Our latest EA decaf is a 50/50 blend of two regional coffees from two different importers. The Cauca portion is a Popyan regional coffee sourced by Cofinet Coffee and shipped aboard the Ide Min sail boat. The Huila component is our El Carmen decaf from Raw Material and one which we've been buying for a few years now. Together they work well and produce a profile that is better than the individual components (in our opinion)

Both coffees went through the Ethyl Acetate process at the DESCAFECOL plant in Manizales. EA is 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 Sugar Cane EA Decaffeination method:

In brief it's a natural method of decaffeination and starts by fermenting molasses derived from sugar cane to create ethanol. This alcohol is then mixed with acetic acid, which you'd find in vinegar, to create the compound ethyl acetate. In Colombia, where a lot of sugar cane is grown, it makes sense to use this naturally occurring solvent to complement their thriving coffee growing/processing industry. E.A. may sound scary, but you find it in wine, beer, fruit, vegetables, and other food and beverages.

The actual process requires the coffee to be first 'steamed' to open up its pores. Next, the E.A. is applied via water, which dissolves the caffeine in the green coffee. Then the caffeine is separated and filtered from the tank. Finally, the now-decaffeinated seeds are steamed again to remove any residual E.A. before being dried and shipped. This method avoids excessive heat or pressure, which can radically disrupt green coffees cellular structure.