Granja Paraiso 92 from the Canadian roaster Monogram Coffee is a decaf coffee that has little in common with decafs as we know them. Monogram itself describes it as behaving like a coffee from their top tier—just without the caffeine—and the cup itself will happily confirm that. The profile is fragrant and peachy, with a distinct floral rose aroma and the citrusy freshness of orange that brightens the entire cup. The sweetness is natural and rich, so the espresso feels full-bodied and elegant at the same time—and definitely not like a compromise.
Behind this coffee is Wilton Benitez and his Granja Paraíso 92 farm in the village of Piendamó in Colombia’s Cauca department. Wilton has been dedicated to coffee for over twenty-five years, and his farm is among the best-equipped in the entire country. In addition to its own processing facility, the farm also operates a microbiological and quality control laboratory, allowing Wilton to precisely monitor the temperature, pH, sugar content, and even electrical conductivity during each fermentation. The variety grown here is Colombia, a Colombian cultivar bred in the 1980s for resistance to coffee leaf rust.
The process is based on washed processing, which Wilton has expanded to include two fermentation stages and concludes with decaffeination. First, the whole cherries are fermented using selected yeasts that control the entire process. The beans are then hulled, and a second fermentation takes place, this time in the pulp—that is, the juice from the coffee cherries—which imparts an additional layer of sweetness and aroma. The beans are subsequently washed and dried, and only then does the coffee undergo “ sugar cane decaffeination.” During this process, caffeine is extracted from the coffee using ethyl acetate, a natural substance derived from sugarcane, while everything imparted to the beans by the previous fermentation is preserved. This is precisely why the coffee retains its floral aroma and natural sweetness and doesn’t taste like a typical decaf in the cup.
- Producer: Wilton Benitez
- Farm: Granja Paraiso 92
- Processing: washed, double fermentation (yeast and must), decaffeination with sugarcane
- Altitude: 1,900–2,100 m above sea level