Hundred House Coffee - Colombia - Decaffeinated - Pijao, Quindio - Washed

Our commitment to sourcing and roasting the world’s highest grade coffees extends to our decaf selection. This coffee comes from the Lopez Family’s farm, as well as nine neighboring farms in the Pijao region of the Quindio department of Colombia. The average farm is 29 hectares, located between 1600–1800 masl, and the coffee varieties grown are primarily Caturra and Castillo. The coffee is picked ripe and depulped the same day, then fermented for 24 hours before being washed and sun-dried.

This lot is decaffeinated using Ethel Acetate, a natural by-product of fermented sugar-cane, which bonds with the soluble caffeine compounds in the coffee and allows them to be stripped from the green beans. The first step in the process involves the steaming of the beans to open the ‘pores’ and allow the E.A to penetrate the bean more efficiently. Over a 10 hour period the green beans are repeatedly soaked in the water and E.A. solution to remove almost all of the caffeine. Once the decaffeination procedure is complete, the beans rinsed thoroughly with water to remove any residue E.A. Then, they are dried to their original moisture content at the start of the procedure of around 10-12% completing the process.

Not every coffee holds up in the decaffeination process, and not all processes are created equal. The coffee is carefully selected for decaffeination, working with decaffeination processors who have only the highest quality standards. Through cupping and brewing, we have found this coffee to have a greater clarity of fruit flavours and a pleasant lack the regular ‘process’ note often present in decaf coffees.