VILLAMARIA DECAF

PRODUCER: VILLAMARIA SMALLHOLDERS
COUNTRY: COLOMBIA
REGION: CALDAS
VARIETY: MIXED CULTIVAR
IMPORTER: RAW MATERIAL
PROCESSING METHOD: SUGARCANE E.A. WASHED

FLAVOUR DESCRIPTION: MANDARIN, SHORTBREAD, CHERRY

ABOUT THIS COFFEE 

In our view, decaf coffee often gets a bit of an unfair, bad reputation. Many of us hold the presupposition that decaf coffee is low grade and/or old crop coffee, decaffeinated in volume at large decaffeination plants (For the most part, these large decaffeination plants are located in Europe and North America and add unnecessary carbon mileage to the product.) to get a second chance at being sold to fill a need once it's no longer desirable for its primary purpose... 

And for a long time, perhaps that was the case.

Then producers and cooperatives like Villamaria started asking the question: "If we used really good, fresh coffee for decaffeination, and processed it locally, would that make a really good decaf?" 

The answer in my view, is yes. 

"Villamaría is a Colombian municipality located in the department of Caldas. The region is fed by numerous sources of water and natural resources. It is located a few kilometres from the city of Manizales, whose urban areas are surrounded by the Chinchiná River. Our drying station "Jamaica" is located in Chinchiná, Caldas. The station currently represents the harvests of 30 to 50 coffee producing families in the surrounding area of Villarazo, sitting at altitudes higher than the drying station itself."
- Raw Material

There are many ways to decaffeinate coffee, this particular lot was decaffeinated using a natural (not synthetic) Ethyl Acetate. 

Ethyl Acetate (E.A.) is a solvent derived from sugarcane. Nearby Manizales is home to Descafecol, Colombia’s most successful sugarcane decaffeination plant. Sugarcane production is voluminous in the region, and the organic by-product of this is used in the decaffeination of coffees.

In the pretreatment stage, The beans are steamed and then soaked to open up the pores of the coffee beans and remove parchment and silverskin from the exterior. 

Following this, the coffee is placed into a specialised extraction tank, and submerged in an Ethyl Acetate solution. Caffeine binds to the Ethyl Acetate, and leaves the beans. Following this, the coffee is rinsed and steamed again to remove any residue. 

Coffee is then dried back to the desired moisture levels and cooled down to room temperature. Before final processing. The coffee is then vacuum packed ready for shipment. 

The finished result is a delicious coffee with all of the positive attributes of a super coffee, without any of the caffeine.