Villamaria Decaf - Colombia - Espresso - Natural Coffee

TASTE NOTES
Brown Sugar, Ripe Fruits, Tropical

VARIETAL
Castillo Naranjal, Variedad Colombia

PROCESS
Natural

ALTITUDE
1800 - 1900 masl

Villamaría is a town just south of the city of Manizales in the department of Caldas in Colombia. We were fortunate enough to visit the cherry drying station and surrounding community which our importer Raw Material has invested in for preparing natural and honey processed coffees only. The drying station takes it’s name from the local town.

The coffee is grown by about thirty families in the surrounding area of Jamaica, Caldas at an altitude of 1800 – 1900 metres above sea level. The drying station buys cherry not parchment a concept not common at all in Colombia and it sits at an altitude lower than the farms so the temperature and humidity are more constant which leads to more consistent drying. Local varieties of coffee such as Variedad Colombia and Castillo Naranjal make up this producer blend.

This coffee has been decaffeinated using Sugarcane, which is a natural method of processing coffee. The coffee is steamed to increase porosity which allows the caffeine to separate from the bean. It is then submerged in a liquid form of fermented sugar which bonds with the caffeine and then steamed to lift traces of the compound. This process removes around 97% of the caffeine and preserves this coffee’s fantastic flavours.