Decaf/004 - Washed - Castillo - Colombia

With the help of our good friend Herbert and other top producers, Ana Mustafá manages the LaREB cooperative with the goal of assisting smaller or less experienced members with production advise and expert quality control. Additionally, they export coffee straight from the growers, securing the supply chain and giving the farmers more money.

The decaffeination of sugar cane is frequently referred to as a natural decaf procedure. Ethyl acetate, a naturally occurring chemical (C4H8O2) and byproduct of fruit fermentation, can be found, for instance, in ripe bananas and beer. The factory in Colombia that LaREB deals with extracts natural ethyl acetate made from fermented sugarcane that is sourced from the Palmira region in the country’s south and water from the Navado el Ruis volcano, which is located between Caldas and Tolima. Caffeine, which is often bound to salts and chlorogenic acid in the bean, begins to be hydrolyzed as the coffee is steamed, increasing its porosity. After that, the beans are immersed in an ethyl acetate solvent to extract around 97% of the caffeine.

The remaining bits of the chemical are then removed with one last steaming. The final amount is less than 30 ppm, which is far less than the level in a banana.