Galeras Decaf

Buesaco, located high on a ridge in the Andes Mountains within the Nariño department of Colombia, is home to the Promotora Cafe de Altura. This cooperative houses its offices, cupping lab, and warehouses here and collaborates with over 300 smallholder farmers across Nariño. These farmers, whose fields dot the surrounding slopes, deliver coffee year-round. At the co-op’s facilities, each lot is evaluated and bought, with farmers receiving premiums above market rates to encourage high-quality standards and sustainable farming practices, including the avoidance of glyphosate and other chemicals.

Promotora Cafe de Altura continuously assesses the coffee during harvest to create lots that are consistent in bean size and flavour profile. This specific batch of decaffeinated coffee comes from small-scale farms near the Galeras Volcano and has been decaffeinated using the Ethyl Acetate (EA) method.

Ethyl acetate is a compound formed by esterification, using ethyl alcohol from sugar cane fermentation and acetic acid. In the decaffeination process, the green coffee beans are immersed in a solution of water and ethyl acetate. This solution extracts caffeine by bonding with it and is then purged from the beans. The process is repeated until the caffeine content is reduced by at least 97%. Finally, the beans are steamed to eliminate any residual ethyl acetate.