Pre-Ground Decaf or a Second Grinder: How Should a Café Serve Decaf?

Three ways to serve decaf on an espresso machine

• Pre-ground decaf, dosed by hand. Buy decaf ground coffee in 1kg bags, weigh 18g into a spare portafilter and tamp as normal. No extra equipment, but the grind is fixed and an opened bag loses aroma faster than beans.
• A compact second grinder with a hopper. A small on-demand grinder beside the main one. Fresh grounds every shot, dialled in once, no scales during the rush.
• A single-dose grinder. No hopper: beans stay sealed in the bag and you tip in one dose at a time. Slowest per shot, freshest at very low volume.

How many decaf drinks a day tips the balance?

The deciding figure is decaf drinks a day: it sets how fast a bag of pre-ground is used up and how much a grinder would do. The table uses a six-day week and an 18g double, the same dose as the cost-per-cup calculator.

Decaf drinks a day	Decaf a week	A 1kg bag of pre-ground lasts	Simplest route
3	324g	About 18 trading days (3 weeks)	Single-dose grinder, or pre-ground if a bag open for three weeks is acceptable
5	540g	About 11 trading days (under 2 weeks)	Pre-ground, 1kg bags
10	1.08kg	About 6 trading days (1 week)	Pre-ground still works; a second grinder starts to pay
15	1.62kg	About 4 trading days	Second grinder (270g a day fits a 300g hopper)
30	3.24kg	About 2 trading days	Second grinder; buy decaf beans by the 6kg case (one every two weeks)

 

Assumptions: 18g per double, six trading days a week, every decaf made as a double. Decaf a week = drinks a day × 6 × 18g. Days per bag = 1,000g ÷ (drinks a day × 18g). Two weeks for an opened bag is Redber's planning rule, not a measurement. A café doing 150 drinks a day with one in ten decaf sits on the 15-a-day row; see how much decaf a café should stock.

Making pre-ground decaf work on the bar

Pre-ground suits many small cafés if three habits hold.

• Keep a second portafilter for decaf. Mark the handle so regular grounds never go into a decaf order.
• Dose by weight, not by scoop. Pre-ground settles in the bag, so a scoop can drift by a gram or two; bar scales keep the 18g dose honest.
• Buy 1kg, not 6kg. Ground decaf is priced the same as beans at every size on the Trade store, and an open 6kg case of ground coffee sits far too long on the shelf at café decaf volumes.

The ground decaf pages do not state a grind size, so say it is for an espresso machine when you order and test the first bag. The free trade sample pack lets you check the grind in your own machine first.

Choosing a second grinder for decaf

A decaf grinder grinds a fraction of the volume, so it need not match the main grinder. Three types from the grinders under £1,000 collection, with the maker's figures from each product page:

Type	Example	Hopper	Maker's daily output	Suits
Compact hopper grinder	Eureka Mignon Silenzio	300g	Up to 1kg	5–15 decaf a day; 120mm wide
Single-dose grinder	Eureka Oro Mignon Single Dose	45g dose hopper	1.5–2kg	Very low or irregular decaf; beans stay in the bag
Secondary commercial grinder	HeyCafé Buddy	1.5kg	Not stated (2.5–3g per second)	15–30+ decaf a day; the maker names decaf as its secondary-grinder role

 

Hopper, output and width figures are the manufacturers' statements on the Trade product pages, read 10 November 2026. The "suits" column is Redber's suggestion from the table above. Each page shows the trade price.

Fill the hopper with what the day needs: at 15 decaf a day that is 270g, so a 300g hopper empties each evening. On a bean-to-cup machine the same question becomes one hopper or two, which the office decaf guide covers.

What each route costs per shot

The coffee costs the same either way, because decaf beans and ground are priced identically on the Trade store. The difference is the one-off grinder and the case size it lets you buy.

Route	Coffee bought as	Cost per 18g double	Per week at 15 decaf a day (90 doubles)
Pre-ground, 1kg bags	1kg ground at £24.95	45p	£40.42
Second grinder, 1kg bags	1kg beans at £24.95	45p	£40.42
Second grinder, 6kg case	6kg beans at £134.50	40p	£36.32

Working: £24.95 ÷ 55.6 doubles = 44.9p; £134.50 ÷ 333 doubles = 40.4p; 90 × 44.9p = £40.42; 90 × 40.4p = £36.32. Prices checked 10 November 2026, No VAT. The 6kg case saves £4.10 a week at this volume, worthwhile only once a grinder lets you use beans within a fortnight. For decaf versus regular see does decaf cost more for a café.

Café decaf FAQs

Can you use pre-ground decaf in a commercial espresso machine?

Yes. Weigh 18g into a portafilter kept for decaf, tamp and extract as you would the house blend, and check the first shot from each new bag because you cannot adjust the grind yourself.

How many decaf shots do you get from a 1kg bag?

About 55 double shots at 18g each, or 111 single shots at 9g.

Does a decaf grinder need to be as big as the main grinder?

No. A compact grinder with a 300g hopper, or a single-dose grinder, is enough for most cafés; only go larger above about 30 decaf drinks a day.

Is pre-ground decaf more expensive than decaf beans?

No. On the Redber Trade store decaf ground coffee is priced the same as decaf beans at 1kg and 6kg, so the format does not change your coffee cost.