Colombia Pequeñas Granjas EA Decaf

This lot we're calling "Pequeñas Granjas", or "small farms", is a blend of wet process coffee from small farms in several of Colombia's coffee growing regions. Colombia's coffee growing communities are largely made up of what are considered "small producers", with close to 95% managing 5 hectares or less. These are typically wet processed coffees, using small pulping machinery at home, fermented to remove the outer mucilage layer, then dried inside small drying rooms that help protect the coffee from the elements. The coffee is decaffeinated right in Colombia. The plant is called Descafecol, located in Manizales, Caldas. It's a state-of-the-art facility, partly owned by Coffein Compagnie from Germany. The method used is direct contact type using Ethyl Acetate, which can be naturally derived from fruits and vegetables, thus is called a natural decaf method (often called "sugar cane"). It can result in some fruited accents in the cup, in my experience. When done well, it's a fairly benign method that results in very good cup quality.