Sanjuanero, a Decaffeinated Premium Coffee from Colombian Huila has a spicy profile and a bright cinnamon descriptor. Sanjuanero is decaffeinated at Descafecol processing station. Here are 3 facts about its processing: 

Fact 1. To decaffeinate green coffee only fresh spring water and natural Ethyl Acetate extracted from sugar cane are applied.

Fact 2. A ripe Banana contains about 20 times more Ethyl Acetate than Sanjuanero! Due to the water processing, the residuals of Ethyl Acetate in decaffeinated coffee are below 5 ppm. 

Fact 3. There are 3 steps of decaffeination: 

  • Pre-treatment. Coffee beans are steamed with low-pressure steam to remove silver skins. Then they are moistened with hot water to soften the beans and start the hydrolysis of caffeine. 
  • Extraction. Moistened coffee is washed with recirculation of natural Ethyl Acetate in the extracting machines. This procedure repeats several times in order to remove a minimum 97% of the caffeine. Then decaffeinated coffee beans are washed by fresh spring water till there are no traces of Ethyl Acetate left.
  • Post-treatment. Coffee is dried in vacuum drums in order to adjust the final humidity value between 10 % and 12 %. Then it cooled quickly to ambient temperature using air fans. After cooling, coffee is polished with carnauba wax that provides protection against environment humidity.

Decaffeination Flow Chart

11 November 2019
Categories: Knowledge
Tags: Decaf Colombia Coffee processing