Las Montanas - EA Decaf Natural

• Origin // Colombia
• Producers // Small producers
• Varietal(s) // Castillo, Colombia
• Altitude // 1200 - 1800 masl
• Process // EA Decaf
• Drying method // Natural
• Flavour notes // Banana bread, Caramel, Stewed plum

E.A. Decaf

Ethyl Acetate (E.A.) – This naturally occurring ester (present in bananas as well as a by-product of fermented sugars) can be isolated and used as a solvent to bond with and remove caffeine from green coffee. First, the coffee is sorted and steamed for 30 minutes under low pressure in order to open the coffee seeds’ pores and prepare them for decaffeination. The coffee is placed in a solution of both water and ethyl acetate, where the E.A. will begin to bond with the salts of chlorogenic acids inside the seeds. The tank will be drained and re-filled over the course of eight hours until the caffeine is no longer detected. The seeds are steamed once more to remove the ethyl acetate traces, though E.A. is only harmful to humans in very high quantities (400 parts per million or more). The coffee is then dried and polished for export.

Ethyl acetate (E.A.) decaffeination is a natural process that maintains the integrity of green-coffee flavour. Ethyl acetate occurs naturally in many fruits, which is why this method is often referred to as natural decaffeination. This method requires a thorough steaming of the beans until they swell. An ethyl acetate aqueous solution is used to wash the swollen beans repeatedly. Ethyl acetate is a polar molecule, which makes it a good solvent for capturing the polar caffeine molecules from the coffee beans, since “like dissolves like.” The caffeine molecules bond to the ethyl acetate molecules and migrate through the cell membranes of cells of the beans.