Country: Colombia Region: Southern Huila Varietal: Colombia Process: Washed Altitude: 1,200 - 1,800 MASL Cupping Notes: Snickerdoodle, Brown Sugar, Creamy More about this coffee: We know we aren’t alone in loving the cup profile of coffees from Huila, so starting with this washed excelso lot is a great first step to delicious decaf. After processing, the coffee was a taken to an in-country facility who specializes in Sugarcane Ethyl Acetate (EA) decaffeination. Ethyl Acetate which is a naturally occurring compound and solvent that derives from the fermentation of sugarcane. When the coffee first arrives at the plant it is placed in big silos that give off a light steam. This is to open the pores of the beans to allow for easy extraction of the caffeine. It's also to remove the silver skin from the bean which can hinder the process. The green beans are then submerged into a tank filled with water and EA to begin the Decaf process. The EA naturally bonds with the compounds of the coffee, allowing for the decaffeination to occur. The process takes about 24 hours and removes about 98-99% of the caffeine. The extracted caffeine is sold to energy drink companies or soda companies. The silver skin from the green bean that was removed is also used and sold as a fertilizer...a darn good fertilizer, too!