La Mariposa EA Decaf
Our seasonal coffees each come with their own story, which is part of what makes them so special. Here we take a closer look at the producers of this coffee.
THE PRODUCERS
Coffee from smallholder farms in Cauca, Nariño, Huila, Tolima and the Coffee Axis were gathered for this specific lot. These producers maintain farms roughly three hectares in size, on average. They carefully monitor soil health; practice weed control and use the necessary insecticides to prevent the spread of the Broca pest.
HARVESTING & PROCESSING
After the harvest, the coffee was processed at each farm, undergoing the Fully Washed method. This involves pulping the coffee to remove the external fruit, a fermentation time of 12 – 24 hours and drying until the ideal moisture content is reached. Producers will typically dry their coffee in the open sun on rooftops, under canopies or in greenhouses. The dried lots were then delivered to the dry mill in Popayan to be hulled and blended. This lot then underwent an additional decaffeination process.
The Decaffeination Method
This regional lot underwent the Ethyl Acetate decaffeination process in Colombia, also known as the Sugarcane Decaf or Natural Decaf Process.
The special EA process preserves the high quality of the green beans, whilst successfully removing the caffeine content. Ethyl acetate occurs naturally in fruits, and this is why it is the best natural option for decaffeination. For this process, sugars from sugarcane are fermented to create ethyl alcohol. This is then mixed with acetic acid to create ethyl acetate.
The EA decaffeination process begins with a pretreatment steaming the coffee beans at a low pressure to remove the silver skin, or the thin layer of skin on the coffee beans. The coffee beans are then moistened with hot water to swell and soften, to catalyze the hydrolysis (the chemical breakdown of a substance due to reaction with water) of the caffeine. Essentially, the caffeine is bonded to chlorogenic acid inside the coffee, and this process breaks them apart to remove the caffeine. The beans are then moved through an extractor, where they are repeatedly washed with the natural solvent, ethyl acetate. This occurs several times in order to remove 97% of the caffeine content within the coffee.
Surprisingly, the weight of the coffee is reduced by 3%. The EA method gently extracts the caffeine from the coffee without using excessive heat that may damage the beans. Once this process is complete, a flow of low-pressure steam is passed over the beans to remove any remaining ethyl acetate, which will evaporate at 70°C once the coffee beans are roasted.
Lastly, the coffee is vacuum-dried until the moisture content of the coffee is brought back to the original moisture level when it arrived at the EA processing facility – typically between 10-12%. Thus, completing the decaffeination process. The beauty of this is that the coffee did not need to leave its origin to undergo decaffeination, since it underwent the process in Colombia where it was grown. A truly sustainable method.
sourcing coffee
Our Coffee Broker
For over ten years we have worked closely with Mercanta. They pay a fair price for coffee, empowering the growers they work with. Such is our faith in their commitment to supporting farmers that we now purchase 100% of our coffee through Mercanta.
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