Colombia Sugarcane Decaf Coffee

A Colombian coffee decaffeinated by the sugarcane process, which uses ethyl acetate made from cane molasses. It keeps its caramel sweetness and gentle citrus, and it tastes much like a regular Huila cup.

Origin & Story

Decaffeinating coffee means getting the caffeine out while leaving the flavor behind, and there are several ways to do it. The sugarcane process, also called the EA process, uses ethyl acetate, a compound that occurs naturally in fruit, made here from sugarcane.

The work is done in Manizales, in the Colombian Andes, at Descafecol, described as the only decaffeination plant in the region. Sugarcane is turned into molasses, which is fermented to ethanol and then combined with acetic acid to make ethyl acetate. The green beans are steamed to open their pores, the solvent is circulated through them until at least 97 percent of the caffeine is gone, and low-pressure steam removes the last traces of solvent before the beans are vacuum-dried.

The coffee itself comes from Huila, Colombia's largest coffee-producing department, where small farms grow coffee on volcanic soil at roughly 1,200 to 2,000 meters. It is part of a national industry of more than 500,000 coffee-farming families, represented since 1927 by the National Federation of Coffee Growers.

Decaf is often treated as a lesser coffee, but the flavors here are intact: caramel and cocoa for sweetness, citrus for brightness, and almond in the finish. A clean pour-over at 93°C brings them out.

Reading the Flavor Profile

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