Kolumbien Risaralda DECAF

We have been trying to find a good decaf for a long time, especially given the amount of requests we get for decaf on a daily basis in the cafe! But we wanted to wait until we found one that truly fit into our specialty coffee program. As always, Raw Material have delivered once again with delicious coffee, even if it has been decaffeinated.

The coffee is a blend of coffees from producers across the department of Risaralda. The blend is brought together in Santuario, where the coffee from each region is blended and prepared for milling.

The sugarcane process uses naturally produced ethyl alcohol, instead of chemicals, Co2 or hot water, meaning that it actually adds sweetness, rather than taking it away!

Sugar cane decaffeination is often termed as a natural process decaf. Ethyl Acetate is an organically existing compound (C4H8O2) and by-product found most commonly in the fermentation of fruits, and is present in both ripe bananas and beer for example.

The process begins with steaming of the coffee, increasing its porosity, beginning the hydrolysis of caffeine, which is usually bonded to salts and chlorogenic acid in the bean. The beans are then submerged in an ethyl acetate solvent, until 97% of the caffeine is removed. A final steam is then used to lift residual traces of the compound. The ultimate residue which remains is ≥ 30 ppm, which is a level dramatically less than that of a banana!