Thank you Caff Off for sending us a review sample of the traditional 30g pouch!
I'm the proud owner of a 454g bag of matcha I bought to make matcha lattes,green tea ice cream, and cookies I found recipes for. There are two grades of matcha including culinary and ceremonial. Ceremonial grade is made from the first-harvest spring leaves and has a vibrant green color while culinary matcha is derived from later-harvest leaves which are more bitter and have an olive-green color.
By default, matcha has between 60-80 mg of caffeine per serving. In contrast, black tea has around 40-70 mg and coffee has between 95 and 200 mg of caffeine. Caff Off uses a natural water process that removes 90% of the caffeine leaving only 7-9 mg per serving. Not only does the caffeine removal make this safe to drink all day, some of the bitterness is taken away as well.
I did a blind test at my house with caffeinated matcha and Caff Off matcha mixed with milk. My son would have preferred it sweetened and wasn't a fan of either. My daughter preferred the Caff Off due to the lack of bitterness, but my husband enjoyed the bitterness. My daughter speaks at 2X when ingesting caffeine, so she prefers non-caffeinated beverages unless she's dangerously exhausted. I personally prefer waking up my brain in the morning, and desire a caffeinated beverage to fulfill that need. However, the ability to have a matcha with dinner without the risk of losing sleep is appealing.
Caff Off's website sells multiple flavors including traditional (reviewed), vanilla bean, pink strawberry, golden chai, mango tango, chocolate fudge, fuji apple, lemon yuzu, and magic mint. Other than the (organic coconut sugar) sweetened barista blend, the rest of the offerings are unsweetened. Most of the products are available in 30g pouches that sell for $35 apiece. Per the website, 30g is good for 15-30 servings. The traditional flavor is also available in a $75 100g bag which is enough for 50-100 servings depending on how much you use. Traditional and vanilla bean are available in fifteen individual serving packs that are available for $40. No matter what size or serving type you prefer, you can save 15-25% if you buy 2-3 bags at a time.
Caff Off isn't the only decaffeinated matcha out there, and they're certainly not the cheapest. However, they do have a multitude of flavors and discount codes available to make it easier on your wallet. Caff Off's website has 4.8 star reviews while Amazon's reviews are closer to the 3.8 stars mark and they're $5 cheaper for an additional 10g. The biggest complaint on Amazon is the price. One advantage of ordering through Caff Off's website is that they offer a 14-day money back guarantee if you don't like it. Another benefit of going to Caff Off's website is that they sometimes have sales taking as much as 30% off.