Colombia"Sugarcane" Decaf

Popayán sits in the center of the Cauca Department of Colombia.   The city itself is around 1700 meters above sea level and is surrounded by the Andes mountains exceeding 2000 meters. More than 75 producers in these surrounding mountains contribute to this regional blend which is then decaffeinated. Before going to the decaf plant, each producer depulps and washes their coffee after a short submerged fermentation in water. The coffees are dried for 5-7 days on raised beds, depending on the weather conditions. Once fully dried, the parchment coffee is stored until it is ready to be decaffeinated. This coffee is an Ethyl Acetate (EA) Decaf. Ethyl Acetate is a naturally occurring sugar found in many fruits and is a byproduct of fermented sugar. It is used as a solvent to bond with and remove caffeine from green coffee. Through a process of steaming and low pressure, the EA bonds with the caffeine molecules over the course of eight hours before havi