The Producers

Grown along an isolated set of mountains stretching from Timana to Palestina in the southern part of Huila, this decaf is the work of 38 smallholder farmers, growing a mix of the typical Colombian varieties - Caturra, Castillo and Variedad Colombia. Each farmer is dedicated to producing quality outturns, which starts with harvesting ripe cherries from healthy, well-nourished trees. Selective picking requires multiple passes around the trees, as not every tree and cherry will ripen at a uniform rate. In processing their harvest the farmers first depulp and dry ferment for around 24 hours before washing, then drying under parabolic dryers or on raised beds. This attention to detail and quality coupled with the benefits brought about by the sugar cane decaffeination process results in a ripe, complete and intact flavour profile which we think makes for delicious drinking. 

The Decaffeination Process

For the last seven years we’ve solely purchased decaffeinated coffees that have undergone the Sugar Cane Ethyl Acetate process. Not only does this method provide a secondary income to the producing country, but the green coffee only needs to be transported once rather than twice. Obviously more eco-friendly and less costly, it has a huge impact on cup quality too. The conditions in which coffee is transported are rarely conducive to preserving quality, and so avoiding this process from happening twice is always beneficial for the cup. The coffee, having been shipped only once unlike most decaf options that arrive into the UK via Mexico, Canada or Germany, tastes all the fresher for it.  

The actual solvent doing the work of decaffeinating the green coffee at Descafecol is derived from fermenting and making an alcohol from sugar cane. This is combined with spring water and is used to wash the caffeine out of the steamed green coffee until less than 0.1% of the original caffeine content remains.