del huila decaf
La Victoria Santa Maria 9
La Victoria Santa Maria 8

Decaf Nevado del Huila

Colombia 333g

Tasting notes: Red Apple, chestnut, and molasses

A true sleeper hit. In this one, we taste red apple, chestnut, and molasses.

Description

Processing: Washed + Sugarcane/EA Decaffeination Varietal (s): Caturra, Colombia, Typica Roast level: Medium-light (great for espresso or filter methods)

This lot comes from a producer group based in the foothills of the Nevado del Huila Park in Santa Maria, Huila, Colombia. We have purchased coffee from this group for two years (La Victoria), but this is our first time carrying their "sugarcane" process decaf, which we believe is exceptionally sweet and crisp. In the cup, we taste red apple, chestnut, and molasses.

Supported Causes

Story

The Santa Maria pocket of Huila is a region with an intense, often traumatic history. It was severely isolated during the decades-long unrest between the Colombian government and guerrilla forces — too remote for Colombian authorities to access, thus severely limiting the coffee growing community’s market access or interaction with the National Coffee Federation. The impacts of this isolation were widespread, but an odd and unintended outcome of the situation was an exceptionally long-sustained lineage of classical coffee varieties, never transitioning to higher-yielding hybrids. This means that these farms, which range in elevation from 1,700 to 2,200 meters, are among very few in Huila that continue to be planted almost exclusively with Caturra, Typica, and Bourbon. Although there are plenty of entirely-positive reasons for hybrid varieties and they can certainly taste spectacular, these “big three” old-timers are known for sweetness and clarity, attributes that still shine through the decaffeination process.

Over the past several years, the “Sugarcane” decaffeination process has cultivated substantial affection throughout specialty coffee. The overwhelming majority of examples come from Colombia, a country that produces a significant amount of sugarcane, providing an ample supply of Ethyl Acetate (EA), an organic and naturally occurring byproduct of the fermentation of sugarcane. To decaffeinate the coffee, lots will be immersed in steam to expand and expose the beans’ cell walls before washing them with EA, which naturally binds to caffeine molecules and can then be filtered out before the coffee is re-washed and dried to retain the majority of what made it otherwise delicious. We’ve carried several EA-Decafs over the years, finding them to be cleaner, sweeter cups than we have tasted through any other process. In this one, we taste red apple, chestnut, and molasses.

La Victoria Santa Maria 8
La Victoria Santa Maria 9