Description
Colombia Decaffeinated Huila
Colombia Descafeinado Huila is a specialty coffee decaffeinated using a natural process with ethyl acetate derived from sugarcane. It comes from small producers in southern Huila, in the municipality of Pitalito, at an altitude between 1,600 and 1,900 meters above sea level. The varieties cultivated are Caturra, Castillo, and Colombia, processed as a washed coffee before decaffeination.
We included it in the San Agustín catalog because a quality decaf shouldn't be a compromise. It should be a coffee that stands on its own merits.
Huila
The department of Huila concentrates a significant portion of Colombia's specialty coffee production. The Central Mountain Range provides altitude, volcanic soils contribute minerality, and a well-distributed rainfall pattern favors regular harvests. Pitalito, in the south of the department, has become one of the municipalities with the highest density of quality-oriented producers, many of whom work small farms with selective harvesting and lot-by-lot processing control.
The beans that make up this decaffeinated coffee come from that region. They are washed, high-altitude coffees, selected before entering the decaffeination process to ensure that the raw material already has a clean and defined profile.
Decaffeination with sugar cane
The method used for Colombia Descafeinado Huila employs naturally sourced ethyl acetate, an organic compound found in ripe fruits, which in this case is obtained from Colombian sugarcane. It is neither an aggressive chemical process nor a high-pressure thermal method.
The process begins by opening the pores of the green coffee beans using low-pressure steam. Next, the beans are immersed in a solution of water and ethyl acetate, which selectively dissolves the caffeine without altering the compounds responsible for the aroma and flavor. This cycle is repeated several times until a decaffeination level exceeding 97% is achieved. Finally, the beans are washed with clean water to remove any solvent residue and dried to their optimal moisture content.
The result is a bean that retains the structure of the original coffee. There is no loss of body or flattening of the profile, which is what usually happens with less careful decaffeination methods.
