Colombia - Palestina Washed Decaf

Brew Guide:

Best Brewed with: Espresso, Moka Pot, French Press

Medium-Heavy Roaster Influence:
Roasted for solubility & balanced acidity (E.A. decaf can be intensely tropical!) and texture.

Best rested: 1-2 weeks

For Filter: We recommend a ratio of 65g/L and 90°C water

For Espresso: 18g in, 40g out, 28-32s for a classic style of espresso.

We're tasting: Malt loaf, dried fruits (raisin/apple/cherry), milk chocolate, marzipan, hints pineapple lumps and a long toffee finish
In milk: Battenberg cake

Please note - due to the nature of the physiochemical changes undergone during the decaffeination, this coffee will visually appear to be a darker roast than its actual “perceived” roast degree

Traceability:

The Story:

We had fully planned to swap back to the Villamaría decaf for our summer rotation; however production capacity issues in Colombia have pushed that back. 
It's funny - Raw Material were one of the first exporters to put high grade coffees through the Sugarcane decaf process - finding that the quality persevered. Since then, the trend for quality decaf has grown exponentially, and with it, the Descafescol decaf plant has been hitting maximum capacity.  
If you're a Colombian coffee exporter and you want to get your coffees decaffeinated - production slots are few and far between, and often getting rolled to later dates. As such, we've had to wait for a later shipment for the return of Villamaría.

Osito Coffee has been working on the ground in Colombia since 2018, with Jose Jadir Losada and his team running day-to-day operations that include advising producers on growing and processing techniques, receiving deliveries, cupping coffees, and preparing them for export. What sets Osito apart is their forward-thinking approach to pricing - offering rates not tethered to the C-market, but based on relationship history and coffee quality. They provide agronomic support through their in-house specialist Marcus, who has developed methods to help producers improve drying techniques, cup quality, and ultimately the value of their coffees.

While Osito's main operations are based in Garzón, Huila, they opened their San Agustín collection point around 3.5 years ago, making it far more convenient for Palestina producers who previously had to travel to Garzón. This regional approach allows them to work closely with small-scale producers across southern Huila, building the trusted relationships that make alternative supply chain solutions - like this German-processed lot - possible when capacity constraints arise.

E.A Decaf:

We love Sugarcane/EA decaf - it really is miles above other processes - but we think there's been a definitive monopoly of Colombian decaf as a result. The reason is as follows - Ethyl Acetate is a readily available solvent and natural compound found in many fruits and foodstuffs. It's very easily produced - ethyl alcohol created during fermentation is combined with acetic acid (vinegar) to create Ethyl Acetate, a compound which has a high affinity for selectively dissolving caffeine.

Colombia has two very complimentary agricultural industries - that of sugarcane, and of coffee. Sugarcane processing produces the raw materials to make plentiful, cheap ethyl acetate, using up a waste product for good use, and there is a ready supply of excellent coffee. Descafecol is the only "sugarcane" decaffeination plant in the world, and the explosion in popularity of this style of decaf has seen them run at full capacity non-stop for many years (sometimes with the drying protocols of their output somewhat compromised to keep the volume flowing). Colombia exports green coffee - you cannot import it, nor would it make financial sense to ship coffee from Ethiopia to Colombia for decaffination even if it was legally allowed (lest your decaf cost the same as a competition Gesha)

We've been itching to see the same process applied to other origins. Enter Coffee Compagnie in Germany. They've started using locally sourced Ethyl Acetate (sounds scary, but it really isn't) to run the same process, but due to their location in a consuming country (a major logistical transit point at that) means we can spread our decaf buying programme across a wider spread of origins, whilst keeping the profile of EA decaf we love so dearly. With the decaf plant in Colombia absolutely slammed - we've even started seeing Colombian decaf coming via Germany, like this lot