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I just launched a half caff coffee brand in under a week. Why? I like to have 4-5 cups of coffee a day. I like the ritual, and I don't like having to switch to tea.

But after the third cup things start getting weird, and if I have a coffee past about 2pm it affects my sleep. So I got to thinking, what if I could get a premium coffee hit without the full whack of caffeine? So a few months ago I started mixing half caff and half decaf. In a big bowl.

It worked! And for a while (until I fessed up) my wife didn't even notice I'd swapped the beans in the coffee machine.

But the mixing bowl technique wasn't going to work long term, and as I mentioned this to others I'd hear their stories of similar hacks. So began a journey of developing my own blend. A couple of months of very stop start - and ultimately no - progress.

Until last week, when I emailed probably my 10th coffee roaster, asking whether they would help. They said yes! And what’s more, with a quick enough turnaround time to be able to make Christmas delivery.

Monday: Confirmed coffee order, signed up for Shopify, settled on name and brand (not perfect but time wasn’t on my side) Tuesday: picked a theme for the website. Designed packaging and sent to print. Wednesday: Tested website, set up subscriptions

Today: Coffee, packaging and other printed stuff arrived. Tasted (a lot), took (bad) pictures, asked Nano Banana for better ones. Website live.

Well. 40kg of roasted beans arrived today, and I think what we’ve put together is pretty special. Smooth, chocolatey medium roast that goes like anything in our home espresso machine, tastes like the real deal but isn’t punishing me despite an extensive tasting this morning.