Decaf Caturra, Pink Bourbon, Castillo, Colombia

Santa Maria

Santa Maria is a coffee-growing community in northern Huila, Colombia, near the Nevado del Huila volcano. This lot is the result of collective work by around 25 smallholder producers from the area, each contributing small parcels of Caturra, Pink Bourbon, Castillo, and Colombia varieties. Farmers deliver cherries to a regional buying station, where lots are cupped and selected before being combined into a single group lot. Huila's volcanic soils and cool highland climate give the region's coffee a reputation for balanced sweetness and bright, clean acidity, and Santa Maria has become known for producing some of the department's most consistent, approachable coffee.

Caturra, Pink Bourbon, Castillo & Colombia

This lot blends four varieties common to southern Colombia. Caturra, a compact mutation of Bourbon, is prized for its productivity and balanced cup. Pink Bourbon, a rare and unstable hybrid, brings vibrant acidity and delicate sweetness when it performs well. Castillo, developed by Cenicafé for its resistance to coffee leaf rust, offers a reliable, clean profile that anchors the blend. The Colombia variety, itself a rust-resistant Cenicafé release descended from Caturra and Timor Hybrid, contributes body and consistency. Grown together across smallholder plots in Huila, these varieties combine into a cup that's sweet, round, and dependably clean.

The Ethyl Acetate process, also known as the sugarcane method, uses a solvent derived from fermented sugarcane molasses. Green coffee is steamed to open its pores, then washed repeatedly with the ethyl acetate solution until the caffeine is drawn out. The beans are steamed again to remove any residue, then dried and polished before export. Because ethyl acetate occurs naturally in fruit and is produced from a plant source, the method is often labeled a natural decaffeination process. It avoids the high heat and pressure of other techniques, preserving more of the coffee's inherent sweetness and clarity.