Colombia Isaías Vargas EA Decaf

COUNTRY: Colombia REGION: Teruel, Huila FARM: Isaias Vargas, El Jardin VARIETY: Caturra, Castillo, Colombia PROCESS: Washed E.A. ELEVATION: 1300-1550M CUPPING NOTES: Plum, Honeydew, Cane Sugar "Why does this decaf coffee taste so good?" you ask. Well, we believe it has to do with quality green coffee grown and processed by Isaias Vargas on his farm Finca El Jardin. We also believe that the way it is decaffeinated, the EA process, has been a breakthrough in removing the caffeine while preserving the coffee's naturally sweet and juicy flavors that almost always get lost in other methods. Isaías Vargas González owns the 54-ha farm El Jardín near Teruel, Huila. The farm is planted with Castillo and F6 varieties. He uses a traditional wet processing system, optimized by using an Ecomill washing equipment, technology that significantly reduces water consumption during the coffee washing process. It has drying patios for harnessing solar energy and a mechanical guardhouse. Ethyl acetate is an occurring ester (present in bananas and also as a by-product of fermented sugars) that is used as a solvent to bond with and remove caffeine from green coffee. First, the coffee is sorted and steamed for 30 minutes under low pressure in order to open the coffee seeds’ pores and prepare them for decaffeination. The coffee is placed in a solution of both water and ethyl acetate, where the E.A. will begin to bond with the salts of chlorogenic acids inside the seeds. The tank will be drained and re-filled over the course of eight hours until caffeine is no longer detected. The seeds are steamed once more to remove the ethyl acetate traces, though E.A. is only harmful to humans in very high quantities (400 parts per million or more). The coffee is then dried and polished for export. Together, the quality green coffee grown by Isaías lovingly decaffeinated using the EA method, yields a wonderful cup that's both juicy and sweet and will surely make you forget that you are drinking a decaf coffee!