Starbucks Corporation, which is the world’s largest coffee chain, has announced it will stop brewing decaffeinated coffee after noon each day  . The company said that during the morning, it would have a pot of fresh decaf brewing every half an hour, but that in the afternoon, customers would need to request for decaf.

Bloomberg has quoted Seattle-based Starbucks’ spokeswoman Bridget Baker saying that making a fresh cup of decaf coffee took approximately four minutes.

In a statement, the company said that the demand for decaf weakened during the afternoon in many of the stores and that it had usually experienced a high amount of waste.

"We are simply giving our stores the flexibility to make decaf on request, during a time when customer demand for decaf is typically low.  In the process, decaf customers get a fresh cup of coffee and the company saves money. It’s a win-win" the company said in a statement.

Starbucks, which sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, snacks, along with items such as mugs and coffee beans, has 16,120 stores in 94 countries.

Moreover, through the Starbucks Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company also markets books, music, and film.

During the 1990s, Starbucks was opening a new store every workday, which went on until the 2000s.

For this year, Starbucks has planned to open 900 new stores outside of the United States, after on July 1, 2008, the company announced it was closing 600 under-performing company-owned stores.

In addition, on July 29, Starbucks cut approximately 1,000 non-retail jobs in the attempt to boost its revenue, of which 550 positions were layoffs, while the rest unfilled jobs.