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Colombia - El Paraiso Washed Decaf

Colombia - El Paraiso Washed Decaf

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Regular price £12.50
Regular price £14.75 Sale price £12.50
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 Colombia - El Paraiso Washed Decaf

Varietal –  Castillo
Preparation – Washed - Two-stage anaerobic fermentation
Location – El Tambo, Cauca
Altitude – 1900 masl
Importer - Cata Coffees

This amazing coffee is back for 2022 but in Decaf format! This is a stunning single origin and a great way to prove that decaffeinated coffee can taste amazing.

Why decaf?

It might seem like a strange decision to decaffeinate such an amazing coffee but the producers in Colombia wanted to prove that decaf doesn't need to be an inferior product if the process is started with a high cup score coffee. The details provided below are exactly the same as those you might have seen for the non-decaf version of this coffee.

There is no doubt that Colombia has become one of our favourite producing countries. We love the diversity on offer, the range of processing styles, and the recent focus on scientific and experimental processing methods. Most of the amazing coffees we buy from Colombia come from small farms covering less than 20 hectares and are typically bright, juicy washed coffees. This one is a little bit different. It's a lovely juicy washed coffee but the process has brought out a slightly different flavour profile.
 
This coffee comes from a farm owned and managed by Alex Bermudez, Yenni and Diego. They are a brother and sister team that has worked very hard to produce incredible coffees on their family farm.

Yennis Esperanza Coffee producer

Farm Overview:

The farm covers about 10 hectares at 1700masl and is planted with several varietals that include Castillo, Colombia, Caturra, and Geisha. They focus on very careful tree care and maintenance allowing them to produce a variety of coffees using varietal separation and different post-harvest processing methods.

Colombia Villa Esperanza Coffee Farm

Harvesting and Processing:

Coffee was hand-harvested to ensure only perfectly ripe cherry from the Castillo tree varietal. Diego has completed the CQI level 2 processing certificate, a course that provides training and the experience of science as a base for post-harvest coffee processing. Bradley has completed the CQI level 1 processing course and was hoping to be able to do level 2 in 2020/21 but this doesn't seem possible due to Covid.

This particular coffee was processed as a washed coffee but using controlled and tracked methods. 

1. Harvesting with careful hand sorting.

2. Wash the cherry with ozonated water to decrease the load microbial.

3. First phase of anaerobic cherry fermentation for 62 hours in tanks with a pressure relief valve at a temperature of 21 degrees centigrade.

4. De pulp to remove the outer layer of fruit.

5. Fermentation second phase: Anaerobic with mucilage for 50 hours at 20 degrees. 

6. Controlled drying for 36 hours, with air recirculation at one temperature of 35 degrees centigrade and relative humidity of 25%, until reaching between 10% and 11% moisture content.

Mechanical drying experimentation has become more popular recently as the temperature can be controlled very carefully. While drying on raised tables is often believed to yield the best results this might not always be the case as the coffee can get very hot during the day and quite cold at night. Drying at a stable, even temperature helps producers to maintain full control over the drying process. 

After the drying process was completed the coffee was sent for processing in Colombia using the E.A Sugarcane method. This is a process that uses sugarcane to create ethanol to dissolve the caffeine. 

Tasting Notes: 

This is by far the best decaf coffee we've ever tasted! Cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, grapefruit and molasses. This is an amazingly complex washed coffee with wonderful sweetness and a cup score of 87 points (As scored by Bradley, licensed Q grader and the team at origin).

Brewing:

This coffee works well for all brew methods. 

Filter: Dose 15g, water 250g. 

Espresso: Dose 18 gram to 40 gram yield over about 30 seconds. 

This coffee is available as whole bean and pre-ground but we recommend always grinding fresh before brewing. We sell a range of grinders if you would like to grind this coffee fresh at home. 

    Customer Reviews

    Based on 2 reviews
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    D
    D.Y.
    excellent

    delicious - best decaf I have had

    R
    R.B.
    Delicious coffee

    I loved the caffeinated version of this coffee, and I was elated to see a decaf version of it on the website. It is just as delicious and I have bought a second bag from a local shop. I will be sad when it eventually disappears again.