almond butter, baked pear, brownie

Process - Washed, ethyl acetate

Region - Huila, Quindio, Tolima

Varietal - Castillo, Caturra, Bourbon, Colombia

Elevation - 1500 - 2000m

When we set out to roast this coffee, we started with the premise that decaf coffee can, and should, taste good. We wanted to create a coffee that would be defined by how it tastes, not by the absence of caffeine. The result here is a coffee that tastes richly of chocolate, baked goods like pear and apple, along with subtle notes of lightly roasted mixed nuts.

Our other goal for this coffee was to produce something that would be versatile enough to work well in a variety of brewing methods–this was essential as many of our cafe partners use this decaf as an espresso option. So the next time you want to indulge in a delicious cup of coffee without the caffeine hit, reach for this one.

This EA Decaf lot comes to us via our friends at Azahar Coffee. Sourced from producers across the regions of Huila, Quindio, and Tolima -- all strong contenders in any ranking of the best regions in Colombia for producing quality coffee -- Azahar's quality control team has married the profiles and attributes of coffees from the municipalities of Acevedo and Pitalito in the South, Palermo and Algeciras in the North, as well as Génova in Quindio and Planadas in Tolima. This decaf honors the work of nineteen of Azahar’s allied pioneer producers.

About the Ethyl Acetate decaffeination process:

Ethyl Acetate occurs naturally in many fruits, and is derived for the decaffeination process from the fermentation of sugarcane. The green coffee beans are steamed to prepare for the caffeine extraction. Next, they are soaked in water along with the ethyl acetate where the caffeine is stripped out through chemical compounds bonding together. Lastly, the beans are steamed a second time to clear away the remaining ethyl acetate.