This Colombian coffee from the Slovak roastery LOT Roastery in Bratislava is a decaffeinated coffee with a bold, sweet, and surprisingly complex profile. The flavor profile unfolds with notes of raspberry, tamarind, chocolate, basil, and umami, resulting in a cup built on juicy fruit, darker sweetness, and a slightly spicy, almost salty finish. It is precisely this combination that makes this coffee far more interesting than your average decaf. It feels lively and multi-layered. The raspberry note adds juiciness and energy to the coffee, tamarind brings a sweet-and-sour accent, chocolate anchors the cup, and basil with umami give it an unexpected depth that lingers in the memory long after the last sip.
The coffee comes from Colombia, specifically the Bruselas area in Pitalito, Huila region, and is produced by Néstor Lasso and his family. The variety is Ombligon, a rare cultivar named for the distinctive shape of its beans, which resemble a belly button. The coffee trees grow at an elevation of 1,850 meters, and it is precisely the combination of Huila’s high-altitude terroir, this unusual variety, and meticulous farming practices that gives this coffee its distinctive character. Néstor Lasso is among the most intriguing producers in Colombia today, and he works on his lots with great precision and a passion for pushing processing methods further. The result is a coffee that is both wild and elegant, demonstrating that even decaf can have a strong identity and a truly exceptional profile.
The processing is based on a natural profile, involving fermentation followed by gentle decaffeination using the Sugar Cane method, specifically Natural Ethyl Acetate decaf. It all begins with a rigorous selection of ripe cherries, which first undergo 40 hours of oxidation and then another 40 hours of anaerobic fermentation in a controlled environment. The use of coffee leachates—the juices released during fermentation—also plays a key role; these are recirculated back into the process to further enhance the intensity of the flavors. Fermentation is then halted by a thermal shock at 65 to 70 °C to preserve the most valuable aromatic compounds within the beans. Drying then takes place in stainless-steel dehumidification chambers in complete darkness at temperatures up to 37 °C, which helps protect the terpenes and oils. Only then does the Sugar Cane decaffeination process begin, which removes the caffeine while preserving as much of the coffee’s original sweetness, fruitiness, and complexity as possible.