Proyecto Berruecos Decaf.

Origin: Arboleda, Nariño

Process: Washed Decaf EA

Varietal: Mixed

Elevation: 1800 - 2100m

About Proyecto Berruecos:

Francy Castillo oversees the Berruecos Project, which consolidates parchment coffees from small producers at her collection point, giving remote producers access to the specialty coffee market and enabling them to earn premium prices. The project focuses on supporting coffee producers in Arboleda Berruecos and San Lorenzo, Nariño, by visiting their farms to assess community needs, providing technical assistance on specialty coffee practices, and offering tools and resources for daily fieldwork. The aim is to promote the sustainable development of the coffee industry, enhancing quality, environmental preservation, inclusion, and competitiveness to benefit producers, youth, and women in the community.

Processing

This coffee is decaffeinated at Descafecol in Manizales, Colombia, the only facility decaffeinating Colombian coffee at origin, using an ethyl acetate (EA) process.

Ethyl acetate is a naturally occurring compound found in ripe fruit and, in small amounts, in coffee cherries themselves. Descafecol's EA is derived from sugar cane, not synthesized industrially, and combined with high mountain spring water, those are the only two things the green beans come into contact with during decaffeination. No excessive heat, no pressure, no synthetic solvents. The result is 99.9% caffeine-free coffee that retains the structure and soluble compounds that give a washed Colombian its character: clean, bright, with good acidity.