In Colombia, where sugarcane is abundant, the EA (Ethyl Acetate) decaffeination process has become so mainstream that it’s relatively safe to assume that any Decaf Colombia from a specialty roaster will be pretty darn decent, at the very least. Shared Source, one of our importing partners (though not the one who provided this particular coffee for us), sums the process up like so: “sugarcane molasses is fermented to create ethanol, and then mixed with acetic acid to create Ethyl Acetate. The coffee is steamed [to] open the pores and allow for the extraction of caffeine molecules. From there, it’s placed into an ethyl acetate solution where it bonds to the salts of chlorogenic acid inside the beans. When the coffee is fully saturated, the solution is drained and refilled until 97% or more of the caffeine is removed.”

While that recipe may not sound as delicious as something you’d overhear on Top Chef, after years of tasting the results, we can attest that the quality of these coffees is awesome. Produced by 25 smallholder farmers in La Union, Nariño, this is a new sub-region for us, and one especially significant for Arango. Throughout the toughest stretches of the past several decades in Colombia, this region was widely unsafe, with heavy cartel and paramilitary violence, and pressure to prioritize coca production in favor of other crops. In recent years, with help from groups like Arango, the emergence of (or, in some cases, return to) coffee production has created new opportunities that we are proud to support.

Like most of our favorite “sugarcane” process decafs, this coffee is citrusy and sweet, and yet this particular one struck us for how notably UN-”decaf” it presents in the cup! We find ZERO decaf artifacts, which often show up tasting like banana bread or at worst, tasting like cardboard. GET SHOCKED! GET SURPRISED!