DECAFFEINATED

COLOMBIA

This producer group is part of the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Alto Occidente de Caldas founded in 1964. The San Lorenzo indigenous group is based in the municipality of Caldas, Rio Sucio, where they have 11,500 inhabitants and 1,150 farmers who grow and produce coffee in 21 communities. This region until recently was heavily inhabited by the FARC, ELN, paramilitary groups and guerrillas who sought to control this central corridor of Colombia. This region is not known for specialty production, but with the easing of tensions and improved access it is now possible to demonstrate the quality of the coffees available. The indigenous inhabitants believe in Pacha Mama and see the land as a living being. For them it is a duty to protect the natural environment and have the least possible impact from coffee cultivation and leave it as it has always been. The Sugarcane Decaffeinated Process The coffee is first steamed at low pressure to remove the silver skins, then moistened with hot water to allow the beans to swell and soften. This then prepares the coffee for the hydrolysis of the caffeine, which is attached to the chlorogenic acid salts in the coffee. Extractors (obtained naturally from the fermentation of sugar cane and not by chemical synthesis) are then filled with moistened coffee which is washed several times with the natural solvent of ethyl acetate, to reduce the caffeine to the correct levels. Once this process is complete the coffee must then be cleaned of the ethyl acetate residues using a flow of low pressure saturated steam, before moving on to the final stages. From here the coffee is sent to vacuum drying vats where the water previously used to moisten the beans is removed and the coffee is dried to 10-12%. The coffee is then rapidly cooled to room temperature using fans before the final stage of applying carnauba wax to polish and provide the coffee with protection from environmental conditions and to help provide stability. From here, the coffee is packed into 35kg bags ready for export.