M&S sells decaf coffee the way it sells most food: own-brand only, across a surprisingly wide range, presented without much ceremony. No Kenco, no Lavazza, no Illy. Around ten products, all under M&S Collection, M&S Food, or the Roast & Ritual sub-label. Every format covered: instant, micro-ground, ground, whole bean, Nespresso-compatible pods, coffee bags, paper filter sachets. It is one of the broader own-brand decaf ranges in UK retail.
The problem is not the breadth. It is the near-complete silence on how the coffee was decaffeinated, and a premium tier that does not earn its premium.
The method blackout
Every decaf coffee has had its caffeine removed. Some use pressurised CO2. Some use water. Some use a chemical solvent. More and more people want to know which one was used before they buy.
M&S doesn’t tell you.
This is what we found when we looked at every product in the range:
| Product | Method disclosed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Decaf Instant (100g / 200g) | Not disclosed | M&S product page, Open Food Facts |
| Decaf Ground Coffee 227g | Water processed (generic) | Ocado product description |
| M&S Collection Colombian Decaf Ground 227g | Water-based method (generic) | Ocado product description |
| Fairtrade Colombian Decaf Beans 227g | Not disclosed | trolley.co.uk |
| Roast & Ritual Decaf Beans 227g | Not disclosed | M&S product page |
| Decaf Espresso Pods (10 pack) | Not disclosed | M&S / coffee.guru |
| Decaf Americano Micro-Ground Instant 100g | Not disclosed | M&S product page |
| Decaffeinated Coffee Bags (10 pack) | Water processed (generic) | Ocado product description |
| Fairtrade Decaf Coffee Filters (10 pack) | “Naturally removing the caffeine” | M&S product page |
Two things worth noting. First, “water processed” and “water-based method” appear only in Ocado’s product descriptions for the ground coffees and the coffee bags. M&S does not use these phrases on its own product pages. Second, neither phrase is the same as Swiss Water Process, which is a specific certified system. Whether M&S uses Swiss Water, Mountain Water, or a generic water wash is not verifiable from any public source. The instant, pods, beans, and filter sachets have no confirmed method at all.
“Naturally removing the caffeine” on the filter sachets is not a method. It is marketing language.
Brands like Kenco, Lavazza, and Illy confirm they use the CO2 method. M&S is a long way behind them on this.
The instant
Gold Decaf Instant, around £3.75 for 100g or £7.25 for 200g
The flagship. Freeze-dried, manufactured in Germany, no disclosed decaffeination method. At around £3.75 for 100g, it costs considerably more than Aldi’s equivalent but sits in the same general territory as Nescafe Gold Blend Decaf.
Price-per-cup at around 1.8 to 2g per cup: roughly 3 to 4p. More expensive than Aldi, cheaper than Kenco. A standard freeze-dried jar that, like everything else here, tells you nothing about how it was made.
Decaf Americano Micro-Ground Instant, around £4.75 for 100g
The more ambitious instant. A 95/5 blend of decaffeinated instant and finely milled ground coffee, which is the same idea as Nescafe Azera: a bit of texture and body that standard freeze-dried cannot deliver. Fairtrade, medium roast. No disclosed method.
At £4.75 for 100g it is expensive for a supermarket own-brand instant. Nescafe Azera Decaff is widely available at Tesco for around the same price or less, with a confirmed water process behind it. M&S cannot match that on transparency, and the price gives it no advantage.
The ground coffee
Decaf Ground Coffee, around £3.60 for 227g
The pick of the M&S ground. The Ocado description states the arabica beans are “gently water processed to draw out the caffeine,” which is more than M&S says on its own pages. As noted above, “water processed” is generic, not a named certified system. But it is something.
At around £3.60 for 227g and roughly 7g per cup, you are looking at approximately 11p a cup. Competitive for a water-processed ground decaf from a supermarket. If you have a cafetiere and want a cheap ground decaf from the M&S range, this is the one to buy.
M&S Collection Colombian Decaf Ground, around £4.75 for 227g
The premium product, and the one that is hardest to justify. Single origin from the Andes foothills, Ocado states a “water-based method,” Fairtrade certified. On paper it should outperform the standard ground. In practice it costs more than a pound extra for the same format, with no confirmed method advantage and no clear reason to prefer it over the cheaper standard ground.
Paying the premium here buys you the M&S Collection label and a single-origin story, not a better cup that anyone can point to. The standard Decaf Ground Coffee is the more sensible buy.
The whole beans
Fairtrade Colombian Decaf Beans, around £3.60 for 227g
One of the picks of the range. 100% Arabica, Fairtrade, Colombian origin. No disclosed decaffeination method.
It was showing as out of stock on trolley.co.uk during our research in June 2026. Availability in-store may differ.
At roughly £3.60 for 227g, this is inexpensive for whole bean decaf. The catch, as with all supermarket whole beans, is that you do not know when they were roasted. Freshness matters more in whole bean than any other format, and M&S cannot tell you what week the bags went on the shelf. At that price, the trade-off might be acceptable. If freshness is what you are after, a specialty roaster who ships within days of roasting is a different proposition.
Roast & Ritual Decaf Beans, 227g
The premium bean option, listed under the M&S Eat Well range on the website. Described as 100% Arabica, carefully roasted to preserve deep flavour. No price confirmed via any retailer we checked. No disclosed decaffeination method.
Given we could not confirm the price, we cannot tell you whether the Roast & Ritual beans represent better value than the Fairtrade Colombian. If you are considering them in store, compare the per-100g price against the Fairtrade beans before deciding.
The pods
Decaf Espresso Pods, around £3.50 for ten
Nespresso Original and Dualit compatible. Fairtrade, South American Arabica, Strength 5. Around 35p per cup. No disclosed method. One third-party listing describes them as “naturally decaffeinated,” but that phrase does not appear in any official M&S source we found, and we are not treating it as confirmed.
At 35p a cup, these are competing with Starbucks by Nespresso Decaf at Tesco, which costs around 37p per cup and uses confirmed CO2 decaffeination. The M&S pods have neither the price advantage nor the method advantage. If Nespresso pods are your format, there are better options than these at a similar price.
The coffee bags and filters
Decaffeinated Coffee Bags, around £4.00 for ten
Single-serve bags, 7.5g each, drum-roasted, Arabica, Strength 4. Ocado describes them as “gently water processed.” Around 40p per bag.
Coffee bags sit somewhere between instant and cafetiere: easier than loose ground, more texture than instant. At 40p per cup they are the most expensive way to drink the M&S range, but for the convenience, the format has its place.
Fairtrade Decaf Coffee Filters, ten pack
Paper filter sachets, pre-portioned ground coffee for filter machines. Fairtrade certified. No price confirmed via any retailer we found. M&S describes the product as “naturally removing the caffeine,” which is marketing language, not a method.
There is not much to say about this one. No confirmed price, no disclosed method. It exists.
The honest summary
M&S decaf is broader than most own-brand ranges and more variable in value than the M&S label suggests.
The standard ground coffee and the Colombian beans are the products worth buying, both inexpensive for their format. The premium M&S Collection Colombian ground is the weak spot: it costs more than the standard ground without earning it. The pods are beaten on price and method by Starbucks at Tesco.
Across the range, one question follows every product: how was the caffeine removed? For most of them, M&S has no answer. “Water processed” appears in Ocado descriptions for three products. That is all. The instant, pods, beans, and filters are a method blackout.
The pick: Decaf Ground Coffee 227g. Around £3.60, water processing disclosed at Ocado level, the most sensible buy in the range.
Skip: M&S Collection Colombian Decaf Ground. Priciest ground at £4.75, with nothing the standard ground does not do for less.
Pods: Look elsewhere. Starbucks by Nespresso at Tesco offers confirmed CO2 decaffeination at a similar price per cup.
If M&S is your regular shop and you want to know more about decaffeination methods, the only honest answer is that this range cannot help you much. For how the other UK supermarkets compare, most offer at least one confirmed-method option. The brands that tell you what happened to your coffee, and do it well, are largely not on M&S shelves. They are in the specialty decaf directory, most of them roasted to order, all of them transparent about process. If the method question has started to matter to you, that is probably the next stop.