Death before decaf...
I recently read about a decaffeination process which claims to minimise coffee bean flavour loss... it's referred to as the ethyl acetate process (sounds chemical and scary) but is also known as the sugar cane process. Ethanol produced from fermentation of sugar cane byproducts reacts with acetic acid (vinegar) to produce ethyl acetate. Steam is applied to the green coffee beans to open up their cellular structure and ethyl acetate is used as a solvent which removes the caffeine. This is in contrast to the Swiss Water or Mountain Water Process which uses water to extract caffeine and other soluble compounds. The water is passed through a filter removing the caffeine and then the decaffeinated beans are placed back in the water solution (sans caffeine) and reabsorb the other solubles.
I have been roasting Mountain Water Process decaffeinated beans for many years but only recently have had access to ethyl acetate beans. The ethyl acetate beans were significantly more expensive (as in triple the cost).
I have a bit more experimenting to do... however my initial findings are that, at least to my palate, the method of decaffeination doesn't make an enormous difference to the flavour. For both processes I have found that the flavour of the bean is dominated by the decaffeination itself. I find that these beans smell and taste of sugar related products (toffees, caramels) and also of dried raisins. It's a good flavour profile but it certainly goes down one particular direction. The coffee's origin and the underlying flavour characteristics of the bean are overwhelmed by the decaffeination process.
At this stage I don't think that you'll see an ethyl acetate decaf on Garage Roasters' product list... but I may prove myself wrong!
You can purchase Mountain Water Process decaf here!
To read about a $750/kg coffee click here
To read about high end coffee equipment click here