El Carmen Decaf — Colombia / Washed Process

El Carmen Decaf (Colombia)

Relation
This coffee comes to us from Raw Material, who has been our importing partner since the beginning of Ten Belles Coffee. Descafecol is responsible for the sugarcane decaf process, one of the world’s only natural decaffeination processes. Descafecol uses water from the nearby volcano Navado del Ruis, and natural ethyl acetate from fermented sugarcane sourced in the southern region of Palmira. The green beans are first steamed to become porous, then rinsed with the ethyl acetate, before being rinsed with water.

Project
El Carmen is one of Raw Material’s Red Associations, made up of producers from the municipality of Pitalito, Huila. The Red Associations exist as the result of extensive research conducted by Raw Material in Colombia, in 2017, in order to answer the question as to what was preventing producers from accessing the specialty market. The two main barriers to entry found were a lack of key infrastructure, and a lack of stable prices.

In response to these findings, Raw Material built drying beds and a QC lab in the hub town of El Carmen, and implemented a price structure where individual farmers are paid a minimum price of 1 million COP per carga of parchment coffee, over double the household income of a typical coffee producing family, before further increases are made depending on the quality of each coffee.

Coffee
This coffee is the direct result of what happens when you take a solid, reliable washed Colombian regional and apply the sugarcane process: Classic chocolate and vanilla flavours with a well balanced acidity, super clean profile, reminiscent of decaf yet without the typical unpleasant decaf flavours.