COLOMBIA AZAHAR DECAF

This decaf comes to us from our friends at Azahar Coffee in Colombia. Azahar Coffee, founded in 2010,  works diligently to find the best coffees grown in Colombia even if it means traveling to some of the most remote parts of the country. They are also committed to bringing higher, more stable income to farmers through direct trade relationships with roasters such as ourselves. By creating a pricing structure outside the C market, they help farmers predict future earnings enabling them to commit to growing higher quality coffee-a winning scenario for everyone. In addition, Azahar ensures that the people of Colombia enjoy the work of their own hands by creating specialty coffee cafes across the country that serve high quality Colombian coffee. 

The decaffeination process utilized by Descafecol is a solvent-based process meaning that the caffeine is removed from the coffee beans using a solvent. The decaffeination agent they use is called ethyl acetate (also known as ethyl alcohol) and is derived from a mix of acetic acid (vinegar) and a natural extract distilled from sugar cane, blackberries, beets or sometimes grapes. They use a direct-solvent process meaning that first the beans are steamed to open their pores and are then rinsed in ethyl acetate repeatedly to remove the caffeine. Next the beans are dried but not completely, 10 - 12% humidity remains.

We find this decaf process produces clean, sweet results. Decaf coffees often get a bad reputation, but this coffee shows that Decaf doesn't mean bad coffee!