SWISS WATER PROCESS
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DECAF Peru Frontera
£8.50
We take decaf coffee seriously! Just like our other coffees our decaf selection is sourced seasonally and will change two to three times a year. Our latest Seasonal Decaf is a sweet and well balanced blend from Co-op Frontera in Cajamarca Peru.
This coffee's a wonderful all-rounder and an easy drinker; tasting great as a filter and equally at home when brewed as espresso.
Our tasting notes: Chocolate, cherry, lime.
Producers - Cooperativa Agraria Frontera San Ignacio
Altitude - 1800 MASL
Varietal - Bourbon, Catimor, Caturra, Pache
Harvest - May - September
Process - Washed
Swiss Water Decaffeination.
Decaffeinated coffee should never feel like an afterthought; we get incredible feedback on ours and this latest selection is another one we're proud of - we don't think you'd know it was decaffeinated if it wasn't on the label!
The San Ignacio Province sits at the top of the Cajamarca region in Northern Perú sharing a border to the north with Ecuador. Here the western and eastern mountain ranges of the Andes meet to form microclimates in the buttresses and valleys that descend from the mountains to the Amazon basin.
The co-ops farms are located in the buffer zones of a protected natural area, and have seen spectacled bears, cock-of-the-rocks, jaguars and peccaries within their boundaries. This means working with an organic methodology and certification is a strategic point because through these standards, a culture of protection of wildlife and species in danger of extension is encouraged and created.
Such microclimates present perfect opportunities to grow coffee, and the cooperative offers 330 members that embody it the chance to increase quality via improved access to services such as technical assistance, financial support, social services and the facilities to cup the crop they are growing. With cupping and grading providing the final sorting options, it means the control is there for a great quality cup, and the extra revenue this earns can be reflected in the price paid to the farmer.
The parchment coffee is delivered into the warehouses of the cooperative in San Ignacio town, where each batch is evaluated for physical appearance and then is tasted at the quality laboratory and separated according to quality and certification. They are then transported to the dry processing plant in Chiclayo city. The dry-processing facility is where they process not only their own coffee but also coffee from several other organizations of small-scale growers (approx. 27 co-ops). The export department is based here as well as another quality control laboratory with well-trained staff, and is certified too.
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.