The San Lorenzo indigenous reserve in Riosucio, Caldas, is home to the Embera Chamí community of around 12,600 people, living across 21 rural villages. San Lorenzo is shaped by its autonomy and deep connection to the land: farms are often made up of several tiny parcels, together amounting to little more than a hectare. Great care is taken to protect water sources, native forest and wildlife, with shade trees and diversified crops forming part of a broader ecosystem approach to farming.
This lot represents the collective work of smallholder families farming within San Lorenzo, with the coffee grown between 1,600 and 2,050 metres above sea level. It's hand-sorted and processed at each individual farm, before being sent to Descafecol in Manizales for decaffeination using the EA "sugar cane" method.
This begins with steaming the coffee to increase its porosity and start the hydrolysis of caffeine, which is usually bonded to salts and chlorogenic acid in the bean. The beans are then submerged in a solution of water from the nearby Nevado del Ruiz and ethyl acetate, an organic compound derived here through the fermentation of sugar cane, until 97% of the caffeine is removed. A final steam lifts any residual traces of the solvent.
This method keeps the carbon footprint to a minimum, since the solvent comes from the domestic sugar cane industry, and because the whole process takes place within Colombia, rather than Europe or North America, it also benefits the domestic economy. It also just so happens to result in the tastiest decaf we've tried to date!
