STORY

This is a unique decaf coffee from Quindio in Western Colombia. Forgoing the standard of decaffeinating a traditional washed coffee, Cofinet sourced this natural specifically to be decaf. Rest easy with complex fruited notes of guava candy and rich molasses.

This natural Castillo comes from Finca Castellon. Grown and processed by Jairo Arcila, a third-generation coffee producer. Even though he retired in 2019, Felipe and Carlos started Cofinet and aid in producing lots like this one. This Castillo lot was dried before being sent off to the sugar cane decaffeination treatment, in order to strip away the caffeine. Usually decaf coffees are an afterthought, with 83-84 point washed coffees being homogenized into one large (and sometimes boring) decaf lot. Cofinet has taken a different approach, creating a decaf that is worthy of the moniker of specialty coffee.

EA DECAFFEINATION Sugar cane ethyl acetate or commonly known as EA decaf is a natural process of decaffeinating coffee. It is usually found in Colombia where sugar cane is readily available and starts with making molasses from sugar cane. Once created, it sits in vats to ferment. The bacteria produce acetic acid, much like fermenting coffee, and at the peak of fermentation, alcohol is added to make something called ethyl acetate.

For it to be applied to coffee first, the green coffee is steamed in tanks to elevate the moisture level — the beans swell, which allows the extraction of caffeine. Ethyl acetate is added to the mixture, and it dissolves the caffeine in the coffee. The coffee is then washed with water and laid to dry. In theory, the coffee should reach the same moisture content as it arrived in, which is somewhere between 11-12%. The most important part of EA coffee, and why it tastes so sweet, is it avoids high pressure and high heat, which degrades coffee quickly. This allows the natural terroir flavors to come through, making it a sweet and bright decaf.