Swiss Water at Camp Coffee Shop

Camp Coffee Shop, Enchanted Hills, and why decaf deserves more care, confidence, and curiosity on today’s café menu 

by Stacey Lynden

What Camp Coffee Shop Was All About

Camp Coffee Shop felt special from the moment I arrived. It wasn’t a typical trade show or conference hall experience. It was a retreat for coffee professionals, café owners, operators, educators, and people building careers in coffee retail, with education, tastings, workshops, business conversations, and plenty of informal connection woven throughout the schedule. Just as important, it created space for the kinds of conversations that often happen best between sessions, over meals, or while walking from one gathering to the next.

The setting was beautiful and a meaningful part of that experience. Camp Coffee Shop took place at Enchanted Hills in Napa, California, which is a historic and fully accessible retreat center operated by Light House for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Enchanted Hills was founded as a camp for blind and low-vision individuals, and its work has long centered on learning, restoration, independence, and community. Being in a place with that history made the conversations about hospitality, access, and belonging feel especially relevant.

What I Was There to Say

I was there to share a talk called Decaf on the Menu; I built my session around a simple belief: decaf should not be treated like a backup option, a compromise, or an apology. It should be tasted, described, brewed, and served with the same intention as any other coffee on our café menus.

I also wanted to share practical ways café teams can think about the person standing at the counter. Decaf drinkers are not all the same. Some are reducing caffeine. Some are ordering later in the day. Some are sensitive to caffeine. Others simply want to enjoy coffee for flavor, ritual, and connection. When we understand those different needs, decaf becomes a hospitality opportunity rather than a menu obligation. (I’ll share more about this talk, and my research about it, in an upcoming blog post.)

Camp Coffee Shop also gave me the chance to take part in an all-camp panel, Public Speaking for Coffee Professionals. The conversation brought together coffee educators and industry leaders to talk about building confidence, preparing for presentations, developing a personal voice, and communicating ideas with clarity and impact. I appreciated the chance to share my own experiences and encourage other coffee professionals to see public speaking as another form of hospitality: it’s a way to connect, teach, listen, and make space for more voices in the industry.

Celebrating the First Peaberry Award

Another highlight was presenting the first Peaberry Award to Edgar Gonzalez from Voyager Coffee—chosen for his generosity of spirit, curious mind, and kindness to everyone around him. It felt special to recognize someone contributing meaningfully to the coffee community in a setting built around learning, encouragement, and connection. Moments like that are part of what made Camp Coffee Shop feel bigger than a schedule of sessions; it was a reminder that coffee careers are shaped by both technical skill, generosity, leadership, and the people who help move the industry forward.

The Takeaway: Better Decaf Means Better Hospitality

What stayed with me most after Camp Coffee Shop was the sense of community. The coffee industry has always been at its best when people come together to share what they know, ask better questions, and make room for more people to enjoy coffee in the way that works for them. For café owners, managers, roasters, and baristas, better decaf can mean tasting more regularly, training teams more intentionally, choosing coffees with care, and giving guests options they can feel excited to order. For coffee drinkers, it means the freedom to enjoy the experience they love on their own terms. Decaf is not a lesser version of coffee. At its best, it is great coffee, made more available, more inclusive, and more thoughtfully served.

Looking back, this past week was a special reminder that coffee is shaped by more than what ends up in the cup. It is shaped by the conversations we are willing to have, the confidence we help others build, the care we bring to every part of the menu, and the people we take time to recognize along the way. Camp Coffee Shop reinforced a simple idea: better hospitality happens when we make coffee (in all its forms) more thoughtful, more accessible, and more welcoming for everyone.