Colombia - Nogales / Caturra / EA Decaf (Green Coffee) 1KG

This exceptional decaffeinated Caturra is produced by Angie Hernández at Finca Nogales in Pitalito, Huila, and is without question one of the most impressive decaf coffees we've ever tasted. It doesn't just stand out within the decaf category; it's an outstanding coffee in its own right, with remarkable clarity, intensity and character.

The Caturra is grown at elevations between 1,870–2,000 masl, where slower cherry maturation provides the foundation for sweetness, acidity and structure. At Finca Nogales, Angie approaches every lot with incredible precision, applying the same level of care and intention to this coffee as the farm's highest-quality specialty lots.

After selective harvesting at peak ripeness, the cherries undergo a controlled 24-hour fermentation in whole fruit, allowing sugars and early fruit complexity to develop. The coffee is then depulped, washed and dried before undergoing Finca Nogales' natural EA decaffeination process.

What makes this particularly interesting is that the ethyl acetate used for decaffeination is produced naturally on the farm through the fermentation of coffee cherry skins. Rather than treating decaffeination as a completely separate industrial step, Finca Nogales creates the EA from a by-product of coffee production itself, forming part of a remarkably considered approach to producing decaf.

During decaffeination, the green coffee is first immersed in warm water to open the structure of the seed and make the caffeine more accessible. The naturally produced EA is then introduced, selectively removing caffeine while preserving as much of the coffee's flavour and aromatic character as possible. This is repeated through controlled cycles before a final rinse and careful drying stabilise the coffee.

As a green coffee, this lot offers an extraordinary amount of character to work with. Expect intense banana, pineapple and mangosteen/lychee, with vibrant acidity, saturated tropical sweetness and a clarity that is genuinely unimaginable for a decaffeinated coffee.

For us, this is proof of just how exciting decaf can be when exceptional raw material, thoughtful processing and world-class decaffeination come together.

Expected flavour profile: Banana, pineapple, mangosteen.