8 Popular Ground Decaf Coffees You Can Buy At The Grocery Store, Ranked

For some people, drinking decaf coffee is right up there with using jarred garlic as a substitute for fresh garlic – an unthinkable travesty of a replacement. But others understand the value of a cup of joe that's been stripped of its stimulating chemical; sometimes, you want the ritual and flavor when it's too late in the day to guarantee solid sleep. I am in that latter camp. In the morning, I grind my caffeinated coffee beans into an eye-opening cuppa. In the evening, decaf is there to help my eyelids get heavy for the night (even though there are still trace amounts of caffeine in decaf coffee).

Despite my regular intake, I'm no connoisseur, but I know good coffee — and gross or bland coffee — when I taste it. Like many, I've noticed that decafs can be iffy, with sour notes or just a general lack of flavorful oomph. Several factors contribute to this, one of which is the way the decaf coffee was made. Some decaffeinating processes use chemical solvents to get the job done, while the Swiss Water Process uses only water (and time) and typically is said to provide the most flavorful results. (If your bag doesn't specify, it's probably not Swiss Water Process.)

I wanted to know which of the decaf coffees at my local supermarket were worth a try, so I identified the eight most well-reviewed contenders and brewed myself a cup (or two) of each to compare and rank. Only ground decaf was on offer, which was perfect — decaf is always a low-effort beverage for me. If you're looking to cut back on caffeine and just want to grab a bag of decaf on your next trip to Walmart, rather than spend a ton on coffee you have to order from a small online roaster, take a look at the results.

For me, Folgers coffee is not the best (or any) part of waking up. Years ago, once I discovered what the best coffee beans taste like, I realized I usually dislike robusta brews, and this Folgers decaf blends this cheaper type of coffee with arabica coffee, most likely to keep costs down. Still, I wanted snobbery to play no part in my taste test, so with an open mind, I took a whiff of this cup's aroma and tried to think positively.

The aroma was pretty unpleasant, though; it smelled strong in a bad way, like an unfriendly-tasting, over-extracted coffee that incites a grimace when sipped. Oddly enough, the flavor itself came across as weak, but the notes that did shine were a bit bitter and oddly smoky. The aftertaste was harsh and sour but thankfully didn't linger too long. Costing $7.44 for 9.6 ounces, this was pricier per ounce than several other coffees in this decaf ranking — even more so than Starbucks. At least I can reuse the container to hold grease later (grease being one of those foods that should never go down your kitchen sink).

I'd always heard good things about McCafé coffee, but I was also skeptical whether this behemoth burger chain could actually deliver on the decaf goods. This coffee has a high percentage of five-star reviews on its Walmart page (as do all the coffees I reviewed), but mine may not be the target taste buds for the product.

The aroma of a brewed cup lacked the depth that I like and had a sour tinge to it; a taste test confirmed this. At first sip, I thought, "This tastes like decaf coffee for sure." It wasn't undrinkable, but it was bitter and weak. There were some whispers of nice nutty notes, but it didn't deliver on the potential or pack enough of a punch to leave a lasting impression. The aftertaste was sour and icky as well, and overstayed its welcome in my mouth. Ultimately, this tastes like coffee you only feel good about drinking because, at $7.48 per 12 ounces, it's cheaper than other stuff. In other words, I'd pass on this one.

This premium blend medium roast is one of three decaf blends made by Caribou Coffee, a coffee house chain that also sells bags of its own small batch-roasted coffees. With coffee quality apparently at the helm here, I was excited to see what the brand had in store for me with this water process decaf.

There wasn't much to the aroma of the brewed cup besides some sour notes. The flavor itself was okay, but there just wasn't enough of it; this tasted like a basic coffee without much life. I see why it has fans, though — there's nothing unpleasant about it, no bitterness, and a balanced acidity. I just wish it was kicked up one flavor notch. The sweeter notes started coming through as I continued sipping, but it still didn't pop the way I'd like. I can only assume Caribou Coffee accidentally tossed the flavor out with the (decaf) bathwater when they made this blend, which typically goes for just under $10 per 12-ounce bag — not an unreasonable price for coffee these days. If this tickles your taste buds, it wouldn't be a bad brew to drink regularly.

Good ol' Starbucks used to be my coffee brand of choice back in the day, but this predated my interest in decaf. It turns out that the Seattle-based chain offers decaffeinated versions of several of its popular roasts. This includes its medium-roast House Blend, which is a well-reviewed decaf coffee among Walmart shoppers, who pay $9.12 per 12 ounces and seem to feel more or less fine with that.

This brewed decaf coffee sported a very robust aroma with strong cocoa notes. It actually smelled more medium-dark than dark to me, almost smoky, and I didn't hate that. It's the kind of aroma that smells like it could belong to either a great coffee or a bitter coffee — a fun moment of "will it, or won't it?" After a palate cleanser, I had moved from McCafé to this one, and it was like night and day. Starbucks Decaf House Blend was flavor-packed, the opposite of boring. I would never know it was decaf. However, its flavor did have an almost bitterness to it that verged on obnoxious, and that lingering hint of bitterness in the aftertaste wasn't the best. Overall, it certainly had a lot of personality. I wouldn't buy a bag myself, but I'd accept a cup any time and perhaps occasionally crave it on a gray, rainy day.

Like McCafé, Dunkin is another food-based chain that produces bags of fan-pleasing coffees. I picked up this decaf for $9.44, making it one of the slightly pricier options I reviewed. When I brewed a cup, I found the aroma to be strong and punchy and not altogether unpleasant; it's one of those coffees that smells like it holds some bitterness, though, and I wondered how the taste would play out.

The flavor was as strong as the aroma. I detected some cocoa notes when it first hit the tongue, but there was also a sour bitterness that I didn't love. That said, there was nothing muted or chemical-flavored about it. If I didn't see "decaf" on the bag, I'd think this was regular.

Overall, I could drink this, but not when I'm focused on flavor. If it were regular coffee, it wouldn't be my early morning cup, for instance, which is 50% for caffeine and 50% for greeting the day with beautiful flavor. It's a coffee I'd drink when I'm on deadline and want to feel like an old-school wordsmith banging the keys of a typewriter. It'd be a perfectly feasible hotel international breakfast coffee, the kind that makes you go, "Not bad for a hotel!" For the price, though, there was another medium roast decaf that beat this one by a whole dollar.

My local supermarket carries a number of Swedish brand Gevalia's ground coffees for $8.42, including this house blend decaf, and the bright yellow bags always catch my eye. Priced at the lower-middle end of my taste-testing options, my interest was piqued.

The aroma of a brewed cup was neither terrible nor great — a moderately strong aroma with a hint of sourness to it. But this was the only vaguely negative criteria I discovered. The flavor was good — no weakness or decaf off-flavors about it — with a brighter acidity than the other coffees. A touch of sweeter notes, perhaps brown sugar, balanced it out, and the aftertaste was fine, though it leaned just a tad sour. Overall, this is one of those brews that tastes like a good, standard, medium-roast cup of coffee. It's perfectly passable, and with a snack of almonds or other nuts to complement it, the flavor would be downright lovely. For the price, this is very much worth trying.

Peet's coffees tend to be more expensive per ounce than their competitors; I paid $9.24 for this bag of Peet's Decaf French Roast, but that was on sale from its standard $10.99 per 10.5-ounce bag — a price that would have made this the most expensive decaf coffee in the ranking. With that kind of price tag among much cheaper competition, this dark-roast, water-process decaf had a lot to live up to.

The aroma was excellent — nice and smoky — like a French roast should be. The flavor was pleasant, with smoky burnt caramel notes, and the sweet, smoky aftertaste hit well and lingered. There were no issues with bitterness or off-balance acidity. My only quibble is that it could be just a little more intense in flavor. I've made regular French roast coffees with this same quantity of ground coffee, and there's a layer of complexity to them that this decaf version is missing — that layer is thin, though, and for the most part, this decaf coffee performs as promised and merits its cost.

If you've arrived at this first-place contender thinking, "Maybe the reviewer just prefers dark roasts or bougier brands," I assure you this is not so. The fact that Peet's Decaf Major Dickason's Blend beat out all its competitors for this position is solely due to its merits. The level of flavor and complexity I found here outperformed even that of decafs I've tried from smaller, artisanal roasters.

The aroma was rich and full of earthiness — highly inviting, like that of the French roast decaf, but just a bit nicer, with more sweetness. The flavor hit just right, holding nothing back. It was full-on earth, spice, and that tinge of balancing sweetness totally saturating the palate. It ended with a clean finish that lingered adequately — though it could have hung out just a tad longer if it had wanted. In all, though, this is the decaf that would please the most palates, though not necessarily the most wallets, costing $10.82 for 10.5 ounces. If a flavorful, zero-bitterness decaf is what you need, though, that could be well worth it.

To select the eight decaf coffees for this ranking, I identified the most reviewed and popular of the decaf options at my local supermarket, Walmart Supercenter, or available from there via shipping. I chose ground coffee, as whole bean decaf was not on offer at this store. There was no issue with inadvertently comparing the taste of freshly ground decaf with pre-ground since any decaf I purchase is always pre-ground.

I brewed each coffee with filtered water in my Ninja Specialty Drip Coffee Maker; this is one of the best drip coffee makers on the market and, in my opinion, gives any roast a chance to display its best qualities. I used 2 rounded tablespoons of coffee per 12-ounce cup (my usual formula), and drank the coffee my usual style: black, no sweeteners.

For note-taking and easier comparison between each brew, I gave each decaf coffee a score of 1-5 (1 being the most negative and 5 the most positive) for aroma, flavor, aftertaste, and my overall enjoyment of the drink, i.e. whether I'd buy and drink it again. If the results were similar between the contenders, I took price into account to break the tie. For instance, I would have been torn on whether Folgers or McCafé merited the last place if the former hadn't been more expensive.