This coffee was produced in Fresno, Tolima by El Vergel Estates. We have cupped through coffees sent by Shady Bayter over the past few seasons, and this season we hit on several coffees that highlighted what they do there. Shady and Elias focus on implementing technology and innovation to push their coffees forward, and it’s evident in everything they do. The coffees they produce at El Vergel are vibrant and wild, both in variety and process. This decaf is a slight departure from their vibrant and wild fermentations, rather it’s a clean and balanced Caturra blend from their farm, selected specifically for decaffeination. Something less evident from the cup, however, is their commitment to facilitating an efficient supply chain. By importing their coffees directly to the states, they control how the coffee moves, as well as how it’s marketed. This allows them to send us samples of arrivals directly, streamlining payment as well as logistics. Sugar cane ethyl acetate or commonly known as EA decaf is a natural process of decaffeinating coffee. It is usually found in Colombia where sugar cane is readily available and starts with making molasses from sugar cane. Once created, it sits in vats to ferment. The bacteria produce acetic acid, much like fermenting coffee, and at the peak of fermentation, alcohol is added to make something called ethyl acetate. For it to be applied to coffee first, the green coffee is steamed in tanks to elevate the moisture level — the beans swell, which allows the extraction of caffeine. Ethyl acetate is added to the mixture, and it dissolves the caffeine in the coffee. The coffee is then washed with water and laid to dry. In theory, the coffee should reach the same moisture content as it arrived in, which is somewhere between 11-12%. The most important part of EA coffee, and why it tastes so sweet, is it avoids high pressure and high heat, which degrades coffee quickly. This allows the natural terroir flavors to come through, making it a sweet and bright decaf.