Colombia San Antonio EA Decaf

This decaf was sourced from small producers near San Antonio town, in Colombia's Inzá Department. We chose the coffees specifically for decaffeination, based on the cup profiles having some mild fruit characteristics and pronounced acidity. In our experience, those types of cup attributes will withstand some of the gentler decaffeination methods, such as this ethyl acetate ("EA"). The coffee was decaffeinated by Descafecol, in Tolima, who use sugar cane as one of their main sources for the naturally occurring chemical needed for the process (hence the nickname "sugar cane decaf", which is likely only one of the sources of EA). This year the exporter we work with opened their own buying warehouse in town in order to have a more direct hand in how the coffee and payments are being managed. It was perhaps the most competitive year for buying in Colombia that we've seen in over a decade, with the local price soaring to nearly double what it was last year. When the margin between base price and microlot price narrows to such a degree, farmers have less incentive to separate out their best coffee for a meager second payment. So this year we paid higher prices than ever in order to maintain those longstanding relationships and get the coffees we want - including those that went into this decaf. Farms are typically planted in Caturra and Variedad Colombia (F4 and F6 types), grown at altitudes between 1700 and 2100 meters, and each contributing lot in this batch are wet process coffees.