This coffee's from the El Eden dry mill, it's a blend from ten small farms based in the surrounding rural region of Quindio, which is the second smallest department in Colombia.
El Eden itself is situated in a wonderful position amongst the Cordillera Central, one of three veins of the Andes as they run through the country north to south.
The dry mill is owned and managed by local farm owner Hernan Israel Ocendo Usman. Hernan has selected the coffees from his farm and nine of his neighbours. The crop is picked and processed as normal, before being shipped for decaffeination through our friends at Swiss Water.
SWISS WATER PROCESS
To prepare the beans for caffeine removal, they are cleaned and hydrated with pure, local water, the beans are then introduced to an internally developed Green Coffee Extract (GCE), and caffeine removal begins. Caffeine ventures out on its own, away from the coffee beans into the GCE until the ratio of soluble compounds in the GCE to the compounds in the coffee reach the point of equilibrium. Caffeine and GCE flow continuously through carbon filters until all the caffeine is trapped and separated from the GCE, which is refreshed so that it can be used again and again to remove more caffeine. The process is monitored for around 10 hours and caffeine levels checked as well as time, and gauge temperature controls, until the coffee is 99.9% caffeine free.
