Profile: Malteaser, Black Treacle, Orange
Producer: Various smallholder farmers
Process: Washed, Ethyl Acetate Decaffeinated
Variety: Castillo, Caturra, Colombia
Region: Cauca, Colombia
Altitude: 1200-2000masl
Importer: Cafe Imports
Year after year we have always gone to the same supplier for decaf. Why?! You can barely tell it's decaffeinated! This decaf demonstrates the hard work of producers and importers to bring high-quality decaf coffees to the market; coffees are cupped and selected at origin based on their quality and suitability to undergo the Ethyl Acetate (EA) process. This is where the green coffee is soaked in EA, a product derived from fermented sugar-cane; a process which is chemical free and leaves only 0.1-0.3% caffeine behind. Other decaffeination processes often remove a large percentage of flavour compounds, but the EA process retains these. The first thing which hits is a heavy treacle note, that sticky, thick molasses sweetness. This leads through to malty chocolate biscuit and a subtle citrus acidity, which gives the cup a good structure and balance.