Planadas Decaf – Colombia

ORIGIN
Bordered by Pacific and Atlantic coasts, Colombia has invested in its coffee industry for decades and the spirit of innovation is strong with new coffee varieties and processing innovations emerging. As the world’s third largest producer of coffee of arabica coffee, producing approximately 11 million sacks (70kgs) each year,  the country benefits from elevated altitudes with good rainfall and hours of sunlight. It is crossed from north to south by the mighty Andes mountain range, which divides its coffee growing regions into three branches towards the south. The vast majority of smallholder producers have very small plantations and use mixed farming techniques to diversify their income.

The average age of a coffee grower in Colombia is 53 years-old, and there are now urgent national efforts to inspire the next generation of coffee producers. Carlos Guillermo Ospina, of the NASA Wex Co-operative said: “In the south of Tolima, coffee has been a symbol, produced not only by coffee growers, but also by indigenous communities and ex-combatants. Thanks to this crop, the community has come together and made an important contribution to peace building”.

PRODUCER
Located in the heart of Colombia, the department of Tolima is one of the country’s most famous coffee-growing regions, renowned for its high-quality cup profile, organic production methods and strong co-operative organisation amongst growers. This naturally processed blend of Colombia, Castillo, Typica and Caturra varieties is cultivated by two grower cooperatives that bring together more than 240 families in the Panadas and Gaitania areas, with an average of 2-4 hectares each. Harvest season happens around May – June, an there can be smaller ‘fly’ crop in January – February each year.

The coffee has been decaffeinated at a facility in Manizales, using the sugar cane decaffeination process. This involves extracting ethyl acetate (EA) from the naturally occurring fermented esters, which bonds to the chlorogenic acids and acts as a solvent. The coffee is repeatedly washed in an EA and water solution until the caffeine content drops below a certified threshold to be considered decaf. The seeds are then steamed once more to remove any traces of EA before being air-dried to the optimum moisture content.

ROAST
Sourced through our friends at Belco Specialty, we are proud to roast this naturally processed decaffeinated coffee bursting with flavour potential. Since the decaffeination process makes the seeds more brittle, we have roasted this coffee very slowly to gently build body, sweetness whilst preserving the fruity aromatics. Omni-roasted for filter and espresso, we love this coffee for its rich, nougat-like sweetness with notes of the famous Portuguese cherry liquor, Ginjinha, in the malty finish.