Pop-up cafe serves only decaf coffee

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In an old garage at Houston and Lafayette in Manhattan, a Canadian company is serving free cups of hot coffee, cold brew, and espresso from some of the finest roasters in the city: Cafe Grumpy, Stumptown, Blue Bottle, Whole Foods and more.

But Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company takes the beans those coffee shops purchase from growers all around the world to a laboratory in Vancouver, where for the last 20-plus years it has removed the caffeine from coffee without the help of any chemicals.

"What's the point?" one woman asks.

For many of us, coffee is the vehicle through which we get our drug of choice: caffeine. The jittery, tingly, tensed-jaw muscles caffeine gives us is a crucial part of the coffee drinking experience.

"We're not trying to switch anyone away from caffeine," says Andrea Piccola, the brand manager at Swiss Water says.

She admits that trying to wean consumers from caffeinated coffee would represent a terrible business model.

So instead of replacing the caffeinated cups New Yorkers already consume, Swiss Water hopes to add even more coffee to the diet at times of the day -- often the afternoon or evening -- when people try to avoid caffeine.

"Decaf doesn't have to be bad-tasting," Piccola says.