Tastes like: Pear, Sugar syrup, baking spices
Town: Villamaria, Caldas
Association/producer: Villamaria
Altitude: 1,500-1,800 masl
Variety: Castillo and Colombia
Process: Natural process sugarcane decaf
THE CONTEXT
Villamaria is a municipality of Colombia within the department of Caldas. Its location is a few kilometres from the city of Manizales. Villamaria's processing station, called Jamaica, currently processes the coffee from 30 to 50 coffee-growing families in the surrounding area.
The processing station sits around 500 metres below the farms, at 1,300 metres above sea level, giving it a climate better suited to processing natural and honey processed coffees due to its hotter temperatures.
Nestles in the heart of Colombia's Coffee Belt and shadowed by the majestic Volcán Machín, Cajamarca is one of Colombia's most prized high-altitude coffee-growing regions. Its nutrient-rich volcanic soil cool mountain climate and dense cloud forests provide optimal conditions for cultivating specialty-grade Arabica beans.
Cajamarca's altitude allows cherries to ripen slowly, concentrating sugars and producing complex, bright and sweet flavours. The unique terroir - shaped by thick volcanic ash layer and natural biodiversity - adds depth and vibrancy that experienced coffee lovers seek.
THE DECAF PROCESS
This coffee has been through the sugar cane decaffeination process, often referred to as 'natural decaffeination'.
After drying, the coffee is steamed to make it more porous. It is then submerged in organically-existing compound ethyl acetate solvent until 97% of the caffeine is removed. It is the steamed to lift any residual traces of the compounds.
