Most people searching for Carte Noire decaf want to know one thing: can they still buy it.
Yes. It is just harder to find than it used to be. JDE wound down the UK range around 2017. Lavazza had bought the brand in 2016 and quietly relaunched it in 2018. The Décaféiné Instant 100g is in Sainsbury’s and on Amazon. The Arabica Ground 250g is a specialist import. Tesco and Asda don’t carry either.
Whether it is the same coffee it used to be is a separate question. We’ll get to that.
What is Carte Noire decaf
Carte Noire is a French premium instant coffee brand with a loyal UK following, particularly among people who grew up buying it in French supermarkets or picked up the habit on holiday. It has been on UK shelves on and off since the 1980s.
Ownership has changed twice in recent memory. The brand sat inside Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods) until 2015. When JDE was formed from Mondelez’s coffee business and Douwe Egberts, the European Commission forced JDE to divest Carte Noire on competition grounds. Lavazza, the Italian coffee company, acquired the brand in March 2016 for roughly 700 million euros. JDE kept a two year transitional licence, then phased Carte Noire out of the UK in favour of L’Or in January 2017. Lavazza relaunched the brand in the UK in 2018 with a £3.5 million campaign.
The current UK decaf range:
- Décaféiné Instant 100g. The everyday version. Sainsbury’s and Amazon UK.
- Arabica Ground 250g. 100% Arabica. Available through specialist French food importers.
- Nespresso compatible decaf capsules. Catalogued historically but not currently distributed in the UK.
This matters for the rest of the article. Carte Noire is no longer a JDE brand. It is a Lavazza brand. Kenco is JDE. So if you are comparing decafs across the supermarket shelf, you are looking at three different companies with three different processes.
How Carte Noire decaffeinates (or doesn’t say)
Here is the catch. Lavazza does not publicly disclose which decaffeination method they use for Carte Noire instant decaf.
The Lavazza UK website has a generic explainer covering all four mainstream methods without committing to one for any specific product. Retailer pages skip the question. The Open Food Facts entry leaves the method field blank. We checked, and the answer is genuinely unavailable from public sources.
What we can say is that Lavazza’s premium standalone decaf, the Dek range, uses supercritical CO2 according to specialist coffee reviewers. Lavazza blends in 40% Robusta to offset the cost of the CO2 process. That tells you they have the kit and use it when the product margin supports it.
Carte Noire instant sits at a different price point. Around £4 for a 100g jar. At that level, mass market instant decaf usually goes one of two ways. Either CO2 carried over from a larger range, or solvent based methods (methylene chloride or ethyl acetate), which are cheaper and standard in the category. Without a confirmation from Lavazza, both are plausible.
This matters because Carte Noire’s closest UK competitor, Kenco, is open about its process. Kenco uses CO2. If solvent free decaf is what you are buying for, Kenco is the safer pick on that single criterion alone. See Kenco decaf for the full method breakdown, or chemical decaffeination for what solvent methods actually do.
What Carte Noire decaf tastes like
The brand says rich, smooth, aromatic. Retailers repeat that. It tells you very little.
The instant 100g is an Arabica and Robusta blend. The Robusta gives it more body and a sharper edge than Kenco’s cleaner Arabica only profile. It sits closer to Nescafé Gold Blend Decaff on the shelf than to Kenco. If you like a bolder instant, you’ll get on with it. If you prefer something light, you won’t.
The version before Lavazza took over had a strong loyalist following. Forum threads talk about “no nasty aftertaste” and “favourite instant coffee.” Reviews on Amazon UK and Review Centre from long term buyers since the Lavazza relaunch are more mixed. Several note that the post relaunch version is not what they remember. The brand has not commented publicly on whether the formulation changed.
The ground 250g is 100% Arabica and a more refined cup. It is also rare in the UK, so most buyers never get to compare.
What’s in it
One ingredient. Freeze dried decaffeinated coffee, Arabica and Robusta blend in the instant 100g, 100% Arabica in the ground 250g. No additives, no preservatives, no flavourings. Vegan. Free from the major allergens.
Caffeine per cup sits in the standard instant decaf range of around 2 to 5mg. EU rules require decaf instant coffee to be 0.3% caffeine or less in the dry product. Carte Noire does not publish a specific figure.
Is Carte Noire decaf still available in the UK
This is where the PistonHeads thread starts. In October 2025 someone asks for an alternative because Carte Noire “appears to have been discontinued for a while now.” Several replies agree.
They are half right. The UK absence between roughly 2017 and 2018 was real. The 2018 relaunch was also real, but it was quiet, and Lavazza’s UK shelf space has been patchy ever since. Many long term buyers never got the message that the brand came back.
Current state, as of June 2026:
- Décaféiné Instant 100g. Stocked at Sainsbury’s. Available on Amazon UK, often as a pack of six. Trolley.co.uk lists the SKU but with no live retailer pricing alongside it, which is a soft signal that wider supermarket distribution is thin.
- Arabica Ground 250g. In stock at europafoodxb.com at around £8.49. Listed but out of stock at epiceriecorner.co.uk at the time of writing. No major UK supermarket currently carries the ground version.
- Nespresso compatible decaf capsules. Not currently retailed in the UK.
Tesco and Asda do not stock Carte Noire decaf in any format. Some eBay listings exist but several have best before dates already in the past, which points to clearance stock rather than active replenishment. Avoid those.
The short version: not discontinued, but operating with reduced UK shelf space versus its peak before 2017.
Where to buy Carte Noire decaf in the UK
| Retailer | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sainsbury’s | Instant 100g | The most reliable supermarket option |
| Amazon UK | Instant 100g (often pack of six) | Check stock and best before dates before ordering |
| europafoodxb.com | Ground 250g | Specialist importer, around £8.49 |
| epiceriecorner.co.uk | Ground 250g | Listed, out of stock at time of writing |
| Tesco / Asda / Morrisons | None | Not currently stocked |
If your usual supermarket doesn’t have it, the instant version is worth ordering through Amazon as a multipack to ride out the distribution gaps. The ground version is realistically only available through specialist French food importers.
Carte Noire vs Kenco vs Nescafé Gold
Three instant decafs from three different owners. Same shelf, very different stories.
| Carte Noire Décaféiné | Kenco Decaff | Nescafé Gold Decaf | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Lavazza | JDE Peet’s | Nestlé |
| Decaf method | Not disclosed | CO2 (confirmed) | Reportedly water based |
| Bean blend | Arabica + Robusta | Arabica + Robusta | Not specified |
| Caffeine per cup | ~2 to 5mg | ~2 to 5mg | ~2 to 5mg |
| Price per cup | ~5p | ~5 to 6p | ~4 to 5p |
| UK availability | Sainsbury’s / Amazon | All major supermarkets | All major supermarkets |
| Taste | Rich, Robusta led | Clean, mild | Smooth, slightly richer |
Two things stand out. Method transparency, and distribution.
Kenco confirms its CO2 process publicly. Carte Noire does not disclose its method. That is a meaningful gap for anyone whose reason for drinking decaf is to avoid solvents. Until Lavazza tell us otherwise, Kenco is the only one of the three with a confirmed solvent free method.
On distribution, Kenco and Nescafé are everywhere. Carte Noire is in Sainsbury’s and on Amazon. If you want a weekly purchase you can pick up with the rest of the shop, the supply chain matters more than the marketing.
See the full Kenco decaf review for the CO2 process and the rest of their range.
Best alternatives to Carte Noire decaf
If you can’t find Carte Noire, or you’ve found it and the new formulation isn’t what you remember, here is where to look.
Closest mainstream alternatives:
- Kenco Decaff. Solvent free (CO2 confirmed), widely stocked, similar price point. The most obvious swap if availability is the issue.
- Nescafé Azera Americano Decaff. Higher quality instant, frequently ranked at the top of UK editorial decaf lists. Around £8 for 100g.
- Aldi Barissimo Strength 4 Americano. Budget option, around £3, has its forum advocates.
If you want a better instant:
- Clipper Decaf Organic Instant. Organic and Fairtrade, regularly well rated in UK roundups.
- Café Direct Decaf Macchu Picchu. Independent, Fairtrade, an old favourite among forum decaf drinkers.
- M&S Gold Decaf Instant. Own label, quietly very good.
If you are ready to step away from instant entirely, that is where the directory comes in. Decaffeinate lists 55 specialty decafs in stock right now from primarily UK and Ireland roasters, most processed by Swiss Water or sugarcane, almost all single origin, all from small roasters who know the farmer’s name. Different drink, different price, different ceiling. Browse the full directory and filter by method or origin.
The mass market shelf is the starting point, not the ceiling.