Ana Mustafá - Decaf

Castillo is the most widely grown varietal in Colombia. It is a hybridization of Caturra and Timor Hybrid. It was selectively bread over five generations to stabilize the varietal and was released for commercial cultivation in 2005. The variety was created to be resistant to coffee rust, a common coffee plant disease found throughout the coffee-growing world that can significantly decrease the production of coffee and ultimately kill the plant. Like with most hybrids the goal is to for the coffee to have the cup profile of the Arabica varietal and the disease resistance and hardiness of the Robusta genetics. Castillo ripens to a deeper color than many non-hybridized coffees so it is important to harvest the cherries at a deeper color than other varieties which indicates the absolute peak of ripeness.

This coffee is fully washed and decaffeinated. The process style has been coined fed-batch fermentation. Coffees are harvested over a handful of days, rested in cherry for up to 24 hours and then de-pulped and allowed to ferment, dry in a fermentation tank for up to 48 hours. Different days harvests are blended together in the tank to allow for a sort of layered fermentation where the subsequent days coffee feeds sugar to the already existing fermenting mass of days prior. After fermentation, the coffee is dried on patios and with low-temperature mechanical dryers.

Ethyl-Acetate decaffeination. After drying, the coffee is sent to the dry mill where it is milled and sorted. The coffee is then sent to the decaffeination plant where they use the sugarcane process to decaffeinate. The sugarcane process involves distilling sugarcane juice into ethyl acetate (a naturally existing compound found in many fruits and fermented products). The coffee is first steamed to open the cellular structure of the beans, it is then soaked in ethyl acetate to extract the caffeine. Once the caffeine is extracted the coffee is once again steamed to remove all but small traces of EA from the coffee (about the same amount remains as is found in a banana). The coffee is once again dried and sent back to the dry mill for export preparations. The caffeine is separated from the EA and is sent to Europe to be used in energy drinks.

Carmo de Minas in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil is widely known as the premiere area for high quality coffee production in the country. Many of the farms in the area are on the smaller side by Brazilian standards. Carmo de Minas has fertile soil, rolling hills and mountains with a sunny and mild climate. The latitude of the region is at the far southern extreme for coffee production. So, the region's relatively low altitude, 900-1500 masl, is sufficient for high-quality coffee production.