If caffeine isn’t your best friend, but you still want to enjoy great coffee, you can’t go wrong with this decaffeinated Colombia HUILA from the popular roastery The Naughty Dog. In the cup, you'll experience sweet flavors of marzipan and caramel, complemented by a pleasant acidity of citrus fruits.
This is a harvest of Colombian coffee from the Huila region. The production comes from small farms specifically selected for decaf processing – using either the "sugarcane" method or the EA method. This natural decaffeination process is gentle and preserves the original flavors of the coffee bean.
Process of the Sugarcane Decaf/EA method: The coffee is first steamed at a very low pressure to remove the parchment. The coffee bean softens and swells when steamed with hot water. This process prepares the beans for the hydrolysis of caffeine, which bonds with chlorogenic acid salts in the coffee. The extracts (naturally derived from the fermentation of sugarcane, not through chemical synthesis) are then applied to the moistened coffee. The coffee is washed several times with natural ethyl acetate solvent to reduce the caffeine content to the desired level. Once this process is complete, the coffee must be cleaned of any remaining ethyl acetate using a stream of saturated vapor under low pressure. After that, the coffee is sent to vacuum drying drums where the water used to moisten the beans is removed, and the coffee is dried to a final moisture content of 10-12%. The coffee is then rapidly cooled to room temperature using fans. The final step is the application of carnauba wax, which protects the coffee from environmental conditions and helps ensure its stability.
- Altitude: 1400 – 2000 meters above sea level
- Harvest: August 2023