diff --git a/tests/test_postprocess.py b/tests/test_postprocess.py
index 53ebac56..4cfb5064 100644
--- a/tests/test_postprocess.py
+++ b/tests/test_postprocess.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def test_decode_times(times):
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     'sample_dataset_with_kwargs,xtime_dtype',
     [
-        (('mercator', {'decode_times': True}), np.timedelta64),
+        (('mercator', {'decode_times': True}), np.datetime64),
         (('mercator', {'decode_times': False}), np.float32),
     ],
     indirect=['sample_dataset_with_kwargs'],
diff --git a/xwrf/postprocess.py b/xwrf/postprocess.py
index a92a74c0..2d7ccf25 100644
--- a/xwrf/postprocess.py
+++ b/xwrf/postprocess.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 import warnings
 
-import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 import xarray as xr
 
@@ -25,14 +24,6 @@ def _decode_times(ds: xr.Dataset) -> xr.Dataset:
         )
     ds = ds.assign_coords({'Time': _time})
     ds.Time.attrs = {'long_name': 'Time', 'standard_name': 'time'}
-    # make XTIME be consistent with its description
-    if 'XTIME' in ds.variables and np.issubdtype(ds.XTIME.dtype, np.datetime64):
-        ds['XTIME'].data = (
-            ds.XTIME.data
-            - pd.to_datetime(
-                ds['XTIME'].description, format='minutes since %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
-            ).to_datetime64()
-        )
     return ds