Decaf

Colombia La Serrania

Here at Ozone, we're always on the lookout for tasty and delicious decaf. It can sometimes be a little tricky to get our hands on, but we aim to always have at least 1 decaffeinated coffee available at all times.

We bought this coffee from the cupping table. Sometimes that means we don’t know all that much about the coffee itself, but we always do all the digging we can!

La Serranía Decaf is grown along an isolated set of mountains within the central cordillera of the Andes that go through Pitalito, Acevedo, Palestina, Timaná, and Suaza. This coffee represents the work of more than 50 producers who are committed to quality and excellence. La Serrania is carefully hand-sorted and processed at each individual farm, with special attention paid to the drying process to ensure consistency, uniformity, and a clean cup profile.

This coffee is a Natural EA (ethyl acetate a.k.a. sugar cane) Decaf Coffee, processed at the Descafecol plant in Manizales. The decaffeination process at this plant uses ethyl acetate derived 100% from sugar cane mixed with mountain water, together removing 99.7% of the caffeine present. The beauty of the Natural EA process is that it helps preserve so much of the original flavor of the coffee while adding some sweet and fruity notes + a little complexity to the cup too.

We're really happy this lot was decaffeinated in Colombia and while this might not sound remarkable, we think it is! Most coffee is sent off to be decaffeinated in either Canada or Germany which adds a lot of miles to the journey those little green beans are taking, we think it's fantastic to be able to decaffeinate at origin and not only save on carbon footprint but also to give more work to those closest to where the trees grow.

Something that might not sound remarkable about this coffee is that It was decaffeinated in Colombia. Why is that remarkable? Because most coffee is decaffeinated in either Canada or Germany which adds food miles to the coffee, which is not good. What decaffeination in a coffee's producing country does is add value at the place where we're very happy to add value; that is, around 40 kilometres from the warehouse where the shipments are collated.

'SC' stands for sugar cane, because the decaffeination agent ethyl acetate is naturally derived from sugar cane.

An initial marzipan aroma leads into flavours of candied lemon and buttery sweet pastry. A long brown sugar note lingers in the finish.

• Country: Colombia
• Department: Huila
• Coffee: La Serrenia
• Elevation: 1,500–1,750 m.a.s.l.
• Varietals: Caturra, Castillo and Colombia
• Processing method: Fully Washed
• Fermentation process: Dry (+/-26 hours)
• Drying method: Fully sun-dried on parabolic patios and raised beds
• Tree shade: Semi-shaded with plantain and Nogal trees
• Decaffeination: Descafecol plant in Manizales, Colombia: uses ethyl acetate derived from a natural source – namely sugar cane

Tasting notes: Marzipan, candied lemon, sweet pastry, brown sugar.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean cup: (1–8): 6
  
• Sweetness: (1–8): 6.5
• Acidity: (1–8): 6
• Mouthfeel: (1–8): 6
• Flavour: (1–8): 6.5
• Aftertaste: (1–8): 6
• Balance: (1–8): 6.5
• Overall: (1–8): 6
• Correction: (+36): +36
• Total: (max. 100): 85.5

Roast Information
Medium-dark - remember that the appearance may be deceiving with decafs - you're looking to go through first and steadily to the end of the gap, just before second.