Colombian Huila Natural Decaf Coffee BeansCoffee Bean Intro:
Colombian Huila Natural Decaf Coffee
Coffee Origin Country: Colombia
Coffee Region: Huila
Planting Altitude: 1200 to 2000 meters
Coffee Varieties: Castillo, Caturra, Colombia
Processing Method: Natural Decaf Process
Coffee Region
In Colombia, the most important cultivation area is the southwestern Huila region. The Huila region features mountainous terrain, and coffee is planted on the slopes of valleys, thus enjoying the high altitude and suitable temperatures required for growing high-quality coffee beans.
The climate on the valley slopes is not only shielded from cold winds, with cool mountain breezes preventing high temperatures, but also receives relatively abundant rainfall, making it an exceptionally well-suited coffee-growing area. In Colombia, coffee workers pick the coffee cherries manually on the mountains, allowing for careful selection and harvesting of only the ripest and fullest cherries.
Coffee Varieties
The early coffee varieties planted in Colombia were Typica and Bourbon. 1970 Starting in [year missing], they were gradually replaced by Caturra because Caturra not only yields higher per plant than the former two but also has a more compact tree structure, enabling more coffee trees to be planted per unit area.
(Caturra is a single-gene mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937, offering better yield and disease resistance than Bourbon, along with shorter tree height for easier harvesting. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it also has a biennial yield fluctuation issue.)
1961 Starting in CENICAFE, research began on the Robusta-bloodline Timor Hybrid ( Timor) variety, which was then crossbred with Caturra to develop Colombia’s Catimor ( Catimor) series. , After 5 generations of selective breeding, 1982, CENICAFE released Colombia’s first disease-resistant coffee variety, named after the country: Colombia. Colombia Subsequently, after the appearance of leaf rust in 1983, the Colombia variety began to be widely promoted.
Then CENICAFE continued its R&D efforts, 2002 releasing a second disease-resistant variety Tabi (a hybrid of Typica, Bourbon, and Timor) in 2005, and in Castillo，2008, the most successful disease-resistant variety to date was introduced. Castillo After the major outbreak of leaf rust in [year missing], Colombia began heavily promoting the planting of
(Castillo, bred from Colombia with crosses to Caturra, took ten generations to perfect. Although initially not favored by industry professionals, in recent years, batches with elegant and refined flavors have emerged in the market.)
Processing Method
This coffee bean undergoes natural decaf processing, also known as direct solvent processing. Direct solvent processing uses chemical solvents such as methylene chloride and ethyl acetate to dissolve caffeine.
First, steam is used to open the pores of the green coffee beans, and then methylene chloride solvent is directly added to the beans. Once the solvent combines with the caffeine, the caffeine-rich solvent is washed away, and the beans are steamed again to remove all residual solvent.
Since methylene chloride is suspected of increasing cancer risk with prolonged exposure, there are concerns about using it as a solvent. However, in reality FDA, the decaffeinated methylene chloride content is limited to 0.001%, actually even lower than that, resulting in minimal side effects.
The process using ethyl acetate as the solvent is similar. Ethyl acetate usually comes from sugarcane, so when this method is used, direct solvent processing is sometimes referred to as the sugarcane decaf method.
Typically, decaffeination in Colombia uses this approach. But ethyl acetate is highly flammable, so it poses greater risks.
Roast Profile
