It's like coffee but without caffeine
The demand for a better decaf is rising every year. Who wouldn't want a great tasting cup without the trembles and sleepless nights? After great feedback from roasters all over Europe, we decided to produce a second decaf from the same group of producers who made the first round possible.
About two hours drive from our head office in Guatemala at around 1800 meters elevation, a group of producers in the Jalapa region decided to take control of their crop and their livelyhood. With our help, they formally started an association last year. Because water at that altitude and conditions is scarce, building a traditional wetmill is hard. We decided to invest in them by buying their ripe cherries and processing them at our El Hato wet mill.
The Decaffination Process
The decaffination starts in Germany at the CR3 Kaffeeveredelung Hermsen company through the so-called CO2 method.
Through soaking the coffee is made ready to release its caffeine. Liquid CO2 is pumped into a container that actually pushes out the caffeine, while keeping other flavor components intact.
Another rinsing with CO2 reduces the caffeine level further to less than 0.08%.
Although there are many ways extracting caffeine, this method is getting more and more popular in the specialty coffee industry because it keeps most of the character of the coffee. We are very happy how this one turned out!
A new team member
Say hello to Hanna Huhtonen! She's the latest addition to our Europe team.
Hanna has worked in specialty coffee since 2007 in Europe and Australia. Her roots are in Finland where she organised the national championships and wrote books about coffee. She is a skilled barista, certified Q Grader, and she spent couple of years in Australia helping the local roasters to find some amazing green coffees to roast. She is based in Portugal and is passionate about sustainability and connecting the roasters to the right producers and coffees in Guatemala.