do. So naturally, as coffee obsessives, we worked hard to develop what became Sunset Serenade, one of our proudest flavor profiles to date.
Thoughts From the What the Judges Actually Tasted
Sunset Serenade comes from smallholder farms in Honduras and is roasted in San Diego. It is sold whole bean in 12-ounce, two-pound and five-pound sizes, and it is available as a subscription.
The judges at the Global Coffee Awards tasted blind and recorded their thoughts:
"This decaf coffee showed caramelized sugar, sugar cane and ripe grapefruit notes, layered with cherry, hickory, molasses, orange and a touch of woodiness, plus milk chocolate, hazelnut and cranberry. The judges enjoyed the nicely balanced, rounded mouthfeel and lovely cranberry acidity throughout. A smooth and thoroughly sweet espresso."
How To Spot Good Decaf Before You Buy It
Good decaf coffee has a few do’s and don’t’s. These are our recommendations for finding decaf you might actually enjoy..
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Buy whole bean
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Decaf's aromatics are more fragile than caffeinated coffees, and they leave quickly once grounded. Pre-ground decaf sitting in a warehouse accounts for a lot of the category's reputation on its own.
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Look for a roast date, not a best-by date
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A best-by date tells you when a company stopped vouching for the bag. For espresso, coffee is usually at its best between seven and 21 days off roast.
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Check the origin
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No origin listed may mean it’s unaccounted for in a crowded commodity market; who knows where it came from? A bag that names a country or the farms behind it is far more likely to taste purposeful.
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Ask about the decaffeination method
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The “Swiss Water Process” uses only water and coffee extract, removes about 99.9% of the caffeine and keeps more of the flavor than the cheaper solvent methods that remain the industry default.
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Finally, taste for sweetness and body, not intensity
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Good decaf espresso has weight in the mouth and a finish that lingers a little sweet. Failure tastes specific: papery means stale, ashy means the roast pushed too far, and hollow means the shot starts fine and simply stops.
Other Award Winning Talitha Coffees
Some of our other roasts also received awards:
- Arise earned an Honorable Mention for Blend in Espresso
- Ignite earned a Bronze award for Classic Roast Profile in Espresso
- Banko Gotiti earned was a Finalist for Single Origin in Espresso
A single winning result might be good fortune, but four? There’s a reason San Diegans keep coming back to us every morning.
